HVACBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Billing HVAC Maintenance Plan Visits: Per Visit, Up Front or Monthly

Maintenance agreements are the steadiest money in an HVAC company. Twice a year, a tech checks the system, changes the filter, clears the condensate line, checks the capacitor and cleans what needs cleaning. The customer gets a system that is less likely to quit on the hottest day, and you get scheduled work in the shoulder seasons. How you bill those visits shapes both your cash flow and how customers feel about the plan.

How Plan Visits Come Due

Sales tax on plans is one of the questions listed in Sales Tax on HVAC Invoices: Parts, Labor and Asking the Right Questions. This guide covers the rest of plan billing.

In HVACBossPro, a maintenance plan is set by the minimum days between visits. 180 days means a spring and fall tune-up. 365 means one yearly check. When a visit comes due, it appears on the Waiting List, a live map and list of every tune-up that is due. Pins are colored by status: not due yet, due now, or overdue past a 7-day grace. Nobody has to keep a paper calendar of who is due in April.

Billing then follows one of three patterns.

Option One: Bill Per Visit

The simplest plan bills each tune-up when it happens. The customer agrees to two visits a year at a set price, and each visit is invoiced when the tech taps Complete. With a card on file, the card is charged right then.

• Good for: companies starting a plan program, customers who are wary of paying ahead.
• Watch out for: expired cards between visits, since the two charges are six months apart.

Per-visit billing is easy to explain: “Your tune-up is the same price every time, and it goes on your card when it's done.”

Option Two: Bill Up Front for the Year

Some companies sell the plan as a yearly price, such as $179 a year for two tune-ups, and charge it once at sign-up and at each renewal. The visits themselves then show on the invoice at no charge, or with a line such as “Spring tune-up, covered by maintenance plan,” so the customer sees what the plan delivered.

• Good for: cash flow, because the money comes in before the work.
• Watch out for: a clear renewal date and a clear policy on what happens if the customer cancels partway.

A zero-dollar invoice for a covered visit still matters. It is the customer's record that the visit happened, and it is your record of what you delivered.

Option Three: Bill Monthly

A third option spreads the plan price into monthly charges to a card on file, using a scheduled charge. Customers see a small amount each month instead of a larger one twice a year.

• Good for: customers who prefer small payments, and steady income in slow months.
• Watch out for: declines, which happen more often with more charges. The customer app lets customers update their card when that happens.

Whichever you choose, write the plan's billing terms where the customer can see them, including in the customer app sign-up.

Repairs Found During a Tune-Up

Tune-ups find things: a weak capacitor, a pitted contactor, a dirty coil, a slow drain. Those repairs are separate from the plan visit, and the invoice should show them that way:

• The plan visit line, at its price or marked as covered.
• The repair lines, from your service list.
• Any member discount, as a separate line if your plan offers one.

Ask before doing the repair. Many plan customers will approve on the spot, and the card on file can be charged for the repair when the tech taps Complete. If they want to think about it, the repair can go out as an estimate to approve online later.

Equipment Records Make Plan Visits Faster

Every plan address carries its equipment record: system type, brand, model, serial, year installed, tonnage, filter size and unit location, plus access notes like the attic ladder or the dog. On the second visit, the tech already knows the filter is a 16x25x1 and the furnace is in the garage. That shortens the visit, which matters most when a plan visit is billed as a flat price.

Use tags such as Maintenance Plan on the client so plan customers are easy to find in reports and when sending seasonal texts.

Pick a Model and Stick With It

Per visit, up front or monthly, each works if it is clearly explained and billed consistently. Many companies start per visit and move to yearly or monthly once the plan program grows. Next, see Signing Up HVAC Maintenance Plan Customers With the Card Captured for how customers join a plan. For every billing feature and guide, visit the HVACBossPro HVAC invoicing software page.