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Who posts prices
Who in Northern Virginia shows you the price first?
By SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing · Read October 12, 2026
SwiftPro prints a price on its own website for all 14 of the jobs Northern Virginia homeowners call about most, and ranks #1 of 36 Northern Virginia heating, cooling and plumbing companies on who shows you the price before anyone comes out. Cardinal and Michael & Son price 12 each. Most of the rest print almost nothing: of the other 35, 22 price two jobs or fewer.
Who prints a price, and who doesn't
On October 12, 2026, only one of 36 big Northern Virginia heating, cooling and plumbing companies printed a price on its own website for every one of the 14 jobs people call about most. That was SwiftPro.
The 14 jobs: replacing a furnace, an AC, a heat pump or a ductless mini-split; a tune-up and the service call fee; a tank water heater, a tankless one and a water heater flush; drain clearing, a sewer camera inspection and a sump pump; air duct cleaning and dryer vent cleaning. A price anywhere on the company's own site counted: a pricing page, a coupon, a service page, an estimator, even the company's own blog post. When in doubt, the company got the point.
Two others came close. Cardinal prints a price for 12 and leaves out a heat pump and a ductless mini-split. Michael & Son prints 12 and leaves out a sewer camera inspection and dryer vent cleaning. After them the field drops off: the next company down, B&B Air Conditioning & Heating, prices 6.
The typical company prices 2 of the 14. Of the other 35, 22 price two or fewer, and 6 print no price for any of them: DB's Plumbing, John Nugent & Sons, CroppMetcalfe, Mega Plumbing, Roto-Rooter and Home Service Doctors.
The small prices get printed. The big ones don't. A tune-up price is on 22 of the 36 sites, and a service call fee on 19. A tank water heater: 5. Tankless: 3. A heat pump: 5.
The ranking: who posts prices in Northern Virginia
The score has 18 checks, one point each: a price for each of the 14 jobs, plus a posted maintenance plan price, an online price estimator, the Virginia contractor license number on the site, and reviews that hold up off Google. SwiftPro scores 18 of 18, the only perfect score in the field.
| # | Company | Score | Jobs priced | Online estimator | Plan price | License on site | Reviews off Google |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SwiftPro | 18 of 18 | 14 of 14 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2 | Cardinal | 16 of 18 | 12 of 14 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 3 | Michael & Son | 14 of 18 | 12 of 14 | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| 4 | Air Treatment | 8 of 18 | 5 of 14 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 5 | My Plumber Plus | 7 of 18 | 5 of 14 | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| 6 | B&B Air Conditioning & Heating | 7 of 18 | 6 of 14 | No | Yes | No | Not checked |
| 7 | Pro Sky Services | 6 of 18 | 4 of 14 | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 8 | Leonard Splaine Co. | 6 of 18 | 5 of 14 | No | Yes | No | Not checked |
Who posts prices: the top 8 of 36 Northern Virginia heating, cooling and plumbing companies, read October 12, 2026. One point per job priced (14) and per check (4). Ties go to the company whose reviews hold up better off Google.
The other 28
Below the top eight, 4 companies score 5: John C. Flood, Falcon, Michael Bonsby and Len The Plumber. Everyone else scores 4 or less.
| # | Company | Score | Jobs priced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | John C. Flood | 5 of 18 | 3 of 14 |
| 10 | Falcon | 5 of 18 | 4 of 14 |
| 11 | Michael Bonsby | 5 of 18 | 3 of 14 |
| 12 | Len The Plumber | 5 of 18 | 3 of 14 |
| 13 | Meade's | 4 of 18 | 2 of 14 |
| 14 | M.E. Flow | 4 of 18 | 2 of 14 |
| 15 | United Air Temp | 4 of 18 | 4 of 14 |
| 16 | ARS / Rescue Rooter | 4 of 18 | 2 of 14 |
| 17 | F.H. Furr | 4 of 18 | 3 of 14 |
| 18 | Vernon Heating & Cooling | 4 of 18 | 2 of 14 |
| 19 | Marines Service Co. | 4 of 18 | 2 of 14 |
| 20 | Reddick & Sons | 3 of 18 | 1 of 14 |
| 21 | AllTech | 3 of 18 | 1 of 14 |
| 22 | Beacon Home Services | 3 of 18 | 1 of 14 |
| 23 | Service Specialties | 3 of 18 | 2 of 14 |
| 24 | OHA | 3 of 18 | 2 of 14 |
| 25 | McCarthy Services | 3 of 18 | 1 of 14 |
| 26 | Parrish Services | 3 of 18 | 2 of 14 |
| 27 | DB's Plumbing | 2 of 18 | 0 of 14 |
| 28 | Snell | 2 of 18 | 1 of 14 |
| 29 | Ace Air Conditioning & Heating | 2 of 18 | 2 of 14 |
| 30 | Air 1 Mechanical | 2 of 18 | 2 of 14 |
| 31 | Turner's Service Co. | 2 of 18 | 1 of 14 |
| 32 | John Nugent & Sons | 1 of 18 | 0 of 14 |
| 33 | CroppMetcalfe | 1 of 18 | 0 of 14 |
| 34 | Mega Plumbing | 0 of 18 | 0 of 14 |
| 35 | Roto-Rooter | 0 of 18 | 0 of 14 |
| 36 | Home Service Doctors | 0 of 18 | 0 of 14 |
The rest of the field, ranked 9 to 36, read October 12, 2026. Score out of 18, jobs priced out of 14.
