HVAC Owner Salary: Typical Ranges & Why Most Data is Dubious

How much does an HVAC business owner earn? Many online sources provide specific numbers or ranges, but these should be viewed with skepticism for two reasons:

1. Most business owners don't make an annual salary — most of their income comes from net profit or the sale of the company.

2. Owner salaries vary widely between small HVAC businesses and multimillion-dollar enterprises with multiple locations and hundreds of HVAC techs, plumbers, and electricians. 

The most important factor that influences an HVAC business owner’s salary is the size of the company. Business size can vary dramatically, and as a result, an owner’s salary — or more accurately, profit — will also vary widely.

Regardless of company size, an owner’s earnings are also influenced by how effectively the business is run, ensuring a healthy profit margin that provides a generous income after expenses.

In this article, we’ll broadly outline HVAC owner salary ranges based on company size and share eight tips for setting up and running your HVAC business to maximize revenue, increase profit, and optimize earnings. We also include how our software, ServiceTitan, can help you achieve these goals.

We’ll cover:

• How much is an HVAC business owner’s salary?

• 8 tips to maximize revenue and increase profits

  1. Establish an effective business system

  2. Calculate costs meticulously

  3. Recruit and coach staff smartly

  4. Automate HVAC operations

  5. Deliver awesome customer service

  6. Manage your online presence

  7. Optimize marketing strategies

  8. Track HVAC company growth

How Much is an HVAC Business Owner’s Salary?

Some HVAC company experts suggest owners can earn 5% of total revenue, or up to 50% of net profit after taxes, although others suggest owners should aim for at least 10%–15% in take-home pay. It really depends on the individual set-up of your HVAC company and its size.

Online stats claim that the average HVAC contractor salary is $107,647 and ranges from $47,006 on the lower end to $432,065 on the higher end. According to ZipRecruiter, the average annual salary for an HVAC business owner is $242,000.

The online data ranges vary depending on where you work, too. For example, the average salaries in Texas and New York are close to the national average at $110,479 and $116.516 respectively, compared to San Jose, California, where it shoots up to $212,537.

These online figures are typically based on data such as company size, location, and years of experience but as we’ve just illustrated, they vary hugely. In the real world, as an HVAC business owner, you set your annual salary. And, remember, your “salary” is just one part of the financial equation — in the end, your annual profit and the sale price of your business, if you are able to sell it, are often much bigger dollar figures than the salary you wish to pay yourself. So we recommend not over-fixating on owner salary, but rather revenue and profit.  

In the next section, we’ll share our eight tips on how to set up and run your HVAC company optimally so that you maximize revenue, increase profit and boost earnings.

8 Tips to Maximize Revenue, Profit & Earnings

Tip #1: Establish an Effective Business System 

If you’re building your own HVAC company from the ground up, creating strong business systems from the get-go is essential. The key to high owner income (via profits, not just salary) is ensuring that you grow revenue and set high profit margins so you keep as much revenue as possible. 

Having solid systems and processes in place that help you execute all aspects of the day-to-day business (answering calls, documenting jobs and invoices, etc.) will help you do this, especially as your business grows. 

Home service experts advise finding as many mentors as you can to educate yourself about all aspects of the HVAC service business, from business structure to processes. Networking and reading books about growing a profitable business gives you crucial knowledge.

“Leaders are readers,” says Tommy Mello, The Home Service Expert and founder of the $50 million home service business A1 Garage Door Service. “Reading has been a big part of my success, and hanging out with successful people.”

“There are three reasons why we make mistakes,” says Al Levi, who created The 7-Power Contractor approach and joined Mello in a ServiceTitan Growth Series webinar. “No. 1 is we don’t have a system. No. 2, we have the wrong system. And No. 3 — this is a lot of the time — the system is not being followed correctly.”

Tip #2: Calculate Costs Meticulously

Getting the financial basics right (such as profit margins and pricing) is essential for any HVAC company owner to succeed. It’s even more critical for businesses that want to grow and maximize earnings. 

Start-Up Costs

Calculate your potential start-up costs and anticipated revenue streams carefully to get your small business up and running smoothly in the first year and set for future growth. 

Business costs to consider include:

• Employee salaries

• Liability and health insurance

• Office space

• Vehicles

• Equipment costs

• Licenses, certifications, and permits

• Taxes

Set Up Accountancy & Billing Procedures

This is basic, but you need to obtain a solid grasp of accounting procedures, or find an expert to help keep your business on track.

