Looks like a member company of Nordyne family of HVAC. Two ton condenser has been quoted. What size do you currently have including size of heat strip? I never ever recommend purchasing HVAC thru a big box store especially Sears. Usually a rip off. I would suggest getting a quote on a Trane or AmStd. I will not make a comment on your electrical service. Best to a qualified electrical company. Best practices say on a heat pump system, condenser, air handler, and strip electric heat should all be placed on separate circuits. IMO

My advice, based on experience as a homeowner: When comparing bids, be sure you're comparing apples to apples. Looking back now, we chose our GC for other factors in addition to price, but he definitely low-balled his original bid to look more appealing. A common tactic, but one that's often not realized by consumers until after the fact. (We did go into this project knowing this, but I believe it's worth repeating here. Again.) Meangoose summed up my feelings precisely: "I think homeowners get kind of a raw deal in these discussions sometimes. If they watch the workers like a hawk, questioning the productivity and methodology of the workers, they're being unfair and unrealistic. When they get out of the way and assume that the GC has things under control (seeing that is what the additional 25% or whatever is supposed to be for) then they're not being active consumers." "I GC'd my own reno, mostly because of these types of discussions on GW. I just couldn't understand why I'd pay a GC a premium when I'd still have to manage everything anyways and educate myself on every task well enough to direct it if not do it myself." I work from home, and my GC doesn't realize how much money I SAVED (and I will emphasize again: SAVED) him by pointing out to his subs along the way when they were doing things wrong, like installing the wrong type of electrical switches, or stopping a caulking project because they were doing such a messy job on my brand new cabinets with 1/8 gaps in the trim, that I'd rather do it myself. I can give example after example... crooked backsplash, trim that didn't match... and so on. I checked on the work periodically throughout the day while the subs could fix legitimate errors on their parts while they were here--and the errors were fixable. Had I worked outside the house, and come home each evening to the errors that were made during the day, they would have been more costly to my GC to fix. Admittedly, I'm writing this with some bitterness, facing a 10% change order increase when we had written into our contract that all change orders needed to be in writing (and we had only received written notice of change orders for less than 5%). Not the end of the world, but this is my second experience with a GC, both were researched and recommended. And it's my last experience. I'm done being duped. I managed the day-to-day of this project, not my GC. I acknowledged and paid for each time I cost him more money; but I should have kept notes along the way of when I saved him money. So, my main piece of advice: If you work outside the home and cannot be there, in person, when work is being done in your home, you must thoroughly, completely trust your GC and each one of his/her subs. Or, you must be flexible and accept subpar work along the way because it is up in the air who pays for things to be done right. This post was edited by peony4 on Thu, Oct 3, 13 at 21:25

