Stick with a major name brand (Trane, Lennox, Carrier, Rheem, Goodman). I'm not recommending any of these over any others as the quality goes in when the system is installed. An expensive Trane system installed by an incompetent will have more problems than a comparable Goodman system (much less expensive) installed by an competent installer. The competent installer may or may not be more expensive that the incompetent. It's a crapshoot!

Edit: Pretty much all of the builder grade/lower end equipment is made in Mexico or China.

Just to add to the above- carrier and Bryant are literally the same, they switch out the tags at install depending on which brand your installer sells.

Goodman is an ‘old landlord’ brand, said by someone who owns several.

Here's some Energy Star information that might help.

• Central Air Conditioner (Overview / Specification / Buying Guide)
• ENERGY STAR Verified HVAC Installation (ESVI)
• How ESVI Works
• ACCA Existing Homes Program
• ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2019 — Central Air Conditioners and Air Source Heat Pumps
• ENERGY STAR Product Finder

If you buy a major name brand the cost of ownership of those will be higher (Trane, Lennox, Carrier, American Standard) because part prices can be considerably higher than so called 'landlord' brand.

Once you breach the warranty period of the system, generally 10 years the only thing left is 'cost of ownership'.

Other factors: time. Time the system is down waiting for parts. You want something that has ease of getting the parts to fix it when it does break. [It will break]

If you are buying a system above that of a 'plain ole' entry level system (14 SEER in the South / 13 SEER in the North) You will be limited to that of those brands mentioned above and the 'landlord' brand. However, the landlord brand often times comes with a better manufacturer warranty.

The warranty does little good if the unit is not installed AND repaired by a 'skilled' Licensed HVAC contractor, not only knowledgeable in doing AC work, but also those lengthy list of things that 'should not be done'.

So what is the best brand for my company?

Any brand that has the features you want and that I can get the equipment for within a mile of my house.

The 'landlord' brand is within that mix... if you don't use someone knowledgeable, someone who goes around an bashes products because they seem inferior it probably won't be long until they start bashing the brand they sold you... so they can turn around and sell you something different once the warranty period runs out.

I've probably been doing this too long. 24 years. 11 years running my own company.

They all break. Don't kid yourself. I can and do reduce the risk, but no one can prevent it fully.

I service the Katy, Texas area.

PS: you do not want to do a 'direct to consumer' type deal where you are buying the equipment. If you buy the equipment, you're responsible for the warranty. That will not be good because AC always break at the worst possible time.

Then you're dealing with a 3rd party to ship parts to when they break. That situation will not be pretty. I prefer pretty, with as little of down time as possible.

That is the standard to look for. I run service everyday as an example. Yesterday was a holiday. My customers got service. How about you?