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HRV Installation Cost in Ontario (2026): New House vs Retrofit, Dedicated Ducts vs Tied Into the Furnace, Balancing, Controls and What Moves the Price
Heating, Cooling & Ventilation
What an HRV Costs to Install in Ontario: $2,500 in a New House, $3,500 in an Old One, and Why the Ducts Decide Which End of the Range You Land On
The box itself is the cheap part. An HRV is a fan, a second fan and a heat exchanger core in a metal cabinet, and the price of the job is mostly the ducts that connect it to the house, the hours spent getting them through finished walls, and whether anybody balances it before they leave. This page puts the October 2026 Central Ontario numbers on one table, explains the two ways an HRV gets connected, and prices three houses so you can see where the money lands. The numbers are before HST.
The numbers
$2,500HRV or ERV designed into a new house
$3,500HRV or ERV retrofit, default
$300balancing with a flow hood, middle of the range
$30 to $80a set of replacement filters
| Job | What is in it | Range | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| HRV or ERV, new construction | Unit, dedicated supply and exhaust ducts, wall hoods, balancing | $1,800 to $3,500 | $2,500 |
| HRV or ERV, retrofit in an existing house | Unit, ducts through a lived-in house, wall hoods, controls | $2,500 to $5,000 | $3,500 |
| Balancing by a technician with a flow hood | Measured supply and exhaust airflow, adjusted, written down | $200 to $400 | allowance |
| Replacement filters | One set, homeowner installs | $30 to $80 | |
| Range hood makeup air, if the hood is large | A separate job, not part of the HRV | $1,000 to $3,000 | allowance |
An ERV costs about the same to install as an HRV; which one your house wants is on the HRV vs ERV page and I will not repeat it here. Makeup air for a big kitchen hood is its own problem with its own page, range hood makeup air.
Why Ontario prices are all over the map: the contractors and price guides we checked for this page did not agree. A home-services marketplace put a whole-house HRV with ducts at $2,000 to $4,000, a basic GTA install at $1,500 to $3,250, and the ductwork alone anywhere from $1,300 to $6,600. That last spread tells you where the money really goes. A low quote is usually a simplified install on the furnace with no balancing; a high one is dedicated ducts through finished ceilings by a company with a showroom to pay for. Budget $3,500 for a retrofit and get two or three quotes on the same written scope.
Two Ways to Hook It Up, and They Are Not the Same Job
Dedicated ducts. The HRV gets its own duct system: exhaust grilles in the bathrooms, the laundry and near the kitchen (never the range hood itself, grease and HRV cores do not get along), and supply grilles in the bedrooms and the living areas. The HRV runs on its own fans and does not care whether the furnace is on. This is what a new house should get, and it is the only way to do it in a house with no ducted furnace, which means every radiant floor house we build.
Simplified, on the furnace. The HRV pulls stale air from the furnace return and pushes fresh air into the return a little farther down, and the furnace blower spreads it around the house. It costs less because there are only two short duct runs. The catch is that the furnace fan has to run whenever the HRV runs, and an old single-speed furnace fan running around the clock is a hydro bill nobody warned you about. With a variable-speed blower it is reasonable. Without one, the simplified install is a cheap price on the quote and an expensive one on the hydro bill.
On a retrofit in a finished house the simplified install is often the honest answer, because getting dedicated ducts into every bedroom of a 1995 two-storey with drywall ceilings is where the $5,000 end of the range comes from. Just know which one you are buying. If the quote does not say, ask.
Three Houses Priced
House one: a new 2,000 sq ft ICF two-storey with radiant floors. No furnace, so dedicated ducts it is, run before the drywall when the joists are open. The default new-construction figure, $2,500, includes the unit, the ducts, two wall hoods and balancing. HST $325, total $2,825. Nothing has to be cut, fished or patched.
House two: a 1990s two-storey in Barrie, gas furnace with a variable-speed blower, finished basement. Simplified install on the furnace, $3,500 at the retrofit default, and the balancing is not in the quote, so add $300. Subtotal $3,800, HST $494, total $4,294. Have the installer write down the furnace fan setting.
House three: the same house, dedicated ducts to every bedroom. Top of the retrofit range, $5,000, because the ceilings get opened and patched in three places, plus $400 for balancing a longer duct system. Subtotal $5,400, HST $702, total $6,102. That is $1,808 more than house two for fresh air that goes straight to the bedrooms whether the furnace is running or not, which is where people sleep with the door shut and wake up with a headache.
