Thanks for the question Lorraine, this is certainly a common one. As always cost is dependent upon the type of house, how large the rooms are, and of course what your requirements are, but there are a few basic guidelines that you can go by in terms of pricing.
Of course, your budget is an essential factor when you ask for a quote for a new air conditioning system, and the size of the house affects the price. But, before you start crunching the numbers, it’s essential to make sure you’re being quoted on the right size split air conditioning system.
An incorrectly sized unit will be inefficient, use excessive power to run, and will have a shorter lifespan. These are all costs you’re going to be saddled with simply because you didn’t get the correct advice in the first place – or, you were looking to spend less upfront by installing a smaller unit. Apart from a split air conditioning system, you may want to check ducted air conditioning cost for your room if you want to cool/heat all the rooms in the unit at the same time.
The dimensions of a room are the first things your contractor will look at. If it’s a small room, you may think that you need a pretty small system to control the temperature efficiently. Wrong, other factors come into play. We’d also inspect the orientation of the room, and which way it faces. If it faces north or northwest, you’re going to be dealing with a more significant heat load and need a bigger unit.
Windows are another feature that comes into an assessment. Outside shading or indoor blinds or curtains also affect the heat load of the room. A glass sliding door may also influence the cost as it will let through more light/heat. Then there’s the actual layout of the space. What we’re looking at is how the room retains heat based on whether or not there’s another floor above it, and also what materials the walls are made of.
If you don’t install the correct size system for the size of space, you’re not going to get the cooling efficiency you need and as a result, you’re simply wasting your money.
So, as you can see, there are so many variables that affect the size system you need. Split system air conditioners start at two kilowatts and go up to nine-and-a-half kilowatts. Based on the size unit you need for your home or business, the costs can range from $2,000 to $4,500.
No two properties are the same, and some require more time on-site to complete the installation. A standard split system installation would take a team half a day to put a system in. If the outdoor unit has to be placed some distance from the indoor unit, it would require longer piping. In this case, installation may take up to a day to complete, and in addition to higher labour costs, you’ve got the extra materials to take into account.
When we perform an installation, we also want it to compliment the existing features of the home, which means we match the existing gutter pipes, for example. These details, and the materials we use to cover up the system, also require additional materials. Choices between stainless steel brackets or a moulded plastic condenser base are some of the decisions that will affect the quote, for example. Floor mounted systems tend to cost a bit more when you compare them to wall-mounted systems.
If you’re looking at installing more than one unit at a time, your cost per unit will also probably drop.
We need to stress that you must have your property inspected to get an accurate quote because there are lots of different factors to take into consideration. Most bedrooms would require a 2.5-kilowatt to 3.5-kilowatt system. For a downstairs lounge room, typically we install a 6- to 7-kilowatt system.
Here’s a rough guide to what you can expect to pay for different sized split system air conditioners:
If you’re thinking about having a split system air conditioner installed and you’re unsure about costs, get in touch and we’ll organise to have one of our friendly technicians to come out, inspect your property and provide you with a quote.
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