The bonus room over the garage
Long duct run, uninsulated space below, and it’s the last room the air reaches. It runs ten degrees off the rest of the house year-round.
Mini Split Installation
Ductless mini split installation in Hampton Roads.
Mini splits are a great fit for bonus rooms, additions, garages, sunrooms, and older homes without ductwork. We’ll help you decide whether ductless is the right solution, then size it and install it so it works properly.
- Serving Hampton Roads since 2003
- 20+ years experience
- Master HVAC licensed
- Master Gas licensed
- Class A contractor
- Financing available
Before you add anything
Make sure ductless is the right answer.
Plenty of companies will sell you a mini split for a hot bonus room without ever looking at why the room is hot. Sometimes ductless is the fix. Sometimes the duct run to that room is crushed, disconnected, undersized, or was never balanced properly, and a mini split becomes an expensive workaround for a problem you could have solved.
We do ductwork. That means we have no reason to steer you toward ductless when a duct correction would cost less and work better. We’ll look at what your existing system is actually doing before recommending you add a second one.
And if ductless is the right call, you’ll hear exactly why.
Think it’s a duct problem? Start with ductwork repair
Five rooms a mini split actually fixes.
Most of our ductless installs fall into one of these.
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The addition nobody extended the ductwork to
Sunrooms, converted porches, and additions built after the original system was sized. The existing equipment often can’t carry the extra load even if you did run duct to it.
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The garage or workshop
Not on the duct system at all, and usually not worth putting on it. A single head makes it usable in July and January.
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The home office that has to be comfortable at 2pm
Separate zone, separate thermostat, no arguing with the rest of the house about the setting.
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An older home with no ductwork
Some houses were never built for forced air, and retrofitting duct into them costs more than it’s worth. Ductless heats and cools without the demolition.
Installation Path
One room or the whole house?
Mini splits scale in two directions, and the right one depends on how many rooms have the problem. One difficult room is a single-zone job. Four rooms is a different conversation, and at a certain point, fixing or extending the ductwork you already have becomes the better value. We’ll price it honestly both ways rather than defaulting to whichever one is bigger.
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View mounting optionsOne problem room
Single zone
One outdoor unit, one indoor head, one room solved. The straightforward answer for a bonus room, garage, addition, or office.
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Compare zone countsSeveral rooms, or whole home
Multi zone
One outdoor unit running up to several heads on independent thermostats. Right for whole-home ductless or a few problem rooms at once, though efficiency drops somewhat as zones are added, which we’ll explain before you decide.
Not sure the ducts aren’t the problem? Start with ductwork repair
What We Install
New systems we install.
We install and service every major ductless brand, and we’ve had our hands inside all of them. Because we’re not a dealer working off one manufacturer’s quota, our recommendation comes from what actually holds up in this climate: salt air and coastal humidity are hard on outdoor equipment, and we’ve seen which units handle it.
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Wall mount
The standard, and the most efficient use of the space. Mounted high on an exterior or interior wall, out of the way of furniture.
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Ceiling cassette
Recessed into the ceiling with air distributed in multiple directions. The least visible option, and the best choice for a room where wall space is committed.
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Floor mount
Sits low along the wall like a radiator. Good for rooms with vaulted ceilings, knee walls, or window arrangements that leave nowhere to mount high.
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Concealed duct
A small air handler hidden in a soffit or attic, feeding one or two registers. Ductless performance without a visible head, when the room can accommodate it.
Our Brands
Brands we install and service
Load calculation & sizing
Sized and placed for the room.
A lot of mini splits are sized by the square footage of the room and nothing else. That’s a guess, and with ductless it’s a guess that shows up fast, because a single head has nowhere to hide an error.
We run a load calculation instead: square footage, insulation, window area and orientation, ceiling height, and what’s above and below the room. An oversized head is the most common ductless mistake we’re called out to fix. It cools the air in minutes, shuts off before it’s pulled any humidity, and leaves you with a room that’s cold and damp. In a coastal climate that’s not a minor complaint. Undersize it and the room never quite gets there on the worst days.
Placement matters as much as capacity. Where the head goes determines whether the air actually reaches the far corner or dumps straight down in front of the couch, and that’s a decision made in the room, not on a spec sheet.
Our Process
What’s included, start to finish.
Every installation includes all of it. No line items that show up later as extras.
