Installing your own ac system

[Roundhouse]

Those rates are hard to believe - especially in a big city like that.

In our neck of the woods techs make $28/hr on the check plus a benefit package of around $16/hr

If my son had been making $28 hr he wouldn’t have quit doing hvac
He had the 608 cert and was earning $12 hr plus a fat commission if he sold the customer on a new unit
But he didn’t lie to customers like a lot of the other techs would , he didnt tell them their unit was toast and couldn’t be fixed when it just needed a $900 repair
He didn’t like all the residential customers complaining , I told him to switch to commercial , that all the good techs did commercial and chillers and not residential

He’s now driving a heavy haul flatbed and making about $35-50 an hour

It varies a lot since he gets paid 10-20% of the gross , depending if he’s overnight security of a $75 million oversized load, parked in the truck stop or if he’s the driver.

Some loads gross $8 dollars a loaded mile but they run a lot of empty miles for free

 

[TTMotorsports]

Ac units on order. Got quotes for ducting from a few companies waiting on 1 more quote then hopefully get that stuff this week.

 

[nsula_country]

608 Universal isn't difficult to get online. Many supply houses will let you open an account with just a 608. Sales are sales.

Package units should not be restricted, not individual components that refrigerant contact. Should be able to purchase across the counter. But at retail price. Depends on supply house policies. Also, if UNIONS have an influence in the region.

Sheet metal and insulation is expensive. Also, labor intensive to do. More labor intensive to do exposed and make it look good!

Materials for one 5 ton split heat pump, all ductwork and accessories, unistrut (expensive) conduit, wire, breakers, disconnect, ect I had about $5000 invested. Have accounts at HVAC and Electrical supply houses. Sheet metal and components was about $1000 of that. For a package unit, I would bet sheet metal will cost more. Its bigger, longer and more of it to go from outside into building.

Had I installed this system (HVAC and Electrical) in a shop for hire, after 20% markup and labor at $120/hr (me and laborer), I would have charged about $12k. Had I hired it out, I would have expected $10k-$12k turnkey job quote.

For 2 package units, turnkey job... You were quoted fairly. For what your locale will bear!

CT

 

[MattT]

For a package unit, I would bet sheet metal will cost more. Its bigger, longer and more of it to go from outside into building.

Also more labor installing the ductwork through the wall.

 

[fitter30]

Would you buy a convertible or motorcycle in the summer top of the season? Same way with hvac. 100* your going to pay unless your a very good customer.In the fall prices will fall if you can wait or buy a window unit then sell next summer. If a hvac company is any good there working 80+ hours a week in the heat.

 

[rattle_snake]

I installed my own units (minis). It was quite time con$uming. I did a better job than any contractor would have, because it's my shop and I care about aesthetics AND unnecessary details.

The A/C industry is defiantly 'locked down' much more than other trades. Only one local supply house that will sell to 'Joe blow', but at ridiculous prices ($40 for a capacitor).

Luckily I have a 'friend' with an A/C biz and I was able to buy whatever from wherever through them. No markup. His business is stupid busy this time of year. Insane.

 

[TTMotorsports]

I got quotes from 2 sheet metal shops. All ducting. Registers. Return filter housings. Etc was $3050. Packaged unit was 800 less each than split plus less wiring and plumbing.

Trying to find an ac guy who will get me a quote on steel ducting for me to see the price difference is with an account vs joe blow off the street.

 

[TTMotorsports]

Finishing up this install today. Purchased 2 goodman 5 ton 14 seer packaged units. Placed them outside. Then took measurements and had phoenix sheet metal supply fab up a couple adapters to get the machine ducting through building to the return and supply ducting.

Then I installed 130ft of 16inch spiral ducting along with 12 registers. May add a few more once I start working in there if I find hot spots.

Overall 3 days to install and saved myself around 7k over the quotes and I feel the Install is as good as a pro would have done

 

[Jim greengo]

Just to play devils advocate here: A counterpoint. You may be paying a 2-3X markup on HVAC with the assumption you're getting the warranty and experience, but the reality is, that HVAC techs dont really get paid very much, which doesn't attract top talent and lots of installs are fubar'd right from the get go. Most people know this, and lots of us, me included, are VERY reluctant to pay some guy 10K to screw up an install when we know we're going to be fighting about it anyway. Thus the rise of the DIY movement. Me AND my brother have dealt with this issue multiple times.

