Bungalows with gravity ducts. Two-flats on one-pipe steam. Greystones with nowhere to put a duct. We are a small heating and cooling company that knows what is in your basement before we get there.
No coupon wall, no countdown timer. Three things people actually call us for, priced where we can price them.
A full heating inspection before Chicago's first hard freeze, not a ten minute filter swap.
One system per visit. Add-on systems discounted.
We measure the house, size the system to it, and give you one honest number in writing. No commission games at the kitchen table.
Free for owner-occupied homes in our service area.
Furnace out in a January cold snap is not a next-week problem. After-hours calls go to an owner, not a call center queue.
After-hours rates apply outside standard hours.
The city's housing stock is unusually old and unusually specific. Pick yours and see what is probably in the basement, what usually goes wrong, and how we approach it.
Roughly 1910 to 1940
Around 80,000 of these brick one-and-a-halfs ring the city. Most started on a gravity warm-air furnace with enormous 18 to 24 inch trunk ducts that moved air with no blower at all. A modern furnace bolted onto that duct tree is a mismatch, and it is why the upstairs bedroom is always the cold one.
Roughly 1900 to 1930
Two-flats and greystones from this era typically run one-pipe steam under 2 psi, with condensate draining back down the same pipe the steam came up. It only works if every main is still pitched correctly and every radiator has a functioning air vent. A century of settling and paint kills both.
Roughly 1920s courtyard buildings
Larger vintage buildings usually ran two-pipe steam, and here is the part most contractors never mention: a two-pipe system can often be converted to low-temperature hot water without ripping out the distribution piping. That opens the door to condensing boilers or a heat pump, at a fraction of a gut renovation.
Frame houses, coach houses, gut rehabs
Plenty of Chicago houses have no viable path for trunk ducts. Plaster on lath, masonry party walls, eight-foot ceilings and no chase. Forcing it means soffits through every room and a wrecked plaster budget. The right answers are ductless mini-splits or small-duct high-velocity, and which one depends on the house, not on what we stock.
Post-war through new construction
Newer construction and North Shore colonials are usually forced air, which makes them the easy ones. The traps here are different: a 90%-plus condensing furnace needs sidewall venting and a condensate path, a two-story on one thermostat will never be comfortable, and half the systems we see were sized off the square footage on the listing.
We do not also clean your sewer, rewire your panel or install a generator. Two things, done properly, in a city that is hard on both.
Kona and Woody are real, they belong to the two of us who run this, and the company is named after them. It is also a fair summary of how we work: one of us is relentlessly friendly, the other one checks everything.
Golden retriever, permanently delighted, absolutely certain every customer came to see him. Woody is the heating half of the company and the reason the trucks are friendly to see in a driveway in February.
Black lab, female, deeply unimpressed by shortcuts. Kona is the cooling half and the one holding the clipboard. If a job would not pass her look, it does not leave the house finished.
There are excellent large contractors in this market, and if you need a sewer line and a generator on the same day, call one. Here is the honest difference.
The volume model
KW Heating & Cooling
Chicago has its own heat ordinance, its own permit path and its own design conditions. Knowing them is not a marketing line, it is the job.
The Heat Ordinance runs from September 15 until June 1. Where heat is supplied, units must reach at least 68°F between 8:30am and 10:30pm and 66°F overnight. We schedule heating work around that calendar, not around when it happens to get cold.
For buildings with individual heating equipment in each unit, the city requires that equipment be capable of maintaining 68°F under expected Chicago winter conditions. That is a capacity requirement, and it is exactly what a load calculation proves.
Chicago sits in IECC Climate Zone 5A with a 99% winter design temperature of roughly −4°F at O'Hare, against about 91°F in summer. Size to that and the system carries the worst night of the year. Guess, and it does not.
Sources: Chicago Heat Ordinance, City of Chicago Department of Buildings; Express Permit Program for mechanical work, City of Chicago; design temperatures and IECC Climate Zone 5A, Chicago HVAC sizing guidance. Illinois issues no state HVAC contractor license (licensing overview); we hold EPA Section 608 certification and pull the permits each job requires.
Age, what is in the basement, which rooms misbehave. Two minutes, and it tells us more than an address does.
A real visit. We look at the equipment, the ducts or the piping, the venting and the load. Then we tell you what we found.
Options in plain language with rebates already applied. No tablet menu, no same-day-only discount, no pressure.
Installed, commissioned and tested. Kona's clipboard exists for a reason. You get the paperwork and the permits.
A furnace failing at 2am in a Logan Square two-flat is not the same problem as one in a Glenview colonial, and it should not get the same answer. Tell us which you have.
Most maintenance plans are a filter change and an invoice. This one is two real visits a year, priority when the city is in a cold snap, and money off everything else.
Covers one residential system. Additional systems at a reduced rate. Cancel any time, no exit fee.
