HVAC flat rate book: build a price book your techs can use

How an HVAC flat rate book is organized

Most books move from category to task to option. A category might be Cooling repairs or Thermostats and controls. A task is one named job, such as replacing a contactor, with a customer description and a fixed price. Options let one task appear as a basic repair or a more complete fix, and a member price sits beside the standard price. TierMenu mirrors that shape: categories, tasks with labor hours and material lines, per-task options on proposals, and a member discount rule. The starter library supplies task names only, for example condensate drain clearing, contactor replacement, blower motor replacement, capacitor replacement, thermostat replacement and refrigerant leak check. You choose which to keep and set every price.

Start with tasks your technicians actually quote

Build the book around service calls and replacement work that your team performs repeatedly. Use plain names for familiar work such as a capacitor replacement, condensate drain service, thermostat change or system replacement assessment. Group tasks by the way a technician searches in the field: system, symptom, component or job type. A useful category should help someone find the right task quickly, not mirror an accounting chart that only the office understands. Keep descriptions specific enough to distinguish similar work, and note what is included so two technicians do not interpret the same line differently. TierMenu's starter library provides task names and descriptions as a starting point; your shop decides which tasks to keep and what each one costs.

Use your own labor and material assumptions

A flat rate is only dependable when its inputs reflect your business. TierMenu calculates labor from the hours and billable rate you set, then applies your material costs and markup tiers. Optional fixed fees and your selected rounding rule can also be part of the calculation. Owners can review cost and gross margin, while technicians see the sell price and customer-facing description rather than the shop's private cost data. Before you price a task, check that the expected labor covers setup, diagnosis, cleanup and any return visit that is genuinely part of the defined scope. Record material assumptions in the task so the next review has a clear starting point.

Make the customer-facing scope easy to understand

The task name is only one part of a good price-book entry. A homeowner should be able to tell what the technician proposes to do, what equipment or area it applies to, and which conditions would change the scope. Avoid language that promises a result outside your control or hides a necessary limitation. If inspection is needed before the final scope is known, create a diagnostic or assessment task rather than presenting a repair as certain. A clear description helps the technician explain the work, gives the office a consistent record and makes a later invoice easier to understand. Keep internal notes separate from text the customer will see.

Review the book when inputs or work change

A price book should be maintained, not treated as a one-time spreadsheet. Review labor assumptions when your billable rate changes, and revisit material costs when supplier pricing or the parts you use change. Review task hours when technicians report that a job routinely takes longer than expected, but do not change a rate to compensate for unclear scope. Check that retired equipment or obsolete parts are no longer offered as current work. Use a small, deliberate review cycle: identify the tasks affected, compare current assumptions with the work performed, then update descriptions and prices together. TierMenu recalculates formula-based task prices when you update pricing rules; manually priced tasks remain explicitly identified.

Keep field use practical

The price book is meant to support a conversation at the home, not make a technician navigate a large administrative catalog. Favor searchable names, useful categories and a short customer description. If you need several related repairs, select them as separate tasks so the homeowner can see what is included and the office can understand what was approved. Good-better-best proposals can group distinct solutions into options, while optional add-ons remain separate from the selected option. Review the final presentation on a phone before using a task with customers. TierMenu works alongside scheduling, dispatch, GPS, payroll and accounting tools; it is not a field-service management replacement.

A final review before making a task available

Before activating a new HVAC task, ask someone who performs the work to read its description and confirm the expected steps. Check whether the task includes diagnosis, parts, testing, cleanup and disposal, or whether any of those items require a separate line. Make the customer-facing wording match the actual service visit rather than an idealized procedure. Then have the owner inspect the labor and material assumptions and compare them with the company's own records. If a task has several possible outcomes, split it into clear choices or start with an assessment. This review keeps the catalog useful for technicians and reduces the chance that a customer approves wording that does not match the work the shop intends to provide.

How it works in TierMenu

1. Step 1

   Load task names

   Pick starter tasks or import your own CSV. Labor hours and material costs start empty.

2. Step 2

   Price from your inputs

   Enter billable rate, parts costs and markup tiers. TierMenu calculates each task price and shows owners cost and margin.

3. Step 3

   Use it in the field

   Technicians search the book, add tasks to a proposal and show the customer price without seeing your costs.

TierMenu, a spreadsheet and a paper price book

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