ServiceTitan's comprehensive HVAC software works seamlessly with QuickBooks, and empowers HVAC contractors to sync daily transactions in real-time, leverage granular control over their finances, and eliminate hours of tedious bookkeeping work.

From the field, techs can easily generate invoices or purchase orders and export them directly to QuickBooks. This eliminates the need to input accounting data by hand or enter it twice and ensures financials are accurate, up-to-date, and accessible to HVAC contractors on the move, or in the office.

Calculate HVAC Pricing

Experts suggest working out your HVAC company's break-even point so you know the true cost of doing business and can set your pricing accordingly. These calculations are key for determining your desired net profit.

Decide which pricing model will bring in the highest profit. While flat-rate billing charges a set rate for a job, an hourly pricing system charges the customer based on the time it takes to complete the job. 

ServiceTitan’s integrated flat-rate solution, Pricebook Pro, protects your profit margin, because the calculated billable labor rate covers related expenses and includes your ideal net profit. HVAC proposal software enables techs to show no-pressure sales presentations with clear good-better-and-best options.

Photos, manufacturer videos and product info can all be accessed in a couple of taps via a mobile device while the tech is with the homeowner so that profitable estimates with accurate and up-to-date prices can be signed off in minutes. 

ServiceTitan also provides access to customer status information, such as an open estimate that needs to be followed up, so customer interactions can be leveraged to secure profit for your HVAC business.

Employee Payroll

For HVAC companies, employee payroll and benefits comprise a significant portion of the budget. Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers earn an average salary of $57,300 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Know the average annual salaries of HVAC technicians in your area, so your company offers competitive wages to attract quality recruits and retain employees.

ServiceTitan’s payroll software has been designed to help you track staff (via timesheets), and pay them quickly, too. 

Our timesheet software also helps you monitor the productivity of your HVAC business by monitoring time spent on specific activities, such as driving and collecting materials, as well as time spent on actual work. All these are recorded in real-time, and overtime and bonuses can be configured easily, too. 

HVAC techs can access their timesheets for sign-off, so there’s no need to drive into the head office each payroll period. Using these tools saves, on average, around 30-60 minutes for each employer, every month, helps the whole team, and makes your business more agile. 

Tip #3: Recruit & Coach Staff Smartly

Creating a successful service company involves the same process coaches follow to 

develop a winning sports team, says ServiceTitan Director of Customer Relations Chris Hunter, an HVAC business owner and co-founder of the technician training school GoTime Success Group.

"We need to make the transition from player to coach,” Hunter says. “We may be the best technician, we may be the best salesperson, but we're going to have to remove this hat and become a coach if we want to build a team.”

Invest in your employees' HVAC career by training them to grow and succeed. Consider promoting from within, instead of trying to snag the best HVAC service technicians from competitors.

“You take the heart out of your people when you've got to fill the position from outside the company,” Levi says. “They never will say it to your face, but I will. 'What am I? Not good enough for you? I thought I came here for a career. Why is this other person, who's got nothing to do with our culture, hasn't come up, doesn't know the systems?'"

While it remains key to constantly recruit and seek quality service techs, promoting current employees helps maintain employee motivation and reduces the disruption of teaching a new person your HVAC company's systems and processes. It also minimizes the chance of them bringing unwanted habits from elsewhere.

“We've got well over 200 technicians,” Mello says. “I would tell you that 80 percent of those were made, not found from another competitor. I don't want all the stuff they picked up from that last company, because you can't unlearn that stuff.”

ServiceTitan lets you track the performance of every HVAC tech and CSR (customer service representative). Business owners can view real-time updates via the technician scorecard on metrics including generated revenue and memberships sold for each individual tech while the CSR scorecard allows you to review incoming calls, conversions, and other CSR metrics as homeowners call your business.

Drilling down into specific metrics helps you reward or provide coaching, if needed, to ensure everyone is doing their best quality work. 

Tip #4: Automate HVAC Operations

Efficient operations perform a key role in the financial success of your residential and commercial air conditioning business. ServiceTitan has specific features that help you run your business so that it is lean financially and so you can make the most money.

The Latest Scheduling & Dispatching Tools

ServiceTitan's HVAC software helps you dispatch for profit, sending the right tech to the right call. Stay flexible with point-and-click scheduling, enabling your dispatchers to extend or reschedule jobs at a moment's notice. 

