We've been putting bandaids on an old system for a few years, need to just replace it at soon. Anyone have a good recommendation, we're in N Dallas.

http://www.steadfastairsolutions.com/home.html

We have used Eric in multiple homes. He has the best pricing you will find around DF/W for a good a/c unit (he supplies carrier). Recommended him to family and friends who have used him as well and are quite happy. He will tell you straight if it's worthwhile or not. No upsells.

https://airrescuehvac.com

Aaron is another great one. Fair pricing and honest evaluations. Tell him Louis from ICC sent you.

The Cold Truth out of The Colony has done good work for us, and gets rave reviews throughout our neighborhood.

We replaced our entire AC (and airducts) last summer for about $25K since the airducts were original in the house from 1986 and AC systems were installed when Michael Jordon won his last NBA championship.

I shopped around and settled with A#1 Air. We had Reliant and a few local companies in the Plano/Allen/McKinney area.

Reliant was the cheapest at $23,500 for the entirety of the system. Most of the local companies were $21-24K but didn't want to rip out all the airducts, just the easy ones. A#1 Air came in and offer to do it all, offered an extended warranty. We settled on A#1 Air when they brought up the potential code issues we could have with the new 5-ton blower in a tiny space. None of the other companies mentioned it.

I think the biggest thing when looking at a provider is the quality of the installation job.

We used Reliant last summer. It was around 12-13k to replace the unit and duct work. A#1 estimate was 2x the price for the same unit. 1800sqft house.

Ours was 2600sf house, 5-ton and a 3-ton unit with the duct work of both. Reliant wanted to add a bigger pipe up to the exterior to 2nd story attic from the outside 3-ton condenser that no other AC company even mentioned it needed. To me, it looked like a $1200 unnecessary extra.

I think they are a great company, I just wanted peace of mind and that came from A#1 air.

Similar to what happened to us but Reliant honored the quote they gave us. We got a 4 ton, 2 stage unit. We used A#1 for repairs on our old unit and liked them but couldn't justify the 2x price.

clobby said:

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Similar to what happened to us but Reliant honored the quote they gave us. We got a 4 ton, 2 stage unit. We used A#1 for repairs on our old unit and liked them but couldn't justify the 2x price.

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The real crime is how dang catchy both of their Jingles on the radio are.

Thanks all, getting quotes this week.

We shopped around with Reliant, A1, Etc. Last summer and pricing was all very similar around $12k, didn't replace the actual unit just the ventilation and . Our Contractor, that we have a very long relationship with, recommend Jimmy Ulloa. They were about half the price because they didn't charge us for parts. They used all the same parts as anywhere else, but would bring us the receipts and not inflate them. They did a great job and were super responsive with questions after. They likely don't have all of the insurances and warranties other places might offer though.

We got quotes from 6 different places which were pretty much all over the board due to length of labor warranty and quoting different manufacturers.

We went with a company a friend recommended, DT Air. They had a 10 year warranty on labor, installed a 5 ton variable speed Carrier system, replaced duct, added more returns, a new refrigerant and condensation lines for $14k. Huge difference from the 33 year old system we replaced.

I used Reliant last year on the house we purchased in June. Was an unexpected upgrade. Went with the Fully variable high end system. Full system with new ductwork that had to be completely added/reconfigured.

I have mixed feelings on recommending them. Keep in mind as a ME and Home Inspector I have some decent knowledge about what I am purchasing.

Pros:
The sales guy was very knowledgeable. Knew how to size the system. Made intelligent comments, questions, suggestions. Did not pressure sell. Sized the system properly. Included upgrading the copper lines (old ones ran through the foundation = bad at 50 years old.) Almost all of the other 5 sales guys I had out basically wanted me to design the system. It was amazingly disconcerting and disappointing.

Their quote was by far the best price and financing options were the best.

They installed in a single day. Many of the others quoted two or three days (big negative in August.) They sent out three crews to meet that promise.

I was REALLY impressed by the installers. They were clean and respectful. They worked really hard and did an excellent job. Lots of little things that someone like me would notice were done without asking and would probably be considered going above and beyond.

Cons: (Unfortunately there are some cons. Enough that I would have to think about using them again.)

Mostly these relate tot he back end and office followup (or lack thereof.)

They were supposed to follow up for the city code inspection. after a couple months I would get a call. Return the call and then not hear from them for a month. Eventually, I got a little forceful about the issue and got in touch. Arranged a time for the city inspection. But when they sent over the paperwork it had the previous owner of the house listed on the paperwork. I was pretty confused considering what I had paid them for the system and the fact that even the City had my information. When I called to say I wanted it fixed before I took a day off to wait at home for the inspection, they basically said it was my problem and to work it out. I cancelled the appointment and they never tried to follow up. Eventually they sent me a certified letter that put the city inspection on my plate and absolved them.

Related to the above, I tried several time to get in touch with a manager or the owner (knowing he was an Aggie.) Never got any response at all.

One of their "selling points" was a year of free maintenance. They never called or reached out in anyway to set this up.

The fancy thermostat that came with this variable system has been reading the humidity incorrectly. Finally verified it for myself and called to set up a warranty visit. When I called they let me know that on the maintenance, I had to call them. Not something they let me know up front. They were nice and set up a visit for later this year.

Extra Pro, the service tech that come out was again very good. He confirmed my diagnosis of a bad thermostat and within 3 days they called to schedule the install of the new one.

In the end, I am not unhappy with my choice to use Reliant. On the parts that mean the most to me, they were good to great. But their back end, followup and management seems to need some work. Maybe a lot of work. Their communication and followup pretty much sucks. This is rather disconcerting when you just spent 15k on a new AC system.

Reliant was about $2k higher on the variable speed, but the same on a single speed.

Seems like its next to impossible to get similar quotes, some provide long labor warranties, some have manufacturer rebates on certain systems, and some just seemed busy and priced way higher. I'm just happy to be done with it!

I did everything you did with a 5 ton and 3.5 ton. 20k all in, including tax.