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# HVAC Maintenance Agreement Checklist for Contractors
Agreements do not usually fail on the contract. They fail in the eleven months afterwards — a visit that slipped, a report nobody sent, a date nobody looked at.
This is the checklist for the whole lifecycle. Work it in order: build the plan → sell it → activate → deliver → document → renew.
1 · Building the plan
- Number of visits per term decided, and when they fall
- What each visit includes, written out item by item
- Where maintenance ends and repair begins, stated explicitly
- Benefits listed — priority, discounts, inclusions
- Repair discount set, and its cost to you calculated
- Burdened labour cost per visit calculated, not the wage
- Parts and materials per visit costed
- Travel cost per visit included
- Admin cost per member per year included
- Total cost to deliver known before the price is set
- Price derived from a target margin, not a markup
- Margin verified:
(Price − Cost) ÷ Price - Billing options decided — annual, quarterly, monthly
- Monthly option priced for the extra admin it carries
- Terms written: cancellation, transfer, renewal
- Automatic renewal clause reviewed by an attorney in your state, if you use one
2 · The agreement document
- Company name, address, phone and licence number
- Agreement number, start date, end date
- Customer name and billing contact
- Service address, if different from billing
- Covered equipment listed by make, model and serial
- A line stating that systems not listed are not covered
- Visits included, and the period they must be taken in
- What each visit includes
- Benefits and discounts, precisely worded
- Exclusions written out explicitly
- Price, billing frequency and payment terms
- Cancellation terms and how a refund is calculated
- Transfer terms for a sale of the property
- Renewal terms — and whether it renews automatically
- Acceptance block, retrievable later
3 · Selling it
- Offered at the right moment — after a repair, visit or install
- Not offered mid-emergency, or before the problem is fixed
- Technicians can explain it in three sentences
- The price is stated plainly, not hedged
- Two or three tiers offered, not one or five
- Technicians can close it on the spot, from the property
- A "not now" is recorded with a date to ask again
- Nobody is working to a signature quota
4 · Activating it
- Payment taken or recurring billing set up
- First visit scheduled before anyone leaves the property
- Covered equipment confirmed and recorded with serials
- Welcome note sent stating what is included
- Renewal reminder set for 90 days before expiry
- Account owner assigned
5 · Delivering the visits
- Every included visit exists as a record with a due date
- Overdue visits visible without anyone going to look for them
- Someone owns the outstanding list
- Members offered appointments ahead of non-members, if you promised priority
- Maintenance not perpetually displaced by emergency work
- Missed appointments rebooked the same week, inside the term
- Visits taken inside the term, not carried past it
6 · The visit itself
- Checklist completed item by item, not from memory afterwards
- Filter changed or cleaned, and recorded
- Electrical connections and amp draw checked
- Capacitor reading taken against the rating
- Refrigerant performance and temperature split checked
- Coil condition inspected
- Condensate drain cleared and float switch tested
- Blower and motor amps checked
- Thermostat operation and staging verified
- Safety controls tested
- Heat exchanger inspected where applicable
- Overall condition assessed in one word
- Photographs taken where they will matter later
- Equipment condition updated on the record
7 · Documenting it
- Findings written in words the customer can follow
- Anything flagged explained, not just ticked
- Recommended repairs recorded — and recorded when declined, with a date
- Replacement flagged where the system warrants the conversation
- Report sent the same day
- Next visit date stated on the report
- Recommended work turned into an estimate, with an owner
8 · Renewing
- Agreements identified 90 days before expiry
- Visits audited — anything outstanding delivered first
- Owner assigned to each renewal
- 60-day email with the year's reports attached
- 30-day reminder
- 14-day call from a person
- 7-day final notice
- Renewal price decided, and any increase explainable
- New term's visits scheduled at the point of renewal
- Declines recorded with a reason
- Lapsed agreements moved to a win-back list, not forgotten
9 · Reviewing, monthly
- Active agreements, and monthly recurring revenue
- Renewal rate — renewed ÷ (renewed + declined + lapsed)
- Visits outstanding across the whole book
- Margin by plan tier
- Agreement penetration — live agreements ÷ total customers
- Customers with no agreement, sorted by lifetime value
- Decline reasons, read rather than filed
The eight that cost the most when missed
| # | Missed check | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cost to deliver never calculated | A tier that loses money on every renewal |
| 2 | Priced by markup while budgeting by margin | Roughly twenty points, every agreement |
| 3 | Repair discount left out of the costing | Overstated margin on the tier you sell most |
| 4 | Covered equipment not listed by serial | The most common dispute there is |
| 5 | First visit not booked at the point of sale | The visit that proves the plan was worth buying |
| 6 | Overdue visits not visible | The main reason agreements do not renew |
| 7 | No report after the visit | Nothing for the customer to remember at renewal |
| 8 | Renewal started at 10 days, not 90 | A decision made under time pressure, which is a decline |
From checklist to system
Print this. It works.
It works better when it does not depend on anyone remembering: plans defined once so the exclusions cannot be forgotten, every included visit existing as a record with a due date, overdue ones on the dashboard, reports generated from the visit rather than written afterwards, and renewals appearing on a list ninety days out with the visits-used column beside them.
See it working → Plans, agreements, visits, reports and renewals against a fictional contractor's book. No signup.
Related
- HVAC Maintenance Agreement Software →
- How to Create an HVAC Maintenance Agreement →
- Increasing Renewal Rates →
Want these checks built into how your office already works? Talk to BDEVY →
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