Home services / HVAC
Run peak week without losing
the calls that pay for it.
We map how your HVAC company runs, service and install, demand call to collections, and build one system to carry it.
The first heat wave is when the phones outrun the desk, and the missed demand call books the next contractor.
It might have been a five-figure changeout.
Same root cause: a call board that never connects to the books. We close that gap and stay until your CSRs, your dispatcher, and your comfort advisor run it daily.
Service + install
The club · tune-ups · changeouts
Setup live in 12 weeks
Trained role by role
One record, seven links
Your whole dispatch day, on one job record.
From the demand call to the deposit cleared, each link feeds the next instead of starting over. Every role works from the same screen.
Link 01 · Demand call
The CSR takes the call and it becomes a job, priced flat rate off the book. And when peak week outruns the desk and a call rings out, the agent drafts the text-back and holds a slot; your office reviews and sends it within minutes.
Link 02 · The club pitch
The tech closes the repair in the driveway, and the agreement offer rides the invoice. The demand call becomes a club member instead of a stranger you fixed once and never saw again.
Link 03 · Renewals
The anniversary queues its own renewal draft for the office to review and send. No spreadsheet, no member lapsing in silence and taking the future changeout along. Renewal rate becomes a number you read.
Link 04 · Turnover + changeout
The comfort advisor gets the tech's turnover on the job record, not on a napkin. Grown scope invoices with the job, not after it.
Link 05 · Paperwork
The job ticket posts from the driveway the day the work happens. Closed Tuesday is entered Tuesday, not found Friday under the seat of the truck.
Link 06 · Invoice
The bill is drafted the day the job closes, built from the actual work record, service and changeout alike. Your office approves and sends it; the gap between finished and billed goes to zero.
Link 07 · Collections + books
Day 31 drafts the reminder on the replacement invoice, the biggest ticket you write; your office clicks send. Each job posts to the books once, and the weekend reconciliation goes back to being a weekend.
Built for HVAC reality
You run a dispatch business. The system should already know that.
The club, the shoulder season, the changeout, the callback: if your software needs these explained, you become its translator. The blueprint maps them before anything gets configured.
The club
Two visits a year, spring AC and fall furnace, billed on a schedule you approve once. Agreement customers outspend non-members over their lifetime, and the agreement's real product is the future changeout. Strong club programs live on renewal rate, so renewal rate is a number you read, not a guess.
Maintenance agreements · renewal rate
The shoulder season
The dead zones between cooling and heating peaks are when tune-up routes fill the board and when operators fix their operations. The setup runs in a post-peak window, so the system is proven before the next first heat wave, not during it.
Sep to Oct · Jan to Feb
The changeout
The tech's turnover becomes a comfort advisor lead on the job record, not a note on a dashboard. On install day the extra line set, the added return, and the second day attach to the same job, so the flat quote stops eating grown scope.
Turnovers · install vs service
Flat rate and callbacks
Flat rate and T&M both post clean from the driveway. Callbacks land against the job and the tech, so return trips on your dime become a number you manage instead of a rumor.
Priced from the book · tracked per tech
The refrigerant transition
New residential systems must use refrigerants under 700 GWP since January 1, 2025: R-454B, R-32, a re-priced book, and cylinders to track. A pricebook you update once beats a binder every truck marks up differently. EPA 608 stays on file per tech, where dispatch can see it.
Revenue per tech
You cannot hire your way out of the tech shortage, so the shop that wins runs more revenue per tech: fewer callbacks, tighter dispatch, an average ticket you can see, and no Friday spent catching up on Tuesday's paperwork.
The shortage math
The numbers, sourcedEvery figure linked
Numbers are rare on this site. When one appears, it carries its source.
US HVAC contracting is a $159.4B industry, growing 2.6% a year.
About 110,000 HVAC positions sit unfilled across the US.
The average repair ticket rose from $818 to $1,205, and repair's share of revenue from 21.6% to 31.3%, Q4 2021 to Q4 2025.
