How to start an HVAC business, from refrigerant card to first service call

Training and the EPA Section 608 card

Most HVAC technicians start in a school program or an apprenticeship. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, on its HVAC mechanics and installers page updated October 2026, says postsecondary programs generally last from 6 months to 2 years and lead to a certificate or an associate's degree, while apprenticeships run several years with paid on-the-job training and technical instruction each year.

Refrigerant is the federal part. The Environmental Protection Agency requires technicians who maintain, service, repair or dispose of equipment that could release ozone-depleting refrigerants to be certified under Section 608, according to its Section 608 certification page updated March 2026. You certify by passing an EPA-approved test given by an approved certifying organization, and the EPA's test topics page lists a core section and three types: Type 1 for small appliances, Type 2 for high-pressure equipment and Type 3 for low-pressure equipment. The BLS notes the exam is typically included in a postsecondary HVACR program.

1. Train through a school program or an apprenticeship
2. Pass the EPA Section 608 exam for the equipment types you'll work on
3. Build supervised experience in the field
4. Get the state or local HVAC license where one is required
5. Add a contractor license if your state wants one to run the business

Check your state and city license rules

The BLS says some states and localities require HVAC technicians to be licensed, and tells readers to check with their state and locality. Rules vary widely: some license the technician, some the contracting business, some both, and gas piping or electrical hookups can fall under other trades' licenses. Look up your state's HVAC or mechanical contractor licensing board, then your city's permit office, before you take your first install.

Permits matter in this trade. A replaced furnace or a new condenser often needs one, and an inspection that passes is part of what you're selling.

How much work you can take on before you need a license is different in every state: see the contractor license limits for every state, with each state's own board linked.

Choose your mix of work

A solo HVAC business usually blends three kinds of work. Repairs are urgent and pay the same day. Installs are big tickets but take planning and a helper for the heavy lifting. Maintenance is quiet, steady and the base of the whole business, because a client on a twice-a-year tune-up calls you first when something breaks.

Decide early whether you'll do residential only, light commercial, or refrigeration, since each needs different tools and certifications.

• Repair calls: no heat, no cooling, noisy blowers, frozen coils
• Seasonal tune-ups: heating in the fall, cooling in the spring
• Replacements: furnaces, air handlers, condensers, heat pumps
• Ductless mini-splits, a common add-on for rooms without ductwork
• Indoor air quality: filters, humidifiers, thermostats

Set up the business and its insurance

Start with the structure. The SBA describes a sole proprietorship as easy to form, with complete control and personal liability for the business's debts, and an LLC as keeping personal assets like your vehicle, house and savings out of reach in most instances. Read the SBA's comparison and decide with an accountant; neither is required for everyone.

The IRS issues an EIN at no cost and says you never have to pay a fee for one. Open a separate business checking account, too, so your supply-house account and your customers' payments run through one place.

For insurance, the SBA describes general liability as covering financial loss from bodily injury, property damage and lawsuits, and lists workers' compensation as required for every business with employees. Ask an agent about commercial auto for the van and about coverage for the equipment you carry.

Stuck on the name? The free HVAC business name generator puts names together from your own name, your town and HVAC words. We don't check that a name is free, so check the one you pick before you register it.

The van, the gauges and the stock

An HVAC van carries more specialty tools than most trades, and some of them are expensive. Buy the core set you need for the work you've chosen, and add the rest as the jobs demand them. Handle refrigerant by the book: recovery equipment and recovery cylinders belong in the van from the first job.

Stock the parts that fail most often in your area so a repair is one visit, not two.

• Gauges or a digital manifold, a vacuum pump and a micron gauge
• A recovery machine and recovery cylinders
• Meters: a multimeter with a clamp, a combustion analyzer for gas heat
• Common parts: capacitors, contactors, igniters, flame sensors, filters
• Ladders, a hand truck and drop cloths for clean work in finished homes

Price the service call and the work

Most HVAC companies charge a diagnostic or service call fee, then price the repair, and many price tune-ups and common repairs as flat rates. Service call fees and trip charges and how to price a job cover the pieces, the markup calculator sets your parts markup, and an HVAC price list keeps the flat rates the same for every customer.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median pay of HVAC mechanics and installers at $29.33 an hour, or $61,010 a year, in May 2025. That's what employees are paid by an employer. Your hourly rate as an owner has to cover the van, the tools, insurance, the slow weeks between seasons and the hours nobody pays for, so build it with the hourly rate calculator.

Find customers and keep them on a schedule

The hottest and coldest weeks of the year bring calls to anyone who answers. The work in between is what you build on purpose, with maintenance customers who come back every season.

• Tell the builders, property managers and contractors you know that you're working for yourself now
• Set up a free business listing with your license and certification shown
• Offer a tune-up visit before the season and book the next one before you leave
• Partner with plumbers and electricians who get asked about heating and cooling
• Ask for a review on the day the house is warm or cool again

Estimates, invoices, records and taxes

A replacement is a big decision for a homeowner, so put every option in writing with the equipment named and the price clear. For repairs, write down what you found and what you'll charge before you start. An HVAC work order holds the equipment details for the next visit.

Keep every receipt. The IRS's recordkeeping guidance says your records should help you prepare your return and support the income and deductions on it, and be kept as long as needed to prove them.

The IRS says self-employment tax, its Social Security and Medicare tax for the self-employed, applies once net self-employment earnings hit $400. Expect to owe $1,000 or more? The IRS generally wants estimated tax paid through the year in four payment periods. An accountant can work out the amounts.

Running it from your phone with Workeey

Workeey keeps an HVAC business on one phone. Each job holds the client, address, time slot, notes, typed or dictated, such as the model and filter size, and photos of the data plate. Repeating jobs book the next visits, so a twice-a-year tune-up is set once, and the schedule shows your day in time slots with a route to the next house.

Save your rates once in Settings, including call-out as the least a job costs, hourly, first hour, evenings and weekends and parts markup. A quick estimate prices from them, and you share it from your phone as a quote PDF; the homeowner says yes to you.

One tap turns it into the invoice, emailed with a pay link for card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or US bank transfer through your own Stripe account; a small processing fee applies. Switch on reminder texts for an overdue invoice, and log parts as expenses by hand or from a receipt photo. The free plan has unlimited invoicing and 23 quick estimates a month, no card (pricing).

For paper, use the HVAC invoice template and the HVAC estimate template, or compare the best apps for an HVAC business.

More for HVAC techs: pages and free templates

• HVAC software — the whole HVAC business in one app
• HVAC invoicing — installs, refrigerant and parts on one bill
• Best apps for an HVAC business — the apps for this trade compared
• HVAC invoice template — free, with a filled-in sample
• HVAC estimate template — a free quote sample
• HVAC receipt template — a free paid-in-full sample
• HVAC price list template — free, with sample prices
• HVAC work order template — free, with a filled-in sample
• Free invoice template — every field a trade invoice needs
• Free estimate template — copy it, price it, send it
• Free receipt template — a paid-in-full receipt to copy
• Work order template — the job written down before you bill it
• Late payment reminder templates — texts, emails and a letter to copy and send
• All free templates and tools