Your busy season pays for your slow season. You should know by how much.

• 01

  Seasonality that shows up in the numbers

  Summer surplus and winter shortfall separated out, so you can see what a slow month actually costs and plan for it instead of absorbing it.

• 02

  Maintenance agreement margins

  Recurring agreement revenue tracked against what it costs to service. Most owners find they have been underpricing for years.

• 03

  Install versus service

  The two sides of the business carry very different margins. Split apart, they change how you quote.

• HVAC

  I was doing books at the kitchen table at 11 at night after a full day of service calls. My wife finally told me it wasn't sustainable. First month ADB took over, they found $12,000 in expenses I'd never categorized right — parts, fuel, the works. I got my evenings back and I found out I'd been underpricing my maintenance agreements for two years.

• HVAC

  In summer we're drowning, in winter we're wondering where the money went. Nobody I'd worked with before understood that rhythm. These guys built the books so I can actually see what my slow months cost me, and now I plan for them instead of panicking in February.

• HVAC

  Honestly I said yes because the first month was free and I figured I'd get what I paid for. Then I got the report back and it was cleaner than anything my last bookkeeper sent me in 5 years. I signed on the same week.

All client results

• How should an HVAC company track maintenance agreement revenue?+

  In its own income account, separate from install and service. Agreement revenue is the only genuinely flat line in an HVAC business, and mixed into service revenue it disappears inside the seasonal swing. Tracked separately you can also measure it against what the visits cost to deliver, which is how you find out whether the agreements are priced against current labour and fuel or against costs from five years ago.

• Should install and service be reported separately?+

  Yes, and it is usually the finding that changes how owners quote. Install invoices are larger, which makes them feel like the business, but install is the most price-competitive work you do and carries heavier equipment and labour cost plus years of warranty exposure. Measured as gross profit per crew-day rather than per invoice, service frequently wins.

• How do you handle the seasonal cash flow swing?+

  By reporting monthly rather than annually, so the shape of the year is visible, and by working out what each slow month actually costs — your overhead in that month against the gross margin you generate in it. That figure is the cash you need set aside before you reach it, and it is far easier to reserve in July than to find in February.

• What does the free first month include for an HVAC business?+

  Your most recent complete month done in full: every transaction categorized, accounts reconciled, a P&L and balance sheet, install and service separated, agreement revenue tracked, and a one-page plain-English summary. A US CPA reviews and signs it. Delivered within two days, no card, and you keep the work whether or not you continue.