Free guide — for HVAC, plumbing & home-service owners
Build the maintenance-agreement book buyers pay multiples for.
A one-off repair is a coin flip on whether that customer ever calls you again. An agreement turns them into scheduled, dues-paying visits — the recurring book that smooths your slow season, feeds your replacement work, and is the single most documented value driver when you sell. Here’s how to build it, the benchmarks buyers actually check, and how to run it without adding office staff.
The short answer
Start one simple plan you can actually deliver, offer it on every completed job, then keep the book healthy by scheduling the visits you sold and chasing renewals before they lapse. Aim for the published benchmarks buyers check: ~1,000 active agreements per $1M of revenue and 85%+ annual renewal. A book at that quality is worth roughly 2–3× its annual recurring value on top of your multiple when you sell.
The valuator is free and takes about a minute. If you want Morthn to run the program, it’s from $1,997/mo — Live in 14 days, or you owe nothing.
Why a maintenance-agreement book beats chasing one-off jobs
The book does three things a pile of one-off tickets never will. It’s worth being clear-eyed about all three before you decide how hard to push it.
Recurring revenue you can count on
A one-off repair is a coin flip on whether that customer ever calls you again. An agreement turns them into scheduled, dues-paying visits — revenue that shows up whether or not the phone rings that week. The industry association reports recurring service agreements now make up a majority of HVACR industry revenue.
The pipeline for replacement work
Agreement members are the people whose systems you already know and already touch twice a year. When a unit finally fails, the member calls you first — the book quietly feeds your highest-ticket replacement jobs instead of sending them to whoever answered on Google.
The single biggest lever on your sale price
When you eventually sell, a maintenance-agreement book is the most documented value driver in trades M&A. Advisors report the book valued at roughly 2–3× its annual recurring value on top of the multiple applied to the rest of the business (Breakwater M&A).
The three numbers a buyer checks first
These are published benchmarks, not our opinion — the same figures a serious buyer or broker will hold your book against. Know them before anyone else runs them on you.
The published operator benchmark is at least 1,000 active agreements per $1 million of revenue, with top performers at 1,500. Among large consolidator-model companies, those with 1,000+ agreements ran over 20% pretax operating profit.
The published benchmark is 85% or higher annual renewal. Buyers scrutinize the book’s quality over its raw count — renewal, churn, whether the included tune-ups are actually being delivered, pricing, and customer tenure.
M&A advisors report agreement revenue valued at roughly 2–3× its annual recurring value in addition to the base multiple. The most HVAC-specific brokers caution that this premium usually shows up as higher earnings and retention rather than a literal per-agreement price.
See your own numbers: the free agreement-book valuator takes your agreement count, dues, revenue, and renewal rate and shows your density, your indicative book premium, and the dollar value of closing the gap to the benchmarks — no signup to see the figure.
How to build the book — four steps that actually move it
None of this is complicated. The reason most shops never hit the density benchmark isn’t a bad offer — it’s that the four steps below only happen when someone owns them consistently.
Design one plan you can actually deliver
Pick a simple monthly or annual price, define exactly what a member gets (typically two seasonal tune-ups, priority scheduling, and a repair discount), and make sure the visits you promise are visits your crew can staff. A plan you can’t deliver is churn waiting to happen — and delivery is exactly what a buyer checks.
Ask on every job, every time
The book grows one conversation at a time: every completed repair and install is the moment to offer the plan, while the customer is happy and the value is obvious. The reason most shops never hit the density benchmark is not a bad offer — it’s that nobody asks consistently.
Schedule the visits you already sold
Agreements die when the tune-ups you charged for never get booked. Pre-season, every member needs to be reached, scheduled, and reminded — spring for cooling, fall for heat. This is recurring administrative work that scales with the book, and it’s where owner-run programs quietly stall.
Chase renewals and dues before they lapse
Every membership has a renewal date and a payment. Holding 85%+ renewal means someone works the expiring and failed-payment list every month, in your voice, before a member drifts. Miss it and the book leaks from the top while you’re adding to the bottom.
