The HVAC business launch plan
Every step from deciding to opening, in the order it happens, shaped to your situation, with your own numbers beside it. About 42 steps in 8 phases, 19 of them specific to an HVAC business. Free; this browser remembers where you are.
The plan42 steps
- 01Not started0/6Fold
Decide with the numbersa week or two
Before a dollar is spent. Most expensive mistakes happen here, and this phase costs nothing.
HVAC makes money four ways, and the order you grow them decides your margins.
Typical for one unit is $500,000 to $5,000,000 a year; the owner keeps 8 to 18% of it before paying themselves. If that band does not cover what you need, that is the signal to pause and look again.
~50-60% survive 5 years. Roughly half of all new U.S. businesses reach five years.
Twelve questions about your money, time, experience and temperament, scored. Then the 5 questions this business asks of its owner, about the hours and the work. Answer both before you spend a dollar.
Rule of thumb: if you can buy a well-run shop with a real maintenance book and techs likely to stay (ideally with the owner’s help through a transition), buying buys you years. Answer it in your situation above and the plan reshapes.
Customers, prices, rent, staff pay, what it costs to open. We filled in typical numbers; change what you know and everything on this page follows.
- 02Not started0/5Open
Plan the moneya week
What it costs to open, where the money comes from, and the cushion that keeps you alive until the business pays for itself.
HVAC is capital-light to start compared with a fixed-location business; there’s no , because the van is the shop.
The itemized cost to open8 lines
- Service vans (lease down payments & upfit): $13,000 to $24,000Two vans with shelving and ladder racks; buying both outright adds about $100,000
- Tools, gauges, recovery machine & safety gear: $12,000 to $36,000Manifold gauges, vacuum pump, recovery unit, hand tools, uniforms
- Initial parts & refrigerant inventory: $6,500 to $19,000The common-failure parts: capacitors, contactors, motors, refrigerant
- Licensing, EPA 608, bonding & setup fees: $1,000 to $6,000Contractor license, certification, contractor bond, entity setup
- Insurance (liability, commercial auto & workers’ comp): $2,500 to $11,000First premiums and deposits; often required to bid work
- Tablets, card readers & office setup: $2,500 to $6,500Field tablets with card readers, plus a small office and parts area
- Branding, van wraps, website & launch leads: $6,500 to $32,500How the phone starts ringing
- Working capital: $15,000 to $60,000Payroll, fuel, and float on receivables for 3-6 months
Costs start on day one; customers take months. Map the first twelve months of cash so the business does not run out of money while it is getting going.
The business has to earn your pay like any other bill. Set it in your numbers and watch the month it move.
How deals in this business are financed4 lines
- SBA 7(a) loan (Up to 10 yr (25 with real estate) · 75-85% government-guaranteed)The workhorse for buying an existing HVAC company or funding a startup’s trucks and working capital.
- Seller financing (Often 5-25% of price · 3-7 yr)Very common when buying a book of business.
- Equipment & fleet financing (Secured by trucks & equipment)Finance trucks and major equipment, secured by the assets themselves.
- Homeowner financing (for your customers) (Via third-party lenders)Not for you, but worth knowing: offering third-party financing to homeowners on $5k-$15k installs materially lifts close rates on big-ticket replacements.
Most new shops pair an with 10 to 20% of your own cash. Know the monthly payment before you look at a single space.
Before you shop. A lender tells you what they would fund, what they need from you (credit, your cash in, a plan with numbers), and a pre-qualification letter makes a landlord or a seller take you seriously.
- 03Not started0/4Open
Set up the companya day or two
A day of paperwork, and it has to come before the space: a lease, a loan application and every permit are in the company’s name.
Your state’s business name search, the trademark register, and the domain, before the name is on a sign, a van, or a lease.
A , an , and the S-corporation election each change what you keep and what you are exposed to. Compare them with the numbers, confirm with a CPA and an attorney, then file with your state.
After:The is free from the IRS in minutes once the company exists. The bank account needs both. Keep business money separate from day one.
After:Pick the accounting software and connect the bank account now, so every cost of opening is captured and the numbers you later are real.
- 04Not started0/4Open
The territory and the vehiclea week or two
HVAC has no storefront; your "location" is the territory you serve.
What decides it for this business: older housing stock (15+ years), demanding climate (hot summers / cold winters), middle-to-upper household income, adequate home density (route efficiency), not oversaturated with competitors.
Mobile businesses still answer to city rules: where the vehicle can be kept overnight, whether you can run the business from home, and what the state licenses.
The van or truck is the shop. Price it, outfit it, insure it, and brand it before the first job. The quotes go into the loan application.
Commercial auto for the vehicle, for the work. Customers and any lender will ask for the certificate.
- 05Not started0/2Open
Get the loanfour to eight weeks
Four to eight weeks with an SBA lender, longer if the file is incomplete. Everything else waits on this, so send a complete file.
Your plan with numbers (download it as a PDF from this page), the company’s papers, the vehicle and equipment quotes, your personal financial statement, and proof of the cash you put in.
The lender funds against the quotes and the insurance; the money goes to the vendors and the build.
After:
- 06Not started0/7Open
Permits and the vehicletwo to four weeks
HVAC is one of the more regulated trades: you handle refrigerants the EPA controls and do work that affects home safety, so licensing and certification are real barriers, and a moat against unqualified competition.
Bind the policies you had quoted before a contractor, a vehicle or a customer is in play. Keep the certificates; the landlord, the lender and the city will ask.
After:With the money in hand: the vehicle, the , the branding, and the state inspection most cities require before it can work.
After:Register your or corporation and obtain a city or county operating license.
State registration to collect and remit tax on equipment and parts where applicable.
Bonding and liability coverage are commonly to hold a license and to bid jobs.
coverage for every vehicle in the fleet.
Records of refrigerant purchase, recovery, and disposal, maintained per EPA rules.
- 07Not started0/8Open
Set up to runduring the build
During the build, so the business runs from day one: the systems, the prices, the people and the routine.
The backbone: it schedules techs, builds routes, tracks jobs, presents good/better/best options, and invoices on site.
Collect by card or financing at the kitchen table, not 30 days later.
A dedicated account keeps service, install, and agreement separate from personal money, essential for clean books and any future sale.
You work inside homes and drive a fleet.
See the price the the business needs implies, then check it against what the market pays.
Early morning: Dispatch sets the day: route techs by job type and geography,... Daytime: Techs run calls: diagnostics, repairs, tune-ups. Peak heat / cold snap: Emergency no-cool / no-heat calls flood in.
Opening, closing, the sale, the complaint, the cash. One page each. This is the manual a franchise would have sold you.
Free, and it is how most people will find you. Address, hours, photos and the menu or price list, live before opening day; then the sign, the soft opening and the first regulars.
- 08Not started0/6Open
Open and measurethe first ninety days
You own it. Now run it on the numbers.
Friends, neighbors and a short menu or list. Find the problems while the room is forgiving.
Enter the real numbers and see every cost line against the for this business.
Technician & productivity; Callbacks & comebacks; Trucks, fuel & maintenance.
Wages are the start: , insurance, training time and the hours you stop billing. Register as an employer and carry workers’ comp before the first payday.
Growth consumes cash before it produces it. Find the rate your own cash funds before you push.
HVAC companies are in unusually high demand from buyers.