How to Price HVAC Maintenance Plans: Build the Price From the Visit Up
Typical plan prices, a step-by-step way to build your own from the cost of one tune-up, how to set tiers and perks without giving away margin, and how to get renewals.
Most residential HVAC maintenance plans sell for about $150 to $250 a year per system, or roughly $15 to $30 a month, for two tune-ups (one cooling, one heating) plus perks like priority scheduling and 10% to 15% off repairs. Price yours from the cost of one visit: loaded tech time, truck, materials and overhead, times the visits, divided by one minus your target margin.
More on this topic: Pricing, estimates and getting paid, every guide in one place.
A maintenance plan is the closest thing a service shop has to rent. It fills the slow weeks in spring and fall, keeps customers from calling the next company on Google, and puts you first in line when their system finally needs replacing. It only works if the price covers the visits and the perks. This guide shows what other shops charge, how to build your own number, how to set tiers, and what to say at renewal time.
Key takeaways
- Typical price: about $150–$250 a year per system for two visits, or $15–$30 a month.
- Build it from one visit. Loaded tech time, truck, materials and overhead, then multiply by visits and add margin.
- Never copy a competitor's $19 a month until you know your own visit cost.
- Repair discounts must keep margin. A 15% discount on a repair priced at 40% margin still leaves 25%; the same discount on a thin price can wipe it out.
- Two or three tiers are enough. Most customers want one simple plan; tiers help when you have a real reason for them.
- Renewal is a schedule, not a hope. Ask before the plan ends, and make monthly billing the default where you can.
What do HVAC maintenance plans usually cost?
Published plan templates and agency guides land in a narrow band for one residential system:
| Plan type | Typical price | What it usually includes |
|---|---|---|
| Single system, yearly billing | $150–$250 a year | Two tune-ups (spring cooling, fall heating), priority booking, repair discount |
| Single system, monthly billing | $15–$30 a month | The same visits, paid in small amounts that are easier to say yes to |
| Each extra system | Often 50–75% of the first system | Second visit adds drive time once, so it costs you less |
| Multi-year or premium tier | Higher per year, or a discount for prepaying several years | Labor coverage on failures, bigger discounts, faster response |
Housecall Pro's sample HVAC plan, for example, is $175 a year or $16 a month for two visits with 15% off repairs; its bronze, silver and gold examples run from $150 to $200 a year. One marketing agency's glossary puts single-system plans at $150–$250 a year with monthly billing around $15–$20. These are vendor and agency examples, not a survey. Use them to check your number, not to set it.
How do you build the price from the cost of one visit?
Work out what a single tune-up costs you before a single perk goes on the plan:
- Tech time. Drive time plus time on site (often 60–90 minutes for a thorough tune-up) at the loaded hourly cost: wage, payroll taxes, workers' comp, benefits.
- Truck. Fuel, insurance, payment and upkeep per billable hour.
- Materials. Anything the plan includes: a standard filter, coil cleaner, condensate tablets.
- Overhead share. Office, phones, software, insurance and marketing per billable hour.
- Re-service reserve. A few dollars for the callbacks that tune-ups generate.
- Multiply by visits and add a little for admin: reminders, scheduling, billing.
- Divide by (1 − target margin) to get the yearly price, then round to a clean number.
A worked example
| Line | Per visit |
|---|---|
| Tech time: 1.25 hours at $42 loaded | $52.50 |
| Truck: 1.25 hours at $14 | $17.50 |
| Filter and cleaning supplies | $9.00 |
| Overhead: 1.25 hours at $10 | $12.50 |
| Re-service reserve | $4.00 |
| Cost of one visit | $95.50 |
Two visits come to $191, plus $15 a year for admin, so $206 in cost. At a 40% target margin the floor is $206 ÷ 0.60 = about $343 a year. That is above the typical range, which tells you something useful: either your visits run long, your costs are high, or you plan to earn the margin on the repairs members approve during tune-ups. All three are honest answers. What you can't do is sell this plan at $175 and assume it pays for itself.
If the market won't take $343, cut the cost side first: a tighter checklist, visits grouped by ZIP so drive time drops, and spring and fall routes planned weeks ahead. Then decide how much of the gap the plan's repair work and replacement leads will cover. Write that decision down so you can check it after a year.
Should you charge monthly or yearly?
| Billing | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Yearly | Cash up front, one transaction, simple | A bigger number to say yes to; renewal is a fresh decision every year |
| Monthly | Small number, easier to sell; keeps renewing unless cancelled | Card failures, more transactions, card fees on each charge |
| Per visit | Lowest barrier; good for older customers who dislike subscriptions | Weakest loyalty; really a discounted tune-up, not a plan |
A common approach: lead with the monthly price, offer a small discount for paying the year up front, and keep per-visit for people who won't sign up for anything recurring.
How many tiers, and what goes in each?
