Are more choices better?

You’ve decided to replace your old furnace, air conditioner, or heating system - congratulations! This is a great first step toward improving your home’s comfort for years to come.

Unfortunately, the next step is a lot less straightforward. Which brand should I choose? What are the differences between different types of equipment? Why does every contractor that comes through my house offer me a different solution at a different price point?

Most HVAC contractors you get a quote from will offer you options - often framed as “Good / Better / Best”, or “Gold / Silver / Platinum”. As a customer, choice can feel good! When you’re shopping for a new car, of course you want to be able to select between the cloth or leather seats, or decide whether it’s worth paying extra to get all-wheel drive.

However, buying a new heat pump system is very different than buying a new car. For starters, your car is an emotional choice - something that you use every single day, that reflects your own identity. While your home’s HVAC system is something that you also use every day, you generally interact with it in a more limited way - through the thermostat on your wall. If everything is working properly, your system is a large gray box in your attic, crawlspace, or garage that you never think of!

The reason that most HVAC contractors offer you multiple choices is not because they truly care about you getting the best HVAC system for your needs. In fact, many of the options that they offer are mediocre, and the upgraded choices that they present won’t meaningfully improve your comfort. The choice is actually a sales tactic! They are actually using a tool called the ‘decoy effect’, which if you’re curious to learn more about, this post wonderfully. Essentially, by offering you multiple choices, you are more likely to spend more than if you were just offered a single one.

At Vayu - we don’t play sales tricks like this. In fact, we will only offer you a single option for your home, the one that is the best value. Your new system will offer great efficiency, a great warranty, and excellent reliability. It might not have every single bell and whistle that the top of the line HVAC systems may offer, but 99.9% of homeowners don’t need these features. If you happen to be in the 0.1% of homeowners that really want a specific feature or use case, we will happily refer you to a different contractor who can better fit your needs. But in most cases, we think that you’ll be very happy with the solution that we present and it’ll exceed your needs.

We like to think of our role more like that of a doctor than a used car salesman. While the car salesman is trying to understand your budget so they can sell you the most expensive car on the lot that they can, a doctor diagnoses your condition and prescribes exactly the medication that you need.

This isn’t typical in the HVAC industry, but we strongly believe it results in the best possible experience for our customers. If you’d like to learn more about the best HVAC solution for your home, reach out to us and we’ll be happy to put a proposal together for you!