Author name: Chris Crawford

By Chris Crawford, Owner of Spring Branch AC A typical AC system takes two surge protectors, and the devices for both cost about $100 to $300. That’s less than the $350 to $650 a typical control board replacement costs. For most Houston homes, that makes surge protection worth having. It matters most on a newer high-efficiency system, because its electronics are the most easily damaged by a power spike. Many HVAC surge protectors won’t protect against lightning, and none can stop a direct strike. They also wear out eventually, often without any sign that they have. At Spring Branch AC, we’ve been servicing and installing heating and cooling systems in Houston since 1956. We include surge protectors in the standard price of every new high-efficiency system we install. What does an HVAC surge protector do? An HVAC surge protector sits on the power line that feeds your heating and cooling equipment and limits sudden jumps in voltage. When a spike arrives on that line, the protector diverts the extra voltage away from the system’s circuit boards. It protects only that equipment, not the rest of the house. A typical install uses two protectors, because a typical system has equipment in two places, and each piece has its own electronics. One protector goes on the furnace in the attic. The other goes on the outdoor unit, mounted at the power shutoff box on the wall beside it. You can see the protectors we carry on our surge protectors page. How does a power surge damage an AC? A power surge damages an AC when more voltage than its electronics can handle reaches the circuit boards, motors and compressor. Storms cause some surges. Problems on the power grid cause more of them than weather does, according to HVAC School. Those spikes happen often. Newer high-efficiency systems are the most exposed. These systems convert the power coming into your house into a different kind of power to run their motors and compressor. A part called an inverter does that conversion. The inverter is what lets the compressor run at different speeds, instead of only at full speed or off. The inverter and the control boards are built from the same kind of electronic parts as a computer. Matthew Bruner of HVAC School explains that those parts are more sensitive to overvoltage than other electrical components. The circuit boards are the parts a surge is most likely to damage. Equipment can also wear down from many small surges over time, not only from one big one, according to HVAC School. Which AC systems need a surge protector most? High-efficiency, variable-speed systems need a surge protector most, because they run on an inverter and circuit boards that are both sensitive to spikes and expensive to replace. If you’re not sure which kind you have, a technician can tell you when they look at your equipment. HVAC surge protector vs whole-home surge protector: do I need both? Get both a whole-home surge protector and an HVAC surge protector if you can, because they sit in different places and catch different surges. A whole-home protector mounts at your main electrical panel and stops spikes coming in from the power lines. An HVAC protector mounts at the equipment and catches spikes on the power line that feeds your heating and cooling equipment. Jon Harrod, writing for Green Building Advisor, notes that surge protection at the main panel may not protect against surges that start inside the home. Whole-home surge protector HVAC surge protector  Where it sits At the main electrical panel At the furnace in the attic and at the outdoor unit What it protects The whole house from surges coming in on the utility line Your heating and cooling equipment What it can miss Surges that start inside the home Everything outside the heating and cooling equipment Who installs it An electrician An HVAC technician The 2020 National Electrical Code added a rule requiring a surge protector at a home’s main electrical panel, including when the main panel in an older home is replaced, according to Electrical Contractor. So a newer home, or one with a replaced main panel, probably already has a whole-home protector. An older home with its original panel may not. Either way, the code doesn’t put a protector on your AC, so you’d still want one at the equipment. How much does an HVAC surge protector cost? An HVAC surge protector costs about $50 to $150 for the device itself, before installation. A typical install uses two, one indoors and one outdoors, so the devices for a typical system run about $100 to $300. The figures below are national ranges, not Spring Branch AC prices. Item National cost range Source  HVAC surge protector (device, each) $50 to $150 Clean Heat Connect fact sheet Whole-home surge protector, installed $70 to $700, about $300 on average Bob Vila AC control board replacement $120 to $1,200, typically $350 to $650 PickHVAC AC compressor replacement $800 to $2,800, about $1,200 on average Bob Vila A heat pump uses the same kind of outdoor unit as a central AC. Harrod writes that installing a protector on one takes less than 15 minutes. On a system you already own, a technician can look at your equipment and quote the protectors before doing any work. What an HVAC surge protector won’t do An HVAC surge protector handles short voltage spikes. It won’t help in these situations: Does my warranty or CenterPoint cover AC surge damage? Check your manufacturer warranty before you count on it for surge damage, because a warranty may not cover damage from some electrical problems. The Amana limited warranty for one family of its equipment doesn’t cover lightning damage. It also doesn’t cover damage, or a unit that won’t start, caused by an interruption in electrical service or by what it calls “inadequate electrical service.” It doesn’t mention power surges by name, so whether a surge claim gets paid comes down to the wording in your

