Start with one page, not thirty
The SBA describes two kinds of business plans. A traditional plan runs through every section in detail and is what lenders and investors usually expect. A lean plan is "high-level focus, fast to write," and can be one page.
My take: write the one page first. If you are a tech going out on your own with one van, nobody is going to read thirty pages, including you. A one-page plan you look at every month beats a long one in a drawer. Expand it into a full plan only when you ask a bank for money, and then the SBA's section list tells you what to add.
Below are the nine sections, in order. Each one has what to write and a fill-in line. At the end, all of it fits on one card you can copy.
1. Summary
Three sentences: who you are, where you work, and what you want by the end of year one. Write it last, even though it goes first.
Business name is an HVAC repair and maintenance company in towns, run by owner, a years-year technician. By December we will have number maintenance members and run number jobs a month.
Make the goal a count you can check, not "grow the business." Members and jobs per month are the two numbers everything else in this plan feeds.
2. Services: what you sell
An HVAC company sells three different things, and they behave very differently:
- Ticket
- Medium
- Comes in
- When the weather turns
- Builds
- Your customer list
- Ticket
- Small, recurring
- Comes in
- Every month
- Builds
- Steady cash, repeat customers
- Ticket
- Large
- Comes in
- Mostly from repair customers
- Builds
- Profit, but ties up cash
Lead with repair and maintenance. Repair calls fill the customer list, and that list is where most of your replacement jobs will come from. Maintenance agreements are the one line that does not wait for a heat wave, so start selling them in your first month. Skip new construction until you have a crew. It runs on bids and builder schedules, and it pulls you away from the repair calls that build your list.
If you plan to push heat pumps, note one change in your plan: the IRS says the federal Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit applied to property placed in service before December 31, 2025. Do not build your sales pitch around a tax credit that has ended. Check for state and utility rebates instead.
3. Market and competitors
Name the towns you will serve, then look up who already gets the calls there. Search "AC repair" and "furnace repair" in each town and fill a table like this one:
| Competitor | Google rating | Prices on site | Books online | Answers after 6 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northside Comfort Co. | 4.8 (310) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Maple Ave Heating | 4.3 (42) | No | No | Voicemail |
| Blue Line Air | 4.9 (18) | Yes | No | No |
| You | Your goal | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Example research table. Business names and numbers are made up; fill in your own towns.
You are looking for the gap. Usually it is not price. It is that nobody shows prices, nobody books online, or the phones go to voicemail at night. Your plan should say which gap you fill.
For the industry side, use the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It projects employment of HVAC mechanics and installers to grow 11% from 2025 to 2035, which it calls much faster than average, with about 40,600 openings a year. That is good news for demand and bad news for hiring: every company in town will be looking for the same techs.
4. Licenses and certifications
List every license you hold or need, with numbers. This section is short, but it decides whether you can advertise at all.
EPA 608 is federal and not optional. The EPA says technicians who maintain, service, repair or dispose of equipment that could release refrigerants must be certified. There are four types: Type I for small appliances, Type II for high-pressure equipment, Type III for low-pressure equipment, and Universal for all of them. The test must be given by an EPA-approved certifying organization, and the EPA says the certification does not expire. Plan for Universal for every tech you hire.
EPA's rules on which refrigerants new systems may use have been changing as HFCs are phased down. Check the EPA's current technology transitions rule before you stock equipment.
The state license is where owners slip. BLS notes that some states and localities require HVAC techs to be licensed, so check yours. Google's Local Services Ads also check licenses before your ad can run. Get this right before you spend on marketing.
5. Team
Write down who does each job today and who you hire next. On day one it is probably you for everything: sales, service, the phone, invoicing.
Today: owner does service calls and sales. Spouse / part-timer / nobody handles calls and booking. First hire: a second tech / an office person when we pass number jobs a month.
BLS puts the median pay for HVAC mechanics and installers at $29.33 an hour as of May 2025, and says they may work overtime or irregular hours in peak heating and cooling seasons. Use your local rate in the numbers section, but expect to pay at least the going wage to keep a good tech.
A judgment call worth writing down: when the field gets busy, the thing that breaks first is usually not the work. It is the calls, quotes and follow-up nobody gets to. Decide now whether your first hire is a tech or someone in the office, and what trigger makes you hire.
6. Marketing plan
Write the marketing plan as the path a homeowner takes, not a list of channels. Each step needs one owner and one thing that gets done every week.
