Furnace & heating
AC repair
Heat pumps
Ductless mini splits
Carrier
Trane
GoodmanSeasonal tune-up and full diagnostic on your Carrier, Trane, or Goodman system - readings shown to you before any repair is proposed
Diagnosis first, numbers second - you approve the repair price before a single part goes in.
Get your free estimateStyles & brands we work with
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterHow Much Does Furnace Replacement Cost in Marietta?
In Marietta, a full furnace replacement typically runs $4,200 to $7,800 for a standard single-family home, with most homeowners landing around $5,500 for a mid-efficiency unit installed by a licensed contractor. That number shifts with furnace size, fuel type, and brand, but it’s the honest starting point we give folks at home before anyone climbs into an attic or crawlspace. If you’re comparing quotes, use that range as your baseline: anything below $3,500 in this market is usually a red flag, and anything above $9,000 should come with a very detailed explanation.
We put this guide together because most Marietta homeowners tell us the same thing: the first pricing page they read was vague, and the second one contradicted the first. You deserve real numbers, in real dollars, with the local context that actually matters here in Cobb County. So here’s how furnace replacement pricing works in Marietta in 2026, what drives it, and how to avoid overpaying without ending up with a furnace that quits in January.
Furnace Replacement Cost Breakdown (2026)
Here’s the line-item picture for a typical Marietta furnace replacement. These reflect what we see across Cherokee, Cobb, and North Fulton county homes every week: not national averages, but prices calibrated to this market.
| Line Item | Typical Marietta Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Furnace unit (mid-efficiency, 80% AFUE) | $1,800 – $2,800 | Brand matters: Goodman and Rheem trend lower; Carrier and Trane run higher. |
| Furnace unit (high-efficiency, 96%+ AFUE) | $2,600 – $4,200 | Worth it for older Marietta homes with drafty ducts and high gas bills. |
| Installation labor | $1,400 – $2,400 | Includes removal of the old unit, new connections, and startup testing. |
| Ductwork modifications | $300 – $1,200 | Only if the existing plenum or return doesn’t match the new unit. |
| Permits and inspection | $150 – $350 | Required by Cobb County for furnace replacements; never skip this. |
| Thermostat upgrade | $120 – $350 | Optional, but smart thermostats can cut Marietta heating bills by 8 – 12%. |
| Old furnace removal and disposal | $0 – $150 | Most contractors include this; ask before you sign. |
Three things push a Marietta furnace replacement toward the top of that range faster than anything else. First, the age of your home: many houses in Historic Marietta and around the Square were built before 1980, which means undersized returns, asbestos-wrapped ducts, or electrical panels that need a new breaker before a modern furnace can go in. Second, accessibility: if your furnace lives in a tight crawlspace or a cramped attic off a pull-down ladder in East Cobb, the labor hours climb. Third, brand choices: a variable-speed Carrier or Trane with a 10-year parts warranty is a different price bracket than a single-stage Goodman, and that difference is real, not markup theater.
What Affects Furnace Replacement Pricing in Marietta
- Furnace size (BTUs). A 60,000 BTU furnace handles most 1,500 – 1,800 sq. ft. Marietta ranch homes; a 100,000 BTU unit runs more. Bigger unit, bigger price, but oversizing wastes money and causes short-cycling.
- Efficiency rating (AFUE). An 80% AFUE furnace costs less up front. A 96% AFUE unit costs $800 – $1,400 more but can cut a Marietta gas bill by $200 – $400 a winter, especially in older homes near Kennesaw Mountain where the wind gets real.
- Fuel type. Natural gas dominates Marietta, but some Powder Springs corridor homes still use propane or electric heat strips. Electric furnace replacements run $1,800 – $3,800; propane conversions add $500 – $1,200 for line work.
- Existing ductwork condition. In West Marietta homes built in the 1960s and 70s, we routinely find returns that are 30% undersized. Fixing that adds $500 – $1,500 but it’s not optional: a new furnace on bad ductwork runs loud, inefficient, and short-lived.
- Access and location of the unit. A furnace in a finished basement or a ground-level closet is straightforward. A furnace in a crawlspace with 24 inches of clearance or a third-floor attic off a narrow stairwell adds 2 – 4 labor hours in Marietta’s older housing stock.