Optimized scheduling also ensures adequate staffing for complex HVAC system installations or repair jobs, allowing your company to book high-ticket jobs and deliver the quality service your customers expect.

With ServiceTitan’s service scheduling and dispatch software, you can book jobs days, weeks, or even months in advance. 

You can use our custom tags to flag technical specs (or even languages spoken) to ensure the right tech with the right skill set attends. 

ServiceTitan’s dispatching software tracks where all contractors are at any given time as well as any real-time curve balls such as traffic delays. Your dispatch team can contact the individual contractors and customers via SMS so it’s easy to make sure everyone is aware of any last-minute changes such as lengthening a job, or rescheduling it altogether. 

Tip #5: Deliver Awesome Customer Service

To deliver exceptional customer satisfaction, know what your customers want, and meet their expectations. 

That's the message from Susan Frew, co-owner and president of Sunshine Plumbing, Heating & Air in Denver, whose company focuses on top-notch customer service. She interviewed women to find out what they wanted in a contractor, and top expectations included techs arriving on time, clear customer communication, and prioritizing repairs.

With ServiceTitan, customer service begins as soon as the phone rings. Our call booking feature automatically shows the CSR if the caller is a new or existing customer and provides prompts so that all the necessary information is gathered. ServiceTitan even provides property information (including age and size) so your CSRs are on the ball instantly. 

With ServiceTitan, you can send customers appointment confirmations via text as well as tracking information with a bio and photo of the technician, so they know exactly who is coming and when. You can also receive texts from customers when they have questions about a job or need to reschedule. 

Offering great customer experiences benefits your HVAC company, too. One study shows 65% of US consumers would pay 5% more for products if they knew they would receive outstanding customer service. Plus, happy customers are more likely to share their positive experiences with others through word-of-mouth referrals or five-star online reviews (see our section on reviews below).

Tip #6: Manage Your Online Presence

Managing your HVAC company’s online presence is critical for attracting customers and maintaining and boosting your business’s reputation. Engage potential clients with a mobile-friendly website that’s optimized for SEO, keep your Google Business Profile up-to-date, and ask customers to leave a review.

Optimize Your HVAC Website for SEO

Potential customers typically use the internet to search for local HVAC businesses. They’ll type in the words, “HVAC companies near me” and look for the best reviews. 

Google’s algorithm searches for the results most relevant to those keywords and closest to the location of the online searcher so, to appear on Page 1 of Google’s search results, think local when choosing the best keywords people use to find your services online.

For example, if you’re an HVAC company in Connecticut, be sure to use “Connecticut air conditioning repair” as one of your main keywords. Use variations of the keywords on your website’s landing pages, content blogs, headlines, meta descriptions, and social media posts to improve the SEO health of your website. Then your business stands a good chance of coming up on top.

Make Your HVAC Website Mobile-Friendly

Most customers will search for your company online via a mobile device, so they should be able to find your website quickly and easily.

Compared to a desktop version, a mobile-friendly site should be uncluttered by images or excessive text blocks, be responsive (the site adapts to any screen size), and dynamic (users see an adapted version of your site, depending on the type of device they use). A good web developer can help you with these features.

If your HVAC website isn’t easy to navigate and immediately accessible, customers will lose patience and move on to the next company with a better website.

Promote Your Google Business Profile Page

Attract new customers by verifying your Google Business Profile. It’s simple and completely free. This will help your HVAC company appear on Page 1 of organic Google search results. 

Companies can also buy pay-per-click (PPC) digital ads for better visibility, as well as set up call tracking to measure ROI.

Invest in Google Local Service Ads

Investing in Google Local Services Ads puts your digital ads at the top of search results, above PPC ads and organic listings. Crafting a snapshot of your HVAC business that includes your company name, Google review rating, and years of experience will quickly determine whether your HVAC company fits a potential customer’s needs. 

Costs for Google Local Services ads vary, but you only pay when a customer contacts your business through the ad. This cuts down on time wasters who are just price-shopping construction services online.

ServiceTitan integrates with Google Local Services Ads so your customers can directly schedule online appointments with your company, and provides business owners with ROI metrics on every campaign.

If you qualify for the Google Guarantee, you are eligible to buy these ads, which can be the first thing potential customers see when they search.