One plan done well beats three plans nobody understands. Add tiers only when you can name a real difference a customer cares about. A simple two-tier setup:
| Essential | Premier | |
|---|---|---|
| Visits | 2 a year (cooling and heating) | 2 a year, plus a filter delivered or changed each visit |
| Scheduling | Priority booking | Front of the line in peak weeks, no after-hours premium on the diagnostic |
| Repair discount | 10% off repairs | 15% off repairs |
| Diagnostic fee | Discounted | Waived |
| Price (example) | $19 a month | $29 a month |
Example prices only: plug in your own visit cost. For shops that also do plumbing or electrical, the same structure works with different visits: a yearly water heater flush, whole-home plumbing inspection and shut-off valve exercise for plumbers; a panel, GFCI, AFCI and surge check for electricians. Many shops sell one “home comfort” plan that covers both HVAC visits and one plumbing or electrical check.
Which member perks keep your margin?
- Priority scheduling. Costs you almost nothing and members value it most in the first heat wave.
- Repair discount. Keep it at 10–15% and only on repairs priced with enough margin to absorb it. If the discount makes repairs break even, the plan is working against you.
- Waived or reduced diagnostic fee. Easy to explain on the phone and cheap if your techs convert most diagnostics.
- No overtime premium. Strong perk, real cost. Cap it (for example, one after-hours call a year at the daytime rate).
- Parts or labor coverage. Risky. Leave it out of a first plan unless you have the claims data to price it.
Put the value in plain dollars on the sign-up sheet: “Two tune-ups normally $149 each, plus 15% off repairs, for $228 a year.” Customers compare to what they would pay without the plan, so show them.
What to say: sign-up and renewal scripts
At the end of a tune-up
“Your system's in good shape today. If you want us to keep it that way, our plan is $19 a month: we come out spring and fall, you get booked first when it's 100 degrees out, and you get 10% off any repair. Today's visit would have been included. Want me to set that up?”
On the phone, when a non-member books a tune-up
“A tune-up is $149. If you'd rather, our maintenance plan covers this visit and your heating visit in the fall for $19 a month, and members get priority booking. Which would you like?”
Renewal text, 30 days before a yearly plan ends
“Hi Dana, it's Ace Heating. Your maintenance plan renews on May 14 at $228 for the year. It covers your spring and fall tune-ups and 10% off repairs. Reply YES to renew, or call us with any questions.”
When a member wants to cancel
“No problem, I can cancel that. Before I do: your fall heating visit is already on the calendar for October and it's included. Would you like to keep the plan through that visit and decide after?”
Mistakes that make plans lose money
- Pricing from a competitor's website. Their visit cost isn't yours.
- Visits that never happen. Unbooked visits feel like profit until the member complains, cancels and leaves a review. Schedule visits weeks ahead.
- Discounts on everything. Exclude equipment replacement from the repair discount, or set a separate, smaller one.
- No yearly price review. Wages and fuel go up every year. Review the plan price when you review your labor rate, and tell members about changes at renewal.
- Too many plans. If your CSR can't explain the difference in one sentence, merge them.
Plans work best alongside a clear service call fee; see how much to charge for a service call and how to set repair prices in flat rate vs time and materials.
Where CrewRobin fits
CrewRobin's maintenance plans take 1 to 12 visits a year, add each visit as a job 14 days ahead so it lands on the dispatch board, and bill yearly, monthly or per visit. Each visit gets the usual reminder text a day before, and members' repairs go on quotes from the same price book, so the plan price and the repair prices live in one place.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I charge for an HVAC maintenance plan?
Most shops charge about $150 to $250 a year per system for two tune-ups, or $15 to $30 a month. Check that number against your own cost of one visit times two, plus your target margin.
What is a good discount for maintenance plan members?
10% to 15% off repairs is common. Only offer it on repair prices with enough margin to absorb it, and consider excluding equipment replacement.
Should HVAC maintenance plans be billed monthly or yearly?
Monthly billing is easier to sell and keeps renewing until cancelled; yearly billing brings cash up front. Many shops lead with monthly and offer a small discount for paying the year.
How many visits should an HVAC maintenance plan include?
Two a year is standard: a cooling tune-up in spring and a heating tune-up in fall. Heat pumps and commercial units sometimes justify more.
How do I price a maintenance plan for a second system?
Charge less than the first system, often 50% to 75% of it, because the drive and setup are already paid for on the first one.
Can plumbers and electricians sell maintenance plans?
Yes. Plumbing plans usually cover a water heater flush and whole-home inspection; electrical plans cover a panel, GFCI and surge check. The pricing method is the same.
Put it to work this week
Put your plan, its visits and its billing in one place so no member visit gets forgotten. CrewRobin is free until your first 10 booked jobs, no card up front. Start free or see pricing.
Sources
Figures from outside CrewRobin were checked against these pages in October 2026. Most industry benchmarks come from vendors and agencies, so treat them as ranges, not rules.
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