Editorial Policy and Independence

Get a Better Quote publishes Ontario home services research for homeowners, tenants, and condo owners. Our work focuses on the questions people ask when they are about to spend five or ten thousand dollars on a furnace, a heat pump, a water heater, or a renovation, and want to know what a fair price looks like, what the rules actually say, and how to verify the contractor standing on their doorstep.

Who writes this site

Articles are produced by the Get a Better Quote Research Team, a small group that pulls together cost data, regulation text, and program details from Canadian primary sources and writes them up in plain English. We are not a content farm. We publish fewer articles than most sites in this space and update them more often. Every article carries a last verified date that reflects the last time we re-checked the claims inside it, not the last time a template was touched.

Editorial independence

Get a Better Quote takes no referral fees, no affiliate commissions, and no sponsored placements. We do not accept payment from HVAC contractors, rental finance companies, rebate aggregators, or equipment manufacturers in exchange for coverage or ranking. We do not run comparison tables where the top slot goes to the highest bidder. This is a bright line, and it is the most important thing on this page.

When an article mentions a specific contractor certification body (TSSA, HRAI, ESA, Skilled Trades Ontario), the intent is to help readers verify their own contractor using public registries, not to funnel business to any particular company.

How we source claims

Our source hierarchy is strict and public. For every cost figure, rebate amount, regulation, or process claim, we work from this order:

1. Federal government data and regulations. Natural Resources Canada, Statistics Canada, CMHC, Canada Revenue Agency, Health Canada, Department of Finance Canada, Parliamentary Budget Officer.
2. Provincial government and regulator data. Ontario.ca, Ontario e-Laws (statutes and regulations), Ontario Energy Board (OEB), Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), Electrical Safety Authority (ESA), Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), Skilled Trades Ontario, Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery.
3. Utility rate and program pages. Enbridge Gas, Toronto Hydro, Alectra Utilities, Hydro Ottawa, Hydro One, Save on Energy, Home Renovation Savings program.
4. Canadian standards bodies and industry associations. CSA Group, HRAI, Appraisal Institute of Canada, Canadian Home Builders Association, Efficiency Canada.
5. ENERGY STAR certified product databases from Natural Resources Canada and ENERGY STAR (for product-level efficiency specs).
6. Manufacturer specification pages when a claim is about a specific model, and only for technical spec details.

We deliberately do not cite contractor blogs, review aggregators, comparison shopping sites, U.S. cost databases, or affiliate content as primary evidence. Those sources can be useful for context, but they do not back claims on this site.

How we handle estimates and ranges

Some things do not have one right number. Installed cost for a new furnace varies by home size, ductwork condition, region, and contractor. When we give a range, we back the high end and the low end with separate citations where we can, and we show our work inside the article rather than picking one number and hoping no one notices the spread.

When a rebate program, rate schedule, or regulation is about to change, we mark the effective date clearly. When something is proposed but not yet in force, we say so.

Corrections

If a claim in an article is wrong, we want to know. Send the article URL, the specific claim, and the source you believe is correct to [email protected]. We review every correction request, and when we fix something, we update the article and bump the last verified timestamp.

For the full methodology, including how we handle contradictions between authoritative sources and the specific tools we use to cross-reference claims, see How we verify what is on this site.

What we do not do

We do not name individual HVAC contractors as bad actors. We do not publish hit pieces on specific rental finance companies. When we write about regulatory issues, we cite the regulator, the statute, or the court decision, and we let readers draw their own conclusions. Most HVAC contractors in Ontario are honest people doing hard work, and the rules are what keep the industry honest overall.

Contact

General editorial questions: [email protected].
Corrections and verification: [email protected].