These guides explain the methods our packages are built on. They are written for owners and general managers of HVAC companies who want to think more clearly about marketing, operations and growth, whether or not they ever hire us. Each one includes checklists, worked numbers you can replace with your own, and the mistakes we see most often.
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Building a 90-day plan for an HVAC company
A 90-day plan works when it has no more than three priorities, one owner and one weekly number for each, a check-in every two weeks and a written close-out. This guide shows how to build one around the heating and cooling seasons.
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The HVAC business diagnostic checklist
You can run a useful diagnostic of your own HVAC company in two or three weekends. Gather seven sets of numbers, put a yearly cost on each gap, and fix the most expensive gap first.
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Scoping an advisory engagement: what an HVAC owner should put in writing
A good advisory scope answers eight questions in writing before any work starts: the question, the deliverables, the exclusions, the timeline, the people, the decision rights, the price and the ending. Without them, advice is hard to judge and easy to overpay for.
Scoping an advisory engagement: what to put in writing
Scoping an advisory engagement is for any owner about to hire a consultant, coach or agency for advice. It walks through the eight things a written scope should contain, from the question being answered to who owns the work at the end, and shows how to spot a scope that is too vague to hold anyone accountable.
You'll learn:
- how to turn "help us grow" into a question an adviser can actually answer
- what an exclusions list is for, and why it protects both sides
- how to agree decision rights, so advice doesn't quietly become management
- what to ask about specialist help and subcontractors before signing
The HVAC business diagnostic checklist
The diagnostic checklist is a self-review an owner can run over two or three weekends. It covers demand, call response, quoting, pricing, maintenance agreements, capacity and cash, with simple formulas for each.
You'll learn:
- which five numbers explain most of an HVAC company's results
- how to estimate what missed calls and slow quotes cost you in a year
- how to rank problems by cost, so you fix the expensive one first
- when a self-review is enough, and when an outside diagnostic is worth paying for
Building a 90-day plan for an HVAC company
Building a 90-day plan turns a list of problems into a quarter of finished work. It explains why three priorities is the limit, how to choose a weekly measure, how to run a fortnightly check-in in 30 minutes and how to close out the quarter.
You'll learn:
- how to choose the quarter, based on your heating and cooling seasons
- how to write a priority so a specific person owns it
- what a good weekly measure looks like, and what a bad one looks like
- how to hand the work back to the team at day 90
How the guides relate to the packages
Each guide mirrors one package. The scoping guide reflects how we write every proposal. The checklist is a lighter version of the Business Diagnostic. The 90-day guide is the method behind the 90-Day Growth Plan. If you run a guide yourself and get stuck, or want a second set of eyes on your results, the packages overview explains the options, and the contact page explains how to reach us.
How to get the most from the guides
Read with your own numbers open. Each guide is built around simple formulas, and they only become useful once you replace the example figures with real ones from your phone system, job software and accounts. Expect the first pass to take longer than the second: most of the time goes into finding data, not doing arithmetic.
Share the guides with whoever runs your office and your field team. The checklist in particular works better when the people who answer the phones and dispatch the trucks help fill it in, because they often know where the problems are before the numbers do.
A note on accuracy
The guides use invented round numbers for the examples, and they don't cover technical, licensing or code questions, which belong to your licensed staff and your provincial regulator. Where a guide mentions a public program or rule, it links the official source and the date we checked it. Programs change, so confirm current details with the administrator before acting on them.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use these guides without hiring you?
Yes, that is the intention. Each guide explains a method in enough detail to run it yourself, with checklists and worked numbers.
Which guide should I read first?
If you are thinking of hiring any adviser, start with the scoping guide. If you want to find your own problems, start with the diagnostic checklist. If you already know your problems, go to the 90-day plan guide.
Are the numbers in the guides real company data?
No. The worked examples use round, invented figures so the arithmetic is easy to follow. Replace them with your own numbers.