What a full system replacement costs on the North Shore.
Replacing the furnace and central air together as a matched system typically runs $9,000-$18,000 installed on Chicago's North Shore. That is less than the two projects priced separately, because the venting, the coil, the line set, the electrical and the haul-away are all touched once instead of twice. The saving is in labor and access, not equipment, so it is real but it is not half.
Published 2026-08-31 · Last reviewed 2026-08-31 · Typical installed project totals for the Chicago North Shore, not quotes.
Cost by home size
Square footage drives capacity and capacity drives price. These are the same size adjustments the instant estimate calculator uses, so the two never disagree.
| Home size | Typical installed |
|---|---|
| Smaller homes (under 1,500 sq ft) | $7,700-$15,800 |
| Typical homes (1,500-2,500 sq ft) | $9,000-$18,000 |
| Larger homes (2,500-4,000+ sq ft) | $10,100-$23,800 |
What the range covers
- Matched furnace and condenser with the correct evaporator coil for the pair
- Venting for the furnace efficiency tier, condensate drain, and line set work
- Plenum and transition modifications where the new cabinet does not match the old footprint
- Removal and haul-away of both old units, full startup, combustion testing and airflow check
- Warranty registration on both units and both rebate submissions
- Full ductwork replacement, which is quoted on its own when the house needs it
- Asbestos abatement
- Electrical service or panel upgrades
- Chimney work beyond the liner required by the furnace change
What actually moves the number
- One access, not two
- The reason this is cheaper is unglamorous. The mechanical room is opened once, the refrigerant lines are opened once, the plenum is cut once, and one crew makes one trip with one disposal run. On a tight North Shore basement or a boxed-in closet, access is a genuine share of the labor.
- The coil stops being a compromise
- Most of the awkward decisions in a piecemeal replacement come from the indoor coil, which sits on the furnace and belongs to the AC. Replacing both at once removes the mismatch question entirely, and the matched pair carries the rating and the warranty it was tested with.
- Rebates stack in a single project
- A Nicor furnace rebate and a ComEd rebate on qualifying equipment can both land on one job. Equipment has to be selected to hit both tiers at quote time. Spread the same work across two years and you are chasing two programs under whatever rules each is running when you get there.
- The systems stay the same age
- This is the argument people underweight. Replace only the furnace now and in eight years you are doing the AC on its own, at that year's prices, opening the same plenum again. Matched ages mean matched end of life and one more project across the life of the house rather than two.
- Ductwork gets found once
- Whatever is wrong with the returns or the static pressure gets discovered during a full system replacement and can be corrected while the equipment is out. Doing it during a partial replacement means either paying for the correction twice or living with it.
When replacing both is the wrong call
If one unit is genuinely healthy, it is the wrong call, and the honest version of this page says so. Scrapping a working eight-year-old condenser to capture overlap on the furnace install spends several thousand dollars to save several hundred. The case for doing both is strong when the two units are within a few years of each other and both are past twelve, when the refrigerant is R-22, or when you are already opening the plenum for a cabinet that does not fit the old footprint. The case is weak whenever one side of the system has most of its life left.
HVAC installation cost for a full system
A full system installed is what most people mean when they search HVAC installation cost, and on the North Shore that is the range above for a matched furnace and condenser going into a house that already has ducts. What the phrasing tends to hide is that a system is not one purchase. It is a furnace, a condenser, a matched coil, and the venting and line set work that ties them together, and a bid can be made to look cheap by leaving any one of those at its old age. The reason to look at the full system number rather than at the two halves is not the discount, which comes from labor and access rather than from equipment. It is that both units end up the same age, so the house has one more mechanical project left in it instead of two.
This is the project where rebate stacking is worth planning around. Nicor Gas pays roughly $225 on a 97% AFUE furnace and $150 on 95%. ComEd's rebates apply to qualifying heat pump equipment rather than straight air conditioning, so if electrification is on the table at all, a full system replacement is the natural moment to price a dual-fuel setup against a conventional matched pair. Both programs set the rebate from the model number at quote time. The federal 25C credit ended for equipment placed in service after December 31, 2025.
Current ComEd and Nicor rebatesMethodology
This range is the typical installed project total for full system replacement across Chicago's North Shore - Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, Kenilworth, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Northbrook, Glenview and the surrounding communities. It reads from the same figures as the instant estimate calculator and the main cost reference, so there is one set of numbers on this site rather than three. Ranges are reviewed as equipment and utility program pricing move, and the last-reviewed date above is accurate rather than automatic.
Full System Replacement cost questions
$9,000-$18,000 installed for a matched system on Chicago's North Shore. Compare that against $4,500-$9,000 for a furnace alone and $4,000-$8,000 for central air alone to see the overlap.
Roughly the difference between the combined range and the two separate ranges, and it comes almost entirely from labor and access rather than equipment. Treat it as a meaningful discount on work you were going to do anyway, not as a reason to do work you were not.
Ask how old the AC is and what refrigerant it uses. Under about ten years and on R-410A, replace the furnace and keep the AC, making sure the new furnace takes the existing coil correctly. In its teens, or on R-22, price the full system, because you are likely to be back inside the same cabinet within a couple of seasons.
No. Duct modifications - the plenum, the transitions, sometimes an added return - are normal and included. Full ductwork replacement is a separate and much larger project, and any quote that quietly folds it in or quietly leaves it out is worth questioning.
It generally is through the installing contractor, and terms vary by installer and by promotion rather than by anything on this page. Get the installed price and the equipment tier settled first, then look at financing, because a monthly payment is an easy place for an unfavourable equipment choice to hide.
$9,000-$18,000 installed on Chicago's North Shore for a matched furnace and condenser in a house that already has ductwork. A quote materially under that is worth reading closely for what it left at the old age, most often the indoor coil. A quote materially over it usually contains ductwork or electrical work that belongs on its own line.
“Cost to Replace a Furnace and AC Together on the North Shore (2026): $9,000-$18,000,” North Shore HVAC Replacement, last reviewed 2026-08-31. https://northshorehvacreplacement.com/costs/full-system-replacement/
Other system costs
The instant estimate calculator gives you a range for your house in about a minute, and it shows the number before it asks for your contact information. $9,000-$18,000 is the planning range; your house has one number inside it.