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Why cheap HVAC quotes cost you more · Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you buy a toaster, you plug it in, and it makes bread hot.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: It is um a completely self-contained unit.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Right.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: The manufacturer did all the hard work in a factory somewhere.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: They tested the heating elements, they sealed the casing, and you just provide the electricity.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: You are just operating a finished product.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: But when you step into the world of major home systems, like specifically your heating and air conditioning, that logic completely falls apart.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell It really does.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you buy a brand new HVAC system, you are not actually buying a finished product.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: You are, you know, buying a pile of parts.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you are just hoping the person standing in your backyard knows how to build a factory grade machine from scratch.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell It is the ultimate diagnostic muddy water.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, people assume an air conditioner is a plug-and-play appliance, but in reality, it is a highly customized construction project happening right inside your walls.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Which brings us to our mission for today.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the deep dive, everyone.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you are staring at a stack of confusing quotes on your kitchen table right now, wondering why one contractor wants$5,000 and another wants$3,500 for what looks like the exact same job, well, you need to know what you are actually paying for.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: You really do.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And our deep dive today is pulling from a fascinating conversation with Dave Hartzell.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: He is an HVAC veteran out of Kingfisher, Oklahoma, with uh over 45 years in the trenches.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: He knows exactly where the bodies are buried on these cheap installations.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because the price tag on that piece of paper is rarely the whole story.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Understanding the hidden mechanics of home comfort is your absolute best defense against a catastrophic financial mistake.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So let us unpack this.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: The first place our brains naturally go when we see a massive price difference, is the physical equipment itself.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: That is what everyone assumes.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell My immediate assumption is that um the$5,000 guy is selling me a luxury premium air conditioner, and the$3,500 guy is selling me some cheap knockoff brand.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: But the hardware is almost never the real source of that price gap.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, really?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: The actual equipment, meaning the condenser unit sitting outside your house and the evaporator coil sitting inside, well, that rarely accounts for a thousand or fifteen hundred dollar difference in the quotes.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell So the boxes are basically the same price.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty much.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: The cost difference between a basic builder-grade unit and a highly reliable mid-tier unit is usually only about$800, maybe$1,500 at the absolute most.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because an air conditioner does not actually make cold air, it just removes heat.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: The metal box sitting outside is essentially just a heat exchanger and a compressor pump.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: You are just paying for the copper, the aluminum, and the motor.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if the actual metal box only accounts for an$800 difference, where is the rest of that missing money coming from on the cheaper quote?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell It is coming entirely out of the invisible labor.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: You are purchasing a highly complex installation process.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that makes sense.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Because your house is unique.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Your ductwork is unique.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Assembling a system that actually works within your specific home takes a lot of time and a lot of precision.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell I look at this like buying a custom built desktop computer.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you could buy the most expensive processor in the world.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, for sure.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: But if the builder routes the cooling fans backward or uh forgets the thermal paste, the whole system fries the second you turn it on.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: The magic is not in the parts, it is in the assembly.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that assembly takes time.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: So when a budget installer needs to shave$1,500 off a quote to win your business, well, they have to start skipping steps.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: So what are they skipping?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Davey tails exactly where these budget installers cut corners, and it usually starts with city permits.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Ah, permits.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Pulling a permit costs money, and it requires a neutral city inspector to come out and verify the safety of the work.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: A budget installer will skip this simply to save a few hours and keep their quote artificially low.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Which means no one is double checking their work to make sure it will not burn your house down.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: It is a huge liability.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Then they move on to the actual physical installation.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: A massive corner they cut is skipping the pressure test on the line set.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Remind me, the line set is the pair of copper pipes, right?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: The copper pipes carrying the refrigerator between the inside unit and the outside unit.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: A proper professional will weld those pipes, fill them with high pressure nitrogen, and let it sit to check for micro leaks.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And a budget installer.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: A budget installer just hooks the pipes up, crosses their fingers, and hopes the welds hold.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: That is terrifying.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: But honestly, a much larger issue is ductwork sizing.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Dave has walked into houses and seen massive three-ton outside units paired with internal ductwork that can barely handle two tons of airflow.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Just because they match the old unit.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: The previous installer just slapped in whatever size unit matched the old broken one without ever doing the math to balance the system.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: That is wild.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Trying to force three tons of air through a two-ton duct system is like trying to breathe through a cocktail straw while running a marathon.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: That is a great way to put it.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: The system is entirely suffocated.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the static pressure goes through the roof, the blower motor burns itself out, trying to push the air, and half the rooms in your house are still completely uncooled.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And the most alarming shortcut of all is how they handle the refrigerant.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Cheap installers will often just eyeball the refrigerant charge using basic analog gauges.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of weighing it.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of actually weighing the exact amount of chemical on a digital scale.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: But wait, how can a system even run if it is built that poorly?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: If my ductwork is severely mismatched, or the refrigerant is just eyeballed by a guy trying to finish by noon, I am going to notice right away.
