HVAC Work in Orlando: What the Housing Stock Tells Us

Orlando is the hardest city in Central Florida to generalize about, because it is really several housing markets stacked on top of each other. The median home here was built in 1992, but 13 percent of the housing stock predates 1960 and another 21 percent went up in the 2000s. A service call in College Park and a service call in Lake Nona are different jobs on different equipment with different failure modes.

The other thing that separates Orlando from its suburbs is that it is a renter-majority city. Around 60 percent of occupied units are rented, and 42 percent of all housing is in buildings of three or more units. That means a large share of the HVAC work here runs through property managers and condo associations rather than homeowners, and it means a lot of equipment is in closets, on roofs, and in mechanical rooms rather than in a suburban attic.

We work throughout Orlando, including College Park, Baldwin Park, Thornton Park, Delaney Park, Audubon Park and Lake Nona.

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Permits for HVAC Work in Orlando

Replacing or modifying air conditioning equipment requires a mechanical permit. In Orlando that goes through the City of Orlando Permitting Services Division, filed through the Orlando Permitting Portal at digitalpermits.orlando.gov. We pull it as part of the job. A contractor who offers to skip the permit is telling you something about how they work.

What We See Most Often on Orlando Systems

Closet and mechanical-room air handlers

In a city where 42 percent of housing sits in buildings of three or more units, most air handlers are in closets or mechanical rooms with barely enough clearance to open the panel. Filters go unchanged because they are hard to reach, coils load up, airflow drops, and the system ices. The fault reads like a refrigerant problem and is not one.

Shared condensate lines

Multi-unit buildings frequently tie several condensate drains into one line. When it clogs, the water shows up in whichever unit is unluckiest, which is often not the unit with the problem. We trace the line rather than guessing at the apartment in front of us.

Duct systems retrofitted into pre-1960 houses

Thirteen percent of Orlando’s housing predates 1960. Those homes got ductwork added later, usually routed through whatever space was available. Undersized returns and long, lossy supply runs are the norm, and they are the real cause of most uneven-cooling complaints in the historic districts.

Storm-season electrical failures

Run capacitors and contactors are the most common electrical faults we replace, and Central Florida’s afternoon storm season is hard on both. They are inexpensive parts, and they are routinely used as the reason to sell a whole system.

Seven Historic Districts, and What They Mean for Your System

Orlando has seven residential historic districts on the National Register: Lake Eola Heights, Griffin Park, Holden-Parramore, Rosemere, Lake Ivanhoe, Lake Adair-Lake Concord and Lake Lawsona. If your home is in one of them, you are working with a building that was designed before central air existed.

That changes the job. Ductwork in these houses was usually added decades after construction, often routed through closets, soffits and crawl spaces that were never sized for it. Undersized returns are common, and so are duct runs that lose half their capacity before the air reaches the far bedroom. When a homeowner in one of these districts tells us the back of the house never cools, the answer is usually the duct system, not the condenser sitting outside.

We diagnose these houses as duct-and-load problems first. Replacing the equipment without fixing the distribution buys you a more expensive version of the same complaint.

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Commercial HVAC and Refrigeration in Orlando

Orlando drew a record 75 million visitors to the region in 2018 and hosts the second-largest convention complex in the country by exhibit space. That is a very large base of restaurants, hotels and food service, and it is why our commercial refrigeration work is concentrated here: walk-ins, reach-ins, ice machines and prep-line equipment that cannot be down through a dinner service.

Roberts Mechanical handles commercial HVAC and refrigeration alongside residential work, including rooftop units, walk-in coolers and freezers, ice machines, DOAS equipment, cooling towers and chillers. The same repair-first approach applies: we evaluate what a system has left before anyone signs off on a capital expense.

What We Do in Orlando

• AC repair and diagnostics
• AC installation and replacement
• Maintenance and tune-ups
• Second opinions on replacement quotes
• 24/7 emergency service
• New construction HVAC
• Commercial HVAC
• Commercial refrigeration
• Walk-in coolers and freezers
• Commercial ice machines
• DOAS units and ventilation
• Cooling towers and chillers
• Custom design and engineering

Common Questions From Orlando Customers

Do I need a permit to replace my AC in Orlando?

Yes. A mechanical permit is required for equipment replacement, and it goes through the City of Orlando Permitting Services Division rather than Orange County if your address is inside city limits. We pull it. A contractor who offers to skip the permit is telling you something about how they work.

My house is in a historic district. Does that complicate things?

For the equipment itself, usually not. For anything visible from the street, check before you commit. The bigger issue in these homes is almost always the duct system rather than the permit.

Do you work with property managers and condo associations?

Yes. Most of Orlando’s housing is multifamily, and a large share of what we do here is scheduled through managers and associations rather than individual owners.

Is my address inside Orlando city limits?

It matters, because the City of Orlando permits its own work while unincorporated Orange County permits through Fast Track. A lot of Orlando mailing addresses are actually unincorporated. We check the parcel before filing.

My AC runs constantly but the house never feels dry. Why?

Usually an oversized system. It cools the air to setpoint quickly and shuts off before it has run long enough to pull moisture out. Going bigger makes it worse. The fix is correct sizing and airflow, not more capacity.

How fast can you get here?

We run 24/7 emergency service. Call 407-405-2658 and we will tell you honestly when we can be there rather than quoting you a window we cannot hold.

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