By Chris Crawford, Owner of Spring Branch AC A whole-home water softener, the type of water filtration system that handles hard water, costs $350 to $1,500 installed in Houston, according to Angi’s Houston cost data. The softener is the system that stops the white buildup on shower glass and faucets. If you also want chemicals like chlorine filtered out of your water, you need a filter too. A combined filter and softener costs $2,500 to $5,000 installed. At Spring Branch AC, we’ve been working on Houston-area homes since 1956. Whole-home softening and filtration are part of the plumbing work we do. How much does a water filtration system cost in Houston? Angi’s Houston data puts the average whole-home water treatment project at $2,268 installed, with most between $1,382 and $3,225. That overall range mixes every type of system, so the number that applies to you is the one for the system you need: System Houston installed cost  Water softener $350 to $1,500 Whole-house filter $1,000 to $5,500 Combined filter and softener $2,500 to $5,000 National figures run higher for softeners. HomeGuide puts an installed softener at $1,200 to $3,800 nationwide. If you only want cleaner drinking water at the kitchen sink, an under-sink reverse osmosis system costs $300 to $950, based on HomeGuide’s national figures. Water softener vs. water filter: which one do you need? A water softener fixes hard water. A water filter fixes the taste and smell of treated city water. You may need one or both, depending on which problem you have. Water softener Whole-house filter  Removes Minerals, mostly calcium Chemicals the city adds to treat the water, such as chlorine Fixes White buildup on shower glass, spots on dishes, scale on faucets Chemical taste or smell from the tap Won’t fix Taste or smell Hard water buildup The EPA’s WaterSense softener guide notes that softeners “do not typically treat for other water contaminants,” which means a softener alone won’t take out chemicals like chlorine. Match the system to your problem: Is Houston water hard? Houston’s water is hard. The City of Houston’s 2025 water quality report lists an average hardness of 135.5 mg/L for the City’s main system. That average falls in the “hard” class on the U.S. Geological Survey’s scale, which runs from soft (0 to 60 mg/L) to very hard (over 180 mg/L). Individual readings in the same report ranged from 43.5 mg/L, which is soft, to 229 mg/L, which is very hard. Do I need a water test before buying a system? Most Houston homeowners don’t need a water test before buying a softener, because hard water is close to universal in the Houston area. A test is worth it when you have a specific concern about chemicals in your water. That concern is the reason most people ask us for a test. We offer water analysis for exactly that. A water test typically costs $100 to $300, according to HomeGuide. What changes the installed price? The type of system sets most of the price. After that, three things about your house change what you pay: When you compare quotes, check that each one names the type of system and says whether it covers the equipment, the installation and the drain work. That way you’re comparing the same job. What does a water filtration system cost to maintain each year? Yearly upkeep for a whole-home system usually runs about $300 to $700 for filter cartridges, softener salt and a maintenance visit. The CDC’s advice on home filters is to keep “regularly changing the filters according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.” A softener uses salt to do its job, so the salt has to be topped up. The EPA suggests checking the salt level every 4 to 6 weeks. These yearly costs are national figures from HomeGuide: Item Yearly cost How often  Whole-house filter cartridges, changed yourself $150 to $250 On the maker’s schedule Softener salt $50 to $150 Check every 4 to 6 weeks Softener maintenance $100 to $300 Once a year If you’d rather have a technician change your filter cartridges, expect to pay $65 to $180 per visit on top of the cartridges. What a water softener protects: your water heater A softener also protects your water heater, because hard water leaves minerals, mostly calcium, at the bottom of the tank. In a gas water heater, the burner sits right under that layer, so the minerals end up between the flame and the water. The heater has to run harder to heat the same water. Over the years, that strain can crack the bottom of the tank. The U.S. Geological Survey notes that this buildup can “reduce the life of equipment, raise the costs of heating the water.” Whether or not you have a softener, we recommend having a tank water heater flushed once a year, or at least every two years. Flushing drains the settled minerals out of the bottom of the tank. If your water heater is already giving you trouble, our technicians handle water heater repair too. What we install at Spring Branch AC The system we install is the New Gen Fusion XT. It does whole-home filtration and softening in one unit, so the closest comparison is Angi’s Houston range for a combined system, $2,500 to $5,000. You can see the options we offer on our water filtration systems and water softeners and conditioners pages. If you’re tired of scrubbing buildup off your shower glass, give us a call at (713) 937-6739 and schedule a free estimate. Real technicians work here, not salespeople, so one of them will look at your setup, tell you what your home actually needs and give you a price for it.

Nationally, a new gas furnace costs about $3,800 to $10,000 installed, according to NerdWallet. Your furnace installation cost in Houston, TX depends mostly on how efficient the new furnace is, what size furnace your house needs, and whether the air conditioner is being replaced at the same time. A free estimate from our technicians gives you the exact price for your home. Spring Branch AC is a family-owned company that has been serving Houston since 1956. We’re an authorized Amana factory dealer. When a furnace has a problem, we look at repairing it first and recommend a new one only when that makes more sense for you. What does furnace installation cost in Houston, TX? Furnace installation cost in Houston comes down to two parts: the furnace itself and the work to put it in. A natural gas furnace alone runs $800 to $2,800, according to This Old House. The rest is labor, removal of the old furnace, any vent pipe changes and the permit. A more efficient furnace costs more to buy. Efficiency is measured as AFUE: the share of every gas dollar that becomes heat in your house. An 80% furnace turns 80 cents of every gas dollar into heat. Here’s what the furnace alone costs at each level, from HomeAdvisor: Efficiency (AFUE) Furnace cost, equipment only 80% to 89% $500 to $1,500 90% to 95% $1,000 to $3,000 96% and up $2,000 to $6,000 Labor comes on top of those prices. Installers charge about $75 to $100 an hour, and a standard installation takes 4 to 8 hours, according to NerdWallet. By our math, that’s roughly $300 to $800 in labor. Installing a high-efficiency furnace, rated 90% or higher, typically costs about $6,000 in total and can reach $10,000, by Fixr’s estimate. The size of furnace your house needs moves the price too, and larger homes generally need larger furnaces. Nationally, HomeAdvisor puts installation at about $2,400 to $4,000 for a 2,000-square-foot home and $3,600 to $6,000 for a 3,000-square-foot home. Quotes can differ by thousands, usually because they don’t cover the same work. A complete quote should spell out: What if you’re replacing the AC and furnace together? Replacing the AC too adds the outdoor unit and the indoor coil, the part that cools the air, which sits on top of or next to the furnace. Here are our full system replacement prices for Amana systems. Your technician will confirm what’s included for your home. A ton is a measure of cooling capacity, not weight. SEER is the system’s cooling efficiency rating. System size 16 SEER single speed Up to 16 SEER two speed Elite 20 SEER variable speed 2 ton $7,669 $9,358 $10,670 3 ton $7,960 $9,578 $11,961 4 ton $9,667 $10,646 $12,968 5 ton $9,878 $10,942 $13,671 If you’re weighing a new air conditioner along with the furnace, our guide to new HVAC system cost in Houston covers the cooling side. Should I repair or replace my furnace? A furnace younger than 15 years with one failed part is usually worth fixing. A new furnace usually makes more sense than another repair when: Real technicians work here, not professional salespeople. Ours aren’t paid on commission, so they have no reason to push a new furnace. They’ll give you an honest assessment of both options. The decision is yours. If you’d like a technician to check your current furnace, start with our heater repair service. What AFUE rating do I need in Houston? The federal minimum for a gas furnace is 80% AFUE. For many Houston homes, 80% is also the sensible choice. Our heat doesn’t run much, so a more efficient furnace doesn’t save much gas. Older furnaces often run at 56% to 70%, according to the Department of Energy, so even an 80% furnace burns noticeably less gas. The Amana gas furnaces we install range from 80% AFUE into the high 90s. A federal rule would raise the minimum to 95% for furnaces made from December 2028. As of June 2026, that rule was back in court for reconsideration. The Department of Energy was also considering a delay to 2030, with no final decision announced. An 80% furnace can still be bought and installed today. The 95% rule would never require you to replace a furnace you already have. Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it in Houston? A high-efficiency furnace usually takes a long time to pay for itself in Houston. Houston runs its heat far less than its air conditioning: NOAA weather records show the city needs less than half as much heating as cooling in a typical year. With so little heating, a more efficient furnace has little gas to save. A Texas home that heats with gas spends about $464 a year on gas for heat, based on EIA gas use and the 2025 Texas gas price. Here’s what each change would save (our math): Old furnace to new furnace Yearly savings 65% to 80% about $87 65% to 96% about $150 80% to 90% about $52 A 90% furnace can cost about $1,000 more than a similar 