• 5:46
  unknown: Right.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like if I turn it on and it blows hot air, I am calling that installer right back to my house immediately.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell But the insidious part of poor HVAC work is that you usually do not notice right away.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: Almost anyone with basic tools can hook up a unit and make cold air blow out of your vents for a week or two.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh really?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: You feel cold air, you write the check, and you think you got a great deal.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: But cold air does not mean the system is operating within its designed mechanical parameters.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Not at all.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: If that refrigerant charge is off by just a half pound, the thermodynamics of the entire system are completely skewed.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because HVAC systems rely on exact pressure to change the refrigerant from a liquid to a gas.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: That phase change is what absorbs the heat from the inside of your house.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: If the pressure is off because the installer just guessed the weight, the heat transfer fails.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And because the heat transfer fails, the compressor has to work twice as hard to achieve the same cooling effect in the house.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is working slightly too hard, you know, day in and day out.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: And that is what kills the unit early, usually right around year three or year five.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: The system was designed to last 15 years and it dies in four.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: And while it is slowly dying, that improper charge is quietly jacking up your electric bill every single month.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: You are paying for their shortcut for years without ever realizing it.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we know what happens when someone slashes the price and skips the scale.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: What does the$5,000 quote actually buy you?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of peace of mind.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: How does a reputable professional price their time and materials?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, a proper install is remarkably comprehensive.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: According to Dave, that full price number typically includes the condenser outside, the coil inside, and sometimes even a completely new furnace or air handler if the old one is failing.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right, a complete package.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: It includes a brand new line set if the old copper pipes are degraded.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: It includes a proper startup where the refrigerant charge is meticulously weighed in on a scale to the exact ounce.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Which we just learned is critical.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: And crucially, it includes pulled permits, so a third-party inspector verifies the electrical and structural safety.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: So you are paying to know that it was done right by the book and legally.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: That makes total sense for a brand new installation.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: But what about when your current system just breaks on a Tuesday in July?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: That is where things get tricky.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Dave breaks down his diagnostic fees in the source material, and this is where a lot of homeowners get frustrated.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you want a replacement estimate for a totally dead system, well, that is free.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: But fixing a broken unit costs a$99 dispatch fee plus a$111 diagnostic fee.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: So that totals a flat$210 just to tell you what is wrong.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that fee is not credited toward the final repair bill.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: And people hate paying a diagnostic fee.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: They always want a free estimate on repairs.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: But free estimates on repairs are a complete myth.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, tracing complex electrical faults takes decades of accumulated skill.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: It absolutely does.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: A technician is checking specific pressure levels and testing capacitors to see if they are within their proper microferad range.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: It is not just looking at a machine.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: They're not just kicking the tires.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: No, it is interpreting invisible electrical data.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because a capacitor is essentially a high voltage battery that gives the blower motor the massive initial jolt it needs to start spinning.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: If the microferads drop, the motor struggles to start.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: It pulls too much amperage and eventually burns out the motor itself.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hiding the cost of diagnosing that invisible data usually means the technician is going to secretly pad the repair bill later to make up for their time.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: That happens all the time.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: They pretend the diagnosis is free, and then they mark up a$20 capacitor to$250.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that is why Dave's flat fee approach champions complete cost transparency.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: You pay exactly for the specialized time it takes to diagnose the electrical fault, and then the actual repair is priced honestly on its own merits without hitting markups.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: That transparency is crucial when the system is dead.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: But what about all the financial noise that gets thrown around when you are actively shopping for a new system?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: You see advertisements everywhere promising like 10-year warranties and massive government tax write-offs.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that financial noise is where many homeowners get completely blindsided.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it usually starts with deceptive warranties.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: How so?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Many cheap quotes will proudly advertise a 10-year parts warranty.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that sounds fantastic on paper, but they bury the fact that they only offer a 90-day labor warranty.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: 90 days.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: So if the installer makes a terrible weld on the copper pipe that slowly leaks and the system fails in month four, the manufacturer will hand you a free replacement part.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Right, the part is free.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: But you have to pay the original installer their full hourly labor rate to come back and fix their own mistake.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: You are financially on the hook for their poor workmanship.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: It is wild.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: A reputable installer stands behind their labor for much longer because they are confident they use the nitrogen pressure test and weighed in the refrigerant correctly the first time.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: So note to self, always ask about the labor warranty, not just the parts.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Always.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: And what about those rebates?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: I constantly hear radio ads for contractors promising huge federal tax credits.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: The rebate landscape shifts constantly, and Dave specifically warns about outdated information.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Those heavily advertised federal 25C and 25D tax credits officially expired on December 31st, 2025.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: They are totally gone.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: They are gone.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: But some contractors in 2026 will still use them as a sales tactic, hoping the homeowner has not read the updated tax code.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: So if a contractor is trying to close a sale by promising you a federal tax credit right now, they are either totally misinformed or they are actively lying to you.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: However, that does not mean all financial help is gone.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Utility rebates in 2026 are still very active.