10-Step Guide to Creating an HVAC Business Plan (Free Template)

To help HVAC business owners create a business plan, we’re offering a free HVAC business plan template.

To get your free template, simply fill out the form above (on mobile devices) or to the right (on desktop), and we’ll email it to you immediately.

What’s Included in the Free HVAC Business Plan Template

Our fillable PDF template covers all the key areas of a business plan, organized into clear, easy-to-navigate sections:

1. Executive Summary

• Mission Statement

• Vision Statement

• Business Objectives

• Core Services (e.g. Air conditioning services)

2. Company Description

• Legal Structure

• Service Area

• Startup Status (e.g. Recently established)

• Founder & Team Background

• Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

3. Market Analysis

• Industry Overview

• Target Market: Customer segment, demographics and profile, key needs

• Competitor Analysis: Strengths and weaknesses

4. Marketing & Sales Strategy

• Pricing Strategy: AC installation, furnace tune-up, hourly repair rate, annual maintenance plan

• Promotion Channels

• Sales Process Overview: Lead generation and sales process

5. Operations Plan

• Startup Equipment & Tools: Service van/s, refrigerant recovery machine, manifold gauge set, vacuum pump, leak detectors, pipe cutter, multimeter, safety gear (e.g. gloves)

• Initial Equipment Budget

• Business Hours

• Staffing Plan (broken down by role)

6. Financial Plan

• Startup Costs: Tools and equipment, vehicles, website and marketing, business licensing and insurance, working capital, total estimated startup cost

• Projected Monthly Revenue & Expenses: Average monthly revenue, fixed monthly costs, variable costs, profit margin goal

• Break-Even Analysis: Monthly fixed costs, average revenue per job, average cost per job, jobs to break even/month

7. Appendix

• EPA Certification

• State Contractor License

• Insurance Policy

Why You Need an HVAC Business Plan

A well-crafted, in-depth HVAC business plan that's regularly reviewed and updated helps your HVAC business stay agile and competitive so it can thrive. 

An HVAC Business Plan provides:

• Clear Business Direction → Defines your goals, strategies, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

• Adaptability to Market Changes → Helps you adjust to economic shifts, sales forecasts, and HVAC industry challenges.

• Effective Sales and Marketing Strategies → Enables you to reverse-engineer your goals, ensuring the right number of leads and service calls to meet revenue targets.

• Proactive Growth During Economic Downturns → Encourages strategic marketing, financing options, and talent acquisition during a recession.

• Ongoing Performance Evaluation → Allows you to assess past successes and failures to adjust your approach and refine your business model.

By maintaining a strong business plan, successful HVAC businesses can remain resilient, grow strategically, and seize opportunities even in challenging economic times.

The Limitations of Not Having an HVAC Business Plan

A small business might make it out of the gate as a startup and gain new customers along the way, but running an HVAC company without a solid business plan can lead to stagnation and missed growth opportunities.

Not Having a Clear HVAC Business Plan Risks:

• Lack of Vision & Direction → Without clear business goals, success becomes uncertain, making it harder to grow.

• Slow Business Growth → Relying on hope rather than strategy can cause stagnation and difficulty in scaling operations.

• Ineffective Decision-Making → Without a roadmap, decisions become reactive rather than proactive, leading to inefficiencies.

• No Accountability → Without structured planning, teams lack clear expectations and performance benchmarks.

• Missed Profitability Opportunities → Businesses with no specific financial goals can limit their profitability because they have no “measuring stick” to filter whether an opportunity is really lucrative, or not.

• Difficulty Attracting & Retaining Talent → Companies without a clear sales strategy and vision struggle to build a strong workplace culture that attracts top HVAC technicians.

A well-structured HVAC business plan helps set achievable goals, improves accountability, and drives sustainable business growth.

How to Write an HVAC Business Plan: Step-by-Step Guide 

Read our 10-step guide to help you complete your HVAC business plan:

1. Executive Summary

2. Business Overview

3. Products and Services

4. Market Analysis

5. Customer Analysis

6. Marketing Plan

7. Management Summary

8. Day-to-Day Operational Plan

9. Personal and Company Financial Statement

10. Financial Plan

1. Executive Summary

Write your executive summary last, but include it at the top of your HVAC business plan as a reminder of your overall vision and short-term and long-term goals. 

Keep it concise (two pages or fewer), and summarize your service offerings, target audience, competitive advantage, and financial projections for future growth. If applying for funding, specify the amount, how you plan to use it, and how it will increase your profit margins.

2. Business Overview

Set out your mission statement and include the following:

• Goals and Objectives: Your goals, objectives, and KPIs change every year, so outline a path for achieving success within a certain time period, then measure the results.

• Marketplace: Define your core customer base and explain your HVAC marketing strategy, including the marketing channels you plan to use. Keep it brief. Save the key details for the Marketing Plan section of your business plan.

