HVAC estimating software that wins more jobs

Every HVAC price is built from five pieces:

1. Labor: the hours for each part of the job, times a rate that covers your costs.
2. Equipment: the units themselves, at your cost plus a markup.
3. Parts and materials: line set, fittings, refrigerant, pad, disconnect, drain parts, duct and registers.
4. The visit: the diagnostic or service call fee, and after-hours rates.
5. Permits and disposal: the permit, the inspection, and recovering and disposing of the old unit.

What goes on an HVAC estimate

These are the lines a typical residential HVAC job carries, and how each is usually counted. BuildWell has no built-in lines for HVAC, so the AI drafts the lines and their hours, and you set them.

Labor and materials keep their own units

In BuildWell, the work on each line is counted by the piece, the square foot or the linear foot, and materials keep their own units.

A line set is linear feet, a condenser is one piece, and refrigerant can be pounds inside the recharge line.

Repairs: price the visit, then the fix

Price the visit and the repair separately:

• The diagnostic or service call covers the drive, the time to find the problem and the truck stock you carry. Charge it on every call.
• The repair is the part plus the time to install and test it.

Many contractors credit the diagnostic toward the repair if the homeowner goes ahead. Whatever you decide, write it in your terms.

After-hours and weekend calls usually carry a higher rate; add it as its own line.

Replacements: list every part of the job

A changeout quote should list everything the job needs:

• Removal: recovering the refrigerant, disconnecting and hauling the old unit.
• Equipment: outdoor unit, indoor unit or furnace, and coil, matched to each other.
• Line set: reused and flushed, or replaced, with its length.
• Electrical: disconnect, whip, and whether the circuit is sized for the new unit.
• Drain: condensate line, trap, pump or safety switch.
• Controls: the thermostat, and wiring if it needs more conductors.
• Startup: charging, testing and walking the homeowner through the system.

Size from a load calculation, not the old unit

Size the system from a load calculation, not from the old unit's tonnage. The old unit may not have been sized right, and the right size changes the price.

Your labor rate covers more than wages

What you pay a technician isn't your labor rate. Your rate has to cover:

• wages, payroll taxes and workers' comp
• liability insurance
• the truck, the tools, gauges and recovery equipment
• the unbilled hours: driving, training, warranty callbacks and quoting

Then it needs a profit.

How BuildWell prices each hour

BuildWell builds each hour's price in three steps:

1. Wage: a local wage from Bureau of Labor Statistics data. BuildWell's wage data covers construction trades, so HVAC lines start from a construction wage, not an HVAC technician wage.
2. Overhead: your labor overhead, which starts at 100% and doubles the wage.
3. Markup: your labor markup, which starts at 20%.

What a changeout's labor comes to

Example: Say a technician costs you $30 an hour in wages. Use your real number. Say a straight condenser and coil changeout takes two technicians a full day, 16 hours:

• Wages: 16 × $30 = $480
• With 100% overhead: $960
• With 20% markup: $1,152 for labor

Equipment, parts, permit and disposal come on top.

Price equipment at cost, then mark up

Price equipment at your distributor cost, and parts at what they cost near the job this week. Then add a markup that covers the pickup, the warranty paperwork and the parts that come back.

Material markup starts at 20% in BuildWell; change it on any estimate.

Quote this week's refrigerant prices

Refrigerant and equipment prices have moved as the industry shifts to lower-GWP refrigerants under EPA rules. Price what you can actually buy this week, not what you paid last season.

Put the permit on its own line

Many jurisdictions require a permit to replace HVAC equipment. Add your permit fee as a line. In BuildWell, a flat permit fee is added automatically when the estimate includes permits.

The guide to pricing HVAC jobs prices service calls, tune-ups and a condenser and coil changeout from your own hours.

Pay depends on your mix of work

What HVAC contractors earn depends on the mix of work. Pay varies between metro areas, with experience and with certifications. Many HVAC businesses are busiest in the hottest and coldest months.

Owners earn the margin between what they charge and what the work costs. That's why your labor rate and your equipment markup matter more than any wage table.

Self-employment tax is 15.3% of net earnings

As a sole proprietor or single-member LLC, you pay self-employment tax on your net earnings: 15.3% in total.

• Social Security, 12.4%: applies to net earnings up to the Social Security wage base, which is $184,500 for 2026.
• Medicare, 2.9%: applies to all of it.
• Deduction: you can deduct half of the self-employment tax on your income tax return.

That's on top of federal and state income tax. Set aside part of every payment.

Pay quarterly estimated taxes

No one withholds tax from what homeowners pay you, so the IRS expects payments during the year on Form 1040-ES. They're usually due in mid-April, mid-June, mid-September and mid-January.

Track these deductions

HVAC businesses commonly deduct:

• tools, gauges and recovery equipment
• the business share of vans and trucks
• fuel
• insurance, license and certification fees
• training
• phone and software

Keep receipts and log mileage as you go.

Send a 1099-NEC to subcontractors you pay

If you pay an unincorporated subcontractor for services, you'll generally need to send them a Form 1099-NEC. For payments made in 2026 and later, that applies once you've paid them $2,000 or more in a year, up from $600 before 2026.

Collect a Form W-9 before you pay anyone.

Sales tax on equipment depends on your state

States treat HVAC work differently. Some have you pay sales tax when you buy equipment and parts; others have you charge it to the homeowner, and some tax repair labor too.

Check your state's revenue department. In BuildWell, sales tax applies to materials only, not labor, at the rate you set.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. A tax professional who works with contractors can tell you what applies to your state and business.