Ductwork Cost Calculator 2027: Price New Ducts Per Sq Ft
Enter your home’s size, floors, ceiling height, duct type and how open the walls are, and this calculator prices a new duct system, installed. Most homes come in around $2.12 to $4.30 per square foot. Know your number before the first contractor walks through and padded bids are easy to spot.
Air Duct Cost in Columbus, OH
See costs in your area Start Here - Enter Your Zip Code
How to Use the Duct Cost Calculator
The form takes about a minute. Fill it in from the top:
- Home size: heated and cooled floor area only. Leave out the garage and any unfinished space.
- Ceiling height and floors: the average ceiling height, and how many floors need ducts.
- Duct type and insulation: insulated metal, bare metal or insulated flex. For insulated duct, pick R-6, R-8 or R-10.
- Project type: new home, gutted home or finished home. This moves the price more than any other setting.
- Old duct removal: appears for gutted and finished homes. Pulling out flex is cheap; cutting out old sheet metal is not.
- Drywall work: appears for finished homes only. If the crew has to open walls to get ducts in, choose remove only, or remove and replace.
You get a low, typical and high price for the ducts, registers and labor. The furnace or AC itself isn’t included.
Quick Answers
Answers use Ohio averages; energy prices updated October 2026.
Is a heat pump cheaper to run than natural gas in Ohio?
Not in Ohio right now. Natural gas buys 63,517 BTUs per dollar; a heat pump at a COP of 3 buys 43,990. Power would have to drop below about 16.1¢ per kWh to flip that (the Ohio average is 23.3¢), or the heat pump would need a higher COP.
How does electricity in Ohio compare with the national average?
Ohio averages 23.3¢ per kWh, 7% above the U.S. average of 21.7¢ and the 16th highest of the 50 states and DC. AC and heat pump running costs rise and fall with that rate.
Do I need a cold-climate heat pump in Ohio?
It’s a smart upgrade. With a statewide average winter low around 20°F, a standard heat pump handles most nights in Ohio, but cold snaps cut its output. A cold-climate model or a backup heat source covers those.
How much does a heat pump save over baseboard heat in Ohio?
At a COP of 3, about two-thirds. At the Ohio average of 23.3¢ per kWh, baseboard heat costs about $68.20 per million BTU; a heat pump delivers the same heat for about $22.73.
When is the best time to replace HVAC in Ohio?
Spring or fall, before you need it. Installers are busiest in the first heat wave and the first cold snap, and an emergency swap leaves no time to compare quotes.
Should I replace the furnace and AC at the same time?
If both are well into their life, usually yes: one crew visit, one labor bill, and a matched indoor coil and outdoor unit, which is what the efficiency rating assumes. If one of them is fairly new, price the jobs separately.
Run your own numbers: Central AC cost estimator or Heat pump cost calculator.
HVAC Costs in Ohio
Typical installed prices in Ohio, equipment and labor.
How Much Does New Ductwork Cost Per Square Foot?
Most installs with insulated metal duct run $2.12 to $4.30 per square foot of conditioned floor area. Flex duct in a simple ranch over an open basement can come in at $1.93 to $2.19. A tight retrofit in a plastered two-story, with walls opened and patched, can reach $5.62 to $7.74 a foot.
Typical totals for insulated metal duct in new or gutted framing:
| Conditioned area | One story | Two stories |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq. ft. | $3,120 – $4,300 | $4,390 – $6,040 |
| 1,500 sq. ft. | $3,960 – $5,460 | $5,130 – $7,060 |
| 2,000 sq. ft. | $4,820 – $6,640 | $5,940 – $8,180 |
| 2,500 sq. ft. | $5,570 – $7,670 | $6,640 – $9,150 |
| 3,000 sq. ft. | $6,370 – $8,780 | $7,410 – $10,220 |
These assume open framing or easy attic and basement access. If walls have to be opened, patched and painted, plan on 1.5 to 2 times as much.
What Makes One Duct Job Cost Double Another?
Access. New construction is cheapest because the plans leave room for trunk lines, and a gutted house is nearly as easy. In a finished, lived-in house, opening walls and then patching, mudding and painting them can nearly double the bill.
Number of floors. In a one-story home, everything usually runs through a single attic or crawlspace. Each added floor needs vertical chases with branches to every room: more cutting, more fittings, more hours.
Materials. Bigger trunks, rigid metal and thicker insulation all raise the price. Sheet metal lasts longer and moves air more easily; flex is fine for short, straight, well-supported runs, but long, kinked flex causes most comfort complaints. Don’t skip insulation. Bare duct in a hot attic wastes cooling you’ve paid for, the wrap pays for itself, and many jurisdictions now require it.
Finished Walls? Price a Mini-Split First
With finished walls and no clear path for a trunk line, price a multi-zone mini-split before you commit. Add equipment, wall repair and paint to the duct bill and the two often cost about the same to install. The mini-split then costs less to run, and nobody cuts open your living room.
| Central system + new ducts | Multi-zone mini-split | |
|---|---|---|
| What runs through the house | Supply and return trunks, branches to every room | A roughly 3-inch line set and control wire per indoor head |
| Running cost | Conditions the whole house at once | Heats or cools only occupied rooms; often several hundred dollars a year cheaper to run than an older 14 SEER central system |
| Cold-weather heat | Depends on furnace or heat pump | Cold-climate models keep heating below -10°F |
The line sets fit in a wall cavity, attic or basement, or run in a cover on the outside wall. Get your own number from the mini split cost calculator and set it next to your duct estimate.
When Do Existing Ducts Need Replacing?
A full new system usually makes sense when several of these are true:
- The ducts are 20 to 25 years old or more.
- Flex runs in the attic are crushed, sagging or pulled off their fittings.
- Some rooms never hold temperature, wherever the thermostat is set.
- Dust comes back right after you clean.
- Energy bills keep climbing with no change in how you use the house.
Runs that are correctly sized, sealed and insulated can often stay. Before tearing anything out, pay for a duct leakage test (usually a few hundred dollars or less). It shows how much air you’re losing, so you don’t replace good duct on a hunch.
What Should a Duct Quote Spell Out?
A one-line bid that says “install ductwork” tells you nothing. A good quote lists:
- how the system was sized, ideally with a room-by-room Manual D design
- how joints are sealed: mastic or foil tape, not plain cloth tape
- the insulation R-value
- whether old duct removal is included
- who pulls the permit
Duct sizing follows the equipment. If you don’t know what the house needs, run the HVAC load calculator first, then price the whole central air installation. When you want real numbers for your house, get free quotes from local HVAC contractors.
See costs in your area
Start Here - Enter Your Zip Code