80% one, according to Consumer Reports. Going from 80% to 90% saves about $52 a year, so that extra $1,000 takes about 19 years to earn back. A furnace rated 90% or higher also costs more to install. It pulls so much heat out of its exhaust that water condenses out of it. These furnaces need a PVC vent pipe in place of the metal vent pipe an 80% furnace uses, as ServiceMag explains. The water needs a drain line that slopes down to a drain or to a small pump, according to a Department of Energy guide. How is a furnace sized? The right furnace size comes from a load calculation, not from the size of the old furnace or the square footage of the house. The standard method is ACCA’s Manual J, which works out how much heat your house loses in cold weather from its windows, walls and

By Chris Crawford, Owner of Spring Branch AC & Plumbing Private equity firms have been buying heating, air conditioning and plumbing companies for several years, so the company you call for a repair may be owned by investors you’ve never heard of. I couldn’t find any study that ties that ownership to higher prices. In my experience, the bigger risk to your bill is being quoted a whole new system when a repair would have fixed the problem. Whether that happens depends on who the company sends to your house: a technician who finds the problem and fixes it, or a salesperson whose job is to sell equipment. You can usually find out which one is coming before you book by asking a few questions. I’m Chris Crawford, owner of Spring Branch AC & Plumbing, a veteran-owned company in Houston. We don’t have any salespeople. Our technicians diagnose problems and repair them. I made a short video about this. It opens with the question I’d ask any homeowner: “Who do you think is coming out to your house today?” The full transcript is at the end. What is a private equity HVAC company? A private equity HVAC company is a heating and air conditioning company (often a plumbing company too) that has been bought by a private equity firm. A private equity firm is an investment company. It raises money from investors, buys businesses, and later sells them for more than it paid. Many of these firms build what’s called a roll-up. They buy one company, then keep buying local companies and combine them under one owner. The companies they buy often keep running under their own local names, so the name on the truck may not tell you who owns the business. How many HVAC companies are owned by private equity? One data company that tracks the industry estimates that ten of the private equity companies buying in this industry own about 12,000 HVAC contractor locations in the U.S. The data company tracks 167,717 locations in all, so it puts those ten at “under 8 percent of the market.” In its words, “The other 155,000 are still independent.” Those numbers are the data company’s own estimate. No one publishes a number for Houston. What changes after a private equity firm buys an HVAC company? After a buyout, the change a homeowner is most likely to notice is who the company sends to the house and what that person is there to do. In my experience, when these firms buy a smaller company, the technicians are often the first people let go. As I put it in my video, “They would rather have sales people come in, train them just enough on air conditioning and plumbing and electrical to be dangerous.” Those salespeople are there to sell equipment rather than to diagnose the problem. Others in the trade describe the same pattern: These are personal accounts and reporting, not studies. Bottala and Santana both run independent companies and are critical of private equity, so they aren’t neutral observers. Some companies owned by private equity employ good technicians, and some independent companies push equipment sales on service calls. In my view, knowing whether a company sends a technician or a salesperson to your house tells you more about how your repair will go than knowing who owns the company. Technician or salesperson: who’s coming to your house? A technician comes to find out what’s wrong and fix it. A salesperson comes to sell you something, and a new system is usually the biggest sale. Some companies give their salespeople friendlier titles, so the title on the business card won’t always tell you which one you’ve got. You can tell by what the person does during the visit. Technician versus salesperson on an HVAC service visit Technician Salesperson What they’re trained to do Diagnose the problem and repair it Present equipment options and close a sale Why they’re at your house To get your AC or water heater running again To sell a new system or added work What the visit looks like Tests the system, finds the failed part and shows it to you Talks about the age of the system and new equipment early, before naming a specific