So I live in Houston and my house has 2 AC units since it's your typical vertical townhouse (4 floors total). The AC unit that serves the bottom 2 floors has a leak which the repairman has said would be difficult to find and since the AC unit is 10 years old, he recommends replacing the unit with a new one. I've done some research and found some formulas that take into account cost of repair, the age of the system and the cost of a new system and it looks like a new unit may be the route to go.
However, the quote I received from the AC company was $8,600 all-in to replace the unit. This sounds high to me so I did some more research and actually paid a few bucks to use ASM's HVAC Design and Consultation Program which you basically plug in the AC unit you want and some other info on your house and it spits out a range of what the job should cost. Using the estimate from this program, the job should cost $4,800 - $5,900.
I wanted to see if there was anyone out there who had some expertise on this. The AC company's $8,600 quote was for:
3.5 ton 16 seer American Standard complete system
Condenser with new slab
whip and disconnect
return air plenum
matching slab evaporator coil
plenum with collars and dampers
emergency pan with float switch
rerun accessible drain lines
The ASM estimate program gave me the following:
3.5 ton 16 Seer American Standard AC unit - $1,761.05
Labor - $321.60
Other Materials - $912.00
Liability & Workers Comp Insurance and Fees, etc. - $681
Total Contractor Cost - $3,675.65
30%-60% profit margin - $4,778 - $5,881
Am I missing something on the difference in the costs? Thanks