Hello, IMO Dallas is a good place for quality work at reasonable prices. Last year, I read one post that was quoted $27,000 for a 3-ton system installation. I also read a post of a $2500 3-ton replacement. This is a lot of difference. The typical price is between $3000-5000 for a 3-ton system replacement. Duct work during the summer can be very expensive. I have heard of guys charging $2000 a day to work in the attic during the summer. These are not dishonest companies, just guys that do not want to work in the attic on a 100+ degree day. If your system is in the attic, do it while it is cool. (Now) There are so many quality HVAC companies in Dallas. Quotes like yours are for people made of money. I read and heard of many 3-ton replacements last year in the $10,000 range. I can not imagine what caused the cost to be so high. A typical system can be installed in a day with 2 men. Labor and 2x markup is nowhere near $10,000. Even in Legacy, this is a high price. I am helping someone that was hosed last year with a 5-ton installation. He now has the state of Texas involved. He was hosed so bad, that his case was placed in front of 30 previous cases waiting for proscution. The sad thing is the company that did the hose job has a fair reputation. The installation was incomplete, yet he spent $6200 for a 5-ton replacement. The company tried to charge him an additional $2k for a 1/2 days work replacing a couple of ducts. His summer bills were over $1000 a month for a 2600 sqft house. Get multiple bids. I know of one wholesale installer that will replace a condenser for under $200 labor. (Last spring) This is very cheap for Dallas. This is less than I charged in the 1980's. If you intend to replace all three units at one time you should talk to this company in Austin. He manufacturers a system designed for Dallas and hot climates. His equipment is like commercial equipment, and is truly efficient. http://www.alliedenergysystems.com/thermal.html Replacement of lines depends on the requirements of the new equipment and not age or condition of the lines. Sometimes this is needed for maximum efficient operations. Any handy person can install new duct. The key to a good job, is to seal all joints and seal the insulation properly. Many installers use a mastic to guarantee the joints are sealed. For a very efficient duct system consider using foam spray insulation on the ducts. Installing a system requires a few tools. Guages, Vac pump, torch for silver solder, Volt-amp meter, and a few sheetmetal tools. Basic mechanic tools also. For legal service work you need a recovery machine. By law, you need a CFC certificate to buy freon, or systems. You are also required to have it to adjust freon. Most cities require a permit to replace HVAC equipment, but less than 20% of the residential work is permitted in the Dallas area. Now, for the good news. The state of Texas will issue you a voucher that allows you to purchase equipment for your house, if you have a cfc certificate. Kinda neat. If you have specific questions email me. I am in N. Texas area.

I'm baaaackkk! My contractor responded to my question to him about why the heat pump quote was so much higher than the non-heat pump quote...He didn't really answer it, but he has revised it to include the Infinity furnace (variable I think) along with the Infinity heat pump-a/c. My total payment after rebates is about 13,500. This includes the system below, 50 gal powervent hwh, 950 sq feet of r-19 blown in fiberglass and air sealing gaps in attic and as needed elsewhere. I have no idea what a reasonable price for this Infinity system is. I know the hwh and insulation are a little high, but not crazy. Any ideas what this hvac alone should cost? He doesn't list Infinity control but maybe that's an oversight as one of the units (a/c?) seems to require it. I would ask for it to be included in the price. This is the same price as he originally gave me for the 59TP5 furnce..the only diff is the furnace, is it much more in cost? � Remove and dispose of existing furnace, coil, line set, and plenum located in basement � Clean duct system. � Install new 2-stage, 100,000 BTU Carrier 96% gas furnace. (Model 59TN6A0100E2120) � Install new 4-ton Carrier Infinity 16, 2-stage heat pump condenser on legs. (Puron) (Model (25HNB636B) � Install new matching Carrier evaporator coil. (CNPVP4821A) � Install new properly sized disconnect/ whip. � Install new media cabinet and filter. (MERV 10) � Install new Carrier Edge programmable thermostat control. � Install new plenum and duct adaptation to existing supply and return duct. � Install new copper line set to connect units between indoor and outdoor equipment. � Install new condensation removal system terminating to exterior. � Connect to existing intake and exhaust piping to exterior. � Includes Carrier Limited Lifetime warranty on heat exchanger. � Includes Carrier Limited 10-year warranty on heat exchanger. � Includes Carrier Limited 10-year parts warranty and 10-year labor warranty. � Includes 1-year maintenance agreement. (Fall 2012 and Spring 2013) � All UCC required permit fees included Of course I do know that if my unit dies I could replace it with something for around 8-9k...but don't know how much Infinity would cost or if it's worth it. Also, He wrote his in the email, "This project will save over 27% of Total usage but I used 25% reduction over the course of one year. Using your utility bills from 5/11 to 4/12 you spent approx. $2,397.00 on electric and $1,040.00 on gas. (Keep in mind this was one of the warmest winters on record. From 4/11 to 5/10 you spent $1,375.00 on gas). Taking theses costs and deducting the 25%, we have an average monthly savings of $21.66 on gas and $49.93 on electric which equals to a total average monthly savings of $71.59. Remove that cost from the $83.33 loan payment you have $16.74 per month payment which equates to paying back $2,008.80 on a $10,000.00 loan." BUT, isn't part of my electric my fridge, computers and tv??? Also, I doubt the people who paid 8k got a 10yr pt/labor warranty...which does have some value.

We got our Ticor sink from Overstock too. Waited to get it with grids from Galaxy and they were out of stock of the sink when the grids arrived - we should have secured the order. We were desperate as we only had 2 weeks before the granite was to be cut. I search for the Ticor sink S3560 and eventually found it on Overstock. We did the same thing - reviewed the model number, photos etc. and ordered through Overstock. The sink arrived in the Ticor box, appears very solid and is insulated. Our installer said it was a solid sink, they noted that some square sinks can be flimsy - ours isn't. I am glad that Ticor confirmed that Overstock sells their sinks - there was always that question in my mind. We would have preferred to order with Galaxy - they are very good to deal with, but timing became the issue.

"that there was nothing in our spec sheet specifying that we could only have one shower head and valve per shower" Sounds like there was nothing in the specifications about more than one, so that's almost certainly how it was priced. The CO should be done in advance of the change, giving you an opportunity to accept or reject the charge, not after the work is started. It will cost a lot more to retrofit, so chalk it up to small lessons learned at this point. The more complete the specifications and drawings are, in my experience, the fewer the bad surprises. Something around $1K/fixture seems pretty typical in the primary estimate, work done under COs is almost always more expensive.