Maintenance agreements and recurring work

A maintenance agreement sets out recurring visits, the tasks included, and the price. Cost the visits before offering a plan, then put scheduling, renewal and cancellation terms in writing. Check whether the coverage you promise brings the plan under your state’s service-contract rules.

Distinguish scheduled maintenance from failure coverage

Homeowners say "maintenance agreement" and mean two different things. Which one you sell is the decision that matters.

Scheduled work. Two visits a year, a defined list of tasks, a member rate on repairs and first call on the schedule when the heat wave hits. That is a maintenance plan.

Coverage for failures. If the compressor dies, the plan pays for it. That is a service contract, and several states regulate those — registration and disclosure rules, sometimes through the insurance department. For example, Occupations Code ch. 1304 generally treats a promise to repair or replace on failure as a regulated service contract, but carves out exceptions, including one for an agreement issued by the manufacturer or merchant that sold the covered equipment — which can reach an HVAC contractor who sold and installed the system being covered. TDLR explains the registration requirements and exceptions. Whether your state draws this line the same way, and whether an exception like Texas's applies to you, is a question for TDLR or a local attorney, not a guess.

Stay on the maintenance side if you can. It is simpler to price and carries no promise you cannot cost out in advance.

Price the plan from the visit, not from the competitor

Start with what one visit costs you to deliver. The numbers below are made up to show the math — swap in your own labor rate and tune-up cost, since both swing hard by trade and metro. An HVAC tune-up, twice a year:

Burdened labor is wage plus payroll taxes, workers' comp and benefits, not the wage on the paystub. For the vehicle line, use your own cost per mile: fuel, insurance, maintenance and depreciation over miles driven. That is a costing number, not the IRS standard mileage rate, which is a deduction rate for your tax return (72.5 cents through June 30 2026, 76 cents from July 1 — current rates).

Two visits a year is $232 of real cost before you have earned a dollar. At a 35% target margin that needs a price of $357 a year: $232 / (1 - 0.35). If your one-off visits cost $189 each, two total $378. A $357 plan would save the customer about 6%; whether that is attractive depends on the work and terms.

That is the squeeze. At $299 the customer sees a real 21% saving and your margin on the visits falls to about 22%. Decide whether that margin covers the overhead and risk omitted from the visit-cost table. Predictable visits may help scheduling, but do not count on future repairs or replacements to cover a shortfall.

What it must never do is drop below $232. Repair work later is a hope, not a line item, and a slow year for breakdowns turns your best customers into your most expensive ones.

Billing the same plan three different ways

For the same example visit package, these fictional terms produce different annual charges. The cancellation outcomes are assumptions to write into the agreement, subject to applicable law:

Prepayment brings cash in before the visits. State the refund method clearly and check it against applicable law. In the cancel-any-time example, a customer could receive an April visit and cancel in May, so test that outcome against your costs before setting the monthly price.

What the agreement says in writing

Include the following details, plus any notices and terms required where you sell the plan:

• Visits and windows — "one between March and May, one between September and November," not "twice yearly."
• The task list — itemized, per visit. This is the whole product.
• Excluded and billed separately — parts, refrigerant, oversize filters, after-hours calls, equipment not listed.
• Equipment covered — make, model and location. One furnace, not "the house."
• Member pricing — the discount as a percentage, and whether it covers parts, labor or both.
• Who schedules — you or them, and what happens if they skip a window.
• Transfer on sale — does the plan follow the house or end at closing.
• Renewal and cancellation — the term, whether it renews on its own, at what price, and how to get out.

That last line is the one most likely to get you a complaint. Several states regulate auto-renewing consumer contracts — how clearly you disclose the renewal, whether notice goes out before it renews, how easy cancelling has to be — and the triggers differ, with no national standard to build one document against. For example, California’s Automatic Renewal Law was amended by AB 2863 for contracts entered into, amended or extended on or after 1 July 2025 (Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17600 ff.). Do not read it as the rule where you work.

Federal requirements still matter. The FTC’s 2026 rulemaking notice confirms that the broader click-to-cancel amendment was vacated in July 2025, but existing laws remain. For online recurring-charge sales, ROSCA requires clear material terms, express informed consent before charging, and a simple way to stop recurring charges. Telephone sales and payment methods can bring other rules into play. Have the proposed sales process and wording reviewed for the jurisdictions you serve.

Offering it at the end of a job

One opportunity to explain a plan is when the repair is done, the panel is open, and the customer can see what you were dealing with. Say what happens next year, then price it.

For a fictional plan with equipment instructions calling for that service, you might say: "This coil will need the same clean in about twelve months. I can put you on the maintenance plan — two visits, $299 a year, repairs 15% off. Or you call me and pay $189 a visit. Same work either way." Then stop talking.

Then say the renewal terms out loud before they sign.

Cancellation rights for home sales. The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule gives buyers three business days to cancel many home sales of $25 or more and requires written cancellation notice (16 CFR part 429). Section 429.0(a)(5) excludes a transaction when the buyer initiates contact and specifically requests a home visit to repair or maintain their personal property. A request to repair real property does not qualify for that exception merely because the buyer asked. The exception does not cover additional goods or services beyond necessary replacement parts, so a maintenance plan sold during the visit can be covered by the rule. Check other coverage conditions, exceptions and state requirements before preparing notices. See the three-day right to cancel.

You can save the plan’s selling price and visit description as a service in DoneQuote. Check the drafted quote against the plan: visit count, tasks, discount terms, renewal and cancellation wording all need to match what you intend to offer.

Measure renewals and profit from the plan

Renewal rate is how many plans due to renew actually did. Trade publications print renewal-rate averages, but they run on whatever the vendor self-reported, so don't anchor on them. Watch your own number instead, and watch which way it moves. If the rate falls, ask why customers leave; price, moving house, service quality and changing needs can all matter.

Revenue per member is the plan price plus every repair, part and replacement that member bought that year. Subtract the costs of all those services before judging profitability. Revenue alone does not establish whether the plan earns enough.