Commercial HVAC Installation & Replacement in Southern California and Arizona

What does commercial HVAC installation and replacement cover?

Two jobs: installing equipment a building never had, and replacing equipment that has failed or worn out. REE Mechanical Inc. handles rooftop units up to 100 tons and split systems up to 60 tons, to local city and state codes.

Most commercial installation work happens in buildings that are open for business. A remodel adds sales floor. A tenant improvement splits a suite. A rooftop unit finally gives out in July. The equipment changes from job to job, but the planning questions stay the same: who owns the permit, where the crane sets up, whether the new unit lands on the old curb, and what keeps the site cool if the equipment arrives late.

Systems we specialize in installing and replacing

• Rooftop Units (up to 100 tons)
• Split Systems (up to 60 tons)
• Water Source Heat Pumps
• Hydronic Fan Coils
• Ductless Mini Splits
• Exhaust Fans
• Make Up Air Systems
• Evaporative Coolers
• Zone Systems
• VAV — Variable Air Volume Dampers
• Ducted Fire Dampers
• Building Management Systems
• Warehouse & Loading Dock Unit Heaters
• Air Curtains
• Air Cleaners & Scrubbers
• Cooling Towers

Is your project an installation or a replacement?

Installation adds capacity for a new site, an expansion, or a tenant improvement. Replacement retires equipment at end of life or after a major failure. Plenty of projects are both, like a larger unit after a remodel.

Project	What starts it	What the scope turns on
New site or build-out	A shell building fitted out for a tenant, or newly conditioned space	Load calculation, structure, utilities, and code for new work
Added capacity	Tenant improvement, a new IT closet, or higher occupancy	Whether existing equipment can carry the load or the space needs its own
Planned replacement	Age, repeat failures, phased-down refrigerant, or rising energy use	Curb fit, code changes since the original install, budget year, and lead time
Failure replacement	A compressor, coil, or heat exchanger failure late in a unit’s life	Equipment availability, temporary cooling, and trading hours

Equipment brands we install and service

We install and service commercial equipment from these manufacturers across our Southern California and Arizona sites:

• Lennox
• Carrier
• York
• Trane
• Mitsubishi
• Daikin Applied
• AAON
• Vertiv
• Honeywell
• Verasys
• Samsung

Brand choice for a replacement follows the site: curb fit, what the rest of the portfolio runs, and current lead times.

When should equipment be replaced instead of repaired?

Replace when an old unit loses a major part, when its refrigerant is being phased down, or when it has become a regular line on the emergency spend report. Young units with minor failures are usually repairs.

Commercial equipment is commonly planned on a service life in the mid-teens of years, but that is a planning number, not a promise. Equipment ages with its environment, how hard it runs, and how well it has been maintained. A coastal store breathing salt air and an inland store with 110°F afternoons will not wear out on the same calendar. A contactor on a ten-year-old unit is a repair. A third compressor on the same unit is a replacement conversation. For a worked framework on packaged equipment, see repair or replace a rooftop unit.

What has to be settled before the equipment is ordered?

Five things: the permit, the curb, the crane, the lead time, and the phasing. Settle them first and the change-out happens on a planned date. Leave them open and the site waits between demolition and start-up.

Permits. Kelly Purcell, our Installation Director, runs our installations, and permitting is her specialty. That matters here because most California permits are issued city by city, so a portfolio spread across six counties means a long list of building departments. Check current code with each jurisdiction rather than assuming an old approval still applies.

Curbs and structure. New equipment rarely matches the footprint it replaces. An adapter or a new curb brings roofing work and sometimes a structural review, which is far easier to plan than to discover on crane day.

Crane and access. Crane size, reach, and staging set the date as much as the equipment does. Lot or street closures, overhead lines, and the store’s trading calendar all belong in the pick plan.

Lead times. They vary by size and type. Confirm them before a demolition date goes on anyone’s calendar.

Phasing. Large jobs split into stages — one unit, one roof section, or one floor at a time — so the building keeps operating around the work.

Who runs an REE Mechanical installation?

Our own people. Kelly Purcell directs installations and permitting. Anthony Renteria, our Install Foreman, leads a team dedicated to installation. Jessica Bresciani, our Estimating Operations Lead, turns what the survey finds into a quote you can take to budget.

We self-perform the work with factory-trained, EPA-certified technicians instead of passing it to a subcontracted network. REE Mechanical Inc. is licensed, bonded and insured, holding CSLB C20 licenses #940700 and #526944 in California and Arizona ROC #365042. Our special projects team has the experience and knowledge to complete a replacement or retrofit to local city and state codes. Three commitments shape how every job is scheduled and documented: Minimize Disruption, Eliminate Red Tape, and Built to Adapt.

How should replacements be planned across a multi-site portfolio?

Run replacement as a program with a budget, not a string of emergencies. Evaluate every asset, rank units by risk and by what a failure would cost each site, assign budget years, and schedule the work in shoulder seasons.

1. Evaluate the assets. Age, condition, refrigerant, and repair history for each unit at each site. Planning ahead is always the cheaper path, and we can evaluate a portfolio and advise which units are likely to need replacement sooner rather than later.
2. Rank by risk. A unit likely to fail at a high-volume store moves ahead of a tired unit over a stockroom.
3. Assign budget years. Spread capital so it lands in the year you choose. See budgeting HVAC capital replacement across a portfolio.
4. Group by region. Nearby sites can share crane days and permit trips. Our technicians are based across Southern California and Arizona rather than dispatched from one yard, which helps when a program is spread over many cities.
5. Decide the fallback in advance. Agree what happens if a unit fails before its slot, so nobody is improvising in August.

What happens if replacement equipment is delayed?

At a Southern California site, the store keeps trading on temporary cooling. REE Mechanical Inc. can arrange it through our Herc Rentals relationship until the new unit is set and started.

See temporary cooling rental and setup, and for planning ahead, temporary cooling when equipment is on backorder.

Where does REE Mechanical install and replace commercial HVAC?

Across 21 counties in two states: Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego counties in Southern California, and all of Arizona. We are family-owned since 1987 and headquartered in Temecula.

Arizona is an active, growing market for us under our new ROC license, and we take installation work anywhere in the state. See all service areas, or start with Riverside County or Los Angeles County.

What about the units that are not due for replacement yet?

Keep them on a maintenance program so they reach their full service life. By our own count, roughly 80 percent of the service calls we run could have been avoided with proper maintenance.

We also estimate that HVAC&R accounts for about 60 percent of a site’s electrical energy, so a neglected unit costs money every month it runs, not only on the day it fails. See HVAC maintenance and inspections, and tie new equipment into HVAC controls from the day it starts up. To schedule an asset evaluation, call (800) 742-0910 or send us your site list.