- Time of year. October through January is peak season in Cobb County. Scheduling a replacement in March or September typically means shorter lead times and occasionally better pricing because install crews aren’t running emergency calls all day.
Signs You Need Furnace Replacement vs. Repair
Replacement is a $4,000 – $8,000 decision. Repair is usually $150 – $700 in Marietta. Before you spend replacement money, here’s how to know which one you’re actually facing.
A furnace that’s 10 years old or younger and needs a single component, like an igniter or a blower motor, is almost always a repair. An igniter replacement in Marietta runs $150 – $280, parts and labor included. A blower motor runs $350 – $650. If the furnace is otherwise healthy, fix it.
A furnace that’s 15+ years old, with a cracked heat exchanger, a failing inducer motor, and rust inside the cabinet, is a different story. Once the heat exchanger goes, you’re looking at $1,200 – $2,800 for that part alone, and you’re still running a furnace built when George W. Bush was in office. At that point, putting repair money into a unit with a 15 – 20 year design life is bad math.
Here’s the rule of thumb we use with Marietta homeowners: multiply the repair cost by the furnace’s age. If that number exceeds $5,000, replace it. A $500 repair on a 12-year-old furnace ($6,000) is a replace signal. A $300 repair on an 8-year-old furnace ($2,400) is a repair signal. Simple, honest, and it keeps you from burning money either way.
Furnace Replacement Process: What to Expect
Here’s how a furnace replacement in Marietta goes from phone call to warm house, step by step. This is what we do, and it’s what any reputable contractor should do.
- In-home assessment. A technician measures your square footage, inspects the existing ductwork, checks gas line sizing, and asks about hot and cold spots. Expect 45 – 90 minutes. In Marietta, the square footage and window orientation of a West Cobb two-story is different from a Smyrna ranch, and the load calculation has to reflect that.
- Written quote. You get a line-item price before any work is scheduled. Not a verbal estimate. A written number that covers the furnace, labor, permits, and disposal. If a contractor won’t put it on paper, keep looking.
- Permit pull. Cobb County requires a mechanical permit for furnace replacement. Your contractor should handle this, and it should be a line item on the quote. If someone offers to skip the permit to save you $200, that’s a red flag the size of the Big Chicken.
- Removal and installation. The old furnace comes out, the new one goes in, and the connections get made. A standard replacement takes 4 – 8 hours. Crews should lay down floor protection and clean up before they leave. Not after. Before.
- Startup and testing. The tech runs the furnace through a full cycle, checks gas pressure, measures temperature rise across the heat exchanger, and confirms the thermostat is wired right. You should hear and feel the difference before they pack up.
- Warranty registration. Most furnace brands offer 10-year parts warranties, but only if the unit is registered within 60 days of installation. A good contractor does this for you and hands you the confirmation. We do it as part of every install.
The Kingswell Way, for what it’s worth, is built on four written promises: the price before the work starts, a firm arrival window, a clean job site, and a guarantee that brings the technician back for free if the repair fails inside 365 days. That’s not marketing language. It’s the standard every Coldharbour job is held to, including Furnace Replacement in Marietta.
How to Save on Furnace Replacement in Marietta
You don’t need to cut corners to keep a furnace replacement affordable in Marietta. You need to be strategic about when you buy, what you buy, and who you buy it from.
- Schedule in the off-season. March through September, furnace replacement demand drops in Cobb County. Installers have open schedules, and some distributors run shoulder-season pricing. You won’t get 50% off, but you can realistically save $300 – $600 compared to a December emergency install.
- Take the efficiency rebate. Georgia Power and Cobb EMC both offer rebates on high-efficiency furnace installations, typically $200 – $500 for 96%+ AFUE units. Your contractor should know the current program and handle the paperwork. If they don’t mention it, ask.
- Replace before it dies. The most expensive furnace replacement is the one that happens at 11 p.m. on a 20-degree night in January, when you’re calling whoever answers the phone and paying whatever they ask. A planned replacement on your timeline is always cheaper than an emergency.
