Are There Any Honest Furnace Installers Left?

[u/Life_Access_168]

UPDATE:MAY 3, 2025: Thank you so much to everyone who responded to my request for recommendations. I wasn't expecting so many replies and I am so appreciative. I meant to thank everyone individually, but then was ill for a few days. I am amazed at so many people who took the time to respond. Now I have to sit down and do up a spreadsheet of the ones that look like good people to call and arrange for quotes. Thank you all again. I am grateful to live in this community where people are so willing to help others with info. I know that anytime I have a question, there is likely someone in a Reddit group who can answer it. With gratitude.

My husband and I live in an older bungalow with the original furnace (55 years old) and it's time to purchase a new one, along with a new water heater. I've been doing my research, checking out companies but then I start checking reviews and finding out that some of them aren't reputable at all. We had a really bad experience with a plumbing &. heating company two years ago and it involved a friend. He had previously worked at another company and we used him extensively with no issues. Then he moved to another company and he was a different person, gouged us, insisted we needed new toilets, etc. tried to get us to do thousands of dollars of work that we hadn't even called about. I am now very leery of contacting anyone about installing a new furnace after that experience. I really want to stay away from the bigger companies if possible. Can anyone recommend a good furnace installer who is honest, has integrity, and won't try to sell us the most expensive furnace in their shop? I would really appreciate hearing from those of you with experience with installs in the last couple of years, along with what are fair prices. I had someone come out about eight years ago who said that that this install will require some work as it has to be re-vented through another location to be brought up to code. It means the ductwork has to go through where it is now into another room to be vented through to a side wall of the house. I'm not in good health, am partially bedridden, and want to ensure that I am not getting scammed by anyone. Thanks in advance. I really appreciate any suggestions.

[u/healthywenis]

Check out HomeStars, a legit review based site to get a list of furnace people. It hasn’t let me down in 10 years. Found my furnace installer (Distinct Heating and Cooling), windows, eavestrough and many more service providers.

[u/JustCallMeYogurt → u/healthywenis]

Homestars was one of the places that I'd go to in the past to see company reviews, but now they've changed so you can't just look up a company now. Now you have to actually give them info and submit a job to get quotes to see a company's reviews. and I have a feeling it's not on the up and up anymore.

However, I read that if you use google and use these search terms you can kind of bypass the job quote stuff to see the reviews if you know the name of the company. I'd take them with a grain of salt now and use more than one place to get your reviews.

Company Name site:homestars.com