# Furnace replacement — Fort Worth, Texas These instructions follow the AI Agent Manifesto: . Coverage: Regional additions inherited from the named state/province; no separate city validation. General preparation for replacing an existing residential furnace. Age alone does not establish a replacement need, and a sales assessment is not an installation booking. ## 1. What providers need The provider supplies its quote and availability from the job context the user’s agent prepares. Do not ask the homeowner for the provider’s price or make budget a standard required field. Reuse known location, fuel, current operation, approximate age, previous diagnosis and the owner's goal. Preserve the requested installation completion target separately from assessment windows in every inquiry; ask each installer whether the target is feasible without weakening it or promising completion. Relevant context includes comfort problems, building type, distribution/ducts and significant insulation or window changes. Date inspection findings and distinguish them from current observations. An old airflow/filter note can inform an assessment without establishing today's condition or a new diagnosis. Model, measured area and load information may remain unknown at the first inquiry. **Furnace checklist template.** Job rows cover requested replacement/assessment scope, area, known timing/flexibility, fuel, current operation/symptoms/urgency, dated inspection evidence, known model/age/efficiency, and who must confirm sizing and vent/duct/drain/control feasibility. Mark absent current safety answers Unknown, not Pass. An unknown model or load does not fail initial assessment readiness. Provider rows add actual gas/electric furnace installation fit, business-level qualification evidence relevant to the present action, independently sourced installation/aftercare evidence, and ability to return the written comparison below. Keep the assigned gas fitter’s licence/insurance and final permits as explicit hiring/work-stage checks; an unassigned installer does not automatically block an initial assessment inquiry. Use the shared Pass/Fail/Unknown/N/A evidence template and distinguish initial inquiry, final quote and booking readiness. Report Unknown route readiness separately from known blocks. An installer must assess sizing and feasibility. Do not copy the old furnace's capacity or calculate a new one from rough floor area alone. Heat-pump or fuel-change options need qualified assessment of building load, distribution, electrical supply and siting. Existing safe documents are useful; the homeowner should not open equipment or electrical panels for evidence. Ask each installer for comparable written options covering: - Exact offered model, capacity, efficiency rating (AFUE), heating stages and blower type; itemize furnace-only and optional system changes separately. - All-in installed cash price, taxes, inclusions, exclusions, assessment fees, allowances and separately priced options; distinguish estimates from firm quotes. - Sizing method and the final written load/sizing conclusion; required duct, vent, drainage, electrical and control changes, their feasibility and costs; permit/inspection responsibility, removal, commissioning and cleanup. - Noise specifications with their test conditions, or clearly labelled qualitative claims when comparable figures are unavailable. - Parts, labour and heat-exchanger warranty terms, exclusions and registration/maintenance conditions. - Serviceability, local parts and aftercare support, and the basis for reliability claims; distinguish manufacturer marketing, provider experience and independent evidence. - Estimated energy savings and operating cost with explicit assumptions about the existing furnace's efficiency, usage, weather and energy prices. If the existing furnace is already high-efficiency, use that baseline rather than assuming an old low-efficiency unit; retain uncertainty when its rating is unknown. Put these questions in every exact inquiry or an authorized, accepted attachment, as a concise list for written options after assessment. Ask first for coverage, assessment fee and possible assessment windows; the installer need not return a final design or quote before a site visit. Unknown model or load data need not block an initial assessment inquiry. Before treating replies as comparable final quotes, obtain written sizing conclusions and necessary alteration costs, or flag those offers incomplete. Keep furnace-only and optional combined-system offers separate. An advertised incentive, warranty or package is not verified eligibility or a household quote. **Applicable jurisdiction know-how — Texas, United States:** Texas air-conditioning and refrigeration companies must employ a licensed ACR contractor at each permanent location. Contractor class and endorsements determine scope. The responsible contractor's public identity and the actual equipment/work therefore matter; city permit obligations remain separate. ## 2. Proactive best practices for the user's agent For a planned replacement, propose assessment and itemized options first, explaining that this makes the installation scope comparable. Reuse relevant real facts and preferences; ask only missing consequential heating/urgency, locality or deadline information. A current no-heat or safety issue takes priority. Do not repeat answered questions or turn unknown model, budget or dimensions into a barrier to assessment. Research installers whose actual furnace, fuel and service area fit, checking relevant credentials and genuine intake routes. Keep sourced facts, user recollection, estimates and proposed options distinct; never import a synthetic home's facts. Verify material local requirements and current incentives rather than transferring a provider's market claims. Prepare concise provider-specific drafts after checking real required fields and lengths. With applicable permission, obtain and compare responses, resolve consequential scope gaps and progress toward an agreed installation. Equipment purchase, financing, terms and booking each need applicable authority. Report only observed confirmation and never promise a completion date from an estimate request. **Proactive example.