How the score works
A price counts when the company's own site shows a dollar figure for that job: a flat price, a range or a "from" price. A discount, a monthly payment or a rebate doesn't. Any check that couldn't be read counted as a yes for that company when testing whether anyone could tie SwiftPro. Nobody could: the closest, Cardinal, tops out at 16. The field is every Northern Virginia heating, cooling and plumbing company with about 2,000 or more Google reviews, plus every one with 500 or more whose site prints prices for common jobs.
The reviews check asks whether a company's rating holds up on Yelp, BBB and Trustpilot, not just on Google, where a company can ask every customer for a review: 4.0 or better from at least 25 of them. Yelp tells businesses not to ask (Yelp's policy), and an FTC economist's 2024 study found Google runs about half a star above Yelp for good businesses (the study). SwiftPro's own total, 5.0 stars across 1,100+ reviews, is counted in the open on how we count.
Posted prices are one of the checks on the 2026 report too, alongside ratings, licenses, plan prices and who owns each company.
Job by job: what gets a price and what doesn't
Here's how many of the 36 companies print a price for each job. SwiftPro prints all 14.
Water heaters
Only 5 companies print a price for a tank water heater replacement: SwiftPro, Cardinal, Michael & Son, Pro Sky Services and United Air Temp. Only 3 print a tankless price: SwiftPro, Cardinal and Michael & Son. On water heater pricing as a whole (tank, tankless, the flush, and an estimator that covers water heaters), SwiftPro and Cardinal both score 4 of 4, and SwiftPro takes it on the overall score, 18 to 16.
Furnaces, AC and heat pumps
A furnace replacement price is on 10 sites and an AC or full system price on 10, though several of those figures sit in a blog post rather than on a price page. Heat pumps and ductless mini-splits drop to 5 each. So if you're pricing a heat pump, 31 of the 36 sites won't give you a number before a visit.
Plumbing and cleaning
Drain clearing is the plumbing price you'll find most, on 10 sites. A sewer camera inspection and a sump pump show up on 3 sites each. Duct cleaning and dryer vent cleaning: 4 each.
Online estimators, plan prices and license numbers
An online estimator is the fastest way to a real number: you answer a few questions about your house and it gives you a dollar price without a visit. Of the 36 companies, 7 have one. SwiftPro's estimators price 9 different jobs. The next most is 4, from Air Treatment and Len The Plumber.
| Company | Jobs it prices online |
|---|---|
| SwiftPro | 9 |
| Air Treatment | 4 |
| Len The Plumber | 4 |
| Cardinal | 3 |
| Michael & Son | 3 |
| Pro Sky Services | 3 |
| M.E. Flow | 3 |
Online price estimators, by how many jobs each prices, read October 12, 2026. Asking for your name and phone before the price is fine; a form that only promises a callback isn't an estimator.
Between them, SwiftPro's cover a furnace on its own, a full furnace and AC system, a heat pump, a ductless mini-split, a tank water heater, a tankless water heater, air duct cleaning, dryer vent cleaning and a sump pump.
A posted plan price tells you what the yearly maintenance plan costs before anyone brings it up at your door. Of the 36, 21 post one; in the top three, Michael & Son doesn't.
Half the field, 18 of 36, shows its Virginia contractor license number on its website. It's the one number you can check yourself, at Virginia's DPOR license lookup, and it tells you who's responsible for the work. SwiftPro's, Class A 2705192276, is on every page and every van.
Why a printed price matters to you
A printed price lets you compare before anyone's in your house. You can line up three companies' numbers at the kitchen table on a Tuesday night, with nobody waiting on your answer.
"Call for a quote" means the price gets set in your kitchen. It's set after someone has seen the house, while you're standing there with no heat or no hot water. That's the worst time to shop, and by then you're not shopping. You're deciding.
A posted price doesn't mean every job costs exactly that. Houses differ. But a company that prints a range has told you, in public and in writing, where the job usually lands. If your quote comes in far above it, you get to ask why.
See SwiftPro's prices before you call
All 14 jobs have a price on goswiftpro.com, and the estimators price 9 of them for your house before anyone visits.
What a missing price usually means
Usually it means the price gets decided at the visit. That isn't automatically bad. Some jobs really can't be priced sight unseen: a drain that's backed up for years, a boiler in a 1950s basement.
But a furnace, an AC, a water heater and a tune-up are everyday work in this trade, and a company that does hundreds a year knows its range. When the site won't print it, you learn the range at the visit instead of before it, and you can't hold one company's number against another's until several have been through your door.