Before we order anything
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We plan the zones
Load calculation per room, head placement walked out in the space, and the line set route decided before anything gets ordered. You’ll know where the equipment goes and how it gets there.
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We check the electrical
Ductless systems need their own circuit. We confirm your panel has the capacity and coordinate the electrical work rather than discovering the problem on install day.
The day it goes in
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We route the line set properly
Refrigerant lines, condensate, and control wiring run and concealed. Exterior runs get covered rather than left as bare copper stapled to your siding.
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We install and verify
Heads mounted, outdoor unit set, condensate drainage confirmed, refrigerant charge verified, and every zone tested in both heating and cooling.
Before we pull out
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We register the warranty
Filed for you. Most manufacturers require it, and most people never get around to it.
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We walk you through it
How the remotes and modes actually work, what the filters need and how often, and your questions answered before we leave.
Efficiency, plainly
What it actually costs to run.
Ductless systems carry the same ratings as central equipment (SEER2 for cooling, HSPF2 for heating), and they tend to rate well, because there’s no duct system losing conditioned air on the way to the room. That’s a real advantage in a house where the ducts run through a hot attic or a damp crawlspace.
Two honest caveats. Multi-zone systems don’t hold their rated efficiency as cleanly as single-zone ones, so a four-head system won’t perform like four times a one-head system on paper. And a mini split only saves money on the room it serves. If you’re heating an addition that used to be unconditioned, your bill goes up, because you’re now comfortable in a space you weren’t before. That’s usually worth it. It’s just not a savings.
Testimonials
Hear from our customers.
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Mike was very professional and thorough throughout the entire process. Haven’t felt with any HVAC service before Ductman and will never choose anything else now. Thank you for a great experience.
Robert Clark
Google review
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Everyone was respectful, a pleasure to work with, and they got the job done in a timely fashion with a great quality of work. My house heats even better now than before. 10/10 I absolutely recommend them.
James Maurmeier
Google review
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Furnace went out on what seems like the coldest day so far this year. Chris answered our call and promptly sent out a technician to review the issue and provide an estimate. They were able to order and install the part quickly for a reasonable price. I would definitely call them again if we had another HVAC issue.
Charisse
Google review
Our Work
Recent work
View Case Study : Matched split system, 1980s ranchMatched split system, 1980s ranch
View Case Study : Central air added to a 1940s bungalowCentral air added to a 1940s bungalow
View Case Study : Oversized unit right-sized after load calcOversized unit right-sized after load calc
Financing & Payment
A new system is rarely a purchase anyone planned for. Financing is available, and we offer a cash discount if you’d rather not finance. We’ll lay out both so you can see the real difference.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How much does a mini split cost?
It depends on how many zones you need, the capacity each room requires, how far the line set has to run, and whether your electrical panel can carry it. A single head in a garage and a four-zone whole-home system are very different projects. We’ll give you a real figure after we’ve seen the space.
Do mini splits heat as well as they cool?
They do both. Ductless systems carry heating ratings (HSPF2) as well as cooling ratings (SEER2), and a single head makes a garage or workshop usable in July and January.
How many indoor units do I need?
One per problem room is the usual starting point: one difficult room is a single-zone job, while several rooms can run from one outdoor unit with independent thermostats. Efficiency drops somewhat as zones are added, and past a certain point fixing or extending your ductwork is the better value. We plan it with a load calculation per room and price it both ways.
Can a mini split replace my whole central system?
It can. Multi-zone ductless is right for whole-home comfort in some houses. At a certain point, though, fixing or extending the ductwork you already have becomes the better value. We’ll price it honestly both ways.
Will it look bad in my living room?
You have options. A wall mount sits high and out of the way; a ceiling cassette is recessed and is the least visible; a floor mount sits low like a radiator; and a concealed duct unit hides in a soffit or attic with no visible head at all, when the room can accommodate it.
Do you repair mini splits too, or only install them?
Both. We install and service every major ductless brand. See our Mini Split Repair, Maintenance & Cleaning page.
Do you offer financing?
Yes. Financing is available, and we offer a cash discount if you’d rather not finance. We’ll lay out both so you can see the real difference.
Get Started
Let’s take a look at the room.
Whether the answer turns out to be ductless, a duct correction, or something else nobody’s mentioned, you’ll get a straight answer and your options in plain English.