problem What you walk away with A diagnosis and a repair price for that part A quote for a new system If the conversation turns to a new system before anyone has told you what’s actually broken, you’re probably talking to a salesperson. You can ask for the diagnosis and a repair price first, and then decide. Our guide on how to choose the right HVAC contractor in Houston has more of the red flags to watch for. Questions to ask before you book an AC or plumbing repair These questions, asked on the phone before anyone comes out, tell you who’s coming and what they’re there to do: How to check a Texas AC license A company that repairs air conditioning in Texas works under an air conditioning and refrigeration contractor license from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). Technicians can hold their own TDLR registration or certification, but TDLR says they “must work under the supervision of a licensed air conditioning and refrigeration contractor.” So the license to check is the company’s. Here’s how: Our Texas HVAC license is TACLB49330E if you’d like to try the search with it. How we handle repair calls at Spring Branch At Spring Branch, the person who comes to your house is a technician. We don’t have salespeople, and our technicians aren’t paid on commission. They’re NATE-certified, which is a national certification for HVAC technicians. They’re also cross-trained in HVAC and plumbing, so the same person can look at your AC or your water heater. You can see their certifications and qualifications here. When our technician gets to your house, the job is to diagnose the problem and fix it. If a system has reached the point where replacing it makes

By Chris Crawford, Owner, Spring Branch AC AC maintenance in Houston, TX usually costs between $150 and $350 for a one-off tune-up. Where your visit lands in that range depends on your system and what the visit includes, and parts or refrigerant usually cost extra. At Spring Branch AC, we’ve been servicing air conditioners around Houston since 1956, and we recommend having the whole system checked twice a year. If you want both a spring AC visit and a fall heating visit every year, a yearly maintenance plan usually costs less than paying for each visit on its own. AC Maintenance Cost in Houston, TX Compared to National Prices Houston prices for a single AC tune-up are close to what homeowners pay across the country. Service Typical price One-off AC tune-up in Houston $150 to $350 One-off AC tune-up, national $175 to $350 (average about $250) Yearly maintenance plan, national $150 to $300 per year What Affects the Cost of an AC Tune-Up? Your HVAC maintenance visit cost mostly depends on how much work your system takes and when you book the visit. These are the main things that change the price: What Does a Technician Check During an AC Maintenance Visit? During one of our spring AC maintenance visits, the technician checks the parts that keep your system cooling and looks for worn parts before they cause a breakdown. That checklist covers the basic system found in most Houston homes. Some very high-end systems have more parts to check, so a visit on one of those can cost more. Our technicians aren’t commissioned salespeople. Why Do Houston AC Systems Need Regular Maintenance? Houston AC systems need regular maintenance because they run for most of the year, and every month of running adds wear and dirt. In our experience, a Houston air conditioner runs about nine months out of the year. Houston’s long-term weather averages show average high temperatures of 80°F or more for seven months of the year, April through October. In March and November, average highs are still in the 70s. Over that long season, the outdoor coil, also called the condenser coil, collects dust, pollen, and cottonwood fluff, which blocks the airflow the system needs to push heat out of the house. Houston’s humidity causes a separate problem inside the house. The indoor coil stays wet while the AC runs, and that moisture creates the conditions for bacterial growth and algae. That growth can clog the drain line that carries water away from the system. Is AC Maintenance Worth the Cost? For most Houston homes, AC maintenance is worth the cost. Without maintenance, an air conditioner cools less well and uses more energy over time. Skipping maintenance can also lead to repairs. I always tell people it’s easier and less costly to maintain a system than it is to repair or replace it. Think of the capacitor as a big battery for your unit. Every time the system starts up, the capacitor gives the compressor or the fan motor the initial kick it needs to get running. When a capacitor goes bad, the unit tries to start and can’t, so it sits there and overheats. That overheating can make a bigger part, like the fan motor, fail. On one