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, good.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Providers in Oklahoma like OGE, OEC, and Seek Energy still have active programs depending on your exact ZIP code.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: And these localized utility programs sometimes cover high-efficiency systems like geothermal heating and cooling.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Geothermal is fascinating.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: It is, and it is an incredible option Dave offers in Oklahoma if your specific property has the land space to support it.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And an honest contractor will look up your exact utility provider and your exact ZIP code to give you a real verified rebate number rather than throwing out a generic promise of a federal tax write-off that does not exist anymore.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, because that level of detail shows they are looking at your specific situation.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Which leads right into knowing when to stop spending money.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about the concept of diminishing returns.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's a great story from Dave about a customer in the town of Okarch who demanded the absolute highest SEER-rated unit available on the market.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: The SEER rating stands for seasonal energy efficiency ratio.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: It is essentially the gas mileage rating for your air conditioner.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Makes sense.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: A higher SEER number means the unit uses less electricity to produce the same amount of cooling.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: And this customer wanted the highest rating purely for competitive reasons.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he wanted it because his brother and Edmund had one and he wanted to match him.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Such a classic homeowner move.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And Dave could have easily just taken the order.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the customer was begging to give him more money.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Dave could have ordered the most expensive box and made a massive profit margin on that job.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: But Dave talked him out of it.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Because he looked at the house itself.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: He looked at the square footage, he looked at the level of insulation in the walls, and he checked the attic ventilation.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: He realized that the house simply could not trap the conditioned air well enough to make the ultra-high efficiency unit worth the premium price tag.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: It is like pouring premium, highly expensive coffee into a paper cup with a hole in the bottom.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: You can have the most efficient cooling engine in the world.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: But if the building envelope is leaking air like a sieve, you will never see enough monthly savings on your electric bill to justify spending that extra thousand dollars up front.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: The return on investment would literally take 40 years.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: That is integrity over profit, and it is how you build a business that lasts 45 years in a small town.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: So you navigate the quotes, you avoid the unnecessary upsells, and you get the right system installed with proper permits and a weighted refrigerant charge.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: But you are not done.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: The financial investment does not actually end the day the installation truck drives away.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: No, it does not.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: A brand new, perfectly installed system is still only as good as its ongoing maintenance.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Dave charges$229 for his yearly tune-ups.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And as a homeowner, you just dropped five grand on a new system, and now you have an annual subscription fee.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is easy to see why people want to skip that expense.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it feels like buying a brand new expensive car and then completely refusing to ever change the oil just to save a few bucks.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: That is a perfect comparison.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like an extra expense, but think about what actually happens mechanically during that tune-up.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: The technician is doing a lot more than just looking at it.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: What are they doing?
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: They are washing the outdoor condenser coil.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Over a year of running, that metal coil sucks in dust, grass clippings, and cottonwood from the yard.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And since the air conditioner's entire job is to expel heat from the house into the outside air, a dirty coil traps all that heat inside the metal box.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: It cannot release the heat.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: The system literally cannot breathe.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: It turns the machine into a suffocating vacuum.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: The internal pressure rises, the compressor pulls more electricity, trying to force the heat out, and it slowly bakes itself to death.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: The technician is also checking for a weakening capacitor that is about to drop its microfarads and fail on the hottest day of the year.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Which nobody wants.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: And they're looking for low refrigerant levels that indicate a new micro leak.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Skipping a minor yearly maintenance fee on a$5,000 home system is exactly how you end up having to replace a burned-out compressor in year six when the unit was originally engineered to last 15 years.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: So maintenance is not a luxury.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, it is the insurance policy on the thermodynamics of your installation.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we have covered a massive amount of ground here today on this deep dive.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: The core lesson for you, the listener, is that the price you see printed on a quote does not tell you anything about the quality of the invisible labor.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Not at all.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: A cheap quote is not a victory, it is a warning sign.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: You have to ask the hard questions.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: You have to ask if they are pulling city permits.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, permits are non-negotiable.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: You have to ask if they're using a digital scale for weight and refrigerant charges, or just eyeballing it with analog gauges.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: You have to ask them to calculate your ductwork capacity, and you absolutely must ask about the length of the long-term labor warranties so you do not end up paying for their bad copper welds three months down the line.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because understanding these hidden mechanics completely changes the power dynamic.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: It transforms you from a vulnerable buyer crossing your fingers and hoping for the best into a highly informed homeowner.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: You can sit at your kitchen table, look at a stack of quotes, and instantly spot a cut corner.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: You are no longer just buying a metal box.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: You are investing in the unseen quality of the installation process.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Think back to that toaster we talked about at the very beginning.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: The toaster is completely self-contained, safe, and predictable.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: But your home is a massive interconnected breathing system.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: If a budget contractor is willing to cut corners on the highly important invisible things like city permits, nitrogen pressure testing, and exact refrigerant weights just to give you a cheaper price on a piece of paper, what other invisible risks might be hiding in the walls, the pipes, and the wiring of your home right now?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that definitely forces you to look at the bones of your house a little differently.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: It really does.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us on this deep dive, and we will catch you on the next one.