- Don’t oversize. Some contractors quote a bigger furnace than you need because it’s more revenue and a bigger margin. A proper Manual J load calculation tells you exactly what your Marietta home requires. If someone quotes you a 100,000 BTU furnace for a 1,400-square-foot ranch, they’re either guessing or padding.
- Bundle with AC if it’s also aging. If your air conditioner is 15+ years old too, replacing both at once typically saves $800 – $1,500 versus doing them separately, because the labor, permits, and site visit happen once instead of twice.
- Get a free estimate. A real quote, in writing, costs you nothing. Call (762) 240-5599 and we’ll send someone out to look at your furnace and hand you a number. No pressure, no obligation, and the number doesn’t change at the door.
Furnace Replacement Cost by Brand (Marietta Pricing)
Brand matters, but not the way most people think. You’re not just buying a nameplate; you’re buying a parts supply chain, a warranty structure, and a service history. Here’s what we see installed across Marietta in 2026.
- Goodman. $4,200 – $6,200 installed. Solid budget choice, good warranty, slightly louder operation. Common in rental properties and flip houses around Austell Road.
- Rheem / Ruud. $4,500 – $6,800 installed. Dependable mid-range, good parts availability in Cobb County, and decent efficiency options.
- Lennox. $4,800 – $7,500 installed. Quiet, well-built, and efficient, but parts can take an extra day if something unusual fails.
- Carrier. $5,200 – $8,000 installed. Premium pricing, excellent reliability history, and the Infinity line’s communicating thermostat is genuinely smart. East Cobb is full of these.
- Trane. $5,100 – $7,900 installed. Built like a tank, very high reliability scores in independent data, and excellent heat exchanger designs.
Our technicians are trained to service all nine major residential HVAC brands, including Carrier, Trane, Lennox, Goodman, Rheem, York, Daikin, Bryant, and American Standard. That matters for replacement too: when you’re swapping one brand for another, the tech needs to know the install nuances, not just the spec sheet.
Furnace Efficiency Ratings Explained
AFUE stands for Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency. It’s the percentage of fuel that becomes usable heat. An 80% AFUE furnace turns 80 cents of every gas dollar into heat and sends the other 20 cents out the flue. A 96% AFUE furnace keeps 96 cents and wastes 4 cents.
In Marietta, where winter lows regularly dip into the 20s and the heating season runs from late October through March, that difference shows up on your bill. A 1,800-square-foot home with an 80% furnace might spend $900 – $1,300 on gas for heating. At 96% AFUE, that drops to $750 – $1,050. Over a 15-year furnace life, that’s $2,250 – $3,750 saved, which more than covers the initial price gap between mid and high-efficiency units.
One local note: if your furnace is in an unconditioned attic or crawlspace, the case gets even stronger for high efficiency. A cold attic in Vinings where the temperature drops below freezing means your furnace is already working against ambient chill. A 96% unit loses far less heat through its cabinet than an 80% unit does in those conditions.
Gas vs. Electric Furnace Replacement in Marietta
Most Marietta homes heat with natural gas. Atlanta Gas Light serves the city, and the infrastructure is already in place. But some homes, particularly older ones converted to rentals or houses at the edges of Powder Springs and Dallas Highway, still run electric furnaces or heat pumps.
A natural gas furnace replacement runs $4,200 – $7,800 in Marietta, which is the range we’ve been using throughout this guide. An electric furnace replacement runs $1,800 – $3,800, because the unit itself is simpler and there’s no gas line or venting to manage. But the operating cost picture flips: natural gas is consistently cheaper per BTU than electricity in Georgia, so the gas furnace usually costs $400 – $700 less to run each winter. Over a 15-year life, the gas furnace wins comfortably, even at a higher purchase price.
If you’re weighing a switch from electric to gas, and the gas line is already at your house, the conversion adds $500 – $1,500 to the project. If there’s no gas line at your house, the conversation changes entirely, and you should look at cold-climate heat pumps instead. A good contractor will tell you that up front, not after you’ve signed.
FAQs – Furnace Replacement Cost
How much does a furnace replacement cost in Marietta?
A furnace replacement in Marietta typically costs $4,200 to $7,800, including the unit, labor, permits, and disposal. Mid-efficiency units run $4,200 – $6,200, while high-efficiency models run $5,500 – $7,800. For an exact quote on your home, call (762) 240-5599 for a free estimate.
