Your cooling system is an essential part of the comfort of your home, especially during those summer months when the heat and humidity combine to make things sticky and miserable. If you’ve ever suffered through a stretch of hot weather with your air conditioner on the blink, you know how important it is to have an air conditioning company you can rely on for quick, efficient and affordable repairs or replacement.

Choosing a good contractor is as important as the equipment you choose, because proper installation and maintenance is needed for the equipment to operate safely, reliably, and at maximum efficiency.

Here are 10 tips for selecting a contractor:

• Ask for referrals – Ask friends, neighbors, and co-workers for contractor referrals. You can also contact local trade organizations for names of members in your area.

• Call references – Ask contractors for customer references and call them. Ask about the contractor's installation or service performance, and if the job was completed on time and within budget.

• Find special offers – A heating and cooling system is one of the largest purchases you'll make as a homeowner. Keep your costs down by checking around for available rebates on energy-efficient ENERGY STAR qualified heating and cooling equipment.

• Look for contractors whose technicians are certified by North American Technician Excellence (NATE) and/or partnered with ENERGY STAR.

• Do not give your business to a company offering to give you an estimate over the phone without ever looking at the job to be done.

• A good estimator will do a survey of your home and base his or her proposal on a heating-load calculation (or cooling-load calculation for air conditioning).

• A good estimator should also ask about any heating or cooling problems you have had with your old equipment, and offer understandable explanations or solutions.

• Using their heat-load and/or cooling-load calculations, good contractors should be able to estimate the annual operating costs (energy bills) for the equipment they are proposing for your home.

• Reliable contractors are professional. Their people are prompt and courteous. How a company treats you now reflects how they will treat you if there is a problem. They should have an office or shop facility, and they should not be ashamed to have you visit them. An office or shop is an indication that the company has been in business and intends to remain in business.

• Try not to let the lowest price be the main reason for selecting a contractor. Better contractors may charge more, but they probably offer greater value. Be skeptical of extremely low bids; those contractors may not be including all routine services and customary warranties, or they may be trying to unload outdated or unreliable equipment.

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