The Size We Quote Comes Off Your Rooms, Not the Old Nameplate
Our summers top out near 29 degrees, and it is the humidity riding along with it that decides the size you need. So we measure your rooms and work out what the house actually needs, which is why the answer often comes back smaller than the machine leaving.
Go bigger than that and it costs you twice. Once when you pay for it, and again every July, because a unit with too much in hand hits the thermostat in four minutes and stops before it has taken any water out of the air. The house ends up cold and sticky at once, and no setting fixes it.
You will see that working on the quote: the rooms we measured, the size they point to, and why we are not selling you the next one up. If your house already runs cool and damp, our page on a humid house with the AC running will sound familiar.
We Settle Where It Goes Before You Get a Price
Placement is the first thing we work out, not the last. It sets the refrigerant run, the labour and how much you hear from the deck, and on a corner lot here it opens up options people assume they do not have.
We pick the spot while we are in your driveway
The front yard is out here and so is the front wall, which takes ten seconds to establish. Everything after that is ours to work out, and we do it on the quoting visit rather than on the morning the truck arrives.
A corner lot has more room here than people expect
The city's rule on where these can sit bars the side yard that faces the street, then lifts that bar for ordinary houses: detached, semi-detached and freehold townhouses. So your house very likely has a yard your neighbour in the apartment block does not, which buys a shorter refrigerant run and a quieter spot to sit beside.
No tape measure to satisfy, and nothing to build around it
This city sets no minimum distance to the property line and asks for no screening at all, which is room most cities do not give us. We spend it on you: off the bedroom wall, clear of the patio, and out from under the part of the roof that drops its snow in one go.
Quiet gets judged against your own street
The by-law measures your new unit against how quiet your street already is, so a crescent is a tougher test than a busy road. We know which one you live on before we pick the machine.
We answer all of it before your quote goes out. Our guide to air conditioner permits covers the building side, and the electrical goes to the Electrical Safety Authority rather than to the city.
Three Machines, Three Prices, One Right Answer for Your House
Single stage central air
One speed, so the compressor is either flat out or off. On a tight house with healthy ducts it does the job for the least money, and we say so when that is the honest answer.
Two stage, or a compressor that slides
Two stage means it has a low gear. It sits there most of the summer, runs long, and keeps taking water out of the air. You can set the thermostat a degree higher and still feel right, and it is quieter doing it.
Ductless heads
One head per room, one small hole behind each, and not a duct in the building. It is what we fit in the older blocks near Uptown where the second floor never had ductwork.
Whether the house has ductwork narrows this to one answer long before your budget does, and we will tell you which on the first visit. The air conditioner installation page lists the Lennox range we fit, and ductless mini split installation covers the rooms nobody ever ducted.
What Moves the Price, and What Does Not
We will not price this over the phone, because the machine is rarely what moves the total. The spot outside, the size your rooms come back at and the state of the circuit do most of it. If the furnace is the same vintage, say so on the first call and we will price the pair. Our financing options page sets out the monthly routes.
Which yard your lot actually opens
A rear yard spot a few metres from the coil is one price. A corner lot using the yard that faces the side street is another, and usually the better spot to live beside.
The size your rooms come back at
The measurement can land either side of the machine going out, and you live with that answer for fifteen more summers.
How quiet your street already is
The by-law measures your new unit against the background sound on your own road, so a quiet crescent is a stricter test than a busy one. On those streets the quieter machine pays you back.
How many speeds you pay for
One speed, two speeds and a compressor that slides between them are three prices for the same house.
The coil, and the box it has to drop into
Where a coil will not fit the metal box above your furnace, we build a transition on the day. Hours rather than parts.
The circuit behind it
We read what your panel can already carry. Where the disconnect and circuit suit the new machine, this line stays small.
Anything folded into the same visit
A filter cabinet or a smart thermostat goes in for less while we have the system open, and it saves you a second morning off work.
Who Turns Up, and Who You Call Afterwards
Waterloo is a short run from our shop, so cooling work here is a local call rather than a regional dispatch. Over 10 years fitting air conditioners around this region, an Authorized Lennox Dealer, and five HomeStars Best of Award wins that homeowners voted for rather than a trade body handed over. Sina owns the company and is still the technician on most driveways, so the man who quotes your job is the one who comes back to commission it.
Called Local Heating and Cooling to install an A/C unit in my home and was very pleased with the service. They were very fast and efficient. Great work and competitive prices.
HomeStars review
Four Steps, and the Cold Air at the End
We agree the spot outside at step two, not on the morning of the install.
Start with the summer you have just had
Call us, or send the form with the rooms that never cool down, the age of the machine outside, and where it stands today.
We measure, and we read the lot
Your technician measures room by room to work out what the house needs, reads the ducts and the panel, and works out which yards the city leaves open at your address.
The quote comes in writing
One page. The machine, the size, the spot it stands in and the work behind it, every line priced, so you are not decoding anything later.
We fit it and hand it over
The old condenser goes on the truck under recovery and the new one lands on a level pad. Then we weigh the charge in and run a full cycle with you watching.
Common Questions About Cooling a Waterloo Home
Do I need a permit to put central air in?
How quiet does the machine actually have to be?
My house is in MacGregor Albert. Does that change anything?
Can I get central air with no ductwork?
Can the new one stand where the old one stands?
Does it make sense to do the furnace at the same time?
Where we fit air conditioners in Waterloo
Side yards near Uptown are tight and the newer streets out past Laurelwood are not, so the spot outside is an address question before an equipment one. Give us the street and we will book the visit.
- Uptown Waterloo
- Uptown North
- Uptown West
- Mary Allen
- MacGregor Albert
- Westmount
- Westvale
- Beechwood
- Beechwood West
- Upper Beechwood
- Colonial Acres
- Lincoln Heights
- Lincoln Village
- Lakeshore North
- Lakeshore South
- Eastbridge
- Conservation Meadows
- Clair Hills
- Laurelwood
- Vista Hills
- Columbia Forest
- Glasgow Heights
- Craigleith
- Sugarbush North
- Dansbridge
- Rummelhardt
Also in Waterloo: furnace installation and heat pump installation, plus every service on our Waterloo HVAC page.
