Air Condition Bid Question

Why are you surprised that it would cost more to do both the existing house and the addition than is does just to do the addition? Seems pretty natural.. Or was it the cost difference that surprised you?

Yeah, for the most part they'd just have to run ducts (both cold air feeds and returns) but there is more labor involved in running ducts in an existing house than there is in running them through a new structure where the walls and ceilings are all open. I'd guess most of that difference in cost is in labor - not materials. It's a lot harder to crawl around in an exiting attic (in the summer! Ugh!) to install ducts than it is to work in an open room with no ceiling yet.

He (or she) may also have spec'd out a larger A/C unit for the entire house than the bid for the addition only (you'd need a larger unti to handle 1700 sq. ft than you would for just 700 sq. ft.) so there may be a higher cost there too.

No, that is NOT "it". Your house will be 70% larger than it was formerly. Your old a/c will certainly not be large enough to accommodate the extra square footage.

Some years ago, I bought a house that was two years old. The people who had the house originally had doubled the size of their lanai, and made it into a room. The problem was, they took the a/c that the builder had designated for the original size of the house.

Right from the beginning, we realized that the a/c was not large enough to adequately cool the whole house. The darn thing was on perpetually, and it still could not take down the humidity preperly. I live in Florida, so that was more of a concern that you would have in Ohio.

I would suggest that you call another company, and get an estimate.

I was interested in buying an old house that was gorgeous but had no A/C, no ducts -- I researched installation and the cost was prohibitive (like, way more than $5,000.) The main problem, as Fishin' says, is installing the ducts -- walls have to be torn down and rebuilt, it's very complicated.

In other words, the price seems reasonable to me, but how about if you get a few other estimates/bids to ease your mind?

Thanks
Thanks Guys. As I was scowering the the cost difference of a 1.5 ton (to cool 700 sq ft) and a 3ton (to cool 1700 Sq Ft) was only in the $300-$500 range. I guess the main thing must be all the labor involved for the existing house.

so I just didn't think I would be charged so much for the labor to put ducts in the existing house.

Labour is what it's all about, gtjr92. Especially in a retrofit.

I always think it's particularly noticeable in vehicle repair estimates. You can't even factor how large a proportion of an invoice is labour in that business. I saw an appraisal where the parts would be less than $10.00, and the labour was going to be in excess of $2,000.00. The guy told people that there was over $2000.00 damage to his vehicle. errrrr, not exactly.