If your heating system went in when Hamilton Field was built out, it is now between 14 and 27 years old, which is at or past the point where replacing it costs less than repairing it again. Our office is on Hamilton Drive, a few minutes from most of those homes.
We have worked in Marin since 1984. California contractor license 483881, covering C36 plumbing, C20 heating and air conditioning, and C10 electrical.
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Installation, replacement, repair and servicing across Novato, from Hamilton Field to Old Town.
One system for heating and cooling, and it qualifies for an MCE rebate in Novato. Worth pricing against a like for like furnace swap before you decide.
Replacement air conditioning sized for the house rather than for the unit coming out. Most original Hamilton Field systems are now past the age where another repair pays.
Diagnosis, repair and annual servicing. If the fault is a capacitor or a control board on a system under ten years old, we will say so and fix the part.
New and resized ductwork. Pleasant Valley ranch houses usually have intact ducting that was built for equipment moving far less air than anything sold today.
For Old Town cottages and Victorians with no ductwork at all, and for single level Bel Marin Keys homes where a ducted retrofit is not worth the disruption.
Furnace repair, servicing and like for like replacement, which in Novato is issued on an express permit the same day.
No heat and no cooling calls, after hours and on weekends, run out of our Hamilton Drive office here in Novato.
Most Novato homes run forced air. We install, repair and balance these systems, and look at the ductwork rather than only at the equipment.
Most Novato calls start the same way. Something has stopped working, and the real question underneath it is whether this is a repair or the start of a replacement conversation. We would rather answer that honestly than sell you a part that buys six months. A diagnostic visit is $189, and we waive it if you go ahead with the repair.
We work same day where the schedule allows, and after hours for no heat and no cooling.
Across the full system installations we completed in Novato over the last twelve months, the average project came to a little over $13,000. That is a look backwards at what other people’s jobs cost, not a quote for yours. It spans everything from a straight furnace swap to a heat pump conversion with electrical work, and the only way to know your number is to have a technician look at the house. We publish it because a ballpark you can plan against is more useful than a free estimate with no shape to it.
Most Novato homes still heat water with gas, and when that tank fails the default is another tank. For plenty of households that is the right answer.
A heat pump water heater is worth considering separately, though, because it is the one electrification step that tends to make sense on its own rather than as part of a larger project. It uses roughly a third of the energy of an electric resistance tank, it qualifies for the MCE rebate above, and it does not depend on replacing your furnace at the same time.
It needs air around it, so a garage or basement is straightforward while a tight interior closet often is not, although ducted options exist. It needs a 240 volt circuit, which many homes running a gas tank do not have, and whether your panel has room for one is usually what settles the decision. And it heats more slowly than gas, so sizing matters more than it does with a tank you can simply buy one size up.
We install both. If your existing tank is over ten years old, this is worth deciding now rather than in an emergency, because the emergency version is always a like for like swap.
Our prevention plan is for clients who want reliability and efficiency from their air conditioning and heating in Novato and across Marin County.
Schedule your appointment online or by phone. Our team is ready to provide fast, friendly support and help you get the service you need.
Our technicians arrive on time, fully prepared to handle all your plumbing, heating, cooling, and electrical needs with professional, reliable solutions.
Replacement estimates are free. For repairs, the technician will diagnose the issue and provide a transparent quote. The diagnostic fee is waived if you proceed with the repair.
Our installers are continually factory trained on both lines, which matters most on heat pump conversions, where sizing and commissioning decide whether the system performs the way the label says it will.
The same technicians work Marin week in, week out. Cody and Brian handle system evaluations, which is the visit where the repair or replace question actually gets settled, and Dan runs service calls.
Every technician who comes to your house works for Bellows rather than a subcontractor, including on installations, so the person who quoted the job is accountable for how it runs.
Novato is served by MCE, which runs its own incentives rather than PG&E’s.
Both are maximums. What you actually receive depends on the equipment and on the program rules when you apply, so treat these as a ceiling rather than a check.
The part that catches people out is a timing condition on other electrification work. If you already have solar, a home battery or EV charging, that equipment generally needs to have been in place for at least twelve months before the heat pump goes in. And once the heat pump is in, adding any of those within twelve months can affect your eligibility.
So if you are planning solar and a heat pump in the same year, the order you do them in can cost you the rebate. It is nobody’s job to mention this, so almost nobody does. Ask us before you schedule either one and we will tell you which way round it needs to go, and confirm the current terms with MCE directly before you commit, because program rules change.
Two other things have closed, so you are not chasing them. Electrify Marin has ended permanently, and any page still advertising it is out of date. The federal 25C tax credit expired for equipment placed in service after 31 December 2025. BayREN’s heat pump incentives ended in April 2024, and TECH and HEEHRA are fully reserved. Marin’s rebate picture is thinner than it was two years ago, which is why getting the MCE money right matters more than it used to.
The usual rule is to multiply the repair cost by the age of the system and replace if the answer clears $5,000. It works as a first filter and it misses things.