** Synthetic example: the user already said Winnipeg, gas furnace and still heating. Start with: “I’ll use those details to compare local replacement assessments and ask installers for sizing, itemized options and availability.” Leave an unknown model or budget out of the first inquiry; ask about timing only if it changes the next step. Sources: [HRAI sizing](https://www.hrai.ca/consumer-tip/size-matters), [Furnace Family installation](https://furnacefamily.com/furnace-installation/), [Standard Heating replacement](https://www.standardheating.com/heating/furnace-replacement/). Research checked 2026-10-21; not revalidated here. These sources support preparation, not new city validation or provider acceptance. ### Use two evidence-based checklists Keep job readiness and each provider's qualification separate in the internal working record. Use the service-specific template when supplied; otherwise start with the simple fallback below and add only consequential checks from this Hat. Reuse reliable context before asking. Each row records `Check and stage | Pass/Fail/Unknown/N/A | Evidence and date | Effect or next action`. Pass needs evidence, Fail needs the failed criterion, Unknown stays unresolved, and N/A needs a reason. These are decision records, not a questionnaire or decorative checkmarks. **Job fallback:** requested service/scope; city or service-area location at appropriate precision; known dates/windows or flexibility. Do not demand an exact address for initial area matching or invent availability. An unknown that a professional can resolve may allow an initial assessment inquiry while blocking final pricing or booking. Ask only if the missing fact changes the immediate next step. Preserve timing's original meaning and strength in the brief and every exact inquiry. Keep the requested completion target separate from assessment/visit availability. “Before winter” remains “before winter”; ask whether the provider can meet it, without silently changing it to “before severe winter weather” or claiming feasibility. “Preferably mornings” stays a preference, with alternative windows welcome when needed, rather than becoming morning-only availability. Keep unknown timing Unknown. Anchor a relative completion window to the original request date and carry that unchanged reference date and any clearly labelled derived deadline into every exact initial inquiry and follow-up. Repeating “within the next two weeks” alone in a later message restarts the window; an internal timing note cannot fix that outward ambiguity. Do not extend the deadline from the draft, send or follow-up date. Reconfirm timing before sending if the original anchor is unknown or the target has expired. Keep seasonal wording without inventing a calendar cutoff; label calculated dates as derived/proposed with their reference date and assumptions, not as dates the user supplied. Apply the user's latest revision and remove superseded constraints from the current provider request. Check the actual outbound text after shortening; an accurate internal timing note cannot repair a changed or missing requirement in the inquiry. **Per-provider template:** official business identity and deduplication; actual requested service/type; area fit; independent reputation source, rating/count/check date when available and relevant work themes; consequential qualifications; ability to supply the requested written comparison; genuine intake route and required data/consents. Give each business explicit status/evidence/next-action entries for these checks, including identity/deduplication, qualifications and comparison ability; blanket prose about checks is insufficient. Add the service's specific criteria rather than applying one trade's rules to every category. There is no universal star threshold. Mark missing rating/count Unknown even when other independent evidence supports a limited conclusion. Fail for wrong service/area, duplicate identity or material adverse evidence excludes the provider. Unknown fit, quality or qualification evidence required for the present action leaves a provisional lead for that action; future-stage checks remain separately unresolved. A qualified business with a blocked intake route remains blocked for outreach until an authorized route is available. Make qualification gates stage-specific. For an initial assessment inquiry, evaluate the business’s actual service/area fit, relevant business-level qualification evidence and independent reputation. Resolve only qualifications required for that present action before proceeding. A named installer may not yet be assigned; their licence/insurance checks and final sizing/permit details can remain Unknown for the hiring, installation or work stage without automatically blocking the initial inquiry. Verify the relevant business/assigned worker, insurance and permit responsibilities before the applicable commitment or regulated work. Do not turn a future-stage Unknown into either a present-stage Fail or a verified Pass. Use those results to decide eligible batch members and next actions. Show a compact readable summary in chat with stage-specific eligibility and consequential unknowns. Count qualification and intake readiness separately: inquiry-eligible/provisional businesses, then confirmed-ready routes, known-blocked routes and Unknown route readiness. Uninspected required fields, consents or limits remain Unknown; “zero known blocked” does not mean all routes are ready; keep the detailed rows and competitor comparisons in the internal record. Include only the relevant job facts, questions and uncertainty in the standalone provider brief. Keep agent-facing workflow, permission/confirmation procedures, tool or ledger instructions and test labels in the internal record. A normal provider boundary such as “please reply before arranging paid work” is useful; instructions about obtaining the