Vanier is the opposite problem from the suburbs, and it is the kind of job we would rather have. Older, denser, smaller services, and frequently no ductwork at all.
A lot of Vanier housing predates central forced air. If your home heats with boilers and radiators, or with electric baseboards, there is no duct system for a central heat pump to use. That is not a barrier - it points to a ductless multi-zone system, with individual indoor heads serving the rooms that need them. It also means the rooms can be controlled separately, which in a semi or a converted double is usually an improvement rather than a compromise.
Older Vanier homes are frequently on a 100 amp service, sometimes less. Most contractors respond to that by quoting a service upgrade before they have measured anything. We run the load calculation first. One customer was told by every other contractor that they needed to go from 100 amp to 200 amp; the analysis showed they did not, and it saved them $9,000. That is not a promise it will go the same way at your address, but it is worth an hour of arithmetic before you spend five figures.
Baseboards deliver one unit of heat per unit of electricity. A cold-climate heat pump delivers roughly two to three across an Ottawa season. If you heat with baseboards in Vanier, the running-cost case is not close, you become eligible for the top rebate tier, and you get cooling in a part of the city that gets genuinely hot in July.
We work throughout Vanier, Overbrook, New Edinburgh, Manor Park and the surrounding inner-east neighbourhoods.
Sizing decides everything else, including whether your electrical service can carry the system. Our heat pump design tool runs a load calculation for your address, and the panel sizing tool will tell you where your service stands.
Worth reading first: what the Ontario rebate is worth, what a heat pump costs, and whether one is worth it.