re: Having to replace our AC system. Can you all help me do a sanity check on the price quote?

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Every single one of them has been told in the last year that their unit is 'old' and needs to be replaced for various reasons.

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A friend of mine was dying of cancer, before he died. He put his wife on a maintenance A/C checkup twice a year, pays so much a month. She called me about 4 years ago. Telling me her A/C unit was fixing to go out. They work or they don't. I sent my A/C guy over there, nothing wrong with the unit. I told her to drop that checkup. Wasted money, I'd get my guy once or twice a year. I guessed on the new unit, before she told me the price, I told her I could get it done for half her quote. Her quote, $12,999. So 4 years later, it's still running.

I’ve said this many times on here, please guys get 4-6 quotes. It’s worth it. Seriously. I don’t give a crap about ‘quality company’ or anything like they’ve been good and fair. Frick all that.

This is what I always suggest, set up a morning or afternoon on say a Friday and on Monday call and ask for quotes. Just let them know you are getting quotes from multiple companies, a quote usually takes 15 mins.

For a 5 ton system you’ll get quotes from $9,000-20,000 is my guess.

There’s an insane amount of profit margin in a new AC install and right now HVAC companies are very busy and ripping people off.

Also, as said companies love to sell new units when a repair is often more than adequate.

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My situation went from recommended (in 2020) to, I suppose, needed. I have an older R22 system that I think finally gave up the ghost, where it's not really fixable anymore. Telling me the compressor is shot, and that my internal coils are bad (leaked out).

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If its an older system that uses R22 that's likely a time you truly do need a new system.

I'll tell you another reason to get multiple quotes, I had a friend recently get a quote for a system that had a compressor go bad and was older so they decided to replace. Their company that did the annual maintenance told them it was going to be 10 days. I called someone for them that I use on my rentals and they beat the quote and could have it done in 3 days. It wasn't any special service for me, I just knew generally they were a very quick and fair price. I still suggested they call 2-3 more people for quotes.

One company I use all the time still is routinely beat for quotes on new systems, sometimes they can be beat by $3000-4000.

Theres so much profit margin, I haven't looked recently but units used to sell new wholesale for around $1,000 a ton. Installed would be about double that and sometimes triple.

ETA: If its a simple unit swap, an install takes about 3-4 hours. The labor cost is really nothing here.

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100k vs 80k btu furnace

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Sounds like reasonable price based on my experience from my last year’s changeout. How large and well insulated is your house? Baton Rouge area? Reason I ask is a 100k btu furnace is fairly large - I downsized my 96k btu gas furnace with my new HVAC changeout (also 4-ton) to 72k btu based on manual J heat load calculations (2500 sq ft conditioned area, R-30 attic, R-13 walls, 1993 build).

Now having an over-sized gas furnace is nowhere near as critical as having an over-sized cooling system, just maybe a little more expensive to operate and it will short cycle more often in heat mode. But the blower speed in the furnace can be adjusted downward in heat mode if necessary.

Attention to detail in the installation is indeed more important than the manufacturer of the equipment.