Quick answer
For a residential furnace, air conditioner or heat pump install in Ontario, a deposit of about 10 percent is normal: enough to hold the date and order the equipment, with the balance due once the system is installed, started up and tested. Financed installs usually need no deposit at all. Walk away from full payment up front or cash-only terms.
How much deposit should I pay an HVAC contractor? For a house install, plan on roughly 10 percent of the contract price, and treat anything above a third as a question to ask out loud. The deposit does two jobs: it takes your install date off the contractor's calendar and it gets the equipment ordered. Everything else is paid when the system is running and you have watched it run.
The normal payment schedule for a furnace or AC install
- At signing: a small deposit, about 10 percent, paid against a written contract. Ontario's consumer guidance for home projects is to keep down payments to a minimum and suggests 10 percent.
- Special-order equipment: a larger deposit can be fair when the contractor has to buy something the supplier will not take back, such as a boiler, a multi-zone ductless system or a custom coil. Ask which line items are special order and what they cost.
- On completion and start-up: the balance, after the equipment has been fired, tested and shown to you. On a gas furnace that means gas pressure and temperature rise have been checked, not that the box is sitting in the basement.
- Multi-day jobs: progress payments tied to things you can see (equipment delivered, ductwork finished, start-up done), never to calendar dates.
A like-for-like furnace replacement is a one-day job, and standard furnaces sit on distributor shelves across the GTA. With a high-efficiency install running $4,500–$7,500, a 10 percent deposit is a few hundred dollars. A contractor who needs half the price in hand to buy a stock furnace is telling you something about their cash position.
What Ontario's Consumer Protection Act requires in writing
Any HVAC job over $50 that is paid for or delivered after the day you sign falls under the Act's rules for future performance agreements: the contract must be in writing and you must be given a copy. If you signed it at home, you also have a 10-day cooling-off period to cancel for any reason and get the deposit back. A contract worth putting a deposit against lists:
- The contractor's legal business name, address and phone number, matching the name you are paying.
- The equipment by brand, model number and size (BTU input or tons), so a cheaper unit cannot be substituted on install day.
- An itemised price: equipment, labour, venting, removal of the old unit, any permit, HST and the total.
- The deposit, the balance and exactly when each is due.
- A start date and a completion date. If the work has not begun 30 days after the promised date, the Act lets you cancel and recover what you paid.
- Warranty terms, who registers the equipment, and the cancellation and refund terms.
The longer checklist, with the clauses that protect you after the install, is in what an HVAC installation contract should include.
Deposit red flags: when to stop and get another quote
- Full payment before the equipment is in your house.
- Cash only, or a cash discount with no invoice. No invoice means no warranty registration, no rebate claim and no proof of what was agreed.
- A deposit requested before you hold a written, itemised quote.
- Pressure to pay today to lock in a price, above all from someone who knocked on your door. Unsolicited door-to-door sales of furnaces, air conditioners and water heaters are not allowed in Ontario; see cancelling a door-to-door HVAC contract.
- A payee name that does not match the company on the contract, or an e-transfer to a personal account.
- A gas contractor who will not show a TSSA registration number.
How financing and rebate jobs change the deposit
Financed installs normally need no deposit. The lender pays the contractor after you confirm the work is complete, so there is nothing to collect up front; if a company wants cash on top of a financing agreement, ask what it is for. The terms and monthly ranges are on the financing page.
On a rebate job the paper trail matters more than the amount. The Home Renovation Savings Program pays heat pump rebates only through participating contractors, with approval before the install, and the claim rests on a dated invoice that names the equipment. Pay by credit card, cheque or e-transfer to the business so that every payment is traceable. Manufacturers ask for the same invoice when the warranty is registered.
ZK Mechanical quotes are free and written, with the price itemised before any work is booked. To see a quote and payment schedule for furnace installation in Burlington, Oakville, Hamilton or elsewhere in our service area, call (647) 801-1252 or request a quote. More buying questions are answered in the costs and buying hub.