HVAC
Price a commercial RTU maintenance agreement from actual scope
Price each rooftop unit's tasks, then add the trips, roof access, materials, reporting, overhead, and margin needed to deliver the agreement.
Direct answer
Price a commercial rooftop unit (RTU) maintenance agreement by totaling the hours for each unit's scheduled tasks, travel, roof access, and reporting; multiply those hours by loaded labor cost, add consumables, direct expenses, contingency, and allocated overhead, then divide by one minus your target profit margin. Quote the verified equipment and task calendar. In the typical eight-unit example below, that method produces an $8,640 annual maintenance price, with repairs excluded and a separate $420 onboarding survey.
On this page
How do you price a commercial RTU maintenance agreement?What must you verify before quoting?Which tasks belong in the maintenance scope?How many visits does each RTU need?How do access and travel change the labor allowance?Worked example: eight rooftop units for one yearHow does the example become an annual price?What changes the example price?Are repairs, refrigerant, and emergencies included?What refrigerant obligations belong in the scope?What to documentCommon mistakesField pricing checklistHow do you review the agreement at renewal?Finding buildings that fit the priced scopeStandards and referencesUnits and termsMethodologyOpen the related tool for the calculation, checklist, or packet.
FieldOS by AnvilfieldOffline-first FieldOS for job photos, proof packets, property memory, calculations, teams, billing, and owner-ready reports.How do you price a commercial RTU maintenance agreement?
Start with the equipment list and the work you will actually deliver. A maintenance-only agreement buys defined inspections, cleaning, adjustments, and consumables. Repair labor, replacement parts, emergency attendance, and refrigerant handling need their own coverage decisions. Write those decisions before attaching an annual number to the account.
Use person-hours throughout the estimate. Two technicians working three hours consume six person-hours. Keep shared site work separate from unit work: you unlock the roof hatch once per mobilization, but inspect eight filter racks if eight units are covered. This keeps unit count from multiplying the same travel allowance eight times or making access time disappear.
Calculate the annual account price first. Divide it by the covered unit count only afterward if the buyer wants a per-unit comparison. The result is a summary of this scope. It is not a rate to paste onto another roof with different equipment, access, or coverage.
Price = (direct cost + contingency + allocated overhead) / (1 - target profit margin)What must you verify before quoting?
Ask the owner for the equipment register, current agreement, recent service reports, deferred repairs, and access rules. Then reconcile the register on an authorized site visit. Put a durable identifier on the roof plan and match it to the nameplate. A building address and a count of rooftop cabinets are not enough to buy filters or assign labor.
Record who owns each unit and who approves spending. At a multi-tenant property, one roof can contain equipment belonging to several tenants. Include the spaces served and any shutdown restrictions so the service manager can schedule the work without discovering a tenant boundary during the first visit.
ASHRAE Standard 180-2018's public preview calls for an equipment inventory and a maintenance plan that identifies tasks, frequencies, responsibility, and completion records. Use that structure to organize the estimate. Obtain the applicable full standard and the exact equipment instructions before promising compliance; an inventory worksheet alone does not establish it. [1]
| Survey field | Record at the unit or with the owner | Pricing consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment identity | Tag, manufacturer, model, serial, heating type, capacity, and refrigerant data | Assign the correct task sheet and technician capability |
| Filters and drives | Actual filter sizes, quantities, approved media, belt count, and part numbers | Build quantities from the rack and drive |
| Controls | Economizer, controller access, operating schedule, and owner contact | Include functional checks and required coordination |
| Condition | Dated photos, reported faults, inspection limits, and deferred repairs | Separate baseline restoration from recurring service |
| Access | Parking, keys, hatch, carry route, water, escorts, and work windows | Price every mobilization and handling step |
| Authority | Equipment owner, purchase-order issuer, and repair approver | Send the proposal to the person who can authorize it |
Which tasks belong in the maintenance scope?
Write a task matrix for each equipment family. Give each line a frequency, a labor allowance, an included material quantity, a completion record, and a boundary for additional work. Words such as service, tune-up, and check system leave too much for the technician and buyer to interpret differently.