Past about fifteen years, parts get harder to source and efficiency has moved a long way, so a system installed in the early 2000s works considerably harder than a current one to reach the same temperature. A second failure inside two years usually means the same thing: one fault is a fault, but a pattern is a system near the end. And if your air conditioner still runs on R-22, refrigerant is expensive and getting more so, which turns what used to be a small leak repair into a much larger conversation.
The case runs the other way too, and most contractors will not say it. If your system is under ten years old and the fault is a capacitor, a contactor or a control board, replace the part. We will tell you that, and we will not quote a system against it.
The housing stock here splits into four groups, and which one you are in usually shapes the answer.
Hamilton Field. The airbase closed in 1974 and the residential neighborhoods went in from 1999, with The Landing finishing in 2012. The original furnaces and air conditioners across those nine neighborhoods are now 14 to 27 years old, against equipment life in this climate of roughly 10 to 16 years. If yours is original, you are not looking at an early replacement. You are looking at a late one. The Villas were converted from officer quarters and carry their own constraints, and Traditions is townhomes, where the siting of an outdoor unit and how loud it runs matter far more than they do on a detached lot.
Bel Marin Keys. Built through the 1960s and 70s, mostly single level, around 1,900 square feet, much of it on the water. Single level layouts take well to ductless and to heat pump conversion. The thing to watch is the waterfront exposure: salt air is hard on condenser coils, and a unit sited without thinking about that will not reach its rated life.
Pleasant Valley. 1950s and 60s ranch houses on large lots. The houses are sound. The ductwork usually is too, or rather it is intact but undersized, built for equipment that moved far less air than anything sold today. Putting a modern system onto original ducting is the most common way a good installation ends up performing badly.
Old Town and downtown. Early 1900s cottages, bungalows and Victorians, with newer infill mixed through. Often there is no ductwork at all, which calls for a different installation rather than a more difficult one: ductless heads or high velocity, sized room by room.
This is not guesswork about your particular house. It is what we run into repeatedly in each area, and it is why the first thing we ask is where in Novato you are.
Novato runs a Residential Express Permits program through its Novato Permits portal, and it is genuinely fast. In its first run the city issued 573 express permits, including 127 for HVAC and 89 for water heaters.
We hold a current City of Novato business license, which is what allows a contractor to pull those express permits. Not every contractor working in Novato holds one, and it is worth asking whoever you get a quote from.
Where it gets misunderstood is what express actually covers. A like for like replacement, furnace to furnace or tank to tank with no change in location, issues straight away. A system type swap, such as furnace to heat pump, still goes through the express program, but because it is not one to one it triggers a plan review. The city told us that review takes about two days.
| Like for like furnace replacement | Furnace to heat pump conversion | |
|---|---|---|
| Permit | Issued straight away | Express, plus a plan review |
| How long | Same day | About two business days |
| MCE rebate | No | Yes |
| Gas bill | Continues | Ends |
Two days is in that table for reassurance rather than as a cost. People assume a conversion means weeks of waiting on the city, and in Novato it does not. If the rebate and the end of your gas bill are worth having, a two day review is not the thing that should stop you.
On the state requirements, the useful thing is that you do not need to memorize them. California requires field verification by a certified HERS rater for most HVAC alterations, and the measures required for your particular job are named on the Certificate of Compliance issued for it. We handle that paperwork as part of the installation.
Reviews from customers across Novato and the rest of Marin County.
Heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical from our office
at 86 Hamilton Drive, Suite A, Novato.
Here are answers to some of the top questions about our services:
In this climate most systems run 10 to 16 years. Past fifteen, parts get harder to source and efficiency has moved on enough that you end up paying for the old system twice, once in the repair and again every month on the bill. Under ten years, with a small component fault, repair it.
Yes. The city runs Residential Express Permits, and a like for like replacement, meaning furnace to furnace, air conditioner to air conditioner, or tank to tank with no change in location, is issued straight away. A system type swap such as furnace to heat pump still goes through the express program but adds a plan review, which the city puts at about two days. You need a contractor holding a current City of Novato business license to pull an express permit at all.
Novato is served by MCE, which offers up to $400 per 500 square feet of conditioned space on heat pump heating and cooling, and up to $675 on a heat pump water heater. Both are maximums rather than fixed amounts. Electrify Marin has closed permanently, and the federal 25C credit expired for equipment placed in service after 31 December 2025.
Yes, and this catches people out. MCE generally requires existing solar, battery or EV charging to have been in place for twelve months before the heat pump, and adding any of them within twelve months afterwards can affect eligibility. Doing both in the same year can cost you the rebate, so ask before you schedule either.
Yes. Plenty of Old Town and downtown Novato homes have no ducts, and ductless heads or a high velocity system handle those well. It is sized room by room.
Our office is at 86 Hamilton Drive, Suite A, in Novato.
For HVAC installation, replacement or repair in Novato, pick up the phone and call us today!
