Every HVAC owner knows the shape of the year. The first hard frost brings more calls than you can answer, and you're paying overtime and turning work away. Then spring comes, the phone goes quiet, and you're still paying the same technicians, the same van leases and the same office staff. July brings a heatwave and it all happens again, followed by a quiet September.
You can't change the weather, but you can move some of the work into the quiet months. The usual way to do that in this trade is a maintenance plan, sometimes called a service agreement or membership. Plenty of companies have one, but fewer have one that makes money and that customers actually sign up for.
What a plan actually solves
The obvious benefit is work you can put in the calendar. Furnace tune-ups go in September and October, AC tune-ups in April and May, which is when your technicians would otherwise be sitting around waiting for the phone.
The plan fees help too. Monthly or annual payments come in whether or not there's a cold snap. They won't replace a good winter, but they make April a lot less stressful.
The benefit owners tend to underrate shows up years later. When a furnace you've serviced for five years finally needs replacing, that homeowner will probably just call you. They're not going to go and get three quotes from strangers. If you've read our post on why HVAC quotes don't close, this is the opposite situation.
Price it from your costs, not your competitors
The most common mistake is pricing the plan to look cheap and then losing money on every visit. Before you set a price, work out what one tune-up visit really costs you:
- The technician's paid time for the visit, plus driving there and back
- The vehicle, fuel and insurance for that time
- Filters and any other consumables included in the plan
- The office time to book, remind and reschedule
- Card processing fees and any software you use to run the plan
Multiply that by the number of visits a year, add your margin, and only then compare it with what other companies near you charge. If yours comes out higher, that's not necessarily a problem. You can justify it by being specific about what's included. If it comes out much lower, check your sums.
Be careful with member benefits. A repair discount, priority booking and waived diagnostic fees all sound good, but every one of them comes out of your margin. Pick one or two that cost you little and that customers value, and priority booking during a cold snap is usually the one they value most. Only promise it if you can keep it when the phone is ringing nonstop.
Write it so a customer can explain it
People sign up for a plan they understand. If it takes a page of small print to explain, most homeowners won't bother. A good plan description covers:
- How many visits a year, and in which seasons
- What the technician checks on each visit, as a short list
- What's included (filters, for example) and what isn't (parts, after-hours calls)
- The member benefits, stated as specific promises rather than "VIP treatment"
- The price, and whether it's paid monthly or annually
- How it renews, and how to cancel
That same description belongs on your website, on its own page. A homeowner searching for "furnace maintenance plan" or "AC tune-up" in your area should land on a page that says what you offer, what it costs and how to sign up, rather than a "call us for details" line on your services page. Plain, specific pages like that are also what AI assistants tend to quote when someone asks who offers furnace maintenance nearby.
Sell it when the customer is happiest
The best time to offer a plan is right after you've fixed something. The heat's back on, the customer is relieved, and the technician has just shown they know what they're doing. A simple line from the technician works: "If you want, we can put you on our maintenance plan and you'd get priority if this happens again in January."
Make it easy to say yes on the spot: a short printed card, or a text with a sign-up link, and the option to start the plan from that visit. Keep a count of how many plans each technician sells, and you'll quickly see who's asking and who isn't.
The Ontario rule about tune-up visits
This one matters if you were hoping the tune-up would also be your replacement sales call. In Ontario, furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters, air and water treatment equipment and duct cleaning come under special rules for contracts made at the customer's home. Among other things, a business can't enter into a new agreement for those products during a repair or maintenance visit, unless it has an existing contract with the customer and asked beforehand whether the customer wanted to hear an offer, and the customer said yes.
What that means day to day: have the technician note the age and condition of the equipment, explain what they found, and leave written information. If the customer wants a replacement quote, book a separate visit. Some companies also build the question into the plan sign-up or the booking call: "Would you like us to tell you about replacement options if we find your equipment is near the end of its life?" The current rules are on ontario.ca. This is general information, not legal advice, so check with a lawyer if you're unsure how it applies to your plan.
Reminders, renewals and CASL
A plan only works if people actually book their visits, which means reminders by text and email. Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation applies, but it's less of an obstacle than many owners assume.
A message that just gives factual information about an ongoing subscription or membership, such as "your fall tune-up is due, pick a time here," doesn't need the customer's consent. That's in section 6 of the Act. It still needs to say who it's from and how to contact you.
Promotional messages are different, for example a discount on a new thermostat. For those you need consent, but a written contract with the customer gives you implied consent while it's in force and for two years after it ends. That's in section 10. Include a way to unsubscribe in anything promotional, and keep reminders and promotions as separate messages so the reminders stay clean.
On renewals, tell people before the plan renews and how much it will cost. A customer who discovers an unexpected annual charge on their card statement usually cancels and writes a review about it.
How to tell if it's working
After a year, look at four numbers:
- How many active plan members you have, and how many renewed
- How many technician hours went into plan visits during your slow months
- Whether the plans covered their costs, including the discounts you gave
- How many replacement jobs came from plan members, and how many quotes you had to compete for
If the slow months are busier and the plans are at least paying for themselves, it's working. The replacement jobs from members come later, and they're where most of the money is.
For the other half of the seasonal problem, getting found online before the first cold snap rather than during it, read Your HVAC Phone Only Rings When It's Cold.
If you'd like us to help
We build websites for HVAC and home services companies, including maintenance plan pages that explain the plan clearly and let customers sign up online. See our HVAC and home services page, or get in touch.
Frequently asked
Are HVAC maintenance plans worth offering?
For most residential HVAC companies, yes, if they're priced to cover the visits. A plan turns tune-ups into work you can schedule in the quiet spring and fall months, gives you a list of customers who already trust you when their equipment needs replacing, and brings in money that doesn't depend on the weather. A plan priced so low that every visit loses money just moves the problem around.
How should I price an HVAC maintenance plan?
Start from your cost. Work out what a tune-up visit really costs you, including travel time, the technician's wage, the vehicle, parts like filters and the office time to book it. Multiply by the number of visits in the plan, add a margin, and then check the result against what local competitors charge. Member discounts on repairs should come out of your margin, not your costs, so keep them modest.
What should a maintenance plan include?
Keep it short and specific: how many visits a year and in which seasons, what the technician checks on each visit, what's covered and what isn't (parts, filters, after-hours calls), any member benefits such as priority booking or a repair discount, how the plan renews and how to cancel. Customers sign up for a plan they can explain to someone else in two sentences.
Can I send maintenance reminders by text or email under CASL?
Generally yes. Under Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, a message that only gives factual information about an ongoing subscription or membership, such as 'your fall tune-up is due, book here', doesn't need consent, though it still has to identify you. Promotional messages to plan members are generally covered by implied consent through an existing business relationship while the contract is in force and for two years after it ends. Include an unsubscribe option in anything promotional. This is general information, not legal advice.
Can my technician sell a new furnace during a tune-up?
In Ontario, not unless it was arranged beforehand. The province's rules for furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters and similar equipment don't allow a new agreement for those products during a repair or maintenance visit, unless you have an existing contract and asked the customer in advance whether they wanted to hear an offer, and they agreed. The technician can note the equipment's condition and leave written information, and the customer can book a separate quote visit.
Sources
- Rules for businesses entering into contracts at a consumer's home, Government of Ontario
- Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (S.C. 2010, c. 23), sections 1 to 8, Justice Laws Website
- Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (S.C. 2010, c. 23), sections 9 onward, Justice Laws Website
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