Carrier's 48TC service instructions distinguish routine inspection from seasonal cooling and heating work. That is useful evidence for separating the visit types, not permission to apply one model's checklist to every RTU. The table is a proposal worksheet: select the actual tasks and methods from the installed equipment instructions. [2]
Use explicit cleaning boundaries. State which coils are included, the planned method, access inputs, and whether disassembly is priced. Record the water source and the approved wash-water handling arrangement. A badly fouled coil that needs restoration belongs on the initial corrective-work sheet before it gets folded into a recurring cleaning allowance.
| Scope line | Make the inclusion measurable | Name the additional-work boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Filters | Specify size, media, quantity per unit, and planned changes | Extra changes or a different filter specification |
| Fan and drive | Define inspection, adjustment, and scheduled belt replacement | Motor, bearing, sheave, or drive repairs |
| Coils and drainage | Name the coil cleaning and pan, trap, and drain work | Coil removal, severe restoration, or drain reconstruction |
| Cooling operation | Identify required readings, conditions, and comparison basis | Diagnosis beyond the visit scope and refrigerant correction |
| Gas heating | Name the equipment-specific seasonal inspection and operating checks | Burner repairs, heat exchanger replacement, and gas-piping changes |
| Economizer and controls | Define functional observations and authorized setting checks | Actuator replacement, programming, and building-system integration |
| Closeout | Provide unit findings, completed tasks, photos, and deferred items | Separate investigations and specialist testing |
How many visits does each RTU need?
Set task frequency before choosing the contractor's visit calendar. Group compatible tasks into service rounds, then identify anything due between those rounds and assign a qualified party to perform it. Quarterly contractor attendance does not mean every maintenance task can wait three months.
The cited Carrier manual says to check its routine items monthly until an installation-specific schedule is established, and it separately lists quarterly and seasonal work. Its guidance illustrates why the calendar must follow the equipment and observed conditions. It does not establish a universal quarterly package. [2]
Agree on how the schedule will change when the records show it needs to change. If the owner performs between-visit observations, name the person, checklist, reporting route, and escalation trigger. If nobody can own that work, add contractor attendance and reprice it. Do not sell an incomplete maintenance program because four visits fit a familiar annual fee.
How do access and travel change the labor allowance?
Walk the route from the parked truck to the furthest unit. Time the sign-in, key collection, escort wait, material handling, water setup, and cleanup. List these as shared work per site day. A seasonal round that takes two days needs two trips and two access setups even though the proposal calls it one visit.
Price the actual safe work arrangement. Record roof edges, openings, ladders, and the required protection; assign any equipment or additional worker cost to the affected task. North Carolina's Department of Labor publishes the walking-surface and fall-protection requirements in its Subpart D reference. Confirm the requirements applicable to the actual site and work. [4] A labor allowance is not a safety plan.
Include equipment isolation and coordination in the task hours. The agency's Subpart J reference describes hazardous-energy procedures and the exchange of lockout information between the site employer and an outside service employer. Include that exchange in the visit plan. [3] Do not make the estimate work by leaving required preparation outside the clock.
Worked example: eight rooftop units for one year
One owner-operated office building has eight similar 7.5-ton gas/electric RTUs, each with four disposable filters and one belt. The inventory is verified. Existing faults and initial restoration are separately quoted and resolved before recurring service starts. This typical account has an approved maintenance plan with four contractor service rounds; qualified owner staff perform and log the assigned between-round observations. Their time is outside this contractor price.
The case uses a secure, usable roof hatch, a clear protected work route, daytime access, water available, and approved wash-water handling. The assessed work can be performed by one qualified technician without a lift or additional worker. No crane, rental equipment, parking charge, escort delay, overtime, subcontractor, or special disposal is required. These are conditions to verify, not defaults for an unfamiliar roof.
The modeled base task allowance is 0.75 person-hour per unit per round for the specified filters, drive and drainage checks, observations, and records. Spring adds 0.75 hour per unit for the scoped condenser-coil cleaning and cooling work. Fall adds 0.75 hour per unit for the scoped heating work and annual belt replacement. No major repair, internal coil restoration, airflow balancing, fire-alarm testing, or controls programming is included.
Spring and fall each require two site days. Summer and winter each require one. Each day adds one paid hour of round-trip travel, half an hour for shared access and handling, and half an hour for shared reporting and closeout. Those two shared hours are outside the unit allowances. Six days produce 36 equipment hours plus 12 shared hours, or 48 paid person-hours. Each planned day fits eight paid hours.