Ask HVAC Customers for Reviews

98% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses so it’s essential that you provide an easy way for satisfied customers to leave five-star reviews and for you to respond appropriately to negative reviews to encourage potential customers to choose your company over a competitor.

ServiceTitan’s software automatically sends survey requests to customers after a job has been completed. This makes it easy for customers to share their experience on an online review site (Google, Yelp, etc) while it’s still fresh in their minds.

ServiceTitan also offers a reputation management tool that automates sending review requests to customers, lets you reply to reviews, and provides insight into how specific contractors are performing.

Tip #7: Optimize Marketing Strategies

A solid marketing strategy should be part of your business plan. The best marketing plans encompass a variety of methods, including maximizing your online presence (tip #6) as well as strategic email marketing and sending direct mail campaigns to your target market.

Email Marketing

Email marketing generates the highest return on investment for small businesses, and targeted email campaigns are considered one of the most effective marketing channels — $40 for every $1 spent, according to Megan Bedford of Mugyver Consulting.

With ServiceTitan's Marketing Software you can automate customized email campaigns, targeting specific customers or geographic areas. 

Using data already collected in ServiceTitan, you can target previous customers with a “We Miss You!” email campaign, offer discounts to new homeowners, or give customers opportunities to renew memberships or schedule summer and winter tuneups.

With Marketing Pro, the contact information automatically updates in real-time so you can “set and forget” audience lists that focus on specific customers (e.g. those who have yet to respond to a quote). Emailing these customers provides another opportunity to convert them into revenue.

With ServiceTitan, sending targeted emails is easy. Simply choose from our huge range of email templates, adjust the text to fit your campaign, and deliver to your chosen audience.

Targeted emails mean higher open rates and more calls coming in. With ServiceTitan, you can also monitor the exact ROI for each campaign by tracking the email performance and the revenue attribution within the ServiceTitan dashboard.

Direct Mail

ServiceTitan has a library of direct mail postcards that HVAC businesses can use to execute their direct mail campaigns. Setup is simple — choose your design, adjust the text, then print and mail your postcards to your chosen audience. 

Direct mail campaigns cost a per-postcard fee, so you only pay for the number that you send. And similar to email campaigns, you can track the results of each campaign so you can see exactly which ones are driving revenue.

Regardless of the marketing methods you choose, learn what works and what doesn't so you can spend your marketing dollars where you’ll gain the greatest return. We’ll explain how to track marketing campaigns next.

Tip #8: Track HVAC Company Growth

You need the ability to track marketing and business results against your KPIs so you can gain an overall picture of your company's performance to increase efficiency and boost your bottom line.

“I need to know from search to sale how we’re doing if I’m going to truly know how my team is doing,” says Chris Yano, CEO of RYNO Strategic Solutions and co-host of the “To the Point” podcast. “This will allow you to make very good decisions. You need facts down to the dollar.”  

ServiceTitan's cloud-based field reporting software allows you to track key metrics so you can monitor performance from any source.

ServiceTitan creates a marketing scorecard of all current campaigns, then ties all new customers to the specific marketing campaign that brought them to you. This means you can make informed decisions about boosting spend on campaigns with higher returns, and drop channels with poor performance.

If your company uses call-tracking software, such as ServiceTitan Phones Pro, you can easily track the number of calls, booked appointments, sales, revenue, cost per lead, and ROI for each advertising source. Then you can review your marketing strategies regularly and adjust accordingly.

As mentioned above, ServiceTitan also lets you track the performance of every HVAC tech and CSR which helps you reward or provide coaching, if needed, to ensure everyone is doing their best quality work. 

You can also use ServiceTitan’s dynamic dashboard to filter dozens of KPIs and track how your business is performing. Accurate data assessment performs a crucial function in your HVAC business so your company can thrive and you can reap the financial rewards.

Ready to Try ServiceTitan to Boost Your Earnings?

Most online figures quoted for an HVAC owner’s average salary should not be taken as accurate because there’s a huge variance depending on the size of HVAC company you are considering. In addition, most HVAC business owners make their money from profit and/or from selling their HVAC company rather than from an annual salary. 

Following our tips and using ServiceTitan’s software will help you run your business smartly and maximize profit. Features such as automating dispatching and billing, using an accurate flat-rate pricebook, and running effective marketing campaigns help you deliver exceptional customer service, attract a steady flow of customers, and optimize your earnings.