Heat pump cost, quotes, and the markup.

No. The name is easy to misread. We Buy Heat Pumps is a buyer’s concierge. We help a homeowner buy a new heat pump and match a trusted contractor to install it. We do not purchase used condensers, air handlers, or leftover equipment.

You shop first. You pick the system and name a price. We connect that job to a trusted installer. The contractor is asked to install what you chose — not to invent a new package on your sofa. Mission: the right qualified buyer with the right trusted contractor, at a fair price, timeline, and quality agreement. Comfort first.

Three steps on the site, then a contractor.

01 Describe your home — fuel on site, what you have now (working, broken, none), what bothers you.

02 Comfort survey — heat pump vs gas and AC vs mini-splits, ducts, what you want next.

03 Name your own price — good, fast, and cheap are a triangle. You cannot max all three.

Then you pick a package. A trusted contractor is asked to install that job. Nothing is a signed contract until a field survey checks ducts, electrical, and size.

You are not buying a membership. You describe the house and pick a system. The install price is between you and the contractor who takes the job. We are here to keep the equipment and the markup from turning into a mystery.

No. SUBMIT asks a local contractor to contact you about the system and price you picked. Nothing is guaranteed until someone sees the house — ducts, electrical, attic, lineset, the unit that is already there.

Old Gal is the honest helper on the site. Talk or type. She is a heat pump. She will not close you. She will tell you when a truck roll costs money and when a cheap bid is going to cut corners. Ask her about sizing, mini-splits, or the hustle — or tap Describe your home when you want a number.

A typical ducted air-source heat pump often lands between about $8,000 and $18,000 installed. Size, brand, ducts, electrical, and climate move that number. Equipment alone is usually a few thousand. One-room mini-splits can start lower. Whole-home ductless and geothermal run higher.

The quote is never just the box. Permit, old-unit removal, disposal, duct fixes, electrical, and markup can add $3,000–$8,000. If two shops are $8,000 apart on the same house, you are not imagining it.

Same house, different story. One shop prices the equipment close to cost and makes money on labor. Another marks the equipment up and discounts the visit. “We can be there tomorrow” is a premium, not a virtue — standby crews cost money. Brand names get marked up even when the labor is the same. That gap is the mystery markup.

The dollars on the invoice that are not the compressor, the coil, or the hours on the job. Permit. Disposal. “Premium” brand profit. Rush fees. Living-room theater. Avoid a mystery markup means the number is on the table before anyone sits on your sofa.

The in-home sales visit where the price appears after a long pitch. We skip that. You pick the system and name a price first. A contractor is asked to install that job — not invent a new one in your den.

At a large company, rolling a truck often runs $200–$400 before anyone turns a wrench — insurance, dispatch, training, the truck itself. Small shops stay nimbler on price. Bigger shops usually win on availability, depth of experience, and insurance. Both have tradeoffs. It is your preference, not a moral test.

Almost never. The low bid usually cuts labor, materials, sizing, or code work. You pay for it later in callbacks, high bills, and a system that dies early. Expensive is not the same as good either. Some of the highest tickets are still a sloppy install. Look at the process, not the sticker.

The shop can show pay-in-full, 0% for 18 months, 60 months, and 120 months. Approval is never promised. Financing is a way to pay. It is not a reason to buy the wrong system.

The old 25C heat-pump credit was $2,000 on the tax return — not cash off the invoice — and it needed the unit to clear efficiency cuts (SEER2 and HSPF2). Law changed. Do not count on a federal credit until you check the year you actually install. State and utility rebates still exist in some places. We will not invent a rebate you did not qualify for.

If gas is already in the house and winters get serious, dual fuel is the usual honest answer: heat pump most of the year, furnace on the coldest nights. All-electric heat pump if you want off gas and the house can take it. Gas furnace plus AC if you want the lowest install and you are done arguing about refrigerants. Comfort is first. The fuel lecture is second.

A heat pump for most of the year and a gas or oil furnace for the coldest nights. Common when the house already has fossil fuel and you still want a heat pump for the shoulder seasons and summer.

A central heat pump needs ducts. No ducts, or bad ducts, is why mini-splits exist. Mini-splits zone room by room. They are not the whole-home answer if you hate hot and cold spots in a big house — unless the house is compact and you do enough heads.

This site uses a rule of thumb, not a Manual J. Start around 18 BTU per square foot, then nudge for climate, stories, insulation, and rooms that run hot or freeze. Tons = that math divided by 12,000, snapped to the nearest half ton, usually 1.5 to 5. Oversizing short-cycles and leaves the house sticky. Undersizing runs forever and still misses the set point. A field survey still has to confirm it.

No. Reliability, efficiency, and parts support are not equal. A cheap box that dies in year six is not a bargain next to a unit that runs quiet for fifteen. The labor to hang them is often close. A lot of “premium” price is profit, not extra work. Goodman is what we put on the table because the number is honest and the parts are everywhere.

Usually not. A huge share of warranty claims die because the charge, the airflow, or the electrical was wrong. The warranty is only as good as the person who set the unit.

Often no. Many companies only license the owner. The people on the truck may be apprentices or day labor. Real training is expensive. Ask who is installing it, not whose name is on the van.

Yes. We started with homeowners in Virginia — Southside, Lynchburg, and the rest of the map we can place. Describe your home on the app. If we can match a trusted contractor to that job, we will.

Virginia is home base. The concierge can place work where we have a trusted installer. If we cannot place your zip honestly, we will say so rather than pretend a truck exists.

Sign up on the contractor desk. We send qualified buyers who already picked a system and a price. Less living-room theater. More work that already has a number on it.

Yes. Someone still has to see the ducts, the panel, the pad, the lineset, and the old unit. The point is they show up to install the job you already chose — not to restart the pitch.