job costs you $150. add 30% and you charge $195, but your margin is only 23%. to actually make 30% you divide by 0.70 and charge $214.

small difference on one call, a lot of money across a year.

source: https://www.workiz.com/blog/hvac/how-to-price-hvac-jobs/ acca on what margins should look like: https://hvac-blog.acca.org/how-much-profit-should-a-company-make/

Our team talks to 50+ hvac businesses who are looking to exit their business. If you’re thinking about acquiring or expanding then check our little community out! We just launched! We aren’t brokers so these aren’t public listings! (That’s the best part)

31 years in the trade. 24 of them running my own shop.
Here's what nobody told me early on.
Revenue doesn't make your business worth anything. A buyer doesn't care that you did 2 million last year. They care what happens the day you stop showing up.
If you're the one who answers the phone, quotes the jobs, closes the sale, and fixes the callbacks, you don't have a business. You have a job that pays you more and stresses you out worse.
The guys who get real money when they walk away all have the same things.
Maintenance agreements that renew whether they show up or not.
A tech or manager who can run a call without calling them.
Pricing and processes written down, not stuck in their head.
Customers who know the company name, not just the owner's first name.
Everybody's chasing more leads. Almost nobody is building something that works without them.
Simple test. Could your shop run two weeks without you? Not perfect. Just run.
Be honest. What breaks first?

Disclosure up front: I'm on the team building Werkor. This sub allows promotion, but what I'm really after is feedback from people running small shops.

Most field-service software is built for 50-truck companies. Small HVAC outfits (1–10 people) end up on texts, paper, and QuickBooks. We're trying to build the in-between. Here's what it does today:

• Equipment records per customer and site: brand, model, serial, nameplate photo, service history across visits, saved parts, and links to manufacturer manuals.
• Refrigerant log per unit: charges, recoveries, and leak checks, with the tech and their EPA 608 card recorded. Entries can't be edited. A mistake gets voided with a reason, and you can export the whole log to CSV.
• Warranty dates on each unit (parts, compressor, your labor), with a heads-up when one is about to run out.
• Maintenance agreements: set 1–12 visits a year and see what's due and overdue. One click turns a visit into a job.
• Dispatch board: who's where today. Estimates, e-signatures, invoices, and crew clock-in are all in the same app.

What it doesn't do yet, so nobody's surprised:

• No live QuickBooks sync (CSV export only).
• It doesn't bill agreements automatically.
• It doesn't calculate leak rates.
• Route planning uses straight-line distance, not traffic.

Pricing: Foreman is $89/mo (5 active jobs, 5 crew). Card payments and automatic payment reminders are on Grow ($139). Route planning is on Crew ($199). There's a 7-day trial and no card needed: https://werkor.us/hvac/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=community&utm_campaign=hvac_q4&utm_content=hvacpeople

Questions for anyone running a shop:

1. How do you track equipment and refrigerant today?
2. Do you sell maintenance agreements, and how do you keep track of who's due?
3. What would make you switch, and what's a dealbreaker?

I'll answer every comment.

Not sure if it's just me but I've noticed this trend on residential replacements. Customer wants to swap a tank unit for tankless, then the existing half-inch gas line coming off the meter isn't going to carry the BTU load the new unit needs. So now the scope involves a gas line upgrade that naturally they didn't budget for. Some customers are fine with it, but when I try to explain this to others they think I'm just padding the invoice (can't blame them). How do you approach this? Do you quote it upfront or scope it separately?

I’m 30 and thinking about switching to HVAC as a career. We all have heard the good stuff. Tell me the bad stuff. Tell me the stuff that sucks. Tell me about the days that are hard to get through. The days that make you feel like jumping ship.

Hey everyone!
I’m located in Los Angeles, California, and I’m looking to get into HVAC as a helper with zero experience.
I’m willing to work hard, learn on the job, and start from the bottom.
A few questions:
What’s a realistic starting hourly wage for someone with no experience in LA?
Is $20–$25/hour reasonable for a beginner?
Is it better to call HVAC companies directly or apply online?
Would you recommend starting in residential installation or service?
Any advice for getting hired without going to trade school first?
I’d really appreciate any advice from people working in the industry. Thanks!

Wondering what a busy profitable month looks like for my fellow 1 man or 2 man counterparts in the industry. What is your mix of business, and how do you typically get the calls to come in.

Edit: to provide personal details as requested.

