How to quote an HVAC job

An HVAC quote is easy to accept when it names the equipment, lists everything the work includes and prices each upgrade on its own.

What the job includes, and what it doesn’t

For a replacement, name the equipment by make, model and capacity, and list the work that comes with it: removing the old unit, line set, pad, drain, thermostat, startup and testing. Name the exclusions too, such as duct repairs beyond the connections or an electrical service upgrade. Say what the price assumes, like reusing the existing ducts, and that anything found beyond it becomes a priced change the customer signs before you go on. For a repair, describe the fault and the fix, and quote a second suspected problem as its own item.

How HVAC jobs are priced

Charge	Priced as	Show on the quote
Diagnostic	Fee per visit	If it counts toward the repair
Repair	Flat rate per repair	The parts and labor it covers
Refrigerant	Per pound, by type	Type and estimated pounds
Equipment	Each, installed	Make, model and capacity
Labor	Hourly, with a minimum	Rate and minimum charge
Maintenance plan	Per visit or per year	Visits and what each covers
Permit	The permit fee	Who applies for it

A California repair call can be a service and repair contract: home improvement work of $750 or less for a homeowner or tenant who contacted you to ask for it, limited to what that problem reasonably needs, with no payment due or accepted until it’s finished (B&P §7159.10). Such a contract shows any service charge under the heading “Amount of Service Charge”, with the statement “You may be charged only one service charge, including any trip charge or inspection fee.” It also carries the section’s notice that the law requires you to offer the customer any parts replaced during the service call, with a checkbox labeled “OK for contractor to take replaced parts.”

Texas: TDLR’s details on every proposal

Among the violations in TDLR’s penalty schedule for air conditioning and refrigeration contractors are proposals missing the license number or the company’s name, address and phone, and proposals or contracts missing the Department’s information (TDLR). The rule, 16 TAC §75.71(i), spells out that information as “Regulated by The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, P.O. Box 12157, Austin, Texas 78711, 1-800-803-9202, 512-463-6599,” then TDLR’s website address, on proposals and written contracts alike (16 TAC §75.71(i)).

Upgrades as optional items

Quote the system the customer asked about, then add alternatives as optional items that stay out of the total until chosen: a higher-efficiency model, a smart thermostat, a surge protector or a longer labor warranty. When an option replaces equipment in the base price, price only the difference, and give each option its model number so the customer can compare it with other quotes.

Valid-until date

Every quote needs a date after which the price no longer stands. Equipment costs and stock move, and a quote accepted months later can leave you installing at a loss.

Deposits and state limits

Tie a deposit to what you must buy first, such as the equipment, and say what is due at signing. In the FTC’s words, “Some state laws limit the amount of money a contractor can request as a down payment” (FTC, Hiring a Contractor). For example:

• California: on a home improvement contract, a down payment can be no more than $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract amount, whichever is less; beyond it, you may neither request nor accept payment exceeding the value of the work performed or material delivered, unless you furnish one of the bonds or the joint control the section names (B&P §7159.5).
• Florida: the section sets no cap, but a contractor who receives more than 10 percent of the contract price as initial payment for repair, restoration, improvement or construction to residential real property must apply for permits within 30 days of that payment, unless the work needs none, and start within 90 days after they’re issued, barring just cause or the payer’s written agreement to longer (Fla. Stat. §489.126).

Signing and the right to cancel

Have the customer sign and date the accepted quote, including the options they picked.

A system sold at the customer’s kitchen table can fall under the FTC Cooling-Off Rule: unless an exclusion applies, it covers consumer goods or services of $25 or more when you personally solicit the sale and the buyer agrees at home, invited or not (16 CFR 429). The buyer can then cancel until midnight of the third business day after the sale. At signing, tell them so, place the rule’s cancellation statement beside their signature in bold of 10 points or more, and hand over a completed, dated copy showing your name and address, with a completed Notice of Cancellation form in duplicate. If they cancel, refund every payment within 10 business days of receiving their notice. State door-to-door laws giving the buyer the same or a greater right still apply; California lets a buyer cancel a home improvement contract made through home solicitation until midnight of the third business day after receiving a signed and dated copy, the fifth for a senior citizen, with a separate rule for service and repair contracts (Civ. Code §1689.6).

Lead paint in homes built before 1978

Cutting openings for ducts or registers in an older home can disturb enough paint to bring in EPA’s lead rule. EPA’s general rule is that anyone paid for work that disturbs paint in housing and child-occupied facilities built before 1978 must be certified (EPA), under EPA’s program or your state’s where EPA has authorized one (EPA). Minor repair and maintenance, minor HVAC work included, is left out when it disrupts 6 square feet or less of painted surface per room inside or 20 outside, uses none of the prohibited or restricted practices, and involves no window replacement or demolition of painted surfaces. For a covered job, hand the owner EPA’s Renovate Right pamphlet within the 60 days before work starts, with their written acknowledgment or a certificate of mailing at least 7 days ahead; if the owner doesn’t live there, an adult occupant gets one too, as the rule describes (40 CFR 745, subpart E).

Three mistakes that lose the job or the margin

1. A total with no model numbers. The customer can’t compare your system with anyone else’s, so they compare prices, and the lowest wins.
2. Assuming the ducts are fine. A price that counts on ductwork you haven’t inspected leaves every leak and bad run to you.
3. Leaving out the extras. Hauling away the old unit, a new pad or line set, or extra refrigerant for a long line set come out of your margin if they aren’t on the quote.