• Industry outlook: Demonstrate your knowledge of the HVAC industry, including its current state and expected forecast. What industry trends do you foresee, short-term and long-term? How will your company be poised to take advantage of them?

• Strengths and core competencies: What strengths set you apart from the competition? Will you offer HVAC services currently not available in the market? How will you train your staff to succeed? What background experience, skills, and strengths do you personally bring to this venture? Will you offer 100% customer satisfaction on every job?

• Legal form of ownership: Describe the type of business you operate. Is it a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or limited liability corporation (LLC)?

3. Products and Services

Clearly describe your HVAC products and services and the pricing or fee structures for each one, including repair services, installations, maintenance contracts, emergency services, and specialized work. 

What is your pricing strategy? Will you price HVAC jobs by the hour, or offer flat-rate pricing? Include the hourly rate, how you’ll account for drive time, and billable amount for every job or service you offer.

4. Market Analysis

Conduct market research in your area and assess key competitors before developing your own HVAC marketing plan. What do your competitors do well, and where are they falling short? How do they price their HVAC services? What gaps need to be filled?

Collect and analyze your target market, then strategize ways to outrank your competition on every key metric, from providing online booking capabilities and delivering excellent customer service to quicker response times and fewer callbacks. 

5. Customer Analysis

Gain a complete picture of who your HVAC customers are and who you want them to be. Define their demographics, such as age, gender, income level, location, and buying behaviors online or through social media. If you plan to service residential customers, learn as much as possible about the age of their homes, total assessed value, date last sold, and the type of HVAC system in use. If your focus is on commercial HVAC, do the same research for local businesses.

6. Marketing Plan

Your marketing plan should set out how the business will attract potential customers and retain current ones through branding, pricing strategy, advertising methods, online presence, reputation management, and customer experience.

Your marketing strategy should include the average cost to acquire a new customer and take into account other marketing drivers, such as club memberships and word-of-mouth referral programs. 

Always use data to fuel marketing initiatives, so you can focus your budget on marketing campaigns that generate the most revenue for optimal growth. HVAC contractors increasingly use field management software to run their marketing initiatives and track ROI (more on this below). 

7. Management Summary

Develop a chart that outlines the company’s organizational structure, roles and responsibilities of key team members, resumes of key team members, and the owner's qualifications, licenses, and permits. Include job descriptions and job interview questions so everyone knows your expectations for how the company will be organized and managed.

Is there a plan for the continuation of the business if leadership is lost or incapacitated?

Review your business plan each year to evaluate your current staff, then make sure each employee knows what’s expected of them.

8. Day-to-Day Operational Plan

Explain the daily operations of your HVAC business, including:

• Production: How and where are your services produced? Include production techniques and costs, quality control, customer service, and inventory control.

• Location: What requirements do you need in a physical location? Mention the amount of space, type of building, zoning, and utilities.

• Legal: Include licensing and bonding requirements, permits, certifications, environmental regulations, industry-specific rules, zoning or building code requirements, and liability insurance.

• Inventory and suppliers: Include the kind of inventory (raw materials, supplies, finished goods), the estimated value, and your top suppliers.

• Credit policies: Will you sell your services on credit or offer financing? If so, how will you approve customers or determine creditworthiness?

9. Personal and Company Financial Statement

Include personal financial statements for each owner and major stockholder, showing assets and liabilities held outside the HVAC business and personal net worth. Bankers and investors will want this information if you’re applying for financing.

10. Financial Plan

The financial plan typically includes startup costs, a 12-month profit and loss projection, a cash-flow projection, a projected balance sheet, and a break-even analysis. Together, they present a reasonable estimate of your HVAC company’s financial projections. 

How ServiceTitan Helps Execute Your Marketing Strategy & Run Your HVAC Business Efficiently & Profitably

Having a solid business plan that your management team can work from is essential. Using software to manage your HVAC business efficiently will boost customer service and help grow profits faster. 

ServiceTitan’s HVAC software helps you optimize your marketing strategy and run your business efficiently to achieve growth. 

Here’s how it works:

Optimize Your Marketing Strategy

ServiceTitan’s marketing software and add-on product, Marketing Pro, help business owners implement marketing strategies to attract new business and encourage repeat customers in these four ways (and more):

1. Hyper-Targeted Email Marketing Campaigns 

Targeted email campaigns are considered one of the most effective marketing channels, earning $40 for every $1 spent.

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

Using data already collected in ServiceTitan, you can target previous customers with a “We Miss You!” email campaign, follow up with existing customers on unsold estimates, or offer a discount to new homeowners who may be potential customers.

Choose from our range of email templates, adjust the text to fit your campaign, and deliver to your chosen audience. You can also monitor the exact ROI for each campaign by tracking the email performance and the revenue attribution within the ServiceTitan dashboard.

