Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Furnace pricing - seems high?

Sounds like double + what the parts and labor should be, unless there is some major additional work being covered. Good job on keeping your folks from being ripped off.

I recently had my whole system replaced minus the ducts with a 4ton carrier system on a 2500sqft house. I had quotes between 4500 and 6200. The 6200 one included a more efficient furnace than the other quotes did. He really tried to sale me on it, guess they had one they needed to get rid of but I went with the standard one.

That seems unreasonably high. Maybe they have more work than they can handle and figure they'd do it if someone would pay up for it.

That's probably $3500 of equipment and 2 guys for 4 hours to install. For $6k you should be able to get a higher efficiency system.

I think 70% of HVAC companies are just rip off artist. I went through 3 bad ones before I found a good one to service my rentals.

I appreciate all the feedback. Working on finding other reputable contractors for another bid. We have quite a few in the area.

Bastids are charging double the price, trying to take advantage of older people.

First red flag is the 13 seer.

Second red flag is the cost. I had new A/C and furnace installed two year ago. All new, including the tear out and disposal of the old equipment, my cost was about $6000. Good guy, veteran, hard worker, small business owner. I showed him the other quotes and he flat out told me they're trying to rip me off.

Here too. He's ripping them off bigly

I had a high end 95% 100,000 btu put into my 3,000 square foot( 2 levels split evenly) last month on the Kenai Peninsula Alaska. . Forced air, NG. Just under 9k , and they had to plasma cut part of the old Riteway multi fuel stove out. Fairly confined space. Nice cleanup, hauled junk away too. Other bid was 12k. Neither of the other two outfits even wanted to show up to inspect for bid.

Get at least two more bids, and research the bidders. Yeah. I think that is highe, but maybe the AC makes a diff. I think that 140k, 80% is not the way to go

I did just get a voice mail request for the rest of the bill. Bookkeeping may not be their strong suit. That check cleared the bank April 13. P

We had nothing but trouble with a system that was installed 17 years ago when we built our home.... When it got real cold and windy the gas furnace ran constantly trying to keep up.

We got a quote from a different contractor on a replacement system, We learned that the 1st system was 2 year old stock when it was installed AND that the air return was nearly 50% undersized! Now the new furnace has no trouble in very cold weather and the heat is more even.

The building inspector needed to inspect the new install. I told Him it would have been helpful if the first inspector had told us the original system was improperly installed. He said," Oh that's not what we look at"... I'm guessing they only check the electrical part on an install?

Good on you for looking out for your folks... I suggest a careful check of references in addition to cost

There are websites to perform your own load calculation. My house is similar size to yours and needed only an 80,000 btu furnace (northern, IL) but the furnace guy was trying to sell me twice the machine. I went with the smaller size and 10 winters later I have no complaints.

Price is a little steep,1 flag is if a contrctor gets frustrated if you don't sign while they are there.Not sure why he was trying to sell them an 80% 2-stage,you could do a 96% 2- stage for less money.
Also ,here even if they did law says 3 days to back out of a contract.
Sadly there is a fine line between service and stealing.

Also not sure if they are propane or natural gas,but it would be worth contacting the utility company(nat.gas) to see if there is any rebates for upgrading.

Couple of things to think about without seeing the job.....first thing is that the bid price I can easily say is too high. Prices will range widely from state to state even area to area but that's extreme . If the market is booming and workers are in short supply them the prices will go up because it's a contractors market. Not saying it's right it simply is what it is. A small 2 man shop can do the job cheaper than a big company because of overhead but they can also hide easier when/if there are any problems and a call back is necessary. Without seeing the layout of the house, it is possible that they are pushing an 80% furnace because of the lack of a good route for running the vent pipe to the outside of the house. In some situations its simple easier to vent back into the chimney instead of tearing out a drywall ceiling and having to make repairs. 80% furnaces still have their place but the price should definitely reflect the cheaper piece and ease of install. It's just as important to know about the guys installing the equipment as it is the company. You can have a great company experience with one crew and a terrible one with another. Especially with A/C work. Anyone can put an A/C in and have it run a few years but to make them run correctly for years without premature failure requires the correct install procedures. Without seeing the job and basing off my 25+ years of doing it for a living in a few different areas, I could see that job selling for between 4500/5000 up to 7000/8000 on the extremely involved difficult end. Not all contractors are there to rip people off but 14k for that job make me pucker.

Good info, Uncle Kracker. Thanks.

Traner furnace was mine. VEnt out existing chimney , condensate pump routed to drain in furnace/utility room.

Again, I really appreciate the information everyone has shared. We're looking for additional bids and will see how they come out. To answer a couple additional questions that came up, it is a natural gas system. Venting should be relatively easy as it is less than 10' from an exterior wall which already has dryer vents in it. No drywall on the ceiling - open joists. We are in an area that has a lot of new construction going on, so I understand that can cause labor costs to increase some. The feedback I've seen about the furnace possibly being over-sized and lower efficiency does raise some red flags with me. I'll try to do a heat calc to see what ballpark I should expect to see when the next contractor is here.....I'll also make sure I'm present for the entire contractor visit. We also have a 3-day back-out period....and that may be why he was trying to schedule the installation to happen 2 days after contract signing, to get the work accomplished before an opportunity to back out. Thanks to all on behalf of my parents.

Gregdoo: My home is 5,400 square feet and is kept cozy warm with not ONE but TWO natural gas furnaces!
Two years ago we replaced BOTH furnaces with new ones for less than $7,000.00 (parts and labor included!)!
I have NO idea why your one furnace would be so expensive?
By the way my 5,400 square foot home here in Montana is heated with natural gas for much less money than my 2,800 square foot home was heated (electrically) out in Puget Sound country (where its a LOT warmer!)!
Go natural gas is my recommendation and again I have no idea why the estimate is so high for the inlaws?
Good luck.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

The 4.5 ton AC is a bigger part of the cost than the "one" furnace. That said, $14k is way high.

I'd question the load calcl. It may call for 54,000 BTU cooling, but I doubt it in a zone that still allows 13 SEER equipment. I'd expect to see a load of 3-4 tons. There are a ton of variables but most split levels have reasonably energy efficient construction.

Did a 96% furnace and a 16 seer air conditioner for a 4 level 2400 sq. ft. for 6200 $ after energy rebates a year ago. I would look around for a better deal.

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