How to Grow an HVAC Business

Once you are past the startup-phase, you’ll need to learn how to grow an HVAC business if you want to scale. More customers, more revenue, and even more employees can be easy to acquire when you know what your doing. The problem? You’re an HVAC guy, not a marketing & business expert (yet).

This guide is for HVAC owners who are ready to scale. We’ll break down the seven core areas that drive real business growth, with links to deeper guides as they become available.

Bookmark this page. Come back to it whenever you’re ready to fix the next bottleneck.

Article Contents

Step 0: Diagnose Your Growth Stage

Before you try to scale, figure out what’s actually holding you back. Most HVAC businesses hit a ceiling for one of four reasons:

• Not enough leads (the phone’s just not ringing)
  
• Low margins (you’re busy, but not profitable)
  
• Broken systems (jobs fall through the cracks)
  
• People problems (can’t hire, can’t delegate)
  

Use this quick self-check to spot the weak link:

• Do you know your close rate and cost per lead?
  
• Are your techs hitting daily revenue goals?
  
• Do you have written SOPs for installs, service, and sales?
  
• Can you leave for a week without the place falling apart?
  

If you answered “no” to any of these, don’t worry. This guide will help you with each of these questions.

Step 1: Generate Leads with Local Visibility

If you’re not showing up where people search, you’re invisible. HVAC growth starts with local visibility and that means showing up in the right place at the right time.

Paid Advertising

Google Local Service Ads (GLSA):
These sit at the very top of search results and bring in high-intent leads. If you’re not running GLSA, you’re missing easy wins. You will need to pass a background check and submit your insurance to get going, after that, the process is straightforward and the leads are cheap but high quality.

Google Search & Display Ads:
Use search ads for direct lead generation, and display or retargeting ads to stay top-of-mind after someone visits your site. You don’t need an ad agency to handle your Google Ads. The learning curve is short and you can get better results handling it personally or with an “in-house” marketer (that you can hire).

Know Your Numbers:
Track cost per lead (CPL) and compare it to the lifetime value (LTV) of a customer. Spending $100 to land a $10,000 long-term client is a win. Read that sentence two or three times. Too many HVAC owners cannot grasp this concept and it is critical to your success.

Organic Visibility

On-Page SEO:
Create strong service pages for each major offering and city. Support them with useful blog posts that answer common questions. SEO might seems complicated at first, but it’s actually fairly simple and can be handled in-house with minimal technical knowledge.

Google Business Profile:
Set up and optimize your listing with accurate business info, photos, categories, and service areas. This is THE MOST CRITICAL thing on this list. If you don’t have a Google Business profile, you are missing out on a ton of customers.

Online Reviews:
Reviews build trust and boost rankings. Its best practice to ask for a review right after completing a job that leaves the customer satisfied. Ask them personally for a better success rate.

Grassroots & Community Marketing

Brand Everything:
Your truck is a rolling billboard. Yard signs, uniforms, and door hangers reinforce your name in the neighborhoods you serve.

Get Involved Locally:
Network with realtors, builders, and property managers. Join your Chamber of Commerce. These channels send warm, referral-ready leads.

Encourage Referrals:
Happy customers talk. Build simple referral incentives and make it easy for them to share your name.

If you’re in need of a step-by-step guide to marketing for HVAC, click here.

Step 2: Optimize Marketing ROI

Not all leads are created equal. Some come in hot and close at high margins; others waste your time and budget. If you want to grow profitably, you need to track where your best leads are coming from and double down on what works.

Track the Right Metrics

Start with two core numbers:

• Cost per lead (CPL): How much are you spending to make the phone ring?
  
• Average ticket size: What’s the value of the jobs those leads are turning into?
  

If you’re spending $50 to land a $300 tune-up, that’s solid. But if you’re paying $150 for a $99 diagnostic, you’re throwing money away. These two numbers tell you whether your marketing is generating profit or noise.

Monitor Close Rates by Channel

Not all lead sources convert equally. Track close rates separately for:

• Google Local Service Ads (GLSA)
  
• Google Ads
  
• Organic SEO
  
• Referrals
  
• Yard signs, truck wraps, community events
  

Most ad platforms have their own reporting, and the rest can be found in google analytics. “Above the line” marketing (such as billboards, TV, etc) can be tracked with unique tracking numbers.

