Heating, cooling & ventilation

No, and that is not your electrician's fault. Nest and ecobee are low-voltage thermostats: they send a 24-volt signal to a furnace or a central heat pump. A baseboard has no furnace, so the thermostat on the wall switches the full 120 or 240 volts. That needs a line-voltage thermostat, which is different hardware.

Most smart line-voltage thermostats need a neutral or a second live wire in the box to power their electronics, so three or four wires rather than the two an old dial thermostat uses. Many older Montreal homes have only two. The fix is a short run of new cable. We check every thermostat box during the survey.

Yes, with one trade. Line-voltage thermostats that talk to the controller keep schedules, window sensors and presence rules working without the internet. The compatible models are then enrolled in Hilo for the winter peak events: Hilo lowers the setpoints on those days and the controller leaves them alone. Nothing else in the house depends on the Hilo gateway.

Usually not. A ductless wall unit normally takes a small bridge rather than a thermostat, which lets it be controlled room by room alongside everything else. Some furnaces and central heat pumps do need a specific thermostat family. We check your wiring and your existing equipment during the survey and say so before you buy anything.