What Moves the Price
- Finished ceilings. The single biggest cost. An open basement ceiling is an easy day; a finished one with pot lights is a carpenter, a drywaller and a painter behind the HVAC crew.
- Where the wall hoods go. Two holes through the rim joist on the side of the house the crew can reach from a ladder is normal. Through brick, through ICF, or up on a second floor costs more. The intake and the exhaust hoods have to be kept apart, and the intake cannot sit beside the dryer vent, the gas meter or the driveway.
- Controls. A basic wall control with a low, high and off is usually in the unit price. Boost timers in the bathrooms, a humidity control and a separate defrost setting are extras worth asking about by name, because a bath fan timer that bumps the HRV to high is what makes the system feel like it works.
- The condensate drain. An HRV makes water when it defrosts. It needs a drain with a trap to a floor drain or a condensate pump, and if the nearest drain is across a finished basement, that is part of the price.
- Balancing. Included in most new-construction quotes, often missing from retrofit ones. An unbalanced HRV is a fan you paid for that may be pulling the house negative, and the balancing and maintenance page says why that matters if you have a gas water heater.
What the Inspector and a Good Installer Look For
On a new house, mechanical ventilation is a Part 9 requirement and the SB-12 energy packages assume an HRV, so the inspector wants to see the unit, the ducts going where the design said, the wall hoods properly separated, and a balancing report. The ventilation rates come from the mechanical design, which is the same document as the heat loss; OntarioHeatLoss.ca does the full HVAC design and mechanical drawings for a permit at $695.
On a retrofit the trigger is usually air sealing. Seal a 1975 house from 10 air changes down to 4 and the old ventilation plan, which was the gaps around the windows, is gone. The too airtight page covers that argument. If the house has a gas water heater, furnace or fireplace, have the venting and combustion air checked by a TSSA-registered contractor the same month the house gets tighter, and put a CO alarm on every floor.
Rule of thumb: if the quote does not say “balanced with a flow hood, readings supplied”, the HRV was set by ear, and an HRV set by ear is about as accurate as a tire inflated by kicking it.
The rest of the ventilation section, ductwork, makeup air and the radiant-house plan, is on the ventilation and ductwork hub.
Questions people ask
How much does an HRV cost to install in Ontario?
In October 2026, about $1,800 to $3,500 before HST designed into a new house with dedicated ducts and balancing, $2,500 as a fair default. A retrofit in an existing house is $2,500 to $5,000, about $3,500 by default, and the finished ceilings decide where you land.
Is it cheaper to connect an HRV to the furnace ducts?
To install, yes, because there are only two short duct runs. To run, it depends on the furnace blower: the furnace fan has to run with the HRV, and an old single-speed blower on continuous adds a real amount to the hydro bill. With a variable-speed blower the simplified install is a sensible choice in a finished house.
Does an HRV need to be balanced?
Yes. Supply and exhaust should move about the same amount of air, and the only way to know is to measure it with a flow hood or the unit’s test ports. Balancing is $200 to $400 if it is not already in the quote. An unbalanced unit can pull the house negative and fight a gas appliance for air.
Does a new house in Ontario need an HRV?
A new house needs mechanical ventilation under Part 9 of the building code, and the SB-12 energy packages are built around an HRV, so in practice almost every new Ontario house gets one. Your mechanical design and SB-12 form say what yours needs.
Price the HRV With the Rest of the System
An HRV is one line in a mechanical budget that also has heating, cooling and hot water in it. The cost comparison calculator runs the same house five ways with the ventilation included, so you can see the whole number instead of the pieces. If you already have HRV or HVAC quotes, the $99 review reads up to three of them and tells you which one balanced the unit and which one only promised to.
Sources and further reading
- What is a heat or energy recovery ventilator and why do I need one?: Natural Resources Canada: HRVs and ERVs in plain language, and why an airtight house needs one.
- Ontario’s Building Code: the official page with the current regulation; heating, ventilation and air conditioning in houses are Part 9, sections 9.32 (ventilation) and 9.33 (heating and air conditioning).
- Ontario’s Building Code, Supplementary Standard SB-12: the energy-efficiency packages that set equipment efficiency, HRV and envelope requirements for a new or renovated Ontario house.