Use Attribution & Call Tracking

If you’re not tracking lead sources, you’re guessing.

• Assign unique call tracking numbers to each channel (GLSA, website, Facebook, etc.)
  
• Use CRM tools to follow the full path: source – booking – job – revenue
  

If you are having trouble tracking due to not having a CRM integration or reliable spreadsheet method, you should get that set up first.

Re-Engage Dormant Leads

Your best leads might already be in your system. Tap into them:

• Send email and SMS follow-ups to past customers
  
• Run retargeting ads for people who visited your site but didn’t convert
  

A customer who didn’t book the first time might just need a nudge. Re-engagement is often your lowest-cost, highest-return marketing move. Remember also, that you don’t always have to shoot for the home-run. Even tuneup specials can be converted into add-ons and new equipment.

Step 3: Financial Benchmarking & Profit Planning

More jobs doesn’t mean more profit, especially if your numbers are upside down! Growth without financial control just creates a bigger mess.

Know Your Benchmarks

• Target gross margin: 50–55%
  
• Target net profit: 10–20%
  If you’re below that, you’re working hard for too little.
  

Track Key Cost Drivers

• Labor burden: wages, taxes, benefits
  
• Overhead: rent, phones, software, insurance
  
• Truck cost per job: fuel, maintenance, depreciation
  You need to know what every job actually costs, not just what it brings in.
  

Avoid the “Busy but Broke” Trap

It’s common: the schedule is packed, but the bank account’s empty. Usually, the problem is underpriced work or bloated overhead. Raise your rates, tighten costs, or both.

Plan for Seasonality

• Budget for slow months so cash flow doesn’t kill you in the winter.
  
• Use pre-season deals and maintenance plan renewals to keep revenue steady year-round.
  

Smart growth means profitable growth. Don’t scale something that’s bleeding money. Fix the foundation first.

Step 4: Systems & Tools That Scale

If your business still runs on sticky notes and memory, you’re setting a ceiling on how far it can grow. You are going to have to invest in some project management software of some kind if you have any hope of growing into a market leader.

Start with your core operations:
Invest in scheduling, dispatch, and job costing software that connects your office, field, and finances in real time. Platforms like ServiceTitan, Jobber, or Housecall Pro let you:

• Route jobs efficiently based on location and tech availability
  
• Track job costs and profit margins per job
  
• See real-time updates on job status, payments, and notes
  

Automate repeatable work.
Recurring maintenance visits, invoice reminders, and customer follow-ups should be handled automatically. If it happens more than once, it should be built into your system.

Standardize how the work gets done.
Growth falls apart when every tech runs their own playbook. Build simple SOPs for installs, service calls, and maintenance visits. Keep it practical, not bloated: what to check, what to explain to the customer, what to document.

Measure what matters.
Use dashboards to track things like:

• Revenue per tech per day
  
• Close rates and callback percentages
  
• Reviews and job completion times
  

Technician scorecards make this visible and actionable. This information is critical to growth and a huge hassle to compile without a CRM.

Strong systems let you run a business that doesn’t fall apart when you step away for a week.

Step 5: Build a High-Performance Team

You can’t grow a great HVAC business without great people. Most owners hire reactively, not strategically. If you want to scale, you need a plan for building a team that can deliver consistent results without constant babysitting.

Start with a clear hiring plan.
Think beyond just “another tech.” Build around your long-term structure:

• Field staff: service techs, install crews
  
• Office: CSRs, dispatchers, coordinators, a marketing manager
  
• Leadership: service manager, sales lead, ops manager
  

If you’re doing everything yourself, your first real hire should replace the task that drains your time and is easiest to delegate.

Clarify roles and responsibilities.
A growing team needs structure. Create a basic organization chart (even if roles overlap for now). Everyone should know who they report to, what success looks like, and how their performance is measured.

Build onboarding and training systems.
Don’t just throw new hires in a truck and hope they figure it out. Create a simple onboarding process with ride-alongs, SOP reviews, safety training, and technical refreshers. Keep it consistent.