system I worked on that hadn’t been maintained, the capacitor went bad. The system kept trying to run without a good capacitor, and the fan motor failed. A good maintenance visit would have caught the capacitor, which was about a $75 part on that job. Once the fan motor failed, I had to replace both parts, so a $75 problem became a $375 problem. If a maintenance visit catches a weak capacitor, the AC repair is a new capacitor, and you don’t have to pay for a new fan motor too. Skipped maintenance can also make a system fail early. When air can’t get through a dirty coil, the system has to work much harder. Over the years, that extra strain also makes a system less likely to reach the 15 to 20 years a central AC usually lasts. One homeowner we worked for had a cottonwood tree in her yard. The fluff the tree drops every spring built up on her outdoor coil until the coil was completely covered. Her system failed early, and we pulled out the outdoor unit. My estimate is that annual maintenance would have given her another three or four years with that system. I know a lot of people say, “Really, Chris? It’s just spraying off the coil.” Cleaning the coil once might not make much difference this year. Having the system checked every year is what helps it last longer. Is an AC Maintenance Agreement Worth It in Houston? An AC maintenance agreement is worth it in Houston if you plan to have both your AC and your heating checked every year, because the agreement costs less than booking those two visits separately. Our maintenance agreement costs $169 a year and includes two checkups, one in the spring for the AC and one in the fall for the heating. Keeping the coils and drain lines clean helps lower the chance you’ll need an emergency service call. Cost for one year Paying per visit Spring Branch AC agreement Spring AC tune-up $150 to $350 (Houston price) Included Fall heating tune-up $80 to $300 (national price) Included Total for both visits (Houston AC plus national heating) $230 to $650 $169 The agreement covers the same two visits for $169. Paying for each visit separately at typical prices costs $230 to $650, so the agreement costs about $61 less at the low end of that range and more at the high end. Some price guides list basic AC tune-ups from about $75 and heating visits from about $70, so two visits at those prices could cost less than the agreement. How Often Should You Service Your AC in Houston? Have a technician check your whole system twice a year, once in the spring

The most reliable way to choose an HVAC contractor in Houston is to verify a short list of things any homeowner can confirm on their own: an active Texas license, the right technician certifications, proof of insurance, a real load calculation before any new equipment, and a clear written estimate you can compare against others. Get those right, and one question answers itself. Are you hiring a technician or a salesperson? At Spring Branch AC, we’ve serviced Houston-area homes since 1956 under Texas license TACLB49330E, a number you can look up yourself in about a minute. We run a repair-first shop with no commissioned salespeople, which shapes how we think about this entire decision. The criteria below are the same ones we’d want our own family to use, whether they hire us or someone else. The real question: are you hiring a technician or a salesperson? A licensed company can still send a salesperson to your door. The difference shows up in behavior. A technician diagnoses the actual problem, opens the equipment to look before condemning anything, and recommends the least expensive fix that solves it. A sales-driven operation arrives looking for a reason to sell you a new system. Every criterion that follows maps to something you can verify with a phone, a website, and a willingness to ask. An honest contractor welcomes those questions. A salesperson gets cagey. The same split runs through every point below. Verify the Texas HVAC contractor license first This is the non-negotiable first step. In Texas, residential HVAC companies must hold an active Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (ACR) Contractor License issued by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). The license is held at the company level, and it is the single most verifiable thing about any contractor you’re considering. Texas issues two classes. Class A covers units of any size. Class B covers cooling systems up to 25 tons and heating up to 1.5 million BTU per hour, which covers virtually all residential work. License numbers read as TACLA (Class A) or TACLB (Class B) followed by digits. Ours, TACLB49330E, is a Class B license with the environmental air conditioning endorsement that covers home comfort systems. How to check an HVAC contractor’s license in Texas You can confirm any contractor’s