A maintenance plan is the best thing an HVAC company can sell. It fills the shoulder seasons, keeps clients from shopping around, and puts you first in line when the furnace quits on the coldest night of January.
But price it wrong and it becomes the worst thing you sell: two truck rolls a year, for less than they cost you.
Here is how to get the number right.
The short version
- Cost out each included visit: labour, drive time, parts and overhead.
- Price the plan to make money on the visits alone. The repair work it brings is the bonus, not the business case.
- Sell priority and perks, not a deep discount.
- Offer monthly on autopay, with a saving for paying yearly.
Step 1: Decide what the plan includes
A typical residential plan in Canada includes:
- A fall furnace tune-up before heating season
- A spring AC check before cooling season
- Filter replacements or a filter reminder
- Priority booking when everyone needs you
- A discount on repairs, often 10% to 15%
- No call-out or diagnostic fee for plan members
Add tiers if you like: a basic plan (furnace only), a standard plan (furnace and AC), and a premium plan that adds a humidifier, HRV or water heater.
Step 2: Cost out a visit
Here is an example for one maintenance visit. Use your own numbers.
| Cost of one visit | Example |
|---|---|
| Tech time: 1.25 hours at $45 (wage plus payroll costs) | $56 |
| Drive time: 0.5 hours at $45 | $23 |
| Truck: fuel and wear | $12 |
| Parts and consumables (filter, cleaner, small parts) | $15 |
| Overhead share (office, insurance, software, marketing) | $35 |
| Cost per visit | $141 |
A plan with two visits costs you about $282 a year to deliver.
Two numbers make the biggest difference here: drive time and how long the visit really takes. Clustering plan visits by neighbourhood, and doing them in the quiet weeks, cuts both.
Step 3: Set the price
Add the margin you want. At 35%:
$282 รท 0.65 = about $434 a year, or roughly $36 a month.
Then check it against what clients would pay for the same visits as one-offs. If your normal tune-up is $189, two visits would be $378, so the plan needs a reason to cost more. That reason is the perks: priority, no call-out fee and a repair discount. Or you can price the plan a little under the one-off total and make your margin through efficient routing and the repairs it brings in.
A useful test: the plan should be profitable even if the client never needs a repair. Repairs are the upside, not the business case.
Step 4: Choose the perks carefully
Perks cost you money, so pick ones that are worth more to the client than to you:
- Priority service costs you nothing on a normal day and is worth a lot on the worst day.
- No call-out fee costs you the fee on the occasional repair call, but turns a stranger's quote into a member's repair.
- A repair discount of 10% is affordable on most repairs. Avoid big discounts on parts with thin margins.
- A price lock for the year is a strong selling point and easy to give.
Step 5: Bill it the easy way
- Monthly on autopay: about $36 a month feels small, keeps cash coming in and keeps clients on the plan. Card on file means nobody has to remember.
- Yearly up front: offer a small saving, say one month free, for paying the year in advance.
- Auto-renewal: plans that renew by themselves keep clients far better than plans that expire and wait to be resold.
Step 6: Run it without losing visits
The plan only works if every visit actually happens. That means:
- Visits booked automatically, at the right time of year
- Clients reminded before the visit
- Equipment records for each home, so the tech knows what is there before arriving
- Notes and photos from each visit, for the next one
- A list of repairs recommended at the visit, followed up as quotes
How crewduo runs HVAC maintenance plans
- Recurring contracts generate the fall and spring visits on schedule, locked to the price you sold, and can renew automatically.
- Equipment and maintenance due (Crew plan): what is installed at each property, and when it next needs service.
- Recommendations: the tech logs work a property needs, with photos, and it turns into a quote.
- Autopay and contract invoicing on schedule (Crew plan) keep payments coming in.
- Routes and nearby visits clustered on the dispatch map cut drive time.
See crewduo for HVAC contractors, or read more about recurring contracts.
Quick answers
How many visits a year? Two is the standard: furnace in the fall, AC in the spring. One visit suits furnace-only plans.
Should plan members get a discount on installs? A small one, or a free extra like a first-year plan, helps you win the replacement when the old unit dies.
What about commercial clients? Price per unit and per visit, with quarterly or monthly service for rooftop units. Commercial plans are usually quoted individually.
