I had AC installed including a new furnace for about $3500. Of course that was about fifteen years ago. I found a guy who worked doing installs who was willing to do the job on the side which probably saved me a bunch of labor cost. The guy showed up on a Saturday with all of the new stuff, took out the old furnace and installed the new AC/furnace and hauled the old stuff off. Probably took him five or six hours start to finish. I think my house is around 2000 sq feet. I had a swamp cooler before that but it was too much maintenance and upkeep for my liking. I much prefer to just flip a switch one way or the other if I need hot or cold.