license for free at the TDLR License Search. No account is required. Search by company name, city, or license number, then confirm: Texas licenses are valid for one year and require eight hours of continuing education to renew, so an active license also tells you the contractor is keeping current. If a company can’t or won’t give you a license number to look up, that alone is reason to stop. You can see how we present our own credentials on our qualifications page. Ask about technician certifications, not just the company license The company license is the floor. The people who actually show up should carry their own credentials. Think of it as a stack: Trade-association membership, like the Texas Air Conditioning Contractors Association, is a secondary signal that a contractor stays engaged with the industry rather than a credential to hang the whole decision on. Make sure the contractor is insured A Texas ACR license already requires the contractor to carry continuous commercial general liability insurance for as long as the license is active. For Class B contractors, that means at least $100,000 per occurrence. If a contractor’s coverage lapses, they are in violation and can’t legally contract with the public. Ask for a Certificate of Insurance, and if you want to be thorough, call the listed carrier to confirm the policy is active. This matters because if an uninsured contractor’s worker is injured on your property, or damages your home, you can end up exposed. One phone call removes that risk. Insist on a load calculation before any new system The cleanest test of whether you’re dealing with a technician or a salesperson is simple. Ask whether they will perform a load calculation before sizing a new system, and whether you can see it. The industry standard is the ACCA Manual J residential load calculation, an ANSI-recognized method that sizes equipment to your home based on square footage, insulation, windows, orientation, and Houston’s climate. A correct load calculation is required by national building codes for new installations. Matching the old unit’s tonnage or eyeballing it from the curb is not the same thing. Bigger is not better, and in Houston it is actively worse. An oversized air conditioner cools the air fast but shuts off before it runs long enough to pull humidity out, a problem called short cycling. According to ENERGY STAR, an oversized unit leaves a home damp and clammy, creates uneven temperatures, wears out faster from constant stopping and starting, and costs more to run. Efficiency actually improves the longer a unit runs. We see the consequences of oversizing constantly. On one recent call, a family had just bought a home with a 4-ton system serving a space that needed about 2 tons. That oversized equipment was the source of their chronic humidity. Right-sizing the system fixed it. If you are weighing a new system, our guide on how to select a new system walks through the same sizing logic. Know the current efficiency standard (SEER2) in Texas If a contractor quotes you a new system, the efficiency rating should meet current federal minimums. As of January 1, 2023, new split-system air conditioners installed in the southern region, which includes Texas, must meet at least 14.3 SEER2 for systems under 45,000 BTU per hour. SEER2 is the updated rating from a test procedure that better reflects real ductwork, so the numbers run a little lower than the old SEER scale. The “13 SEER minimum” figure you will still see quoted around the web is out of date. You don’t need to memorize the math. Confirm any proposed system meets the 14.3 SEER2 floor, and ask the contractor to state the SEER2 rating in writing on

A complete HVAC system replacement in the Houston area typically costs $10,000 to $22,000 installed when new ductwork is part of the job, with most whole-system replacements landing in the low five figures. A national dataset of recent homeowner projects puts the 2026 average closer to $11,590 to $14,100, and a typical AC and gas furnace setup for a 2,000 to 2,500 square foot home averages around $13,430 before major add-ons. Ductwork, electrical work, premium equipment, and tricky installations push the number up from there. At Spring Branch Air Conditioning & Heating, we’ve replaced systems for Houston-area homeowners since 1956, and we publish our own replacement pricing organized by system size and efficiency tier. We also tell people the truth about what they need, including the times they don’t need a full replacement at all. Real technicians work here, not professional salespeople, so this guide gives you straight numbers and the reasoning behind them, then shows you how to read a quote so you don’t get oversold on a five-figure decision. What is the average cost of a new HVAC system in Houston? For most Houston