Built for HVAC
AI for HVAC shops that catch the 10pm no-heat call and let no estimate go cold.
Denver HVAC lives on two surges: the first sub-zero snap and the first week over 95. Most of the year's calls land in those windows, and most of them come in outside office hours, when the owner's cell is the whole safety net. We studied how independent Denver-metro HVAC shops actually run, put a dollar figure on the places they leak money, subtracted what their software already catches, and build only what pays for itself.
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Where HVAC shops leak money
- After-hours calls nobody catches. Most HVAC calls come in outside 9 to 5, and an emergency ticket runs several times a routine one. No field service platform answers the phone. Callers who hit voicemail mostly do not leave one; they dial the next shop on the list, and that job is gone before morning.
- Estimates that go cold. A quarter or more of quotes die unworked because nobody chased them past the first touch. Close rates drop by half when the follow-up waits a day instead of an hour. The base plan of every major FSM caps out at one or two automated touches; the multi-touch sequence that actually recovers deals sits behind add-ons most shops never buy.
- An agreement book that leaks at both ends. Maintenance agreements tracked in a spreadsheet lapse silently at renewal, and hundreds of past customers were never offered one at all. It is the steadiest revenue in the trade, and in most small shops nobody owns it.
The smaller findings are real too: dispatch built on availability instead of geography, dormant customers who would rebook on a simple nudge, and the owner's evening pile of callbacks, invoices, and quote paperwork. The assessment ranks all of it by value against effort, nets out what your existing tools already capture, and tells you what to skip.
Modeled recoverable per year
- ~$2.8M shop7 trucks, on Housecall Pro~$107K
- Already caughtby its current software−$33K
- Left on the tableafter tool costs~$70K
A modeled reference shop. We subtract what the shop's own software already captures before we quote anything, so the number is the increment, not a double count. Your number comes from your own call log and estimate list.
Our most commonly found solution
There is a subscription business hiding in your truck.
A maintenance agreement book is recurring revenue in a trade that otherwise lives and dies by the weather. It smooths the brutal shoulder seasons, it keeps your techs in the houses where the next replacement sale lives, and it is the closest thing an HVAC shop has to a moat. And in most small shops it runs on a spreadsheet and one person's memory.
The leak has two ends. Renewals lapse silently because nothing fires at 90, 60, and 30 days before expiration. And the bigger end: years of past customers who were never offered an agreement at all. Your software already holds the install dates, the equipment ages, and the service history to fix both. What is missing is the dated outreach wired on top, and on the plans most shops run, that piece is unbuilt.
Every build deploys into accounts you own, and we never quote a dollar your current stack already captures. Whether your customer data can touch an outside AI service is your call, asked before we build anything, and we design around your answer.
The fix list
- Dead-estimate follow-up. A four to five touch text and email sequence off your FSM webhook, so open quotes stop aging out unworked. The single highest-value build for shops on Jobber or Housecall Pro.
- Agreement renewal outreach. Dated touches before expiration, plus the offer to past customers who were never signed up.
- Dormant customer reactivation. A targeted nudge to customers you have not seen in over a year, who rebook at several times the cold rate.
- After-hours call capture. A mature category of AI receptionists and answering services. We help you pick and set one up, not build one.
- Denver rebate math. Federal tax credits, Xcel rebates, and manufacturer incentives looked up at estimate time, a metro-specific headache no generic FSM touches.
Every fix comes three ways: do it yourself, an off-the-shelf tool, or a build. The assessment prices all three and recommends one, including the places we tell you not to spend.
HVAC questions
How much can an HVAC shop actually recover?
On a modeled reference shop doing about $2.8M with seven trucks, roughly $107K a year is realistically recoverable. That shop runs Housecall Pro, so we subtract the roughly $33K its software already captures, and after tool costs the increment left on the table is about $70K a year. That is a modeled figure on a synthetic shop. Your real number comes from your own call log, estimate list, and agreement book, which is what the assessment establishes.
We already run Housecall Pro, Jobber, or ServiceTitan. Is there anything left to fix?
Usually yes, and we check rather than assume. The base plans genuinely handle scheduling, invoicing, and appointment reminders, and we take that off the table first. What they do not do on the plans most shops actually buy: chase a cold estimate more than once or twice, run dated renewal outreach on your agreement book, or wake up a customer you have not seen in two years. Those features exist behind add-ons like Marketing Pro that most shops never license. The assessment nets out what your stack already captures, so every number we quote is the increment your tools are not getting you.
What about the after-hours calls we miss?
Most HVAC calls come in outside office hours, and a no-heat call at 10pm is one of the most valuable tickets you will ever get. The fix is not a custom build. AI receptionists and live answering services are a mature category with solid options, so the move is to pick the one that fits your call mix and wire it into your booking flow. We help you choose and set it up, usually a four-figure setup, and we will tell you plainly if your call volume does not justify it.
Why do you keep bringing up maintenance agreements?
Because it is the steadiest money in the trade and the leakiest book in most shops. Agreements tracked in a spreadsheet lapse silently at renewal, and most shops have hundreds of past customers who were never offered one. One contractor who worked an old customer list signed over a hundred agreements in three months. The fix is dated outreach that fires before expiration and an offer that goes out to the customers who never got one, both built on data your software already holds.
Will this replace my techs or office staff?
No. The software answers, drafts, reminds, and flags. Your dispatcher still runs the board, your techs still turn wrenches, and you still price the big installs. The point is to stop paying skilled people to re-key data and chase paperwork at 9pm, not to cut them.
Where do your numbers come from?
Published Denver-metro wage data, HVAC industry benchmarks, live vendor pricing, and then your own numbers pulled on the call: your call log, your open estimates, your agreement book. Every figure in the deliverable traces to a source you can check, and where a number is an industry estimate rather than yours, we label it as one.
Citations
| Grade | Source | What we use it for |
|---|---|---|
| A | EPA Section 608 (40 CFR Part 82) + Denver CPD mechanical code | The refrigerant-handling and permit rules that mark what a certified tech must still do by hand. |
| A | BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics, Denver metro (May 2024, via O*NET) | Loaded wages for techs, dispatchers, and office staff. We note that we reached the BLS survey through O*NET this pass. |
| B | ACCA 2024 Benchmarking (net margin, via Profitability Partners) | Industry net-margin median. The reality check on what a point of efficiency is worth. |
| B | Geotab / SMACNA dispatch and routing data | Share of field hours lost to travel and idle time. The basis for the dispatch finding. |
| C | Housecall Pro 2026 Trends (average ticket) | Average repair-ticket and replacement ranges. Labeled, since the sample skews to organized shops. |
| C | Phone and follow-up vendors (missed-call and stale-quote rates) | Unanswered-call and stale-quote rates. Confirmed against your own phone and CRM reports. |
What we left out. Two numbers that float around HVAC sales decks are not in ours. The roughly five-percent callback rate at $650 to $850 a callback is an example calculation, not survey data, so we will not anchor a dollar figure on it. The revenue-per-truck-per-day benchmarks from one vendor are proprietary and uncited, so they stay directional. We would rather show you a smaller number we can prove than a big one we cannot.
See the work
Run an HVAC shop on the Front Range?
Book a call, or just phone us. We’ll tell you in one conversation whether there’s money worth going after.