We’re the crew people in Cary call after they’ve already had someone else out once and still don’t trust the answer they got. That’s not a knock on every other contractor in Wake County, but a lot of HVAC visits end with a part swapped and a system that’s still not quite right. We diagnose before we touch anything, every time.
The company’s been around since 2009, and the technicians on staff today carry more than 30 years of combined experience between them. That’s long enough to have worked on Cary homes from every era: the 1907 houses downtown, the 1970s builds in Kildaire Farms, and the new construction still going up west of town.
Every one of those technicians holds a NATE certification for the equipment they’re actually working on, and none of that work gets handed off to someone we haven’t trained ourselves. That’s the whole reason reliable means something when we say it.
An AC that's more repair bill than air conditioner isn't worth chasing anymore. We size the replacement to your actual house, not the tonnage of the unit coming out, and the same crew that diagnoses it is the one that installs it.
Waiting for a furnace to fail completely in January is the expensive way to handle it, and it's avoidable. We size the new one to your house, plan around your schedule, and get it in before you're relying on space heaters to get through a cold snap.
Some additions never get ductwork run to them: a converted garage, a sunroom, a bonus room built over the garage. A mini split covers that space on its own, without forcing your main system to reach somewhere it was never built to go.
A few different problems bring people to this page: warm air out of the vents, a unit that runs nonstop, or a compressor that's finally given out. We find out which one it is before recommending anything. If repair still makes sense, we repair it. If it doesn't, we'll say so and explain why.
Won't start. Short cycles. Trips the breaker every single time it kicks on. We track down the actual cause instead of guessing at parts, and if the furnace is past fixing, we'll tell you plainly instead of running up a repair bill first.
Downtown Cary has its own historic district, 18 acres along Dry Avenue, South Academy Street, and Park Street, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. Thirty-nine buildings in that stretch, most of them built around 1907.
If your house sits inside that district, any exterior change, including where a new condenser goes or where a mini split line set runs, needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from Cary's Historic Preservation Commission before the work starts. It's a real approval step, not a formality, and it's part of the town's Land Development Ordinance. We've filed for it before, so it doesn't catch your project off guard partway through.
Most of Cary doesn't carry that requirement. We check which category your address falls into before we ever quote the job.
Call us or book online. Same-day appointments are usually available across Cary.
We inspect the system first and explain exactly what it needs before quoting a flat rate.
Most installs and repairs finish in a single visit, sized correctly and done right the first time.
Every job is backed by our guarantee, so you're covered long after we've left.
NC H3-Class 1 #30223, and insurance that covers every job we run in Cary.
The number you get is the number you pay, decided after we've actually looked at the system, not guessed at over the phone.
Earned through complaint history, not purchased. Search "Alternative Aire reviews" and read them before you ever pick up the phone.
Trained and tested in-house on the specific systems they work on. No outside crews filling in for the day.
An install or repair that doesn't hold up gets fixed. No separate fee, no argument.
Founded in 2009. We've worked on Cary homes built in 1907 and Cary homes that broke ground last year.
A full system replacement is a real cost no matter which part of Cary you’re in, and most people don’t want to hand over the whole amount in one payment. We offer financing so the decision comes down to what your house actually needs, not what’s sitting in your account that particular week.
Here’s how it works. We partner with the Wells Fargo Home Projects Credit Card. When you’re ready, we help you apply right there during the visit, approval is typically quick, and the cost of your install or repair splits into monthly payments instead of one bill due at close. Repairs qualify too, not just new equipment.
Ask about it when you call, and we’ll go through real numbers for your specific job before anything gets scheduled.
Homes in Kildaire Farms and neighborhoods like it are now more than 50 years old in places. Original ductwork, older electrical panels, and additions that were never tied into the main system properly all show up regularly on service calls here.
Communities like Amberly, zoned in 1995 and still expanding, run the opposite way: newer building envelopes, tighter construction standards, and systems that were sized right from day one, assuming they were sized right at all. We size for the specific house, not the decade it was built in.
BBB A+ Accredited, built on more than 1,014 real Google reviews. See them for yourself below.
Is it better to repair or replace my AC?
Age is the first thing we look at. A system under 10 years old, with a repair coming in under half of what a full replacement would cost, is usually worth fixing. Once it’s closer to 15 years, or the repair bill starts creeping toward replacement cost anyway, we’ll generally steer you toward a new system instead, and explain the math behind that recommendation.
How much does AC replacement cost in Cary?
How long should a new AC or furnace actually last?
Do you offer financing for AC replacement or installation?
Do I need a permit for HVAC work in the Cary Historic District?
Are you licensed and insured in North Carolina?
We are, under NC H3-Class 1 #30223, and fully insured on top of that. BBB A+ Accredited too. Every tech on the team carries NATE certification, and none of them are hired in for a single day.
Do you offer same-day or emergency HVAC repair?
We hold space in the schedule specifically for it. A house with zero heat or zero cooling jumps ahead of the regular queue.
Can you install a mini split in a home without existing ductwork?
That’s actually one of the more common reasons people go with one. Addition rooms, garages, sunrooms, and a lot of Cary’s older housing stock that was never built with central ductwork all work well for a mini split setup.
How often should my furnace or AC be serviced?
Twice a year works well: once heading into summer humidity, once ahead of the first hard freeze. That cadence is what catches a small problem before it turns into a breakdown.
We provide professional AC installation services throughout Durham and the surrounding Triangle area, including:
