Feedback needed: using Home depot or Lowe's for HVAC installation

Lowes, Canadian Tire, Home Depot, and Sears I believe subcontract the work to a third party company. As far as the quality of the installation, it entirely depends on the sub contractor. However, because you have a big name behind the work, odds are if you have complaints they will be handled in a more professional manner rather then a fly by night contractor that stops answering calls.

owu23 wrote: ↑Hi everyone,

I am looking to replace my old furnace and air conditioner with a more energy efficient system.

Lowes and home depot are companies that seem to be using Carrier and Trane brands, which are what I am interested in.

Would appreciate any feedback if any of you have used them for hvac installation and your experience

Thanks

Costco has trane too

smartie wrote: ↑Costco has trane too

Really?

Local Costco contracted a Lennox dealer.

Yeah. Costco only has Lennox

fusion2k2k wrote: ↑Lowes, Canadian Tire, Home Depot, and Sears I believe subcontract the work to a third party company. As far as the quality of the installation, it entirely depends on the sub contractor. However, because you have a big name behind the work, odds are if you have complaints they will be handled in a more professional manner rather then a fly by night contractor that stops answering calls.

What he said.
You can typically get a lower price if you can find out what company it is without getting the quote through the big box store
As always, negotiate price

Quentin5 wrote: ↑What he said.
You can typically get a lower price if you can find out what company it is without getting the quote through the big box store
As always, negotiate price

True, but in my case, Costco threw in a 1000$ cash card which put them ahead.

mr_raider wrote: ↑True, but in my case, Costco threw in a 1000$ cash card which put them ahead.

Very nice. As they say there are exceptions to every rule

mr_raider wrote: ↑True, but in my case, Costco threw in a 1000$ cash card which put them ahead.

Funny that this came up today! I'm in the Vancouver area and booked my furnace estimate via Costco, and was contacted by their local contractor which is a big name in town (Milani). Their installer came by for estimate yesterday, which was my 2nd quote (I had Home Depot's contractor in 2 days before)... Initially the estimate was quite close to the HD estimate for similar spec'd equipment, of course Trane vs Lennox so not perfectly comparable. At end of quote I asked installer "and then after that is the Costco cash card?" and he was shocked -- "Oh! You're from Costco! I didn't know that" - and due to different equipment pricing and some limits on what models Costco sells he had to revise his quote. Came back 2000 dollars MORE than his initial "non-Costco" quote. So to get the $1250 in cash cards I'd have to spend an extra $2000!

Safe to say, I went with the HD estimate. Milani's service is well known, but it turns out I have a coincidental connection to the HD installer and it worked out.

Installed my AC/furnace with HD.
Wait till the season changes (sept/october) they run a promotion due to low business period you can get 10 years warranty parts and labor as I did.

You have to watch them to see what they are doing, they are subcontracting.
My contract is handled by a big local HVAC company (Toronto)

I can not complain about the installation but do not expect much from these guys, do your homework and learn what you need to ask them to do and what you need to check.
You will sign a paper at the end that specifies the settings of the new installation (CFM , in/ out temp) etc
Get a copy of that ...they don't actually measure those, but it is binding for them if you do you not touch the furnace -they hove to come back to restore the functionality if it fails during the warranty term