2. Deliver Direct Mail to Potential Customers

Direct mail is an effective traditional marketing method that allows potential customers to keep your postcard for future reference.

ServiceTitan has a library of postcards that HVAC businesses can choose from. Setup is straightforward — choose your design, adjust the text, then print and mail your postcards to your chosen audience. 

There is a set cost per postcard, so you only pay for the number that you send. And, as with email campaigns, you can track the results of each campaign so you can see exactly which ones are driving revenue.

3. Integrated Google Local Services Ads For Customer Convenience

If you qualify for the Google Guarantee, you are eligible to buy Google Local Services Ads. These position your digital ads at the top of search results when potential customers search for HVAC services. 

ServiceTitan’s integration with Google Local Services Ads is super-convenient for customers because they can easily schedule online appointments with your company directly from the ad without needing to pick up the phone. 

4. Automated Customer Reviews to Help Attract New Business

Make it easy for satisfied customers to leave five-star reviews on your business. And respond appropriately and swiftly to negative reviews to encourage potential customers to choose your HVAC 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 mind.

Deliver Outstanding Customer Service

Successful HVAC businesses prioritize positive customer experiences and customer satisfaction. 

ServiceTitan's Customer Experience Software provides:

• Instant Customer Identification: Call booking features distinguish new and existing customers and provide prompts for CSRs.

• Quick Access to Customer Data: CSRs can view personal details, job history, and technician records quickly and easily.

• Property Insights: Displays property age and size for better service preparation.

• Upselling & Personalization: Identifies opportunities for additional services while avoiding promoting services customers have already bought.

• Automated Job Confirmations: Sends text updates with job details, technician info, and map tracking.

• Customer Communication: Enables two-way texting for questions and rescheduling.

• Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Keeps customers informed, ensuring each job runs smoothly.

Streamline Business Processes

ServiceTitan’s software has specific features to help you streamline your operational processes (such as scheduling and dispatching, billing, and payroll), while ServiceTitan Mobile gives your techs and staff the agility to work from any location.

Technician Mobile App

ServiceTitan’s Mobile App makes it easy for HVAC techs to offer customers services while out in the field. With a simple tap, click, or swipe, techs can:

• Build estimates: Including photos, manufacturer videos, and product information — allowing customers to make decisions on the spot. 

• Access customer information: Including contact details, job histories, outstanding estimates, prior invoices, notes, and more. 

• Take payments directly from customers: Capture checks and credit cards via the mobile tablet camera, or via a credit card swiper. This is convenient for customers and means you get paid faster. 

• Offer financing options: You set the rules to suit your own HVAC business, and ServiceTitan will automatically do the calculations so techs can close jobs more quickly. 

Modern Scheduling and Dispatching Software

ServiceTitan's software simplifies scheduling, allowing you to effortlessly organize when techs need to arrive at job sites. 

With ServiceTitan’s scheduling and dispatching tool, you can:

• Book jobs days, weeks, or even months in advance → especially useful for long or complicated jobs. 

• Use custom tags to flag technical specs or even languages spoken →  ensures the right tech with the right skill set attends. 

• Track techs and traffic delays → your dispatch team can contact techs and customers via SMS to make sure everyone is aware of any last-minute changes such as lengthening a job, or rescheduling it altogether. 

Streamline Invoicing and Payroll

Invoicing customers and paying your staff promptly and correctly is critical for establishing a reputation for being reliable and trustworthy, as well as for growing your HVAC business. This is where ServiceTitan excels.

• Invoicing: ServiceTitan automatically fills in certain fields (invoice number, date, payroll date, number of hours worked, subtotal, tax zone, and more), ensuring that the right variables are used for calculating every invoice total, whether you’re working in the field or the office.

• Integration with accounting software: ServiceTitan integrates with multiple types of accounting software, such as QuickBooks and Sage Intacct so it can easily be connected to your existing office systems.

• Payroll: Pay staff quickly by tracking productivity via timesheets, which techs can access and sign off remotely, saving time for the whole team.

Track Performance & Growth

ServiceTitan allows you to track key metrics so you can monitor your HVAC company’s performance from any source: 

• Dynamic dashboard: Filter dozens of KPIs (e.g. average ticket revenue) and track how your business is performing.

• Marketing Scorecard: View the results of all your marketing campaigns, then tie all new customers to the specific campaign that brought them to you.

• Call Tracking Software: Our add-on tool, Phones Pro, lets you easily track the number of calls, booked appointments, sales, revenue, cost per lead, and ROI for each advertising source. 

These tracking tools mean you can make data-informed decisions about what’s working, and what’s not, so you can adjust business practices and marketing strategies accordingly. 

Set Up Your HVAC Business for Growth With ServiceTitan

Creating a detailed and dynamic HVAC business plan that accurately reflects your goals and strategies is critical for success. Using software like ServiceTitan, with specific features that help you attract and maintain customers and manage your business efficiently, will help grow profits faster.