Is it cheaper to repair or replace a furnace?
A furnace repair in Marietta runs $150 – $700 for most component failures, while replacement runs $4,200 – $7,800. The break-even rule: multiply the repair cost by the furnace’s age. If that number exceeds $5,000, replacement is the smarter financial move. We’ll give you an honest recommendation either way, no pressure.
How long does furnace replacement take in Marietta?
A standard furnace replacement takes 4 – 8 hours on site, with most installs completed in a single day. Complex jobs involving ductwork modifications or electrical panel upgrades can extend to a second day. When you schedule with us, you get a firm arrival window before we arrive, not after you’ve been waiting all day.
Can I replace my furnace myself?
No. Furnace replacement involves natural gas connections, high-voltage electrical work, and combustion venting. A mistake in any of those systems creates a carbon monoxide or fire hazard. Cobb County requires a mechanical permit for furnace replacement, and the work must be done by a licensed contractor. The permit itself is only $150 – $350, a small price for the assurance that your family’s heating system won’t poison them.
What furnace brands do you install in Marietta?
We install and service nine major residential HVAC brands: Carrier, Trane, Lennox, Goodman, Rheem, York, Daikin, Bryant, and American Standard. That breadth matters because we can recommend the right furnace for your home, not just whichever brand we happen to have in the truck. Most Marietta homeowners we work with make the final call after comparing two or three options side by side.
Do you offer financing for furnace replacement in Marietta?
Financing options are available for qualifying homeowners, with terms that vary based on credit and the scope of the project. The best first step is a free in-home assessment so we can give you a real price, not a ballpark. Call (762) 240-5599 and we’ll walk you through the numbers in plain English.
Why Our Pricing Is Different
Most HVAC pricing pages are built to get you to call. This one is built to get you informed. The difference is that when you do call us, the number we quote won’t surprise you. It’ll match what you read here, because it’s the same market we work in every day.
Cold Harbour Heating and Air Marietta has been doing this since 2003. We’re an independently owned and operated member of the Kingswell network, which means we answer to our customers in Marietta, not to a corporate office in another state. The name, if you’re curious, comes from something older than the company: a cold harbour was a roadside shelter where travelers waited out bad weather. That’s the job. Comfort in any season.
Victor Mancini leads our team, and the standard he sets is the one you’ll experience: a written price before the work starts, a firm arrival window, a clean job site, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise on every repair. If a repair fails within a year, we come back and make it right at no charge. That guarantee is on paper before our technician leaves your house. Not verbal, not conditional, on paper.
Phones are answered by a live person 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Not a voicemail tree, not an answering service that takes a message for someone who never calls back. A person in our office picks up the phone, every time, any time.
Get a Firm Furnace Replacement Quote in Marietta
If your furnace is dying, limping, or just getting old enough to worry you, the next step is simple. Call (762) 240-5599 and schedule a free in-home estimate. A technician will come to your Marietta home, measure what needs measuring, and hand you a written price. The number won’t change at the door. You’ll know exactly what the furnace costs, what the labor costs, and when we can do the work.
Whether you’re in East Cobb, West Marietta, Historic Marietta, or anywhere in Cobb County, we’ll give you the same thing: the real cost, in writing, before any tools come out. That’s The Kingswell Way, and it’s the only way we work.
Pricing reflects the Marietta market as of 2026. Cold Harbour Heating and Air Marietta offers free estimates – call (762) 240-5599.
Written by Victor Mancini, Owner at Cold Harbour Heating and Air Marietta, serving Marietta since 2003.
What Our Customers Say
"AC quit on the hottest day of the year of course. Coldharbour had a tech out that evening, found a bad capacitor, and had us cool again within the hour. Charged the quote, not a penny more."
- Doug Feeney"Furnace was short cycling all winter. They diagnosed a bad sensor instead of condemning the whole unit like I feared. Cheap fix, honest call."
- Russ Tiedemann"Signed up for a tune up before summer. He found a part starting to fail and showed me the reading, didn't just tell me to trust him. Fixed it then so we wouldn't get stuck in July."
- Sophia Tran