Reality Check – Cost of installing an ERV and associated ductwork
We’re having a house built on a 28’x48′ foundation. 1-1/2 stories with a walkout basement. Shed roof. A pretty simple shape. Part of the basement has a 500 sf commercial kitchen with its own ductless mini-split and ERV.
We’ve done previous construction with ductless mini-splits and ERVs. Never focused on ductwork costs.
Our builder is citing a ductwork cost alone of $30k. Can you think what is driving this cost? (Not a Zehnder). ERVs, mini-splits, grille locations are shown in the contract documents, and a $28k contract line item was established for HVAC. So, here we are needing to get drywall up, but confronting a 100% over run.
Anyone have some recent info on ductwork costs in NE?
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I'm one hour north of NYC. My HVAC design is three (3) compact ducted minisplits. Two with very short duct runs, and one in a crawl space to supply lower level bedrooms/bath (800sf). I've walked my house project with 15 + HVAC contractors and only received two quotes, both $42K + (this is ignoring a $95K quote). This is for miniplits only, not ERV or other ventilation. Both didn't include electric, stands/pads, and had a lot of flex. A few contractors told me outright that they can't be bothered with ducted systems. I was budgeting $25K - 30K for the mini splits (electrical separate).
I didn't really answer your question completely, but I think finding good contractors to install ductwork is difficult and therefore even more expensive than before.
P.S. Every contractor tried to sell me ductless units.
Sounds silly on the face of it.
To be clear, you're saying $30,000 for sheet metal and flex? You give them $30,000 and you don't get anything else than that?
What's the remainder of the HVAC cost?
To give you perspective, not that long ago (in New Jersey), I did full duct work and equipment (Fujitsu mid-static) done on a 24' x 40' 1 1/2 story (more specifically: 2nd floor and conditioned attic) for less than $17K. This was not a low-ball bid. It was a primarily commercial installer doing a residential job.
I'm not surprised the Metro NY quote was so high. It's Metro NY after all and you pay for that every which way from Sunday. I've lived there all my life and the cost of living is high.
I just built a 2000 sf garage with an apartment above it in coastal Ct. We're heating/cooling the garage portion as well as the apartment. I insisted on duct work for the apartment and settled for non-ducted for the garage. Two quotes came in around $35K, complete. Bear in mind this is new construction.
They initially wanted to do ductless throughout the whole building. After I balked, the price went up about $3k. These guys want to do ductless because it's easier (and faster!) to install.
Just as another reference point. I just built a 4000 ft2 house with two ducted mini splits, a fully ducts ERV, and a fan tech makeup air unit. This in in Utah and I had it completed for $35k. My contractor was good to his quote but admitted he underestimated the job and barely broke even. I had quotes as high as $50k.
In Central NY I got a quote for a heat pump + spiral duct for $15-20k and he said to add $5k more if I wanted an ERV (which I do). This is for a 2700sqft house that should experience around 45k btu heatloss in the winter. Our layout is pretty simple with lots of space in the trusses to put equipment. I have talked to one other company that said the system I described would be around $50k. So I would say shop around as much as you can and if possible, search for people via word of mouth as most of the time the first few businesses that pop up in a Google search are the most expensive