In Fall 2016 we got bids from several HVAC companies for a furnace + heat pump or air conditioner installation for our recently-purchased house, but waited until Spring 2017 to have the job done. Erik Sorensen of Mountain Valley was one of those companies that gave us a bid, and one whose knowledge and willingness to talk at length about our needs most impressed us, so we asked them to keep in touch, and they did. Because of some things other HVAC bidders had said, we originally discussed a heat pump + 80% efficiency furnace (our 1996 house came with a 20-year-old ~80% efficiency gas furnace with some minor cracks in the heat exchanger and no AC), but after weighing all the pros and cons, we asked Erik for his recommendation, and even though he has a heat pump at his own house, he recommended a high-efficiency gas furnace and a 13-14 SEER AC as being sufficient for our needs and cheaper, and even suggested American Standard's Ameristar line of less-expensive air conditioners. PSE (Puget Sound Energy), our gas and electricity supplier, had also twice recommended a high-efficiency gas furnace + air conditioner versus a regular-efficiency furnace + heat pump because of the vastly cheaper price of gas here and a greater need for heating here than air conditioning. (Interestingly, just this month PSE announced that they were requesting about a 3% increase in residential electric rates and a 3% decrease in residential gas rates, which further supports the decision we made.) It turned out that American Standard had recently upgraded their furnaces with new models for the same price, and the American Standard rebate on the 16 SEER Silver air conditioning unit made the price just a couple hundred dollars more than the 13-14 SEER units, so we went with that. Erik literally spent several hours over several visits discussing the equipment options with us, even helping us with PSE's online heat-pump calculation software before we made our final decisions on equipment. I couldn't see spending the money on a variable-speed AC, but was wanting to know that the single-speed one we went with would run quietly (we had installed a two-stage American Standard air conditioner in our previous house in Texas in 2013, if I recall correctly). While Erik assured us it would be, it is even quieter than we could have imagined - if our neighbors hear it, it's only because they're trying to hear it! There were a few installation issues, which were readily and quickly corrected: 1) A mix-up at the wholesaler's warehouse resulted in them getting and installing a 60,000 BTU furnace instead of the 80,000 BTU one we contracted for and needed, and though they should probably have caught that before installing it, Erik readily corrected it by replacing the 60,000 BTU unit with the 80,000 BTU unit in just a few days. (To be safe, it's always best for you - like I did - to verify the model and serial numbers of the installed equipment in case something like this happens.) 2) The post-installation electric and mechanical permit inspections revealed a couple minor things needing to be changed (minor rewiring for the AC unit; putting protective valves on the R-410 refrigerant valves because apparently some drug addicts are unscrewing them and inhaling the refrigerant; putting a UV-protective wrap around the exposed outdoor AC line), and those were promptly taken care of. Last week we got a call from PSE saying we'd been randomly chosen by them to verify that we indeed received a rebate-eligible high-efficiency furnace, and they came out today and verified everything was as stated. Also, Mountain Valley initiated the registration paperwork with American Standard to ensure we got the 10-year warranty (not registering within 60 days of installation leaves you with just a 5-year warranty). Mountain Valley sent me the official paperwork as soon as they got it back from American Standard, and American Standard's online warranty registration page confirmed my valid registration for all items (furnace, coil, outdoor compressor, Nexia thermostat). Re: Price: As I recall, Mountain Valley was about the same price as the other quotes we got - a little higher than some, a little lower than others - so I debated whether to rate them A or B for price. Everything I'd read said that the most important factor in installing a HVAC system is the quality of the installation, so price differences (within reason) among the different bids were not a main reason in my decision to choose Mountain Valley. Also, the price included some work done on fixing the flex pipes and earthquake straps for our hot water heater, installing a new air return grate in the family room, cleaning the ductwork, and doing a duct air pressure test. The price I posted reflects the $350 PSE rebate and the 10% sales tax.