The Size Is the Part Most Quotes Get Wrong
You should not pay for more air conditioner than your house needs. Most quotes read the sticker on the old condenser and order the same thing again, which is how a house ends up with a machine two sizes too big. You pay more for it, and it does the job worse.
So we measure instead. Your rooms, your windows and the shade you actually have. Summers here top out around 29 degrees, and the damp that rides in with the heat is what really sets the size. A machine that is too big hits the thermostat in minutes, shuts off, and leaves the damp exactly where it was. The right size runs in long steady stretches, and the long runs are what dry the house out.
A bigger machine cools faster and dries less. We would rather fit the size your rooms ask for and let it run, which is why a house that stays humid with the air conditioner on is one of our commonest July calls.
We Settle the Spot Before You See a Price
Placement is the thing that turns into an argument on install day. We take it off the table at the quote.
The yard is rarely the problem here
Guelph's zoning by-law lets an air conditioner sit up to 1.2 metres into the yard and sets no minimum distance to the property line, so on most lots you get a real choice. We pick the spot with you and write it on the quote.
A short run back to the coil keeps the price down
The refrigerant lines have to reach the indoor coil above your furnace. A unit behind the house with a clean run is one price, and a long way round the side of a narrow lot is another. You hear which one you have before you sign.
Your neighbours are not the risk people think
The noise control by-law in this city is aimed at the condenser that rattles, not at one in good order. There is no decibel figure to hit and no quiet hours to work around. A new machine on a level pad, commissioned properly, is not what anyone phones about.
Downtown heritage streets, planned around
On the heritage streets near downtown the guidance asks owners to keep equipment to the side or rear, so we plan the run that way from the start and put the question to heritage planning before we book a date.
We answer all four on the quote visit, before a price goes out. The electrical sits outside the city altogether: Guelph issues no electrical permits, so the circuit and the disconnect go to the Electrical Safety Authority and we file that for you.
Three Ways to Cool a Guelph House
Single stage, meaning one speed
It runs flat out or not at all, every time it starts. On a straightforward house with healthy ducts it cools perfectly well, and it is the cheapest way to buy comfort.
Two stage, meaning two speeds
It spends most of the summer on low and steps up when the day calls for it. Gentler runs pull far more damp out of the house, so 24 degrees feels the way 22 used to. It is also much quieter in the garden.
Ductless heads
A small unit on the wall of each room that needs one, and no ducts at all. In the older streets around Downtown Guelph and Brant Avenue, where nobody ever ducted the second floor, this is the honest answer.
The ductwork usually answers this before the budget gets a vote, and we will tell you which way your house leans. The air conditioner installation page has the Lennox equipment on it, and ductless mini split installation answers a house with nothing to duct into.
The Seven Things That Set Your Price
We would rather show you where the money goes than hand you one number at the door. The yard and the ductwork move it as much as the equipment does. If the furnace is near the end too, doing both together saves a second tear-down, and the financing page covers paying it off monthly instead of in one go.
The size the measurements come back with
It often lands a step either side of the unit coming out, and you live with that choice for fifteen summers.
One speed, or more than one
A single speed machine, a two speed machine and an inverter put three prices on one house, and three different Augusts.
Which yard it ends up in
A unit behind the house with a short run to the coil is one price. A long way round the side of a narrow lot is another, and we work that out before we quote.
How quiet you want it to be
Nothing in this city forces your hand on sound. On a tight lot with a bedroom window close by, the quieter machine is money well spent, and we will say so.
The box above the furnace
The indoor coil has to sit in it. A coil the existing box will not take means sheet metal cut on the day, and sheet metal is labour.
Electrical
A circuit with room to spare keeps this line small. A fresh run back to the panel, or a panel with nothing left in it, does not.
Anything you add while we are there
A smart thermostat or a fresh filter cabinet costs far less going in while the system is open than as a second trip.
Who You Are Actually Hiring
Sina owns this company and still turns up to most of the installs himself. Behind him sit an Authorized Lennox Dealer agreement, more than 10 years of cooling work across this region, and five HomeStars Best of Award wins, which homeowners vote for. On a narrow lot that continuity is the whole point, because the man who picks the spot for the condenser is the one who comes back and stands behind it.
I needed to move my air conditioner so I could build a deck and Sina did an amazing job for a very fair price. He was professional and courteous, he didn't cut corners, and he left the property immaculate both inside and out.
Payam Kiani, HomeStars review
Four Steps, and the Price Before the Wrench
We answer the yard question at step two, long before anyone orders a machine.
You tell us what the summer feels like
Ring us or send the form: how old the system is, which rooms give up first, and whether the outdoor unit has started making noise.
We measure, and we pick the spot with you
Your technician measures the rooms, works out the size the house asks for, and walks the yard with you to choose the spot.
The price arrives on paper
Equipment, capacity, where it goes and the work itself, each on its own line, so nothing needs decoding later.
We fit it, then we prove it
Old unit recovered and hauled away, new one set and connected, lines vacuumed and the charge weighed in. Often finished in a day.
Cooling Questions Guelph Homeowners Ask
Can the air conditioner go in my front yard in Guelph?
Do I need a permit for an air conditioner here?
Will the neighbours complain about the noise?
My house is on one of the heritage streets. Does that change things?
Can I still get air conditioning with no ductwork?
Should the furnace go in at the same visit?
The Guelph streets we cover for cooling
Lot width changes more from one part of this city to the next than anything else, and it decides how much choice you get about the outdoor unit. Give us your street when you ring and we will send a technician who knows it.
- Downtown Guelph
- Brant Avenue
- Exhibition Park
- Old University
- Saint George's Park
- Onward Willow
- The Junction
- Grange Hill East
- Hanlon Creek
- Kortright Hills
- Parkwood Gardens
- Waverley
- Two Rivers
- West Willow Village
- Westminster Woods
- Clairfields
- Rickson Ridge
- Sunny Acres
- June Avenue
- North Riverside
Also in Guelph: heat pump installation and gas furnace installation, plus every service on our Guelph HVAC page.
