Split systems and ducted air conditioning both do the same basic job, cooling and heating your home, but they suit very different situations. The right choice usually comes down to how many rooms you actually want conditioned, what your ceiling and roof space allow, and how you use the home day to day.
A split system has one indoor unit (mounted on a wall or ceiling) connected to a single outdoor compressor, cooling or heating the room it's installed in. Multi-head systems let one outdoor unit run several indoor heads in different rooms, giving some of the flexibility of a bigger system without a full duct network.
Best for: cooling specific rooms you actually use most, renovations or existing homes where running ductwork through the ceiling isn't practical, and situations where budget or timeline is tight.
A ducted system uses one central unit connected to ductwork that distributes air through outlets in the ceiling or floor across multiple rooms, controlled from a single thermostat (often with zoning so you can turn off areas you're not using). The indoor unit and ductwork sit largely out of sight in the roof space.
Best for: whole-home comfort, new builds or major renovations where ceiling access is available during construction, and homes where a clean, no-visible-unit look matters.
Split systems are generally cheaper to buy and quicker to install, often in a day, since there's no ductwork involved. Ducted systems cost more upfront and take longer to install, particularly in an existing home where the roof space needs to accommodate the duct runs, but they condition far more of the house from one system.
We supply and install both split system and ducted air conditioning across Melbourne and Sydney, and can talk through which setup actually suits your home and budget before you commit to either.