Free HVAC Estimate Calculator

Yes. There is no subscription, no trial period, and no card required, for the contractor installing it or the homeowner using it. Homeowners see a real repair range or a three-tier replacement price with no email required to see a number, and HVAC companies who install it on their own site keep it free forever.

No. Enter your business name and email once to get your embed code, hosted link, and QR code, that is the whole setup. There is no dashboard to log into and no account to manage.

Every submission is emailed to you instantly, with the homeowner's name, contact info, and the full estimate their answers produced. Lead emails start once you click the one-time confirmation link we send when you set up your embed. The calculator still works for homeowners before that, it just is not emailing you yet.

Yes. Set the installed price for each of the three replacement tiers, and a low-to-high range for the four repairs homeowners call about most. Every estimate your calculator gives then runs on your numbers. Leave any of them blank and that item falls back to a solid national default.

The credit line is what keeps the calculator free. Keep it in place and the calculator, the leads, and the emails stay free forever.

Start from a rule of thumb, then confirm with a load calculation. The rule of thumb is roughly 400 to 600 square feet of living space per ton of cooling, tightening toward 400 in a hot, humid climate and loosening toward 600 in a mild one. A 1,800 square foot home lands near 3 tons on that basis. That number is a starting point, not the order: a full Manual J load calculation weighs insulation, windows, orientation, ceiling height, and local design temperatures to pin the real size, which is why the estimate on this page is a ballpark and an in-home visit is the exact figure.

A ton is a unit of cooling capacity, not weight. One ton equals 12,000 BTU per hour, the amount of heat it takes to melt one ton of ice over 24 hours, which is where the name comes from. So a 3-ton system moves 36,000 BTU per hour of heat out of the house. Residential systems run from about 1.5 tons for a small home up to 5 tons for a large one, in half-ton steps.

Both rate cooling efficiency, seasonal cooling output divided by the electricity it takes to produce it, so a higher number means lower running cost. SEER2 is the current standard, phased in during 2023, and it tests under higher static pressure to better reflect real duct conditions. A SEER2 number runs a little lower than the old SEER rating for the same equipment because the test is harder, so compare SEER2 to SEER2, not across the two scales. The federal minimum is 13.4 or 14.3 SEER2 depending on region.

It is how the system modulates output. A single-stage unit runs full-blast or off, the lowest install cost and the least even temperature control. A two-stage unit adds a lower gear for mild days, which cuts run cost and holds temperature steadier. A variable-speed, or inverter, unit ramps smoothly across a wide range, the quietest and most efficient option and the best at pulling humidity, at the highest install cost. Those three map cleanly to the Basic Comfort, Best Value, and Ultimate tiers in the calculator above.

For a standard changeout: the outdoor condenser or heat pump, the indoor coil or air handler, a furnace if it is a split gas system, a new thermostat, refrigerant, a permit and inspection, removal and disposal of the old equipment, and the labor to install and start it up. What sits outside that base and moves the total is ductwork repair or replacement, electrical or breaker changes, a new line set, and any zoning. The three tiers in the calculator differ mainly in the equipment efficiency, not in that scope of work.

Same tonnage does not mean same job. The efficiency tier you pick, the condition of your existing ductwork, whether the line set can be reused, the electrical work, permit costs in your city, and the brand of equipment all move the total, and any one of them can shift a quote by thousands. That is exactly why this calculator prices three tiers and treats the result as a ballpark, and why the real number comes from an in-home visit that measures those variables.

No, and an oversized unit cools worse. A system sized too large cools the air fast, hits the thermostat setpoint, and shuts off before it has run long enough to pull humidity out of the house. That short-cycling leaves the house cold and clammy, wears the equipment with frequent starts, and wastes energy. The fix is to size from a load calculation so the system runs long enough to pull humidity and hold an even temperature.

It depends on climate and fuel prices. A heat pump both heats and cools with one system and runs on electricity, so it can be cheaper to run in a mild climate and it qualifies for larger federal tax credits, though the equipment costs more up front. A gas furnace paired with an air conditioner often wins on running cost in a cold climate with cheap natural gas, since a furnace keeps its output when it is very cold outside while an older heat pump loses some. Cold-climate heat pumps have closed much of that gap. The calculator can price either path.

For a mid-efficiency changeout, the installed cost commonly works out to somewhere around $2,000 to $3,000 per ton once equipment and labor are combined, so a 3-ton system lands roughly in the $6,500 to $11,000 range. Per-ton math is a fast sanity check, not a quote: a small system carries fixed costs like the permit and the crew day across fewer tons, so the per-ton figure runs higher on a 1.5-ton job and lower on a 5-ton one.

Treat it as a solid ballpark that gets a homeowner oriented before anyone visits. It sizes the system from square footage and prices three tiers on regional defaults or the contractor's own numbers. An in-home quote measures the actual load, inspects the ductwork and electrical, and accounts for access and local permit costs, which is what turns the ballpark into a firm price. The calculator's job is to give a real number fast and start the conversation, not to replace the site visit.