What can be run for you — and what stays with your crew
The growth lever is consistency, and consistency is exactly what stalls when you’re running the business. Here’s the honest split of what a managed layer runs and what will always be yours. The memberships module is live but in beta — we tell you which parts are which before you pay.
Morthn runs it for you
- Offering the plan on the follow-up after a completed job
- Reaching members to schedule pre-season tune-ups
- Reminders so the visits you sold actually get booked
- Working the renewal and failed-dues list every month, in your voice
- Tracking the renewal-rate and density metrics buyers ask for
Stays with you
- The hands-on tune-up and repair work itself
- Pricing the plan and what it includes
- Any judgment call on a member dispute or exception
The full home-services build (memberships plus the missed-call, review, and paperwork layers) is $4,997/mo flat — see exactly what’s included.
See it on your book
Run your own agreement book through it.
Put in your agreement count, dues, revenue, and renewal rate. You’ll see your density against the 1,000-per-$1M benchmark, your indicative book premium, and the dollar value of closing the gap — the honest version of “what is this book actually worth,” on your own numbers.
No card, no signup for the valuator · if you run the program with us, from $1,997/mo + $1,997 setup, month-to-month · Live in 14 days, or you owe nothing.
Also losing jobs before they ever become members? See the free missed-call revenue audit.
Questions owners ask
Straight answers.
How do I start an HVAC maintenance-agreement program?
Design one simple plan you can actually deliver (usually two seasonal tune-ups, priority scheduling, and a repair discount at a monthly or annual price), then offer it on every completed job while the customer is happy. The program grows one conversation at a time. The operational work that decides whether it sticks is scheduling the visits you sold and chasing renewals and dues before they lapse — that recurring admin is what most owner-run programs never keep up with.
How many maintenance agreements should an HVAC company have?
The published operator benchmark (Gary Elekes, EGIA Contractor University, via Contractor magazine) is at least 1,000 active agreements per $1 million of revenue, with top performers at 1,500. Among large consolidator-model companies, those with 1,000+ agreements ran over 20% pretax operating profit. Run your own revenue against that ratio to see your density gap — the free agreement-book valuator does the math.
What renewal rate should a maintenance-agreement book hold?
The published benchmark is 85% or higher annual renewal. Buyers scrutinize book quality over raw count: renewal rate, churn, whether the included tune-ups are actually delivered, pricing, and customer tenure. Holding that rate takes someone working the expiring and failed-payment list every month — reminders and re-signs before a member drifts.
What is a maintenance-agreement book worth when I sell my business?
M&A advisors report recurring-agreement revenue valued at roughly 2–3× its annual recurring value in addition to the EBITDA multiple applied to the rest of the business, and companies with majority service revenue command multiples one to two turns higher. The honest calibration from the most HVAC-specific brokers: buyers always ask for the agreement count, but the premium typically shows up as higher earnings and retention rather than a literal per-agreement price. The free valuator estimates your indicative book premium from your own numbers.
Do maintenance agreements matter beyond the sale price?
Yes — the valuation premium is the end result, but the operating benefit arrives every month first. Agreements convert one-time customers into scheduled recurring relationships, smooth out slow seasons, and become the pipeline for your highest-ticket replacement work. The industry association reports recurring service agreements now represent a majority of HVACR industry revenue.
Can I grow the book without hiring office staff?
The growth lever is consistency — asking on every job, scheduling every pre-season visit, and chasing every renewal and failed payment — which is exactly the recurring admin that stalls when an owner is running the business. Morthn runs that layer for you: the plan offer after a completed job, pre-season scheduling and reminders, and the monthly renewal-and-dues chase in your voice, with the renewal-rate and density metrics tracked. The tune-up work stays with your crew; pricing and judgment calls stay with you. The memberships module is live but in beta, and we tell you which parts are which before you pay.