Mr Cool Central Air Conditioner Packages Home Depot $1357

Sure. Spot on

Check with your local utility provider & see if they are offering rebates. Eg. new more efficient unit could get a few bucks as an incentive.

This is not a 16 seer system. Only way to make it 16 seer is use a TXV and a compatible furnaces with ECM drive. It is only 14 seer in the same situation. It is up to these seer ratings if you install them correctly and with the right additions. Self installing is a bad idea. Especially if you do not have the right equipment. No, I would never install a self bought system for someone. Warranty is a nightmare. Usually there is not one. Why would I lose out on profits so someone can try to be cheap? My time is valuable. Only way I would is with a contract saying AS IS, NO WARRANTY. How many builders let you buy all the wood to build a house?

I don't understand why people are questioning how much one should charge for his services. Last I checked, the US was still a free country, no matter how much the uneducated and unemployable are trying to ruin it, thinking they're somehow going to get a better deal when the government tells them where to go punch in and in which line to stand in for their stale bread. If the price is too high for your wallet, go find someone who can do the job cheaper, and cross your fingers they do it right, but don't bash the man for valuing his worthiness! Skilled labor in a first world country isn't cheap; be it a physician, IT tech, plumber, or an HVAC technician.

WTF are you talking about? We are all just looking to get the best possible deal and not be taken advantage of. You can go back to Facebook with your government conspiracy and bread line talk, go be with your people and let the deal hunters continue to hunt without you pissing in our ears.

Can someone explain to me why HVAC techs would be unhappy if they were paid to install a self-purchased unit? Is it just that they're missing out on the extra markup profit on the equipment?

I see you've already gotten some good answers to your question, but let me give you an example. A realistic contractor's price in an area of the country with an average cost of living to replace an existing 3-ton condenser and evaporator along with an 80% efficiency 80,000-BTU/hour gas furnace with new 14-SEER equipment might be around $7,000. You could buy the equipment online for around $2,700 [acwholesalers.com] (if you can find it in stock these days). A contractor's wholesale price should be no more than that (otherwise they'd order it online, right?), meaning they are charging $4,300 in markup, labor, and additional materials.

Additional materials are things like refrigerant, tape, screws, torch fuel, nitrogen, brazing material, and so forth. All that stuff might cost them $300 to be generous, which leaves them $4,000 in labor and markup. That $4,000 is not pure profit of course, as they have labor and other legitimate business expenses that come out of it. However, $4,000 is the amount they expect to walk away with after buying the equipment and materials.

If you call them out to install the equipment you ordered online, they are still going to expect the same $4,000 from you because that's what they could walk away with selling equipment to someone else instead of spending their time installing your equipment. The work might require 10 hours of labor, so you're probably going to get annoyed at them for trying to charge you $400 an hour in labor and tell them to get lost. Contractors don't want to waste their time giving a quote that will almost surely be turned down, so they just refuse to install customer-supplied equipment.

Contractors that don't install customer-supplied equipment will offer all sorts of excuses why, but they don't usually give not making as much money as a reason. Contractors also like to justify their high prices by citing the myriad of business expenses they have (labor, buying and maintaining vehicles, gasoline, insurance, advertising, rent, and so forth); however, you're really only buying labor and a few odds and ends in materials from them when you supply your own equipment. Few professionals besides doctors and lawyers command $400 per hour, no matter what their business expenses are. I mean no disrespect to hard-working HVAC professionals, but I'd rather not pay them as much as a doctor or lawyer if I can help it.

The bottom line is they don't want to work for $100 per hour if they can charge $400 per hour somewhere else.

Very helpful and well laid out, thanks for the response. I have a central air unit, just trying to get a feel for what I might be up against if I ever have to replace / repair it as this is not an area where I've had any experience.

Thanks again.