It’s hard to find a home that doesn’t have some form of heating and cooling. Even if you don’t live in a place with extreme weather, it still gets uncomfortable in homes without HVAC systems.
This is a big reason why the HVAC industry is worth entering. When reports show that the industry is expected to grow by 6.1% between 2020 and 2025, there is plenty of opportunity to find customers.
If you want your HVAC business to succeed, you need to set things up correctly. Keep reading to learn what starting an HVAC business takes.
Build a Business Plan
The first step to any successful business is a plan. You don’t know exactly what your business offers, who you’re supposed to serve, and where your business will be in the future.
Without a plan, it’s hard to understand those things. You may be able to get by, but without a business plan that provides a roadmap, it’s hard to make the right choices to become successful.
Here are some critical questions to answer when coming up with a plan:
- Which customers will be ideal for the business?
- Which products and services will the business offer?
- What market will the business serve?
- How large will the business become?
- How much money will the business make in the future?
By answering these questions, you can create goals that align with your vision and help keep you on the right track.
Create a Finance Plan
It won’t be cheap to start an HVAC company. You’ll probably need a location to build your business from, so you’ll need to rent or buy property. Once you have a property and understand your normal bills, you must create a budget for employees, equipment, and supplies.
The first thing to consider when looking at this is your upfront costs. This will be your largest expense initially as you set everything up, so calculate everything you need. From there, you can calculate your ongoing expenses each month.
Use this information to create a budget. Since this number can be high, you may need financing to get started. Talk to lenders and private investors to learn your options.
Do the Paperwork
Once you have a financial and business plan, it’s time to officially start your company. To do this, you’ll need to register with your state.
Grab the business incorporation forms that you need from your state. Ideally, you’ll start your company as a corporation. This business structure is helpful for handling payroll and other business activities.
Once you have your business, open your business bank accounts. You want to separate business and personal finances, so this is a must-handle step.
After you create your bank account, look into what licenses you need from your work area. You’ll need these to operate in your location legally.
Buy Your Equipment
Once you have all the paperwork signed, you can start building your operations. The first part of doing that is getting the equipment necessary to handle jobs.
Start with tools that you only need to buy once. Look for high-quality equipment that will help you and your team do great work.
Once you have these tools, the next thing to look for is supplies. These are primarily consumable products that you need to replace. Ideally, find a company to work with that will help you with the price when you buy in bulk.
Stick to reputable companies during this process to make sure you get quality products.
Invest in Software
Although you can handle many business tasks manually, that doesn’t mean it’s the best use of your time. The longer you spend on manual and administrative tasks, the less time you have to handle the work that really matters.
Software programs will help you do this. There is software for almost every task you can think of — everything from accounting to project management.
There is also specialized HVAC software designed to help field technicians. Check out your field service software options to see if there are any features that will make life easier for your employees.
Form Your Team
It’s hard to run a successful HVAC business without a team. Even if you start slow enough to handle all the jobs yourself, how will you be able to get new customers and respond to questions if you’re constantly on the job?
A team will make that possible. At the bare minimum, you should have a receptionist to answer calls and an employee to go to work sites. If you don’t want to hire employees for all the work, you can outsource the work to an agency.
This will help you manage your workload and scale your company in the future.
Start Marketing
The HVAC market is competitive. There are many competitors in each location that each offer excellent service to customers. You can’t just put your name online and expect people to find you.
The best place to start this process is a website. List every service you offer and submit it to Google My Business. This will get you a spot on the map results for people to find your company.
Once you get the basics out of the way, you can investigate other marketing methods. Look into paid ads, social media, direct mailers, and other marketing options.
Starting an HVAC Business Isn’t Easy
You need to be more than a great HVAC technician when starting a company in the HVAC industry. You must manage a budget, market to customers, manage employees, and more. If you aren’t careful and fail to do things the right way, you may go out of business.
That’s why learning what it takes to start a business is critical. Now that you’ve read the guide above, starting an HVAC business should be easier. Make sure you follow the steps outlined to get started on the right path.
Of course, you’ll need to learn much more about running a company to see success. Check out the blog for more business tips that will help give your company an edge.