Reward performance.
Incentives drive results when used correctly. Use tools like:

• Spiffs for same-day service sales
  
• Bonus structures for revenue targets
  
• Recognition tied to 5-star reviews or callback-free streaks
  

When people know what’s expected (and what’s rewarded) they perform better. A high-performing team is a crew that’s aligned, trained, and bought in. That’s what drives growth.

Step 6: Service & Sales Excellence

Your techs are the face of your business. The way they communicate, present options, and build trust has more impact on revenue than any ad campaign ever will. Growth comes faster when service and sales work hand in hand.

Customer Communication That Builds Trust

Customers don’t buy from companies. They buy from people they trust. Every service call is a chance to build that trust.

• Train your techs to speak with empathy, clarity, and transparency. They should use simple terminology and stay away from pushy sales techniques.
  
• Focus on educating, not pushing. The goal is to help the homeowner understand their system and make confident choices.
  
• Standardize communication touchpoints: text reminders before arrival, call-ahead protocols, and follow-up emails after the job. Every customer should get the same level of professionalism every time. You can automate alot of this with a proper CRM.
  

Sales Systems That Scale

Stop relying on natural-born closers. Build a repeatable process every tech can follow:

Diagnosis – Options – Close

• Walk the customer through what’s wrong
  
• Offer 2–3 clear solutions (good, better, best)
  
• Present financing at the point of sale to remove cost barriers
  

This structure gives your techs confidence, increases close rates, and creates a smoother experience for the homeowner.

Recurring Revenue: Your Secret Weapon

If you want year-round stability, you need to build a strong base of maintenance agreements. They keep trucks moving in slow months and improve customer retention.

• Price it right: low enough to be a no-brainer, high enough to stay profitable
  
• Include real value: priority service, tune-ups, discounts
  
• Train your team to pitch it as a win-win, not an upsell
  

Maintenance agreements turn one-time customers into long-time customers allowing you to increase their lifetime value (LTV). Sure, you might be barely breaking even on them now, but you’ll be the company that gets the big equipment sale in the coming years.

Step 7: Continuous Improvement & Innovation

You should be a better company every day. You should be constantly improving metrics and consistently trying new things. If you aren’t improving, you aren’t going to grow easily.

Track What Matters

You can’t fix what you’re not tracking. Set up a simple KPI dashboard and review it weekly. Focus on:

• Revenue per tech per day
  
• Close rate
  
• Average ticket size
  
• Callback percentage
  

These numbers will tell you exactly where your problems and opportunities are. As I mentioned before, a proper CRM will make this significantly easier (and more accurate).

Get Feedback from the People Who Matter

Survey your team at least once a quarter. Find out what’s working, what’s not, and where expectations aren’t being met. Read your Google reviews and take the 1 stars seriously.

• Customers will tell you where your service falls short
  
• Your team will tell you what’s slowing them down
  

Use that feedback to make real improvements.

Study the Leaders

Look at what $5M–$50M HVAC businesses are doing differently. They’ve already figured out the systems, pricing, and hiring strategies that work. Model what applies, and skip the trial and error.

If you have no idea what they are doing, sign up to our newsletter and get the latest strategies straight to your inbox.

Test and Adapt

Try new tools, test new marketing channels, train your team in new ways. Some ideas won’t work, but the ones that do can unlock your next level of growth.

The businesses that scale are never static. They build systems but they keep evolving. That’s how you stay ahead.

Conclusion: What to Do Next

You don’t need to fix everything at once. Growth happens by solving the right problem at the right time.

Start by identifying your biggest bottleneck:

• No leads? Start with visibility.
  
• Low margins? Fix pricing and costs.
  
• Chaos in the field? Get your systems dialed in.
  
• Team falling short? Invest in training and structure.
  

Here’s a simple way to move forward:

• First 30 days: Pick one area and fix it
  
• Next 90 days: Build momentum by improving 2–3 connected systems (like sales process + technician training).
  
• Next 12 months: Cycle through all 7 areas and layer in new habits, tools, and benchmarks as you grow.
  

While this has been a birds-eye-view (and I’m sure you’re hungry for more detail), in depth guides are being created every day. Check back often or sign up to the newsletter so you don’t miss out. These guides will be sure to cover any questions you still have!

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