A full system replacement averages about $7,500, typically $5,000 to $12,500.
Agents draft · people approve
The agents work your call board. Your office approves every move.
Three agents start on the biggest HVAC leaks. Every action is logged, and a person approves anything that touches money or a customer.
Agent file 01
Missed-call recovery
Peak week, after hours, and the renewal about to lapse. A call rings out; the agent drafts the text-back within a minute, captures the job, and holds the slot. Your office approves the message before it sends.
The heat-wave call board
Agent file 02
Job-to-cash
The tech closes in the driveway; the agent drafts the flat-rate invoice the same day. Changeout extras attach to the job, agreement billing runs on the approved schedule, and the approved record posts to the books once.
Close to invoice, same day
Agent file 03
Collections
Day 31 on the replacement invoice, the biggest ticket you write. Net-30 commercial gets its reminder drafted with job history attached, and financing gets tracked to funding. Your office clicks send.
Day 31 · your tone
Your fourth agent is whatever your blueprint finds. Every operation leaks differently; the blueprint decides the roster.
The honest comparison
You outgrew one. You can't justify the other.
Who designs your process
Housecall Pro
You, alone
Arkode
Mapped with you, signed as a blueprint
ServiceTitan
You, alone
The club: renewals, turnovers, changeout extras
Housecall Pro
Left to the office to carry
Arkode
On the job record, built in
ServiceTitan
Configured separately, on enterprise terms
Field connected to your books
Housecall Pro
The office re-keys into QuickBooks
Arkode
Invoice flows from job close to accounting
ServiceTitan
Yes, on enterprise terms
Setup and adoption
Housecall Pro
Self-serve
Arkode
12 weeks, training by role, 30 or more days post go-live
ServiceTitan
Configured, then handed off
A guarantee your team uses it
Housecall Pro
No
Arkode
In writing, quoted below
ServiceTitan
No
Pricing model
Housecall Pro
Per user, published
Arkode
Project-priced, blueprint first
ServiceTitan
Per tech per month, quoted after the demo
Want the per-tech math for your own crew count? Run the cost comparator. Every assumption is editable and cited; ServiceTitan publishes no pricing, so the defaults are third-party estimates, never ours.
In writing
Two written commitments define the mapping and build phases.
"If at the end of Phase 1 you are not fully confident in the foundation we've built together, Arkode will return your full Phase 1 investment. No questions asked."
"Arkode does not leave until the system runs per the agreed blueprint."
Questions HVAC operators ask
Answered straight, or not at all.
How do I keep the phones answered during the first heat wave?
Put a floor under the call board. When a demand call rings out, the agent drafts the text-back within a minute and holds a slot; your office approves and sends it before the caller reaches the next contractor on the list. Peak week does not get shorter; the calls stop falling off the edge of it.
How do I grow the club and stop renewals from lapsing?
Put the agreement on the job record instead of a spreadsheet. The offer rides the repair invoice, the anniversary queues its own renewal draft for the office to send, and renewal rate becomes a number you read, not a guess. Agreement customers outspend non-members over their lifetime, and the agreement's real product is the future changeout; a lapsed member walks off with it.
Can one system keep up with the refrigerant transition?
Yes, because the pricebook is one record, not a binder. New residential systems must use lower-GWP refrigerants like R-454B and R-32 since January 1, 2025, which means re-priced equipment and cylinders to track. You update the flat-rate book once and every tech quotes from the same page the same day.
How long does the setup take, and when should we do it?
Twelve weeks: four weeks of mapping that end in a signed blueprint, then eight weeks of build. Most shops start in a post-peak window, September to October or January to February, so the system is proven before the next peak, not during it. Phase 1 carries a written refund guarantee, quoted in full above.
30 minutes · no deck
Walk us through one HVAC job, demand call to collection.
Thirty minutes, no deck. We tell you whether the method fits and what the first mapping step would cover. If we can't help, we say so.