I am reposting this in the correct area.

Hello Everyone,

I would appreciate if someone would take a look at my J manual summary and quote and see if the unit sizes and prices seem reasonable for the house. The home is in the Tampa/St Petersburg area on the waterfront. The back of the house faces south and has numerous sliding glass windows and doors; many of which are being raised to 8ft. There are not many windows on the East or west side of the house. Several walls have been moved and two staircases have been removed. The windows are being changed to Hurricane glass with low E 366. One room had circulation issues that was caused by incorrectly routed ductwork, any other HVAC problems are unknown and cannot be tested. The house is approximately 6,500 sq. ft., plus the two-story open space. This is our dream home; but the project is over our heads.

Our general contractor had an air conditioner contractor quote us on replacing the 4 units. He told us he would need to relocate one unit, change ductwork and tape every seam in the attic. He gave my husband a 32,000 quote for the Trane XR13. We asked about different SEER units and he gave us a price for the XR16 & XR17. When ask how he determined the unit sizes, his answer was, that he went bigger than the current units, because we removed stairs. We asked for the model numbers, of the rest of the equipment but never received any. When we asked about the Xli series were told his vendor could not get that unit for him. So many reasons to move on!

We then had a friend of a friend, who owns an air conditioning company out to quote the job. He told us it would cost us 30 just for the equipment and never gave us a full quote, because thought it would take him three months to do the work, so he was not interested in the job. So confused...

I used Trane's web site to find a good local company and set up and appointment with one of their highly rated dealers. Also had the Carrier Company who installed the air in our last house quote us. We met with the owner of the Trane dealer who seemed very friendly and knowledgeable, and promised to do a full J manual, and then just disappeared. I contacted his company three times after his visit and have never heard from him again. Why?

The final company gave us the quote below. From reading information on Garden Web I believed that the size/s of the original air conditioners were most likely too large for the space. We consolidate two units into one smaller zoned area; so more duct work, but one less unit.

Size changes:

Upstairs and the area over the garage had been split up between two 3-ton units.
We combined these upstairs units into one 5-ton zoned unit. (May be able to go to a 4-ton.)

Downstairs right side 2.5-ton is being reduced to a 2-ton.

Downstairs on the left side was a 3.5-ton; that has a two-story living room and family room changing to a 4-ton. (May be able to go to a 3-ton.)

Started with 12-ton going down to between 9-11 Ton.

Quote:

1-Carrier 4-Ton Infinity 16 SEER Heat Pump System for 1st Floor Main Living
Rooms
25HNB648 Infinity 2 Speed Heat Pump
FE4NAF005 Infinity Air Handler w/ 8 KW of Electric Heat
Ductwork Modifications
Infinity WIFI Controller
16.0 SEER / 9.1 HSPF
List Price $10,170.00
Carrier Rebate (-$500.00)
Disc (-$500.00)
4 Ton Base Cost $9,170.00

1-Carrier 2 Ton Infinity 16 SEER Heat Pump System for 1st Floor Master Suite
25HNB624 Infinity 2 Speed Heat Pump
FE4NAF002 Infinity Air Handler w/ 5 KW of Electric Heat
Ductwork Modifications
Infinity WIFI Controller
17.0 SEER / 19.0 HSPF
List Price $8,371.00
Carrier Rebate (-$500.00)
Disc (-$500.00)
2 Ton Base Cost $7,371.00

1-Carrier 5 Ton Infinity Heat Pump System for 2nd Floor Rooms with 4 Infinity
Zones
25HNB660 Infinity 2 Speed Heat Pump
FE4NAF006 Infinity Air Handler w/10 KW of Electric Heat
4 Zone Controller Panel & Ductwork Modifications
Infinity WIFI Zone Controller
16.0 SEER / 9.3 HSPF
List Price $10,887.00
Zoning Package $3,500.00
Carrier Rebate (-$500.00)
Disc (-$500.00)
5 Ton Base Cost $13,387.00
support feet

TOTAL HVAC COSTS $29,928.00