- Price a plan from its cost: visit labor including drive time, parts, and the repair discount you give away. Then divide by one minus overhead and profit.
- The member repair discount is a real cost. Count it in the plan price, or the plan can lose money on paper while looking busy.
- A written agreement that lists the equipment, the visits, what is included and how to cancel saves arguments later.
How to price an HVAC maintenance plan
A maintenance plan is a yearly price for a set of visits plus member perks. The plan has to pay for the tech's time on every visit, the parts used, the discount members get on repairs, its share of overhead, and a profit.
The calculator works it out in five steps:
- Labor per visit = (hours on site + drive hours) × labor cost per hour
- Cost per visit = labor + parts and supplies
- Repair discount = what a member buys in repairs a year × the member discount
- Cost per member = visits × cost per visit + repair discount
- Plan price = cost per member ÷ (1 − overhead share − profit), rounded to a clean number
The starting numbers: two visits a year (spring cooling, fall heating), 1.25 hours on site and half an hour of driving each, $32 an hour labor cost, $25 of parts per visit, a 15% repair discount on $300 a year of repairs, 15% overhead and 20% profit.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Labor per visit | (1.25 + 0.5) × $32 | $56.00 |
| Cost per visit | $56 + $25 | $81.00 |
| Repair discount | 15% × $300 | $45.00 |
| Cost per member | 2 × $81 + $45 | $207.00 |
| Plan price | $207 ÷ (1 − 0.15 − 0.20) = $318.46 | $320 a year |
| Monthly | $320 ÷ 12 | $26.67 a month |
The $32 labor cost is the BLS May 2025 national median HVAC tech wage of $29.33 plus 7.65% employer Social Security and Medicare, which comes to $31.57, rounded up. It leaves out workers' comp and benefits, so add yours. A plan priced on a labor cost that is too low loses money on every visit, however many members join. The HVAC labor rate calculator works them out.
What members get, and what each perk costs you
A plan can pair the visits with perks. Each one has a cost, even when no money changes hands. Decide what each is worth before you offer it.
| Perk | What it costs you | How to count it |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled tune-ups | Tech time, drive time, filters and supplies | The visits, hours and parts inputs |
| Discount on repairs | The share of repair revenue you give up | Repair discount × repairs a member buys |
| Priority scheduling | Moving other work when a member calls in a rush | Usually no direct cost; limit it in the agreement |
| No trip or diagnostic fee | The fee you would have charged | Add it to repairs a member buys, then set the discount to cover it |
| Extended labor warranty | Callbacks you do for free | Add the expected callback time to hours on site |
| Visit reminders | Office time, or nothing if your software sends them | Overhead |
The repair discount is the cost that is easiest to forget. A 15% discount on $300 of repairs is $45 a year per member, about a fifth of the cost in the example. Use your own job history to find what members really buy in repairs.
Visits a year change the price the most. On the starting numbers, one visit a year prices at $190, two at $320 and four at $570.
Members per tech, and filling the slow season
The calculator gives two numbers that help plan a program:
- Members one tech can serve = plan hours a tech can give in a year ÷ hours per member. At 1,500 hours and two visits of 1.75 hours each, that is 1,500 ÷ 3.5 = 428 members.
- Members whose fees pay a tech = a tech's full year cost ÷ what each member's fee leaves for labor. At $32 an hour for 2,080 paid hours, a tech costs $66,560. Each $320 plan leaves $177 for labor after overhead, parts and the repair discount, so 377 members pay for one tech's year.
The real gain is timing. Cooling and heating calls bunch up in the hottest and coldest weeks. Tune-ups can be booked into spring and fall, when the phones are quieter. Each tune-up booked in a slow week turns an hour a tech is paid for anyway into an hour that earns. Repairs found on those visits, and replacements when a system is near the end of its life, come on top of the plan price.
The same math works outside HVAC. A plumber can price an annual water heater flush and inspection. An electrician can price a yearly panel and surge check. Change the visits, hours and parts to match.
A plan program also changes how you staff. If 400 members each need two visits, that is 800 visits a year, most of them booked into two seasons. Spread them across eight or ten weeks in spring and in fall, and plan for the tech hours before you sell the plans.
HVAC service agreement template: what to put in it
A maintenance plan is a contract. Write it down, give the customer a copy, and keep it with their account. A clear agreement should cover these points:
| Section | What it says |
|---|---|
| Parties and address | Your business name and licence number, the customer's name, and the service address |
| Equipment covered | Each system by type, make, model and serial number, and its age if known |
| Visits and timing | How many visits a year and when (for example, cooling check in spring, heating check in fall), and how they are booked |
| What each visit includes | The checklist below, written for the equipment covered |
| What is not included | Repairs, parts beyond filters and supplies, refrigerant, ductwork, equipment past its service life, damage from outside causes |
| Member pricing | The repair discount and what it applies to; any waived trip or diagnostic fee |
| Priority service | What priority means in practice, and that it does not promise a set response time unless you choose to |
| Price and billing | The yearly or monthly price, how it is charged, and whether it renews on its own |
| Cancellation and refunds | How either side can cancel, notice needed, and how a refund is worked out if visits have already been done |
| Sale of the home | Whether the plan moves to the new owner or ends |
| Access and safety | Customer gives access to the equipment; you may decline unsafe work |
| Liability | Limits on your liability, and that the plan does not guarantee the equipment will not fail |
HVAC maintenance checklist for each visit
ENERGY STAR recommends a pre-season check-up by a contractor every year: in spring for cooling and in fall for heating. Its checklist is a good base for what each plan visit includes.
| Visit | Task |
|---|---|
| Every visit | Check thermostat settings |
| Every visit | Tighten electrical connections; measure voltage and current on motors |
| Every visit | Lubricate moving parts |
| Every visit | Check and clear the condensate drain |
| Every visit | Check system controls and a full start-up and shut-down cycle |
| Spring (cooling) | Clean the evaporator and condenser coils |
| Spring (cooling) | Check the refrigerant level |
| Spring (cooling) | Clean and adjust blower components for proper airflow |
| Fall (heating) | Check gas or oil connections and gas pressure |
| Fall (heating) | Check burner combustion and the heat exchanger |
| Customer, once a month | Inspect, clean or change air filters |
Write down the readings at each visit and leave the customer a short report. A record of each system's condition shows the value of the plan at renewal, and gives the customer notice before a part fails.
How to offer the plan so customers join
A plan only works if people sign up. The best moments to offer it are when the customer has just seen the value of your work:
- At the end of a repair. The customer just paid for a fix a tune-up might have caught. Show what the plan would have saved them with the member discount.
- With a new system. Offer the first year with the install, so the new equipment gets its checks from day one.
- On the estimate and the invoice. A plan line the customer can add with one tap is easier to accept than a phone call later.
- Before the season. Remind past customers in late winter and late summer, before the first hot or cold spell.
Keep the offer simple: what they get, what it costs a month, and how to cancel. Two plan levels are easier to choose between than five.
Run the plan program without the paperwork
A plan program lives or dies on follow-through: billing on time, booking every visit, and renewing without a phone call. Koira's maintenance plans are offered on your site, the estimate and the invoice; Koira bills the card on file, offers visit times when a visit comes due, and puts it on your day. Save the price from this calculator as a free estimate with the button above, or see pricing.
Last checked October 8, 2026. More for your trade: how HVAC companies run on Koira.