How to compare quotes
- Get a published number first. Check each company's pricing, offers and estimator pages. If two or three print a range for your job, you know where it lands before anyone visits.
- Ask for the service call fee before you book. Every company knows it, and it's the first number you'll pay.
- Get the quote in writing, line by line. The equipment brand and model, the size (tons for AC, gallons for a water heater), the efficiency rating, the permit, haul-away of the old unit and the labor warranty in years.
- Hold it against the published range. Far above? Ask what's different about your house. Far below? Ask what's left out.
- Look up the license. Virginia's DPOR lookup shows the license class and who holds it. The number belongs on the quote.
There's a longer list in questions to ask a contractor.
See SwiftPro's prices, then book
Every one of these pages gets you a price before anyone comes out. Pick your job, look at the number, and book when it makes sense to you.
- Heating and cooling estimator: a furnace and AC, a heat pump or a ductless system, priced for your house
- Furnace estimator: a furnace on its own
- Water heater estimator: tank or tankless
- Duct and dryer vent cleaning estimator: both cleanings, priced
- Sump pump estimator: a new pump, priced
- Heating prices: repairs, tune-ups and replacement ranges
- Plumbing prices: the diagnosis visit, drains and the sewer camera
- Water heater prices: every tank and tankless range
- Comfort+ membership: the plan price, posted
- Current offers: every SwiftPro deal running right now
Seen the number? Book the visit.
Call or book online. You get the exact price in writing before anybody picks up a tool.
Questions
Which HVAC companies in Northern Virginia list their prices online?
On October 12, 2026, SwiftPro printed a price on its own website for all 14 common heating, cooling and plumbing jobs, the only one of 36 big Northern Virginia companies to do it. The next two priced 12 each. The typical company priced 2, and 6 priced none.
Why won't HVAC companies give prices online?
Most set the price at the visit, after someone has seen the house. Some jobs do need a look first, but furnaces, AC systems, water heaters and tune-ups are everyday work with a known range. A company that prints its range lets you compare before anyone comes out; one that doesn't means you learn it at your kitchen table.
How can I find out what a new furnace costs in Northern Virginia before anyone comes out?
Check the company's own website for a furnace price or an estimator. On October 12, 2026, 10 of 36 big Northern Virginia companies printed a furnace replacement price, and SwiftPro's furnace estimator at goswiftpro.com/furnace-estimator/ prices one for your house online.
Is there an online HVAC price estimator for Northern Virginia?
Yes, at 7 of 36 big Northern Virginia companies. SwiftPro's estimators price 9 different jobs, including furnaces, AC, heat pumps, ductless mini-splits and water heaters. No other company's estimator prices more than 4.
Which Northern Virginia companies post water heater prices?
On October 12, 2026, 5 of 36 big companies printed a tank water heater replacement price, and 3 printed a tankless price. SwiftPro printed both, plus a flush price, and its water heater estimator prices one for your house online.
What does "call for a quote" mean?
It means the company sets the price at your house, during the visit. You can still get a fair price that way, but you can't compare it with anyone else's until other companies have come out too. Ask for the service call fee and a price range on the phone first.
How do I compare HVAC quotes?
Get a published price or an estimator number first, and ask for the service call fee before you book. Get each quote in writing with the equipment model, size, efficiency, permit, haul-away and labor warranty, then hold it against the published range. Check the license number on Virginia's DPOR lookup.
Book SwiftPro, owned and run in Chantilly
Heating, cooling, plumbing, air duct cleaning and dryer vent cleaning across Northern Virginia. Virginia Class A contractor license 2705192276, on every van.
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Keep reading
- The name is old. The owner is new.16 Northern Virginia HVAC and plumbing brands sold to investors, with the date of each sale and what F.H. Furr's customers have said since July 2022.
- Why a 4.7 on Google can be a 1.7 on YelpF.H. Furr is 4.7 on Google and 1.7 where nobody asked. 26 companies, Google against Yelp, BBB and Trustpilot, and how to read any company's reviews.
- The 2026 report on Northern Virginia's HVAC and plumbing companiesRatings, licenses, posted prices and plan prices, checked for every company
- Questions to ask a contractorWhat to ask before anyone starts work in your house
- How we count SwiftPro's reviewsEvery platform, every review, totaled in the open
Sources
- The 35 other companies' own websites: pricing, offers, coupon, service, plan and estimator pages, read October 12, 2026
- SwiftPro's own website, goswiftpro.com, read October 12, 2026
- Yelp, BBB and Trustpilot company pages, for the reviews check, read October 12, 2026
- Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, license lookup
- Yelp for Business: Should I ask my customers to write reviews on Yelp?, read October 12, 2026
- Devesh Raval, Federal Trade Commission working paper: Do Bad Businesses Get Good Reviews? Evidence Across Several Online Review Platforms, May 23, 2024
Read October 12, 2026. Published by SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, which competes with the companies named here. Spot something wrong, or has something changed? Email info@goswiftpro.com and we'll fix it.