During the summer, you need an air conditioner to keep your home cool. We have installed hundreds of air conditioners, and we want to tell you a little more about the process. In this article, we want to take you through each step, from when we first come assess your situation, until we install the air conditioner. Our goal is to meet or surpass your expectations throughout the entire process.

In this article, we are going to break down the Blue Ridge process into 3 parts:

If you’d like to speak to someone now about an air conditioner for your home or business, give us a call, or click on the button below to contact us online.

Schedule an Estimate

Consultation

It would be ideal if we could just give you a set price online for each air conditioner, but the truth is, a bit more goes into the estimate. This is due to the customized nature of the installation process at each home, in addition to the variations in air conditioner features and efficiencies that customers prefer. 

That being said, a homeowner can expect a new air conditioner installation price to start around $7000 for the outdoor condenser unit and indoor coil. This is typically a very standard AC system, with the lowest efficiency rating. As the energy efficiency levels rise, so will the price of the air conditioner. 

Air conditioner cooling efficiency is measured using Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio, or SEER. As the SEER number rises, the efficiency rises as well. This will lead to a more expensive price tag, but lower energy bills to offset that cost! Your air conditioner should last for 10+ years, so making sure that your energy bills are under control during that time is important. 

The purpose of the consultation is to fully understand the customer’s needs and expectations. Prior to coming to your home, if time allows, our comfort specialist will perform a heat load calculation. Most of the information needed to do this is available from third-party online sources such as Zillow.com. However, they may need to call you to complete the analysis or complete it once they are at your home. An example output of this analysis is shown below. You can see that about 36,000 BTUs (3 Tons) of energy are needed to cool this home.

Using this information, we will be able to measure how much cooling energy will be needed from your new air conditioner. We will give you some different options, with different ranges of energy efficiency. Remember, the more energy efficiency your heat pump is, the less money you will spend on utility bills throughout the year. 

You can think about this like you do vehicles. You can buy the Dodge Charger and get 22 miles per gallon, or the Honda Accord and get 36 miles per gallon. Both can accomplish the mission, but one does it at much lower operational expense. 

Air conditioners come in a few different styles as well. You can install a traditional AC system that uses ducts to deliver the cooled air throughout your home. This system will provide even and consistent cooling throughout your home, making every space the same temperature. 

You may also consider a ductless mini split air conditioning system. You’ve probably seen these in businesses, and maybe even a friend’s home, and not even realized it.  They require no ductwork. They run using a condenser outside that can hook up to head units or cassettes inside through a small bit of tubing. You can learn a little more about ductless mini splits here.  Although ductless systems do come in air-conditioning-only product offerings, it is more typical for customers to buy ductless heat pumps so the same unit will provide heat in the winter unless there is another source of heat for the home.

During the consultation, we will take you through the best options that suit your situation. 

In addition to ensuring we size the air conditioner correctly for your home, we also want to ensure the duct system is sized correctly for the amount of airflow needed to condition the home. It is quite common for air returns to be undersized, which can impede efficient conditioning of the home and shorten equipment life. The overall condition of your duct system can be assessed as well.

The logistics of replacing your air conditioner’s indoor coil also must be assessed. Is the access hole to the attic or crawl space limited in size? Can the installers safely access the working area? Sometimes, additional plywood is secured to the joists in the attic to improve working efficiency and safety. You will see the comfort specialist capture most of this information in a digital form on their iPad, along with many pictures and some videos. These are instrumental in helping the installation team to be well-prepared when they arrive.

Schedule an Estimate

The Sale

Our goal is to help educate you as much as possible so that you can make an informed decision that leaves you with no regrets. We want to tell you everything about our company, our people, our standard of service, and the products we have to offer. We want you to know by the end of your consultation if you want to do business with us or not. Yes is great, and no is ok.

Our quotes are provided with a total investment price, and a payments (financed) price. We have a number of financing options that can help to manage the expense of a new installation.

If you sign off on a proposed solution while our comfort specialist is still at your home, you will provide a deposit in the form of a check or credit card. Alternatively, if you plan to finance the purchase, you would apply for financing at this time.

The comfort specialist will ask you for your preferred installation date or dates.

If you decide later on, for example on another day, to move forward with the installation, contact the main office or reply to the email address on your quote. You will be contacted to secure your deposit or financing, and to determine when you prefer the installation. We have a note explaining this on all of our quotes, but you should be aware that our quotes are valid for 30 days. If you make a decision to use us after 30 days, we may need to update our quote as equipment prices and other variables may change.

The Installation

Once you’ve made the decision to move forward on an installation with Blue Ridge Heating and Air, the Installation Manager will pull the permit with the county or city as applicable and contact you to solidify the installation date.

After the installation is complete, the final payment will be collected or monthly payments activated. The Lead Installer will review the Comfort Maintenance Plan with you, and then request a want-date for the inspection. At a later date, the office will schedule the date of inspection and inform you. The inspector will inform you and the company of the inspection result. Should the inspection fail for any reason, Blue Ridge Heating & Air will contact you to schedule a date to come resolve the issue.

In Summary

We know that Blue Ridge Heating and Air is not going to be the best fit for everyone. You will find a wide range of pricing in the market. Generally, the low end of the pricing begins with the phrase, “I know a guy…, or My cousin does side work…, etc.” If that sounds appealing to you, we are not a good fit. Our pricing may be 20 to 50% higher than these options. You should not expect a permit, inspection, or strong follow-up service in these cases.

The other end of the pricing spectrum is typically associated with the larger, well-known company names in the area. Their reputations are easily assessed by looking at the reviews on their websites and Google profiles. Quite often, they have solid reputations and will stand behind their work. On occasion, we have seen their prices be 1.5 to 2 times higher than ours when we’ve crossed paths with a customer. We think that you will find that Blue Ridge Heating and Air pricing lies somewhere in between these two extremes. We do have overhead, a building, trucks, benefits for our valued team members, regular factory training on equipment, etc. So we will never have the lowest price out there. However, we pride ourselves on “Going the Extra Mile” for our customers. If you do not have this type of experience with us, our management and owners want to know about it and make it right.