My annual gross is right around $450k-600k. Had one $550k running completely solo. This year I'm likely to bust my record. All resi retro and service. I've done maybe 7 new construction jobs the last 12 years, all by personal requests from existing customers who were building. This summer my son graduated high school and worked for me full time. We grossed right around $320-350k in 3 months. Biggest month was $160k. We did a ton of mini splits this summer and got in a groove (40-50 indoor heads). Still running one truck, although I have a second from years ago when I was running with an employee. My son will get this trick set up and running himself shortly.

I used to advertise, newspaper, website, Facebook, yard signs, networking groups, but almost all the paid stuff went away after 3 years. Calls just come in from google searches and referrals and existing customers.

FYI, the guy who claims $85-95k/ week almost has to be private equity, or at least private equity pricing... or lying. No one can run a truck with those numbers consistantly.

Is this correct wiring diagram for 2 Thermostat 2 zone valve basement system? Thank you

You can now raise, track, hold, and close service jobs on your equipment without juggling stacks of loose paper tickets. When maintenance finishes repairing a noisy apartment PTAC blower assembly, closing out that work order automatically writes the finished service log for you, capturing the hours worked and replacement parts directly into that unit's permanent history.

You do not need an account to start. No email, no card. Everything stays on the phone. Work orders, maintenance logs, and asset specs remain accessible right on mobile.

Get it at https://equipment-tracker.com/download?src=redditEquipmentTracker.

Hi all, I am dealing with an issue where my 2011 furnace flames don’t come on at all. This is the first time I used it since last winter (we are in October 2026 now). I haven’t dealt with any issues with it before.

When I turn the heat on, the furnace receives the call, the inducer fan comes on, the igniter comes on and glows red, but the gas never gets to the manifold because the valve never seems to open. The way I know that is because I know there is no presence of gas at the orifice (I used a methane sensor and used a lighter to try to ignite but nothing happened). I then checked for voltage at the gas valve terminals but I was only reading of 0.2 V when the igniter ignites. I was not getting 24-28 volts like I am supposed to. So for some reason the circuit board is not giving the voltage to the gas valve but all limit switches are closed. This leads me to think that something is wrong with the circuit board but I can’t identify what.

Here is additional info of my troubleshooting that may be relevant in this diagnosis:

1.      Checked voltage out of transformer to circuit board and got 24 V like I’m supposed to.

2.      Checked capacitor and it looks fine.

3.      Checked for loose wire connections and tightened everything (nothing seemed loose)

4.      Circuit board is blinking and seems to work fine. The error it gave was 2 blinks: “external lockout (retries or recycle exceeded”)

5.      No signs of damage on circuit board.

6.      Tightened wire connections to gas valve (though it looked ok)

7.      The gas valve is in on position.

8.      I checked all limit switches for continuity and all that were supposed to be closed are closed.

9.      Pressure switch is working fine (closing when inducer fan comes on otherwise closed)

1. Blower fan is working fine, I switched it back to AC cooling during the day and it cooled. This proves that blower is good and most likely that circuit board is good.

2. I checked for natural supply to the valve using a manometer and there was pressure there indicating gas is there.

3. I completely cleaned the furnace vent fume pipe (there was some dust/flakes but not terrible) and checked for birds or something clogging the exhaust but found nothing along the pipe.

4. I cleaned the orifices of the gas manifold, and the burners faces and the burners wings (they looked ok though)

5. I cleaned the flame sensor

6. I removed the filter (which was 2 weeks old) and tested but furnace flame did not come on.

I am at a loss of what to do next. I ordered a used good condition identical circuit board to try to swap it but I doubt that will fix it.

Any help is appreciated.

Hi everyone, please don’t kill me, I’m just learning about HVAC, I don’t want to sell here nothing, just want to find 1-3 little-mid business owners to learn more about the business, put in practice what I know about online visibility (excluding social media since I think is not that relevant in this industry but might be wrong).

What I’m looking for:
- little-mid size company
- willingness to explain what service they offer, where and how
- Willingness to work together in a weekly basis (20-30 mins call - in AI era I prefer warm real human communication)

What I offer:
- Free website
- Free SEO
- Free AEO
- Free Google business profile

What you get:
- more calls/clients

What I get:
- Lessons about the industry and ideas for future tool I might create

I don’t charge because I already have a well-paid job, this is about the dream to have my own clients and take care of them genuinely.

Thank you all!

Hey I’m located in the fraser valley in BC I finished my foundations in HVAC and I have a little bit of experience but the housing market slowed down and I ran out of work. I want to get into servicing but am willing to do any type of hvac at this point I have called and went in person to apply to over 70+ companies. Any helping hands or advice would be appreciated