Why Shouldn’t Price Be Your Only Deciding Factor for Your HVAC Contractor?

It’s hard to see past the dollar signs, but would you hire the cheapest day care provider or brain surgeon without checking them out first?
It’s hard to see past the dollar signs, but would you hire the cheapest day care provider or brain surgeon without checking them out first?

Sometimes it’s hard to see past the dollar signs, but would you hire the cheapest day care provider, site unseen, just because they were the cheapest? How about the cheapest brain surgeon? So what if he graduated last in his class and doesn’t have the most up-to-date equipment? It’s only your brain!

Quality plays a major role in pricing, and for good reason.

  1. For Installations, research and development costs and higher quality raw materials increase the price of HVAC equipment. Because of those higher costs, the equipment will be more energy efficient, last longer and be more reliable than cheaper equipment.
  2. Labor costs vary by skill level. Hiring, retaining and continually training employees is expensive. But the alternative is cheaper, less skilled, less educated labor installing your expensive HVAC equipment. The highest efficiency equipment, if installed improperly, will be less efficient than standard efficiency equipment.
  3. Good, honest business practices have a lower profit margin than shady ones. Cutting corners and playing games with change-orders after the fact gets upfront prices down, but costs more in the long run. And you don’t get what you thought you were paying for.

In order to make sure that you get the right unit, installed correctly, by a company that stands behind its work and provides quality service, you have to consider more than just price. First, establish a quality threshold for both the materials and the contractor. If you stay within the major HVAC unit manufacturers, you should be OK quality-wise. Make a note of the efficiency of the units on proposals to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples.  Check contractors for proper licenses and insurance, and request references. Only after you’ve established that the equipment is comparable and the contractors reputable, can you safely let price be your guide.

Advance Air is not the cheapest contractor in town – and we’re not ashamed to admit it. We have value that the cheapest contractor doesn’t have.

We hire and continually train high caliber employees. We price your project honestly upfront and follow through on our commitments. We stand behind our installations and make sure our customers are fully satisfied. Anything less wouldn’t be acceptable to us or our customers. Even with this high level of service, we are priced lower than our similarly skilled competition because of the way we manage our business and our comparatively low overhead costs.