Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - Need Help, is this too good to be true ?

Hi,

I live in Mass and looking to install
central air for my house. I have small
ranch and maybe the sq feet is around 1300.
He gave me a quote for 2.5 ton 11 Ser system
from Goodman unit for 3.5 k.

ears and home depot were way above 6k. I have hot water base boards so he has to add the ducts. He said it will be about 5 drops through the house.
The coil will go in the attiq.

He seems to know what he was talking about
but he said he does not have any licence
but has insurance and being doing this for
20 years. (he has to install an electrical
subpanel for the new circuit)... so my
question is, do u need town permit for
a job like this and don;t you need to
be licenced electrican? I mean how can i trust him incase something goes wrong?
he looked professional and he had the
truck with HVAC written on it :-)...I asked
for some refrences...So, does this deal
make sense.... i mean his price is 50%
lower than everyone else...too good to be
true?

thanks to everyone...I am lost on this one..

Alex

He sounds kinda like a "hack" He may have insurance but does he have the financial back-up if he does it wrong to come back and replace it at his cost? How did he size the system? He may be an honest man trying to get a business started but it's a gamble I wouldn't take.

be properly liscensed to do the work, he is not, do not use him. call around, get other bids. he is probably a good guy and will do a good job, but you have no recourse if not.

I don't do this for a living but get someone else. That guy sounds like a hack. Your HVAC system is too important to your home and is too big of an investment to just hire the guy with the cheapest price. No license, no major references, no job. You get what you pay for.

How can you trust someone who is installing your new unit? It's actually quite simple...

They show their integrity by trying to run an honest business that follows the federal, state and local laws which means they will be refrigerant certified, licensed and bonded as required by local statutes as well as insured.

I think the question to ask here is...if this person has been doing HVAC for 20 years, why isn't he licensed since he would obviously know it is required!

Treat your installer as if you were a business owner hiring an employee (which is what you are really doing) Check their job history, who have they worked for in the past, where did they get their training, etc.

Legitimate contractors will be more than happy to provide the proof for you.

permits are usually required everywhere thati know, and yes if you get permits you will need a lisenced electrician to do the sub panel and other line voltage work. i am not familiar with Mass. but in jersey air conditioning is NOT a licenced trade. but electrical is. he does have to have the EPA certification for refrigerant handling though. i would get references from him and talk to them, if hge has been doing this for 20 years then he must have someone you can talkk to.....as for the Goodman equipment, i wouldn't take it if the job was free!!!!

and one more thing i might add......where i am in north jersey Sears had a reputation for being very expensive, but i believe that they are installing Trane equipment which is very good, and home depot is alos doing Trane here as well......both of them use sub-contractors to do the work and , but Sears stands behind theirs....i can't say what home depot does