homes, a full system replacement falls in the low five figures. Here is how the most reliable sources line up: Source Figure What it covers Houston metro estimate $10,000 to $22,000 Complete HVAC replacement with new ductwork 2026 national average $11,590 to $14,100 Full HVAC replacement, based on recent homeowner projects 2,000 to 2,500 sq. ft. home About $13,430 AC and gas furnace system before major add-ons Simpler split-system change-out $3,750 to $7,400 Narrower scope, not a whole-system job The wide spread is the part that matters. The Houston metro range comes from an aggregator that localizes national project costs, while the $11,590 to $14,100 figure is drawn from roughly 56,000 real homeowner projects over six months. Both point to the same conclusion: budget in the low five figures for a typical whole-system replacement, and expect the final number to move based on the specifics of your home. That low-end “$3,750 to $7,400” figure deserves a flag. It reflects a simpler split-system change-out, not a complete system replacement with ductwork and everything else. If a quote comes in well below the broader range, ask exactly what scope it includes before you assume you found a bargain. HVAC replacement cost by system size and efficiency Two factors drive the base equipment cost more than anything else: how big the system needs to be, measured in tons, and how efficient it is, measured in SEER2. Larger systems cost more because they use more material and bigger components. Higher-efficiency systems cost more upfront but use less energy over their life. Equipment-only pricing climbs steadily with tonnage. National figures show roughly $2,100 for a 2-ton unit up to around $3,700 for a 5-ton unit, for the air conditioner alone. Those are equipment numbers, not installed system costs, so a finished Houston job lands well above them once you add the indoor unit, labor, materials, and permits. Efficiency adds another layer. The federal minimum for new split-system air conditioners in the southern zone, which includes Houston, is now 14.3 SEER2. You can install at that floor or step up to higher-efficiency, two-stage, or variable-speed equipment. In Houston’s climate, that upgrade often pays back faster than it would in a cooler market, which we get into below. We publish our own replacement pricing by system size and efficiency tier so homeowners can see real installed numbers rather than aggregator averages. The general shape of it: a smaller, single-speed system sits at the low end, and a larger, variable-speed system sits at the top. Asking for pricing laid out this way is a good habit with any contractor, because it lets you compare apples to apples. What affects the cost of an HVAC replacement? Two quotes for the “same size, same brand” system can still differ by thousands of dollars. Here is what moves the number: When you compare bids, ask each contractor what is included. A higher quote that covers proper ductwork, a permit, and a matched, AHRI-certified system may be a better value than a cheaper one that leaves those out. Why correct system sizing matters more than homeowners think The most common mistake we see in the field is an oversized system. Most systems people buy are too large for the home they are cooling, and in Houston that is a real problem, not a safety margin. An oversized air conditioner cools the house too quickly, then shuts off before it has run long enough to pull humidity out of the air. The federal Department of Energy is direct about this: an oversized unit won’t adequately remove humidity, which leaves indoor air feeling clammy even when the thermostat reads a comfortable temperature. In a humid climate like ours, that is a comfort problem you feel every day. It is a cost problem too. A system that short-cycles, turning on and off in bursts of only a few minutes, runs less efficiently and drives up operating costs, and the constant starting and stopping adds wear that shortens equipment life. Federal guidance ties this directly to oversizing: a unit that is too large cools fast but cycles off before it does its job. That is why the Department of Energy stresses getting the size right in hot, humid climates rather than treating extra capacity as a safety margin. The right way to size a system is a load calculation, not a square-foot guess or a “replace it with the same size that was here” shortcut. At Spring Branch, we run that calculation on the specific home rather than guessing. We have walked into houses with a unit several times larger than the roughly 2 tons the space actually needed, and the result was chronic humidity and the growth problems that come with it. The bigger equipment created the problem. It did not solve it. Should the indoor coil be replaced with the outdoor unit? Yes. Split systems are designed