Find Contractors Who Care
Simple steps to find a contractor who will put your needs first.
Like with car mechanics and arborists, you don’t want to take chances with your heat pump installer. Let’s find you a contractor who knows what they're doing, won’t overcharge, and who will pick up the phone if there are issues later on.
We wrote this guide to make it as easy as possible to find a trustworthy contractor for your heat pump installation. There are two paths we recommend. Each is based on how you’ve found contractors in the past—not everyone does this in the same way!
🗣️Word of Mouth
Do you ask around for recommendations from friends, neighbours, or family, then call up the first company that gets a glowing recommendation? Check out our 1-Call Contractor Plan.
📝Online Research
Do you research contractors online and then get at least 3 quotes? Our Contractor Research Checklist is for you.
⚠️Should you talk to your furnace technician about heat pumps?
Many Torontonians have a good relationship with the company that maintains their furnace. But the company that is good at maintaining furnaces may not have any experience installing heat pumps. We've heard (many!) stories of companies like this telling Torontonians that getting a heat pump is a bad idea. To us, that's like someone giving a bad review on a book they've never read!
91% of heat pump owners would recommend one to their neighbour. So if your furnace company tries to steer you away from heat pumps, use this guide to find an experienced installer who'll back your decision instead of fighting it.
📞1-Call Contactor Plan
Ok, this is going to sound like I'm adding more work to your project, but this one call actually isn’t to a contractor!
Before calling up contractors (especially if you’re putting in your first heat pump!!), we always recommend getting in touch with either Sarah Grant from Goldfinch Energy or Michelle Hjort from Energy Neighbour—they’re both heat pump experts who have helped with hundreds and hundreds of heat pump installations in Toronto.
⚠️We do not get kickbacks or commissions for recommending Sarah or Michelle! They're just incredibly helpful and have earned our trust.
How they help you get your heat pump installed
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They’ve worked with many, many contractors in Toronto. They’ll connect you with the ones that don’t just see you as a piggy bank.
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They’ll give you cost estimates before you get contractors on the phone. This gives you a huge leg up over homeowners who get quotes blind.
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They’ll make sure your home is heat pump ready by checking things that even some highly recommended heat pump installers miss, like duct sizing.
🚗In other words, Goldfinch Energy and Energy Neighbour are like the friend you beg to go car shopping with you—they’ll tell it to you straight!
What's the cost?
Will working with Goldfinch or Energy Neighbour cost you anything? It depends!
Goldfinch Energy
Goldfinch offers products like Heat Pump Sizing, Energy Assessments, and Electrification Roadmaps, which cost ~$500 each.
That’s not nothing, but you’re paying for experience—Sarah has expertly guided over 1500 heat pump installations in Toronto.
Energy Neighbour
Energy Neighbour offers no-cost energy retrofit consulting. Ask all your heat pump and other retrofit questions—for free!
They recover a referral fee from some of their contractors, but the contractor pays this fee—not you, and there is no obligation.
❓Why wouldn't you just go with the free option?
There's no reason you couldn't start with the free service and then decide to hire Goldfinch later if that's what Energy Neighbour recommends for you! Let us break that down a bit more:
Sarah with Goldinch Energy (~$500 spend) is an Energy Advisor. She will come to your home and do an Energy Assessment. We'd recommend that she do an Energy Assessment for you if you want to totally ditch your furnace or boiler and go full-heat pump (aka the best way to reduce your home's carbon pollution).
Michelle with Energy Neighbour (free) is a coach. If a full furnace/boiler replacement isn't in the cards for you right now, you can start here. As we said before, Michelle might end up recommending you hire Sarah for a visit anyway! That's because you need to get Energy Assessments to qualify for some rebates (like insulation and air sealing). You can get rebates on a heat pump without doing an Energy Assessment.
In other words, you can't go wrong! In project after project, these two are the difference between stress and success. Working with one of them is MUCH better than going alone. You can book free intro calls with either Goldfinch Energy or Energy Neighbour online using the form below.
📝Research Checklist
If you'd prefer to dig in and do the research yourself, here's the path we'd recommend.
The steps below combine word-of-mouth recommendations from Torontonians we've worked with and vetted contractor directories to help you make a shortlist of heat pump installers you actually feel good about.
Step 1: Success Stories
Browse the Success Stories page of our website.
Each story has how much they paid for their heat pump and the contractor they used. You can find installations that match your motivation, too. For example, Debbie was all about carbon reduction, Adam & Monica wanted a carbon monoxide-free home, and Mary just needed to replace some old equipment!
Step 2: Neighbourhood Groups
Harbord Village Residents' Association, a neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, has a heat pump page. On it, they collected the heat pump installers who people in their neighbourhood used. The Pocket Change Project, a neighbourhood group in Toronto's East End, has something similar here. Adding a few contractors from each to your call list is a good practice.
Final Step: Vetted Directories
At this point, you probably have a solid list, but it’s worth searching these two directories of pre-vetted contractors as well: Toronto Hydro's Cleantech Services Directory and the Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada's (HRAI) Contractor Locator. Both are updated regularly, and contractors must pass more stringent checks than websites like HomeStars.
A couple of quick notes on the Directories:
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Many very good (particularly smaller) contractors choose not to take the time and expense to be listed on these directories. In other words, if an otherwise recommended contractor is not listed here, that doesn't mean they're not good!
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The HRAI contractor locator has a filter for "Heat Pump Champion Advocate". Choose this for contractors that are specifically qualified for, and supportive of, heat pump installations.
🤩Heat Pumps Are Awesome
Now it’s time to pick up the phone! But knowing what to ask can feel intimidating, especially if you're new to heat pumps. Our free Contractor Cue Card has 7 questions to make sure you don't miss out on money-back incentives and free extended warranties.
🔨Get the Contractor Cue Card
Here's a sneak peek of the Cue Card!
Every time they whir to life, they keep polluting fossil fuels in the ground—installing a heat pump improves your home comfort and helps the environment. We're pumped for you to get yours!