- Google Business Profile. Free, and the first thing most homeowners see. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking, and complete business info helps you show up. See how to rank higher in Google Maps.
- Local Services Ads. HVAC is a good fit because calls are urgent. You pay per lead, and you need to pass Google's screening first. Read what Google Verified means now before you budget for it.
- Reviews. Put "ask for a review" in the job checklist, not your memory. See how to get more Google reviews.
- Website. One page per service and per main town, prices or starting prices, and a way to book. Here is what a contractor website that books jobs needs.
Set up the free pieces first. Make your Google review link and QR code for invoices and van magnets, and find your Place ID. No sign-up.
Try the free tools7. Pricing and maintenance agreements
Use flat-rate pricing for repairs. Build a price book where each repair has one price that covers parts, labor and overhead, and show it before you start. Customers know what they will pay, and you are not punished for being fast. Time and materials makes every invoice a negotiation.
For maintenance agreements, write down three things in your plan:
- What is included. Keep it simple enough to explain in one sentence. For example: a cooling tune-up and a heating tune-up each year, priority scheduling and a discount on repairs.
- The price. Monthly billing is easier to say yes to than a yearly lump sum. Price it so the tune-up visits pay for themselves.
- Who sells it. The tech, at the end of every repair call, while the customer remembers being without heat or air.
Agreements also fill the weeks between heating and cooling season. Schedule tune-ups in those weeks on purpose, so your techs stay busy when the phone is quiet.
8. Financial projections and break-even
Skip the five-year spreadsheet until a lender asks for it. The number to know now is break-even. The SBA's formula is fixed costs divided by price minus variable costs. For HVAC that means: your monthly fixed costs divided by what an average job leaves you after parts and tech labor. Put in your own numbers:
Break-even uses 77% of what you can run. Agreements cover $800 of fixed costs.
Every starting number is a made-up example, not an industry average. Use your own quotes and job history.
Two things to try with the sliders. Add 100 members and watch break-even drop with no new calls. Then raise the average job by $50 through a better price book. Both move the number more than another ad does. If break-even sits above 80% of what your team can run, the plan does not work yet: raise prices, cut fixed costs or add members before you add a truck.
9. Funding
Write the exact amount, what it buys and where it comes from. Keep the ask small: a reliable van, tools, licensing costs and about three months of fixed costs.
The SBA does not lend most of this money directly. Its loan programs go through partners:
- Microloans: up to $50,000, through intermediary lenders. A good fit for tools and equipment.
- 7(a) loans: the SBA's main program, through approved lenders, for many business purposes.
- 504 loans: long-term, fixed-rate financing for business growth, through Certified Development Companies.
The SBA's Lender Match tool connects you with SBA-approved lenders. Bring this plan, your break-even number and your licenses.
Your plan on one page
Here is the whole plan on one card. Copy it, paste it into a doc, and replace the brackets. Look at it on the first of every month.
- Business
- Rivera Heating & Air, LLC. Owner-operator, 1 van. Serving towns.
- Year-one goal
- number maintenance members and number jobs a month by December.
- Services
- Repair and maintenance first. Replacements when a repair customer needs one. No new construction yet.
- Customers
- Homeowners within minutes of base town. Older homes, original equipment.
- Competitors
- Company A, Company B, Company C. Gap I fill: same-day visits, prices on the site, online booking.
- Licenses
- State: license type and number. EPA 608: type for every tech. Local: business license, permits.
- Team
- Me in the field. First hire: tech or office person when I pass number jobs a month.
- Marketing
- Google Business Profile, review request after every job, website with prices and booking, Local Services Ads once verified.
- Pricing
- Flat-rate price book for repairs. Maintenance agreement at $price a month.
- Numbers
- Fixed costs $amount a month. Break-even at number jobs a month.
- Funding
- $amount from savings / SBA microloan / line of credit for van, tools, first 3 months.
When this card is done, the next job is making sure the calls it brings in turn into booked work. See how that looks for an HVAC company.
Sources: SBA: Write your business plan; SBA: Calculate your startup costs (break-even); SBA: Loans; BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics and installers; EPA: Section 608 technician certification; EPA: Section 608 technician certification requirements; EPA: Technology transitions (HFC limits); IRS: Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit; Google: How to improve your local ranking; Google: Local Services business screening and verification requirements