- 951.513.8476
- CA License #1070401
Nobody enjoys inviting a contractor into their house to talk about a five-figure decision. So here is the entire visit written down in advance — how long it takes, what we measure, what we hand you, and what we will not do. If any of it sounds wrong, you will know before we ever knock.
There is no charge and no obligation. Plenty of these visits end with us telling a Temecula homeowner their system is fine. Book a free estimate and find out which conversation you are having.
| 60–90 MinTypical estimate visit | C-20CA Lic. #1070401 | 3 OptionsGood, better, best — itemized | $0No fee, no obligation |
A replacement estimate in the Inland Empire is not a sales visit with a tape measure. It is a measurement job that ends in a document. Temecula and Murrieta homes run a design load that punishes guesswork — mid-90s through most of the summer, heat waves over 100°F, and attic duct systems that have been cooking at 140°F for decades. Getting the number right is the whole job.
Jorge built this process around one rule: everything we tell you should be something we measured, and everything we measured should be on the paper you keep. Here is what that looks like, step by step.
The call takes about five minutes. We ask for the address, the approximate square footage, roughly how old the system is, and what is prompting the call — a failure, rising bills, a room that never cools, or a house you just bought. If you can read us the model and serial number off the outdoor unit, that helps; if not, we will pull it on site.
We also ask whether you want a straight replacement quote or a diagnosis first. Those are different visits. If the system is running and you are not sure it needs replacing, say so, and we will diagnose before we quote anything. That distinction is covered in repair vs. replace your AC in Temecula.
We start with what you have. Model and serial numbers off both the condenser and the air handler or furnace, nameplate tonnage, refrigerant type, and the manufacture date decoded from the serial. That last one matters more than people expect — it tells us whether you are in warranty and what refrigerant era you are in.
Then a quick condition read: coil cleanliness, contactor and capacitor condition, disconnect and whip, pad settling, line set insulation, and whether the condenser has been getting cooked by afternoon sun against a west-facing stucco wall. In this valley that last one is not a small factor.
This is the part most estimates skip, and it is the reason ours takes longer than the twenty-minute visit you may have had before.
An ACCA Manual J load calculation is a room-by-room measurement of how much heat your house actually gains and loses. We record conditioned floor area and ceiling heights, the orientation of the building, every window’s size and glazing type, wall and attic assemblies with their insulation values, infiltration, occupancy, and duct losses. The output is a number in BTU/h per room and for the whole house.
Why bother? Because the alternative is sizing your system by matching the tag on the dead unit, which just copies whatever the builder’s subcontractor guessed in 1998. Oversizing is the most expensive error in residential HVAC: the system short-cycles, never runs long enough to move air to the far bedrooms, leaves the house cold and clammy, and burns through compressor life. A correctly sized 3-ton beats an oversized 4-ton on comfort, on bills, and on lifespan.
You get the load report. It is yours to keep and to show the next contractor. Full detail is in our guide to Manual J sizing in the Inland Empire.
Somebody is going in the attic. If a contractor quotes a full replacement without doing that, they have quoted half a system.
Up there we check supply and return duct sizing against the load, look for separated joints and crushed flex, assess insulation condition, count and locate returns, and check the plenum connections. A large share of Temecula Valley housing stock went up between 1990 and 2007 with returns that were undersized on day one, and thirty summers of attic heat has not improved anything.
This is where estimates diverge from each other. Installing a high-SEER2 condenser on a duct system leaking a quarter of its air into the attic buys you an efficiency rating you will never see on an SCE bill — and with residential rates sitting around 34¢ per kWh, that gap is real money. If the ducts are the actual problem, we will tell you that instead of selling you equipment.
We sit down and walk through what we found. Not a tablet presentation with a countdown timer on a discount — just the readings, what they mean, and the realistic options.
This is also where we ask how long you plan to stay in the house, because it genuinely changes the recommendation. A homeowner with three years left should not buy the top-tier variable-speed system. A family staying twenty years probably should.
Measured load, attic inspection, itemized proposal, no pressure. Even if you hire someone else, you walk away with a load report and a document you can hold other bids against.
