Teamwork makes the dream work

“Is this a fair price?” remains one of the biggest questions for heat pump shoppers. And it’s a really hard question to answer!

Each home is different, each unit has a different cost and efficiency, and labor rates vary across the country. Not to mention that contractors have varying levels of quality, with some skipping important steps and doing un-permitted work.

On top of that, having a parade of different contractors trodding through your house and giving conflicting recommendations with wildly varying quotes can be overwhelming.

Shrouded in secrecy

Contractors guard their pricing like nuclear launch codes. Rarely do you go on a website and see flat-rate pricing.

There are very good reasons for this.

First is the competitive bidding process. HVAC companies know that most homeowners are going to shop around for a system. The in-home visit gives them an opportunity to get in your house and make a good impression.

They hope that they can be charismatic and build trust with you, before they even show their numbers.

If they shared their numbers upfront, you might shop that quote around with other contractors before you even give them a call. Imagine playing poker with your cards face up?

Then there’s the seasonality. Much of the year is “shoulder season”, where temperatures are mild. Most homeowners aren’t thinking about their HVAC equipment during these times, so many HVAC companies have very low demand. They might be change their pricing to close a deal and keep their technicians busy. The first hot week of summer or cold week of winter, most contractor’s phones are ringing off the hook. They’re not going to be very interested in making a deal.

On top of seasonality, the cost of HVAC equipment varies. Cost increases from distributors can be sudden, especially with unpredictable tariff actions. At other times, a distributor might have specials to clear out stale equipment inventory. All of this variability means that consistent fixed pricing doesn’t make business sense for most companies.

Power in numbers?

Laminar Collective, Gigaton Collective, and Collaboration Energy have all had success coordinating heat pump group buys across the country - everywhere from Boston to Seattle.

The premise is simple. Transparent, up-front pricing from trustworthy heat pump installers that do quality work.

It’s a win on both sides.

Homeowners get a heat pump from someone they can trust, without the hassle of shopping around. Equipment is ordered in bulk from distributors, so costs are lower.

Because the contractors don’t have to spend the advertising and sales costs they normally would for these customers, they can pass along the savings. They also have a predictable backlog of work for a few months, so they’re ok with lower revenue on each project.

Group buy in California

We think the group buy model is great, but nobody has pulled it off in California yet. So we want to try!

Just like the group buys in other parts of the country, we’d publish standard up-front pricing for certain heat pump project types. Pricing would be competitive, and the high quality installations would include permits and all testing necessary for energy code compliance.

My company, Vayu, installs heat pumps across California. I’m willing to devote the majority of the company’s energy for the rest of the year in support of this group buy. We’d gather interest over the next few months, and carry out the installations in the last quarter of this year. And we’d share case studies and learnings after we wrap up the installations. We can install systems in the San Francisco Bay Area and parts of Los Angeles.

I need your help!

Is this something you’re interested in? Maybe you have a friend or neighbor looking for a heat pump in California?

Please share www.heatpumpgroupbuy.com widely with your network and respond to the poll below. If there’s enough initial interest, we’ll put together pricing and more detailed information!