Cost of installing through-wall A/C?

Try Connecticut PTAC. Very easy to deal with, fairly priced and reliable.

Seg, where are you located? If you're in a co-op in Manhattan you may have to get an architect involved in order to do a structural assessment and possible architectural rendering of the final installation. The need for Board approval goes without saying. If your building is land-marked then you have that additional hurdle as well. I know of someone who did this and they had to erect small scaffolding to complete the job. I believe it cost around $4000 per install (not including unit).

The primary question, at least if you live on the third floor or higher, is: do you or don't you have a balcony?

If you do, the worker can stand on it when installing the outside portion of the unit. If not, he has to attach a harness to himself while an assistant stays inside your apartment keeping watch. This will make your costs go sky-high, so shop around if you get a ridiculous quote.

I got it done a few months ago when I had to replace the 12-year-old AC that came with the apartment. Not in NYC but in a place where balconies are so commonplace that well under half of apartments lack them, for only about $500 more than the price of the AC unit. The first few quotes I got were a lot higher than that (~$1000, and they double-counted a lot of stuff to push the number higher), so I was happy to get the price I got. This was for an AC that cools about 200-250 square feet, but installation costs shouldn't scale with the power of the AC unless you're getting more than one unit put in.

Thanks everyone. To answer the questions-
1. Manhattan co-op. Above the 3rd floor, no balcony.
2. Already have an architect engaged who has drawn the "through-wall AC unit detail" as part of the overall specs
3. Already have Board approval
4. Building already has a number of through-walls all across the back-side of the building; will need the approval of LPC but expect this to be a formality so long as we stick with the same style as the others
5. Have had GCs come to see the overall project -- they all said the ACs are the most complicated part of the project.
6. The number of through-wall AC units is based on whether we can live with window-units in certain rooms. Will depend on the cost.

Have been thinking that this will cost in the range of $3,000 -$4,500 per install. But am really just an educated guess based on some comments from the architect. Now wondering if it might make sense to find a sub-contractor for this part of the job, one who specializes in this work and could maybe offer a better price.

definitely give these guys a call.

http://www.stanleyruth.com

they did ours -5units $25,000

leelaura: Did you have to pay an architect extra to get plans and get them approved?

I did 2 recently. 4-5,000 range each. Your building probably has approved vendors for this kind of project; I suggest you check with the managing agent. We used Stanley Ruth.

wow , so expensive

seg,
Stanley Ruth or Hamilton Air are two solid companies for this. It is still best to go through a GC however. The GC will schedule to meet the HVAC guys, manage exact location points per unit. do the plaster/paint work after install, and clean the area of work.