Real 2026 figures, not "up to" numbers. We put these on the quote rather than mentioning them after the install.
| Nicor Gas, January 1 to December 31 2026 | Rebate |
|---|---|
| Furnace, 97%+ AFUE, with smart thermostat | $275 |
| Furnace, 95%+ AFUE, with smart thermostat | $200 |
| Furnace, 97%+ AFUE, on its own | $225 |
| Furnace, 95%+ AFUE, on its own | $150 |
| Boiler, 95%+ AFUE, under 300 MBTUH | $350 |
| Combination boiler, sealed combustion and modulating | $500 |
| Tankless water heater, UEF 0.95+ | $150 |
| Smart thermostat | $25 |
Equipment and efficiency conditions apply to each rebate. Figures from Nicor Gas residential rebates.
Chicago is organized into 77 official community areas whose boundaries never change, and building stock tracks those lines closely. Useful for us, and it is why we ask for your neighborhood rather than just a ZIP code.
Chicago: 60601 60602 60603 60604 60605 60606 60607 60608 60609 60610 60611 60612 60613 60614 60615 60616 60618 60619 60620 60622 60623 60624 60625 60626 60628 60630 60631 60634 60636 60637 60638 60639 60640 60641 60642 60643 60644 60645 60646 60647 60651 60652 60653 60654 60655 60656 60657 60659 60660 60661
North Shore and northwest suburbs: 60004 60005 60016 60018 60022 60025 60026 60029 60035 60040 60043 60053 60056 60062 60067 60068 60070 60074 60076 60077 60089 60090 60091 60093 60201 60202 60203 60301 60302 60305 60712 60714
Not listed? Call and ask. We would rather tell you honestly that you are outside our range than send someone two hours late. Chicago community areas.
(847) 555-0142Our two-flat had banged every winter for eleven years. Three companies told us to replace the boiler. KW spent an afternoon on the radiator vents and the pitch of the main, and it has been silent since. That is the whole review.
They were the only company that measured anything. Everyone else walked the square footage and quoted a four ton unit. KW ran the load, put in three tons, and the upstairs is finally comfortable in August.
Furnace quit on the coldest night in January. I called at 9pm expecting a call center and got an actual owner, who talked me through shutting the gas off and was here in the morning. Fair price, no upsell.
We work on them. One-pipe steam in Chicago two-flats and bungalows generally runs below 2 psi with gravity condensate return, which means the system depends on correctly pitched mains and a working air vent at every radiator. Most of the complaints we get called about, water hammer and one cold radiator, are vent and pitch problems rather than boiler problems. We check that before quoting a replacement, and on two-pipe systems we will tell you if conversion to low-temperature hot water is possible without replacing the distribution piping.
Illinois does not issue a state HVAC contractor license. The state licenses plumbers and roofers, and Chicago does not issue a separate HVAC trade license either. What genuinely matters is federal EPA Section 608 certification for handling refrigerant, a City of Chicago general contractor license where the work requires one, municipal registration in the suburb you live in, real insurance, and voluntary credentials like NATE. Be skeptical of anyone quoting an Illinois HVAC license number, because there is no such thing.
It depends on the work. Chicago runs an Express Permit Program that covers common HVAC work, including replacing existing equipment with equipment that performs the same function, and installing a new heat pump or AC system for a single unit based on appropriate load calculations. Work that adds ductwork, penetrates walls between units, relocates equipment, or installs equipment that does not meet the Chicago Energy Transformation Code takes a different path and may need drawings from a licensed professional. We pull what the job requires and the permit is on our quote, not a surprise afterwards.
Realistically, a furnace or an air conditioner on its own tends to land somewhere between about $4,200 and $9,500 installed, and a boiler between about $6,500 and $13,500, depending on the equipment, the venting, and what the installation actually involves in your building. Anyone giving you a firm price over the phone without seeing the house is guessing. If your system is over fifteen years old, get a quote while it is still running, because emergency replacement in January is the most expensive way to buy a furnace.
Not for new installations. The 25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit was terminated for equipment placed in service after December 31, 2025 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Equipment purchased in 2025 but installed in 2026 does not qualify. We mention this because plenty of sites still advertise it. What is still live are Nicor Gas and ComEd utility rebates, and the income-qualified HEAR program. We apply whatever you actually qualify for before you sign.
That is a calculation, not a rule of thumb. We size to Chicago's design conditions, roughly −4°F in winter and about 91°F in summer, using a Manual J load calculation on the actual house: insulation, windows, orientation, air sealing and duct losses. Oversized equipment short-cycles, never dehumidifies properly in a humid Chicago August, and wears out early. It is the single most common thing we find done wrong.
We cover Chicago proper across the North, Northwest, Central, South and Southwest sides, plus the North Shore and the northwest suburbs. Chicago is organized into 77 official community areas whose boundaries never change, which is genuinely useful for a trade like ours, because building stock tracks those lines closely. If you are not sure whether we reach you, call (847) 555-0142 and ask. We would rather tell you honestly than send someone two hours late.
We are a small company, so you get the same faces and the same phone number every time. Here is exactly where we are and how to reach us.
KW Heating & Cooling
Tell us the address, the age and which room misbehaves, and we will tell you what we think before we quote. If the answer is that you should keep the system you have, that is what we will say.