The loaded labor cost is $72 per hour, comprising $40 wages and $32 payroll burden and benefits. It excludes truck cost and company overhead. Filters cost $12 each delivered, belts $24 each, and cleaning consumables $20 per unit annually. Ordinary disposal costs $60 annually. Truck expense is $48 per mobilization and excludes the technician's paid travel time.
| Round | Unit work | Shared work |
|---|---|---|
| Spring cooling and cleaning | 8 x 1.50 hours = 12 hours | 2 days x 2 hours = 4 hours |
| Summer routine work | 8 x 0.75 hours = 6 hours | 1 day x 2 hours = 2 hours |
| Fall heating and belts | 8 x 1.50 hours = 12 hours | 2 days x 2 hours = 4 hours |
| Winter routine work | 8 x 0.75 hours = 6 hours | 1 day x 2 hours = 2 hours |
| Annual total | 8 x 4.50 hours = 36 hours | 6 days x 2 hours = 12 hours |
How does the example become an annual price?
Four filter changes across eight units with four filters each require 128 filters. Eight scheduled belt replacements require eight belts. Replacement labor is already inside the task allowances, so do not add it again when pricing the materials. All purchased-cost inputs below include freight and any purchase tax; any customer sales tax is outside the quoted service price and must be resolved for the actual jurisdiction.
Allocate $900 of annual company overhead to this account, covering office administration, scheduling, insurance, software, and ordinary tool costs not included elsewhere. Carry a contingency of 5% of direct cost for estimating uncertainty within the defined maintenance scope. It does not buy repair coverage. The business chooses a 20% planned profit margin after this overhead and contingency, before income tax.
Anvilfield research puts the cost basis at $6,876.60. Dividing by 0.80 produces $8,595.75; the proposal rounds upward to $8,640 per year. That equals twelve $720 installments or $1,080 per covered unit annually. Monthly billing spreads the annual charge; it does not add monthly service. The case uses bank payments with no extra transaction fee or financing allowance.
At $8,640, the planned remainder after direct cost, contingency, and allocated overhead is $1,763.40, about 20.4% of revenue. This is not a gross margin calculation on direct cost alone. Multiplying the same $6,876.60 cost basis by 1.20 yields $8,251.92 and only a 16.7% margin on that basis.
Add a separate onboarding survey: four paid person-hours, including its own travel, access, and record setup, at $72, plus one $48 truck expense. That costs $336 and sells for $420 at a 20% margin. For this example, the $900 account overhead covers the associated office work, and no additional onboarding contingency is carried. First-year contracted charges total $9,060 before customer sales tax, with corrective work still separate.
| Annual cost line | Calculation and amount |
|---|---|
| Labor | 48 person-hours x $72 = $3,456.00 |
| Filters | 8 units x 4 filters x 4 changes x $12 = $1,536.00 |
| Belts | 8 belts x $24 = $192.00 |
| Cleaning consumables | 8 units x $20 = $160.00 |
| Ordinary disposal | Annual allowance: $60.00 |
| Truck expense | 6 mobilizations x $48 = $288.00 |
| Direct cost | Sum of the six delivery lines: $5,692.00 |
| Contingency | 5% x $5,692 = $284.60 |
| Allocated overhead | Annual account allocation: $900.00 |
| Total cost basis | $5,692 + $284.60 + $900 = $6,876.60 |
| Calculated annual price | $6,876.60 / 0.80 = $8,595.75 |
| Quoted annual maintenance | Rounded upward: $8,640.00 |
What changes the example price?
Change one input at a time so the buyer can see what drives the difference. For the following alternatives, retain the $72 labor cost, $48 truck cost, 5% contingency on direct cost, 20% target margin, and unchanged $900 overhead allocation. Calculate each adjustment before rounding the revised annual proposal.
Two extra filter-only rounds add 64 filters at $12, twelve person-hours at $72, and two truck expenses at $48. Each new round includes four equipment hours plus two shared hours. Added direct cost is $1,728; with contingency and margin, the annual price increases $2,268. That is a priced change in service frequency, not a percentage surcharge.
If material handling instead requires a second worker for nine paid hours annually, including that worker's travel, add $648 direct labor. The worker rides in the same truck and no additional equipment is required. The price adjustment is $850.50. Recalculate it if the actual arrangement differs.
A route improvement saving half an hour of paid travel on each of six days removes three hours, or $216, of direct cost. Holding truck cost unchanged, the calculated price reduction is $283.50. Confirm the saved time in dispatch records before offering it. Shared travel savings do not reduce the work each RTU needs.
Are repairs, refrigerant, and emergencies included?
They are included only when the agreement expressly prices and covers them. This example covers scheduled maintenance and listed consumables. Additional diagnosis, repair parts and labor, refrigerant, after-hours calls, replacement equipment, and specialist work require separate authorization and billing. Put the same boundaries in the proposal and the technician's work order.
