Envelope first. Equipment second.
Fitting a heat pump to an uninsulated house is buying an expensive way to heat the street. Fabric first is not an opinion; it is the reason the equipment can be smaller and cheaper.
$40k-$160kChicago range
€22k-€95kLisboa range
6-12 wkOn site
$2,400Survey, before any of it
Service 07 of 07. Priced from your survey, never from an average.
Why this is one job and not several
Because every kilowatt you stop losing is a kilowatt you never have to buy, generate or size a machine for. The sequence decides both the bill and the comfort, and the sequence is envelope, airtightness, ventilation, then plant.
What is included
- Thermal survey and a measured heat-loss model
- Roof, wall and floor insulation upgrades
- Airtightness works with designed ventilation
- Glazing repair, secondary glazing or replacement
- Heat pump or system conversion, commissioned and balanced
What is not
- Solar PV and battery storage
- Rebate applications the utility requires the owner to submit personally
- Work to a shared roof without the condominium consent
- Replacement of plant less than eight years old
Fabric first, in this order
Envelope, airtightness, ventilation, then plant. Sized in any other order, the equipment is bought to heat a hole.
Four things move this number more than any finish you will choose.
What decides the price
01
Where the heat leaves
A thermal survey, not a guess. Usually the roof and the rim joist in a Chicago frame house; usually the windows and the thermal bridges in a Lisboa apartment.
02
Airtightness strategy
A tighter house needs designed ventilation. Sealing without ventilating moves the problem from your bill to your walls.
03
Glazing decision
Replacing sound original sash windows is rarely the best value. Secondary glazing and draught-sealing often deliver most of the gain at a third of the cost.
04
Plant sizing
Sized after the fabric work, never before. An oversized heat pump cycles, costs more to buy and runs less efficiently for twenty years.
One we finished, measured at both ends.
A recent one, in full
A 1958 ranch with a $340 January gas bill and a heat pump quote written without opening a wall. A borescope found nothing at all in the north cavity — a machine sized against that house would have been sized against a hole. Envelope first: cavity fill, rim joist, attic to R-60, tested before and after. The heat pump that followed was two sizes smaller than the original quote. The first January after came in at $121.
Read the Ravenswood Ranch file — $146,900 · 11 weeks · on time · 2026.
Four things, and twelve months of bills.
What we need from you first
01
Twelve months of energy bills
Not an average, the actual twelve. They are the only honest baseline anyone can measure the result against, and we will hold ourselves to them.
02
The age and type of the heating plant
The nameplate photograph is enough. It tells us whether we are replacing a system or rescuing one that was never commissioned properly.
03
Which rooms are cold, and when
Cold in the morning and cold all day are two different faults with two different prices.
04
Whether you are willing to test
A blower door before and after costs a day and it is the difference between a retrofit and a hope. If you would rather not, say so and we will price it without.
A borescope in three cavities, then the plant.
Sizing a heat pump before that is buying a machine to heat a hole. The survey includes the heat-loss model, and the model decides the equipment.