Why unit sizes are not on estimates

Fairly often we will get questioned about an estimate we submit and why we don’t list the size units we plan to install. The simple answer is, we have no idea what size heating and cooling unit your house needs. That is of course until we use our ACCA manual J load calculation software.

A lot of feedback consists of “The other 2 companies are quoting using a 3 ton a/c and a 80,000 btu furnace,” to which I always ask, how do they know that is correct? In most cases we hear “that is what is there now so they are going to install the same size back”. The problem with that is, nearly 90% of the units we work on daily are oversized. In 15 years of heating and air conditioning work, I have found 1 unit undersized by a couple thousand BTU’s. Just 1. So quoting like for like replacements might be okay for their business model, it's not how we like to do installs. If you want to know why size matters, you can read our article here https://www.jbhenergy.com/bens-blog/new-heating-and-cooling-system

So why don’t we do load calculations before we submit estimates? It's simple really! A proper load calculation will take 1-2 hours of time. A typical estimate takes about 3 hours to put together, from travel time, to meeting with customers, taking measurements, and putting the proposal together. There is no guarantee that we will get the work. So adding 2 hours to every estimate we may not get, would be costly. Once we have been awarded the work, we then proceed with running the software to determine the size unit needed.

If you are in the process of getting estimates for new heating and cooling units, and the company is simply replacing like size for like size, you may not be getting the best unit for your house. That is why JBH heating and air does not quote sizes for replacement systems.