If you really want a water softener, then seriously consider doing it yourself or even hiring a plumber to save a lot of money over what the bigger companies will charge you. If you can locate the main water line into your house and also find access to a drain, you can get a good system for under $1K and install it yourself (or use a plumber) with just a basic water heater install kit, a little plumbing pipe and a yoke/bypass switch. In my case, the main water line came in through the garage, so I was able to setup a system there. The softener will help with calcium (and magnesium) buildup if you really do have hard water. Lime is basically just a form of calcium, but a softener may not help with all kinds lime, so keep that in mind. The trick to finding the correct water softener size is to find out what the water hardness level is. Your salesman should give you the number, or you can do your own test for around $40. Then use a chart, such as the one at http://www.watervalue.com/sizing_chart.html to find the correct size of the system. This site suggest a regineration every 4 days, but you can probably regenerate every week or so to help save on overall water usage. If your water does not taste good -- and most people do not seem to like the taste of softened water, you can add a reverse osmosis system to your kitchen (under the sink) for about $300 or so. RO systems tend to waste a lot of water, so it is usually not a good idea for the whole house. Also, showering with softened water will take some getting used to, but it isn't really all that bad IMO. Sorry for the ramble, but I just went through this myself and spent more than a few weeks gathering this information. Hope it helps.