You get it by email, usually within 24 hours, typically as three options. Every option itemizes the same rows so you can compare across them and across other contractors.
| On the Proposal | What It Tells You |
|---|---|
| Calculated load, in BTU/h | The measured basis for the tonnage we are proposing |
| Exact model numbers, indoor and outdoor | Lets you verify the AHRI match and the true SEER2 rating |
| Refrigerant type | R-454B on current equipment; confirms it is not old stock |
| Permit and Title 24 field verification | Required in Riverside County and priced as its own line, never buried |
| Ductwork scope | Seal, repair, resize or leave — stated explicitly either way |
| Line set, pad, disconnect, thermostat | The small items that become change orders elsewhere |
| Parts and labor warranty terms | Stated separately, in years, with who registers the equipment |
| Schedule and total install time | Realistic dates, including equipment lead time |
| Payment terms and financing | Deposit, balance on completion, and any financing options |
For where the totals typically land this year, see new HVAC system costs in Temecula for 2026, and for equipment tiers, the best AC brands in 2026.
The estimate is where the decisions get made, so it is worth knowing what it commits you to. A straightforward single-system changeout in a Temecula tract home is a one-day job, generally seven or eight hours. Add ductwork, a difficult attic, or a second system and it becomes two days. We give you the realistic number in the proposal rather than the optimistic one, including equipment lead time, which has been longer than usual since the refrigerant transition and can stretch on specific model matches.
On the day: floors and pathways get covered, the old refrigerant is recovered properly rather than vented, the old equipment leaves with us, and the new system gets brazed with nitrogen flowing, pulled into a deep vacuum, and weighed in to the manufacturer’s charge specification. Nothing gets charged by feel.
Before we leave, we take commissioning readings — superheat, subcooling, static pressure, temperature split and delivered airflow — and those numbers go on your paperwork. The permit gets closed out and the Title 24 field verification is scheduled with an independent rater, who confirms the charge and airflow are correct. That verification is not a formality; it is the only outside check that your install was done right.
We register the manufacturer warranty inside the 60-day window and email you the confirmation, then walk you through the thermostat and the filter schedule before the truck pulls out.
A few small things make the estimate sharper. Clear a path to the attic access and the indoor air handler. Have a recent SCE bill handy if you want the operating-cost comparison to mean something. Make a list of the rooms that misbehave — which ones, what time of day, and in which season.
And ask hard questions. Ask what the load number came out to and why. Ask what happens if it fails in year six. Ask what the labor warranty actually covers. Those questions are how a good contractor proves it, and how you catch one who cannot.
Between 60 and 90 minutes for a full replacement estimate in a typical Temecula home. Most of that is the load calculation and the attic inspection. A visit that takes twenty minutes did not include either one.
No. Replacement estimates are free with no obligation across our service area. A diagnostic service call on a system that is already broken is a separate, charged visit, and we will tell you which one you are booking before we come out.
Yes, on any replacement estimate. Duct sizing, leakage, insulation condition and return capacity all change the recommendation, and none of it is visible from the hallway. A quote written without an attic inspection is incomplete.
Usually within 24 hours by email, as three itemized options with the load report attached. It is yours to keep whether or not you hire us, and you are welcome to use it to evaluate other bids.
Then that is what the visit concludes. A meaningful share of systems we are called out to replace need a repair, a duct fix or a cleaning instead. We will quote the smaller job and explain how many seasons it likely buys you.
Yes. Get three from licensed C-20 contractors and require a written load calculation from each. If one bid’s BTU number is far off from the other two, that contractor is guessing at the size of your system.
Free replacement estimates cover the Temecula Valley and the surrounding Inland Empire: Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, Winchester, Canyon Lake, French Valley and Sun City, plus Hemet, Perris, Moreno Valley, Corona, Norco, Fallbrook, Bonsall, La Cresta, De Luz and the De Portola wine country corridor.
Jorge owns the company and holds the C-20 HVAC license, CA Lic. #1070401. Every install is permitted and field verified. See the full range of air conditioning services we provide.
Ninety minutes, a measured load calculation, an attic inspection and an itemized written proposal. Free, no obligation, and yours to compare against anyone in the valley.
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