Howard Air was called out this summer to fix a mid 60s AZ unit in our house. They arrived promptly, determined an ancient fan relay had died and replaced it for $300. (Another HVAC company in the Valley had told us this part was unobtainable and the entire system had to be replaced due to this part failing 2 years ago). We asked Howard Air, how bad is this AC unit? They told us it was well built, not efficient, and could continue to function for many more years.
Last week the whole house fan that moves AC or furnace air died. Howard Air told us it could be replaced for over $1000, but they really had to look hard to maybe find the parts. We then decided it finally was time for an entire new system. After interviewing us, taking measurements of the house we had a very nice estimate. The installation took place in about 7 hours. All the old unit was hauled away, all the new unit boxes were removed. They really worked hard to not be intrusive.
No hard sales pitch from the estimator, we did not get a state of the art system, just a much more efficient system. We were able to buy exactly the level of system we wanted.