Heating and cooling in Los Angeles
LADWP pays up to $2,500 per ton for a heat pump HVAC system bought and installed on or after November 1, 2025. It pays against a paid itemized invoice with the AHRI certificate and a Final Approved Building and Safety Permit. Without that closed permit, nothing is paid. You apply after the install, as a residential customer with an active LADWP electric meter, and the postmark has to fall within 12 months of purchase.
New construction and ADUs don't qualify, and the heat pump needs at least 7.7 HSPF2 and 15.2 SEER2. A plain central or split air conditioner earns $100 per ton at 15.2 SEER2, $120 at 16.0. The permit comes from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS), which wants a separate heating permit for work not tied to a building permit. Its Express Permits bulletin, P/GI 2026-003 (revised June 10, 2026), lists replacing an A/C unit with one of the same size and type, and gas furnaces under 500,000 Btu/h, so those skip plan review and go straight through PermitLA.
Everything else goes through ePlanLA or an appointment at a Construction Service Center, open weekdays from 7:30 a.m. Request inspections at least 24 hours ahead, online, in the LADBS Go app or by phone. Some contractors may self-certify replacement work under the LADBS trade licensing program, explained at (213) 482-6786. Customer service is 311, or (866) 452-2489 inside the county. Ask that the quote name the LADBS permit, because the LADWP rebate won't pay without the final approval.
What heating and cooling work costs near Los Angeles
Nobody's given us a quote for work in Los Angeles yet, so this page can't show a city price. The California page lists what technicians earn (the California median in 2025 BLS wage data is $36.24 an hour, which is their pay, not your price). How we estimate costs.
Permits for heating and cooling work in Los Angeles
Lots of cities run their own building department, so the first call is to the City of Los Angeles building department, to ask who issues heating and cooling permits.
Under the California Mechanical Code, replacing a furnace, air handler, coil or condenser needs a building permit, and so does adding ducting, as the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) told C-20 contractors in a 2010 letter. Code details vary by city and county, so ask the building department for your address what it needs.
Heating and cooling jobs in Los Angeles
Sources for Los Angeles
- LADWP Consumer Rebate Program Read Oct 20, 2026.
- LADBS Homeowners Guide: Permit and Inspections for Owner Occupied Single Family Dwellings Read Oct 20, 2026.
- LADBS Plan Review and Permitting Read Oct 20, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2023 5-year (B01003, B25034, B25077)
- Express Permits (P/GI 2026-003), LADBS Read Oct 23, 2026.
- Consumer Rebate Program, LADWP Read Oct 23, 2026.