Sounds like you've been dealing with the wrong contractors,of course I've dealt with plenty of engineers over the years who were unqualified to screw in a light bulb.
It's a 2 way street.

 

[Jim greengo]

In Atlanta the hvac techs get paid about $12-15 and hour
While the company charges $95-110 an hour

And usually want $4000 labor to do a change out , replacing a existing system using your existing ductwork

Takes a Tech and helper about 10 hours , unit costs $1800
It’s a nice biz that’s makes $4k profit for one day with a $15 hr tech and a $8 hr helper and an old worn out van

Plus the tech that came out to work on your broken unit get a very nice sales commission if he talks you into a new unit instead of repairing the old one

You couldn't get a service guy out of bed to show up for work around here for $12-$15hr ,closer to $30hr .
But by all means jump on out there and start your own business and show us how easy it is.

 

[86turbodsl]

Sounds like you've been dealing with the wrong contractors,of course I've dealt with plenty of engineers over the years who were unqualified to screw in a light bulb.

It's a 2 way street.[emoji481]

Well, I'll have to get that handbook that tells me what contractors are good ones... Oh wait, that doesn't exist. One of my friends was an HVAC contractor and an engineer. I graduated with him. He told me all the lowdown. Congrats on being a good contractor. I wish there were many more of you.

Sent from my LG-TP450 using Tapatalk

 

[Jim greengo]

Those rates are hard to believe - especially in a big city like that.

In our neck of the woods techs make $28/hr on the check plus a benefit package of around $16/hr

 

[Jim greengo]

Well, I'll have to get that handbook that tells me what contractors are good ones... Oh wait, that doesn't exist. One of my friends was an HVAC contractor and an engineer. I graduated with him. He told me all the lowdown. Congrats on being a good contractor. I wish there were many more of you.

Sent from my LG-TP450 using Tapatalk

We plumbed a new commercial building for a friend of mine in south Omaha years ago.
He used an engineer from off of 50th and L st for making his plans.
The bay's were each in the 1750-1900 sq ft range from what I remember.
The engineer drew it as having 1 bathroom in each bay,I told him they needed 2 for each bay.
He proceeded to tell me about all his degrees and years of experiance ,and we only needed 1 bathroom in each bay to be legal.
I told him he should go back to the that school and get his money back,because they ripped him off.
I told him I wasnt going to waste time and materials/ a whole lot of my friends money on a whole lot of c.i materials to have the city make me change it,so I called the city plumbing inspector for that part of town to come down a d make a decision.
Inspector shows up and says 2 bathrooms,engineer pulls same I'm God game on him.
So 15 mins later chief plumbing inspector rolls in and all hell breaks loose on that poor engineer.
In the end he got 2 bathrooms roughed in for each bay.

 

[ant.foste]

TT: That wife of yours does good work. Looks like she did more and worked harder in the height of summer than some laborers I've hired over the years in Phoenix. Seeing your Mega reminds me of my old 2006 MegaPig with a trussed front axle, 6" Carli with long travel Deavers and King 3" shocks with 4 tube bypasses in the back. I miss that truck. It's still floating around Phoenix and Baja.

 

[86turbodsl]

We plumbed a new commercial building for a friend of mine in south Omaha years ago.
He used an engineer from off of 50th and L st for making his plans.
The bay's were each in the 1750-1900 sq ft range from what I remember.
The engineer drew it as having 1 bathroom in each bay,I told him they needed 2 for each bay.
He proceeded to tell me about all his degrees and years of experiance ,and we only needed 1 bathroom in each bay to be legal.
I told him he should go back to the that school and get his money back,because they ripped him off.
I told him I wasnt going to waste time and materials/ a whole lot of my friends money on a whole lot of c.i materials to have the city make me change it,so I called the city plumbing inspector for that part of town to come down a d make a decision.
Inspector shows up and says 2 bathrooms,engineer pulls same I'm God game on him.
So 15 mins later chief plumbing inspector rolls in and all hell breaks loose on that poor engineer.
In the end he got 2 bathrooms roughed in for each bay.

Yeah, there are sure some bad engineers out there. Just sounds like you think they are all bad. They are not. Like any profession, there bad eggs in any of them.

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[DC73]

Finishing up this install today.

Looks good! I also did most of my own install. Didn't need near as much AC as you. I installed a Goodman 1.5 ton unit w/ furnace. I did most everything but had an HVAC guy "commission" the system. He connected the line set at either end, charged the system, checked my work, started the system and checked it out and then gave me a receipt that stated everything he did. Alpine Air told me that was good enough to maintain the factory warranty.

DC

 

[Jim greengo]

Finishing up this install today. Purchased 2 goodman 5 ton 14 seer packaged units. Placed them outside. Then took measurements and had phoenix sheet metal supply fab up a couple adapters to get the machine ducting through building to the return and supply ducting.

Then I installed 130ft of 16inch spiral ducting along with 12 registers. May add a few more once I start working in there if I find hot spots.

Overall 3 days to install and saved myself around 7k over the quotes and I feel the Install is as good as a pro would have done

Where are you doing to start reducing at?

 

[Jim greengo]

Yeah, there are sure some bad engineers out there. Just sounds like you think they are all bad. They are not. Like any profession, there bad eggs in any of them.

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Exactly,I know plenty of unskilled tradesman to say the least!

 

[Roundhouse]

You couldn't get a service guy out of bed to show up for work around here for $12-$15hr ,closer to $30hr .
But by all means jump on out there and start your own business and show us how easy it is.

That’s why my son quit
And that’s what almost all the hvac places around Atlanta pay

$12-15 an hour and taking $600 a month out of your check for health ins if they offer it at all after Obamacare came along

They charged the customer $95 an hour and paid him $12 with zero benefits
He’s smart enough to not stick around for that ****

I’m one of those that will NOT pay some company $7000 to connect a unit that cost them $1600 to my existing ductwork
$5000 profit for a couple of tatted up long haired pot smoking rednecks to set and charge the unit and tape it to my existing ductwork ?



https://hvacdirect.com

 

[TTMotorsports]

Does anyone have experience with doing your own install and getting the warranty. Do I need to call some hvac guys and pay them 150 bux or so to come check it out and register the warranty for me?

 

[Jim greengo]

Does anyone have experience with doing your own install and getting the warranty. Do I need to call some hvac guys and pay them 150 bux or so to come check it out and register the warranty for me?

You might have a hard time getting somebody too sign on your work,liabilty issues if something goes wrong down the road.

 

[TTMotorsports]

You might have a hard time getting somebody too sign on your work,liabilty issues if something goes wrong down the road.

Makes sense but it being a packaged unit I didnt actually touch any of the ac unit besides 6 wires and screwed on the ducting. No soldering. Charging etc to screw up.

 

[SALIV8]

Call around and I bet youll get a tech to come out and sign off. I did it with my minis.

Looks like you did a nice job with both your project and wife- shes a looker!

 

[Roundhouse]

Does anyone have experience with doing your own install and getting the warranty. Do I need to call some hvac guys and pay them 150 bux or so to come check it out and register the warranty for me?

Your work looks good

If you can’t get anyone to come out and sign off for the warranty
I wouldn’t worry about it too much

You saved enough to buy a second unit , maybe a third one .

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I think the HVAC company "owner" (the boss) holds the license and maintain bonds and insurances etc.

But the workers that comes out are not (necessarily) licensed? They would / should have EPA certification to handle the refrigerant.

am I right?

They MUST have EPA type II, III or Universal certification, depending on what type of equipment they service. Type I is for small appliances only. They can't service residentila or commercial HVAC. In most states, a tech does not have to have a Contractor's License, their boss/owner does. In may states the owner only has to have a Business License. NJ finally started to required a Master HVACR License. I didn't bother as I will never own my own company and I didn't see the benefit of spending the money on the required insurance and annual renewals just to have it on my resume.


Tommy

 

[LS6 Tommy]

It is trivially easy to get a 608 cert for anyone interested. I did it in an afternoon. I wouldn't call it a big barrier to entry.

It may be "trivial" in terms of actually taking the test, but not everyone has the knowledged to pass. There are posts here almost every day that prove that. Some of those posts come form people who have passed the test, too.

Tommy

 

[86turbodsl]

Fair enough, but if you're going to the trouble of taking the test, you probably know what you're doing by that point.

 

[DC73]

Does anyone have experience with doing your own install and getting the warranty. Do I need to call some hvac guys and pay them 150 bux or so to come check it out and register the warranty for me?

Might depend on who you bought it from. If you got it from Alpine Air, see my comments in post #56.

DC