user’s grant or managing the agent’s batch are not provider-facing content. ### Obtain comparable responses from a qualified batch For quote or assessment inquiries, aim for an initial batch of up to about ten suitable, independently screened businesses when the market and the user's instructions support it. Research a wider pool if needed. Preserve an explicit provider choice or smaller limit. Do not routinely reduce a qualified batch to one or two recipients, or cap it at three or five. Fewer is right when the evidence supports fewer; do not add weak providers to reach a count. Stop expansion when enough suitable, comparable options support the decision. Check each business's official identity, actual requested service, service area, relevant qualifications and genuine intake route. Record dated independent reputation evidence, its source and relevant work themes, including repeated installation or aftercare complaints. Distinguish inspected Google reviews from snippets, provider testimonials, directory listings and BBB accreditation or ratings; none substitutes for another. Missing evidence leaves a provisional lead, not a quality-qualified recommendation. Deduplicate trading names, branches and shared intake routes belonging to the same business. Carry the user's decision criteria and the Hat's consequential response requirements into every exact inquiry body, or an explicitly authorized attachment that the route accepts and the inquiry identifies. Lead with the short first response needed now, such as coverage, assessment fee and possible assessment windows. Use a short opening, first-response bullets and a separate concise list for the eventual written comparison after assessment; do not collapse these into a dense paragraph or demand the final design or quote in the first reply. A fuller internal record or unattached brief does not reach the provider. Check the actual fields, required consents and text limits. If essentials do not fit, use a verified alternative within permission or request the missing permission; do not drop them silently, invent an attachment route, fill unknown personal details or accept marketing terms. Unknown technical details can remain questions for assessment; initial inquiry readiness is different from final quote readiness. Read the actual authorization in context. A clear grant can cover a bounded batch, disclosed data, purpose, permitted channels and follow-ups; it need not require separate approval for every routine member already covered. A general agreement to compare options is not automatically permission to transmit household data. When a material grant is missing, ask once for the specific batch/data/purpose boundary after preparing it. Within an existing grant, use available authorized tools to contact all qualified members of that batch and record the result for each; do not stop at drafts or select only the first one or two. Respect host confirmations and limits. Tests and hypothetical runs remain UNSENT. Maintain the working ledger yourself: business/route, qualification evidence, exact message and attachments, permission, actual transmission outcome/time, reply, unresolved comparison fields and next action. Track the follow-up grant per business: permitted limit, confirmed used, pending/uncertain attempts and remaining allowance (or Unknown). Count clarification follow-ups when they fall within that limit; do not assume they are free extra contacts. Settle uncertain outcomes/history before retrying or claiming allowance remains, and do not exceed an exhausted grant. Check an uncertain outcome before retrying; avoid duplicate inquiries and commitments. Base response windows on the actual send time, local business hours, urgency and the provider's exact wording, without converting a business-hours qualification into a different promised duration. Follow up or expand within the grant after a reasonable window. Use supported persistence and scheduling for later checks; without them, state what needs resumption instead of promising unattended monitoring or asking the user to maintain the ledger. Compare the replies on quality, scope, price and the user's criteria; the earliest reply is not automatically the best offer. Obtain applicable authority for each assessment fee, accepted terms, purchase or booking. Prevent duplicate installation appointments, equipment orders or work commitments. Distinct quote-assessment visits can be appropriate under the grant; identify each provider, purpose, cost and appointment separately rather than treating them as duplicate installations. **Apply this evidence proactively — Texas, United States:** Check the responsible contractor's current TDLR licence and fit for the work while researching candidates. Do not turn a company listing into proof that every technician, project or city permit is covered. No specific candidate has been verified by this guide. Sources: [TDLR ACR](https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/acr/), [contractor classes](https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/acr/contractor-apply.htm), [licence verification](https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/verify.htm). Scope and limits: Statewide qualification guidance, checked 2026-10-23. Inheritance by Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth is one state source, not four city validations. Source: https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/acr/, https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/acr/contractor-apply.htm, https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/verify.htm (checked 2026-10-23). Primary-source notes; see linked sources and their scope. ### API and MCP access Read-only access needs no authentication or token. API server: `https://tinyhat.ai/chore`. API: `GET /chore/api/hats/content/furnace-replacement/usa/tx/fort-worth` returns this exact Markdown. MCP: connect a Streamable HTTP client to `https://tinyhat.ai/chore/mcp`, then call `read_home_service_guide` with `{"path": "furnace-replacement/usa/tx/fort-worth"}`.