Dear Kim, I think you are a little ahead of yourself. Like the majority of people wanting new kitchens you are trying to get your new kitchen done. And Without being able to communicate what it is you really want and expect to Get AFTER your new kitchen is done. You are designing the kitchen but not Your Life You expect to be Living In It AFTER it’s done. “ I already have the kitchen layout chosen for the most part since a friend of mine who is a designer has the same layout and I'm probably going to go with a similar layout.” I believe a kitchen is a Home & Life Improvement Project, and NOT a get a new kitchen project to satisfy your urge for something new. Because you don’t like your existing kitchen, with the Hope of getting what you truly want and desire. This is a recipe for kitchen project failure almost everyone blindly follows. This is the Wrong approach and I believe the Wrong destination for you! What you truly want, if you think about it, is a new, different, better, easier life than the one you’re living now in your existing kitchen. That you know from your own experience doesn’t work for you. Because it’s Not Your Kitchen but the kitchen you inherited from the previous owner. That you had to Adapt to by putting your items where ever they fit and as long as you know where everything is you’ll make do. What makes you believe your new kitchen will be any different? What makes you believe you won’t Have To ADAPT to your new kitchen? If you want to get the new kitchen and new life you truly want and expect your new kitchen project to deliver, and not do any of the work yourself. I believe you will need to hire a designer and a GC. Your budget is going to dictate what you can actually get in design, product, and services. You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear. Is your budget realistic? Fact: You are NEVER going to renovate this kitchen again for as long as you’re in this home. I believe that if you are going to take on a new kitchen project, Your Ultimate goal is Home & Life Improvement. And as dramatic an improvement in Home and Life, for your money, as possible. However, price shouldn’t be the Determining Factor. Why? Because you are NEVER going to renovate this kitchen AFTER it’s done. No Matter What Happens! You will be living with it, for better or worse, for as long as you own this home. Imagine, you’re in this home just 10 years from now. Will it matter then that you saved thousands of dollars, but have lived with disappointment and regret. That you didn’t get to live your new life you were hoping for, for the last 10 years? Or that you spent thousands more to get the new life and new kitchen you still love and enjoy living in every single day? Buyer Beware…Hiring anyone in the services industry is tough for everyone that has had to do this. Doctor, lawyer, plumber, electrician, GC, designer it doesn’t matter. Too many choices and it seems no easy way to tell service providers apart. You may want to hire a GC that does kitchens so you don’t have to find tradesman and do it yourself. That comes at a cost. You may want to hire a designer to create your kitchen design drawings for you so you can get bids and shop for your best price and value. This also comes at a cost. Which route is the best one for you to take? You can’t answer this question because you don’t have enough information. You are in the forest among the trees. So let’s see if we can get you above the trees to get you a 30,000 foot 360 degree view. So you can see clearly what is involved in what you are about to do. Every GC you talk to is a GC and every designer is a kitchen designer so far no help. We are all individuals and as individuals we are all uniquely different. We have different ways of doing the exact same things, we have different levels of perfect that need to be met. We all feel differently about what we do. And We all add different levels of value to the work we do. So although on the surface service providers are grouped together in your case GC, designer, every GC and every Designer is different and will produce dramatically different results at dramatically different costs. So How do you compare them to discover their differences and who’s best to work for you? You ask this simple question, “What do I get if I hire you that I won’t get from anyone else?” You care about What You Get not what they do. If you’re looking for a GC to do your entire new kitchen project chances are they design kitchens or are going to farm out your project to a kitchen designer anyway. To a designer you didn’t get to interview. These designers will design a kitchen (not your kitchen) that suits your budget. You’ll truly believe you’re designing your new kitchen too. Because you’ll get to make choices but you’re not. Because you’ll only get to see and choose from what they show you that fits within your budget. You’ll realize this is true, AFTER your new kitchen is done and you’ll blame yourself and regret that you didn’t do this project differently. NOW that you have the experience of HOW Not To do your new kitchen project. You don’t have the luxury of gaining experience this way. So what do you do? Think about your new kitchen project like a journey you’re going to take. To get you from where you are now, Your existing kitchen that doesn’t work for you. To the world’s perfect kitchen for you, that resolves all of your existing kitchen’s performance problems esthetically and functionally. And delivers that new, different, better, easier, more enjoyable life, that you don’t experience now in your existing kitchen. Where you want to be Living AFTER your new kitchen is done. How? 1. You start where you stand in your existing kitchen. Analyze it to discover what performance benefits exist that you’d like to keep and what performance problems it has that you need to resolve, fix, or eliminate. Now you are clear about what works well and what needs improvement in your kitchen’s performance of the 5 Basic Tasks (storage, preparation, cooking/baking, delivery (food & beverage), and clean up). Reproducing the benefits and resolving the problems gets you to the world’s perfect kitchen for you! And all of this space planning work should be done BEFORE interior elevations are ever done. Your goal is to create the world’s perfect plan that’s uniquely your own. Creating the Foundation your new kitchen will be built upon. How? 2. You create every possible appliance and cabinetry combination to create every possible new kitchen layout that provides a solution, to your unique kitchen design dilemmas discovered in step 1. Use the following link to see what I mean. https://www.kitchendesignco.com/layout-laboratory/ Analyze and Compare all of your new kitchen options you were able to come up with (there should be at least 5). If you need DIY kitchen layout help use the following link: https://www.kitchendesignco.com/diy-kitchen-layout-help/  Just like you did in step 1 so you are clear How each layout (plan) works day to day and when you entertain. After you’ve gone through all of them…do it again. Only this time by direct comparison and using the process of elimination you’ll get down to one plan. Your perfect new kitchen plan. How do you know for certain? You’ve seen and compared all other options leaving no doubt that you have your perfect plan. 3. Now that you have your perfect kitchen plan. Having your interior elevations and 3D perspective drawings done is easy. Actually you should be able to get an estimate on how much your kitchen will cost using your layout (plan) alone. However, if you have a complete set of kitchen interior design drawings done, like these (to see examples follow this link): https://www.kitchendesignco.com/kitchen-design-drawings/  Once you select your finishes you can get accurate pricing from EVERYONE on EVERYTHING you’ll need to complete your kitchen project and long BEFORE you build it. So you can discover definitely if your budget will get you the new kitchen, home and life improvement you truly want, and expect it to deliver. REMEMBER...You are NEVER going to redo this kitchen for as long as you'll own it. For better or for worse live with it and make do, or get what you truly want and expect. It’s your decision. Hope this has been helpful. Joe Brandao Kitchen Design Company

I would say best practice for hiring for a position like yours is to include in the posting that there is a preference for internal candidates. I know when I was a job seeker I found that a fair way to give me a heads up about the likelihood of getting the job. That is a great response and thank you for offering a reasonable and thoughtful response, however, that could be an ethical violation. This is a perfect demonstration of the difference between ethical and honest. You have a fiduciary duty to the company you work for. If revealing a preference for internal candidates will yield a less qualified pool (which it definitely will), and there is even a chance you would hire an external candidate (which might apply), then your honesty would be an ethical violation. You were not hired by your organization to look out for the interest of applicants, you were hired to look out for the best interest of the organization that pays you. You were free to turn down the job, but you didn't. ----- So let's turn this back around to a contractor. Suppose a contractor has a couple of partners in his business, and he is asked to do a bid for someone, which is a service he charges for. As the bid comes together he realizes that he has no intention of accepting the job. What should he do? Obviously, the move with the most integrity is to give the money back and come clean, anything else is tantamount to stealing. However, returning money that he had no obligation to, would be a violation of his fiduciary duty to his partners. Ethics aside, I don't think you are well equipped to GC your own home build based on this information. I completely agree with this. This is also why I think finding out how much you will have to pay someone to do it for you is a really great option.