A-102 · Installation
A changeout is four days of decisions and one day of lifting.
By the time the truck arrives, the tonnage, the coil match, the blower setting, the plenum dimensions and every duct size are already on paper. Installation day is the easy part. What makes a system last is everything that happened before it, and the two hours of commissioning afterwards that most companies bill as optional.
What is in the price
- Matched equipment. Condenser and coil rated together as a pair, chosen against your calculated load, with the AHRI certificate in your folder.
- A new plenum. Built to the drawing on site, not a reused box with the old holes patched over.
- Mastic on every joint. Brush-applied, not tape. Tape in a Baton Rouge attic gives up in about four summers.
- A proper pad and line set. Level pad, insulated suction line the whole run, and a disconnect where a technician can reach it.
- The drain done twice. Primary to daylight, secondary pan with a float switch that kills the system before it kills your ceiling.
- Commissioning. Airflow, static pressure, superheat and subcooling measured and written down before we leave.
- Permit and inspection. Pulled in our name, closed out in our name.
What is not
- Duct replacement you do not need. If your trunk is sound and correctly sized we will say so and leave it. It happens more often than you would think.
- An air purifier bundled in. If you want one, ask and we will price it. It will not be quietly added to make a proposal look thicker.
- The biggest unit we can sell you. Oversizing is easy money and it is the single most common reason a Louisiana house feels wrong.
Rough numbers
Real ranges for a single-storey Baton Rouge house, so you can tell whether to keep reading. A written price follows the load calculation, never a phone estimate.
- Coil and condenser changeout, existing duct sound
- $7,400 – $9,800
- Full system, new plenum and trunk modifications
- $10,200 – $14,500
- Full system with complete duct replacement
- $15,000 – $21,000
- Variable-capacity system, whole-home
- $16,500 – $24,000
Two-storey homes, tight crawl spaces and anything involving a relocated air handler sit above these. We would rather tell you that now than on the day.
The proposal had a line for the permit and a line for the commissioning. Nobody else who came out mentioned either one.
Thinking about replacing it this year?
Start with the calculation. It is the only way either of us finds out what the house actually needs.