What should Good, Better and Best HVAC repair options cost?

What should Good, Better and Best repair options cost on this HVAC call?

Enter what a year of running your van and shop costs, the hours you really bill, and the three options you would put in front of a customer. You get your true cost per billable hour, a diagnostic fee, a price for each option with tiered parts and equipment markup and a callback reserve, and what an average call earns at your mix of choices and your decline rate, against quoting only the cheap repair. Then build a price book of call types and export it as CSV.

Your numbers, not advice. Prices, costs, times and the customer mix are yours to check; every value is editable. Nothing is uploaded: inputs are used in this browser tab only. The starting numbers are invented examples, not market rates.

1. Your true hourly cost

Hourly wage ($) Burden: payroll tax, comp, benefits (%) Paid hours per year Billable hours per year Van per year ($) Insurance per year ($) Tools, gauges, consumables per year ($) Phone, software, licence, office, marketing per year ($)

2. Parts and equipment markup tiers

Marginal, like tax brackets: each slice of a ticket's parts and equipment cost earns its own markup. The last tier has no ceiling.

Cost up to ($)	Markup (%)



Above that

3. One service call

Travel and supply-house hours Diagnostic hours on site Target margin on time (%) Callback reserve (% of price) Round prices up to ($)

Good: repair

On-site hours Parts cost ($)

Better: repair plus

On-site hours Parts cost ($)

Best: replace

On-site hours Equipment and materials cost ($)

Who chooses what. Of customers who approve work, the shares below must add up to 100. These are your assumptions: replace them with counts from a month of your own tickets.

Choose Good (%) Choose Better (%) Choose Best (%) Calls ending at the diagnostic fee (%)

Your three options

Line	Good	Better	Best

Cost, diagnostic fee and the average call

Line	Value

If more customers choose Best

Choose Best	Choose Good	Average ticket	Average profit per call	Profit per hour of your time

If more customers decline

Calls ending at the diagnostic fee	Average ticket	Average profit per call

Parts and equipment markup, slice by slice (Best)

Cost slice	Amount	Markup	Markup $

4. Price-book builder

Each row is a call type priced at all three options with the shop numbers and markup tiers above. The starting rows are invented examples; replace them with your own call types and hours.

Call type	Good h	Good parts $	Better h	Better parts $	Best h	Best parts $	Good	Better	Best

What's recognised

Input	Handling

More: How to price Good, Better and Best HVAC repairs and this calculator vs. quoting one repair price.

Common questions

How do I price Good, Better and Best HVAC repair options?

Price each option the same way: your true cost per billable hour times its hours including the drive, divided by one minus your target margin, plus parts or equipment at a tiered markup, grossed up for a callback reserve and rounded up. On the default numbers that gives $745.00 for Good, $1,480.00 for Better and $8,890.00 for Best. Enter your own figures; the defaults are invented.

What is my true cost per hour as an HVAC contractor?

Your loaded wage spread over the hours you can actually bill, plus van, insurance, tools and overhead over the same hours. On the defaults that is $78.00 for wages and burden plus $35.00 for van, insurance, tools and overhead, $113.00 for every billable hour, because only 1,200 of 2,080 paid hours are sold.

What should an HVAC diagnostic fee cover?

At least the drive and the time on site to find the fault, at true cost and your margin. On the defaults that is 1.5 hours, $169.50 of cost and a $265.00 fee, which many shops credit against the repair the customer approves.

How much does offering three options add to an average call?

On the defaults, with 50, 35 and 15 percent of approvals choosing Good, Better and Best and 20 percent of calls ending at the diagnostic fee, an average call earns $580.14 against $249.82 when only the Good repair is offered, a gain of $330.32. Your mix and decline rate are assumptions to replace with your own ticket counts.

Is this advice or a price guide?

No. It does arithmetic on the numbers you type. Prices, costs and hours are yours to check, nothing is uploaded, and it is not business, tax, legal or licensing advice. Check your local licensing, refrigerant-handling and written-estimate rules.