For labor-inclusive coverage, estimate repair frequency and hours from a comparable service history. For parts-and-labor coverage, add the expected covered parts, warranty recovery inputs, failure exposure, and the staffing needed to honor the promise. A small maintenance contingency is not a calculated allowance for a compressor failure.
Define a service-level agreement, or SLA, in operational terms: call acknowledgment, remote triage, dispatch, arrival, and restoration are different events. Identify covered hours and the person who approves overtime or temporary cooling. A promised arrival time does not guarantee that a replacement part is available. Price reserved capacity before committing to a response window.
What refrigerant obligations belong in the scope?
Record the refrigerant, equipment category, and full charge for each applicable appliance, using equipment records and the service history. Assign responsibility for maintaining those records and for deciding which regulatory provisions apply. A refrigerant top-off allowance is not a substitute for identifying the cause of a loss or the required response.
EPA's Section 608 page includes attaching and detaching pressure gauges among activities requiring technician certification, subject to its stated apprentice exception. Use appropriately certified personnel for covered work and price the time, records, and equipment it requires. [5]
EPA's current HFC FAQ says the leak-repair provisions at 40 CFR 84.106 apply to affected appliances beginning January 1, 2026. It also excludes appliances in the residential and light commercial air-conditioning and heat-pump subsector. Do not decide applicability from the building's commercial address or refrigerant quantity alone. Check the equipment's classification and the full rule before pricing compliance work. [6]
Where obligations apply, name who handles leak calculations, required repairs, verification, records, and follow-up. Price that work explicitly. Where a provision does not apply, retain the equipment's maintenance and refrigerant-handling requirements. Keep the service agreement's exclusions from being mistaken for a release from the owner's or contractor's obligations.
What to document
Keep the survey and estimate connected by equipment tag. Save the dated inventory, task-matrix revision, supplier quotes and validity dates, labor inputs, site-day plan, access notes, exclusions, and approved annual price. Include the actual agreement term, payment schedule, cancellation terms, and process for authorizing changes. Have the contract language reviewed for the jurisdiction where it will be used.
A weak note says, eight rooftops, quarterly service. A useful note identifies the eight tags, four service rounds over six site days, 128 filters, eight belts, the named coil-cleaning scope, owner-assigned observations, and the separately quoted deficiencies. That record lets dispatch buy the right stock and gives the buyer something concrete to compare.
After each round, retain the completed tasks, readings with operating conditions, photographs where useful, uncompleted items and reasons, owner notifications, and approved follow-up. Track equipment work separately from travel, access, and reporting. Those categories explain a cost overrun better than a single total of hours charged to the address.
Common mistakes
Counting service rounds instead of site days hides repeat travel. Counting units without inspecting the filter racks hides material quantities. Counting a two-person crew as one clock hides labor. Correct those three errors before debating a few dollars of markup.
Another mistake is treating every first-year problem as recurring maintenance. Record existing damage and deferred work before coverage starts. Otherwise the first visit consumes the annual cleaning allowance while the owner believes the price already included full restoration.
Do not subsidize an underpriced agreement with hoped-for repairs. The scheduled work must support its own delivery cost and the overhead assigned to it. Future repairs are separate purchasing decisions; the owner may defer them or hire someone else.
Field pricing checklist
Want this checklist to run itself on every job — with photo proof and a signed record crews can hand the customer? That's FieldOS.
How do you review the agreement at renewal?
Compare estimated and actual hours after the first service round, then review the full year before renewal. Separate a changed scope from a productivity miss. Extra equipment, restricted access, added filter changes, and heavier reporting need a revised scope. A missed filter size needs a corrected inventory and purchasing process.
Replace modeled materials and labor with your current costs. Revisit the overhead allocation and response staffing. Show the owner which tasks, quantities, or access conditions changed instead of presenting an unexplained percentage increase. Apply only the renewal and price-adjustment process the parties agreed to.
Finding buildings that fit the priced scope
Turn the completed estimate into a qualification profile: a serviceable rooftop inventory, manageable travel, workable access, a buyer who can authorize maintenance, and equipment your crew can support. Use the profile to decide which buildings deserve a survey. Avoid quoting the example's $1,080 per unit before confirming the actual tasks and site costs.
PorchRocket's rooftop HVAC list page describes building selection by visible rooftop equipment, area, business type, and building size. Use that destination to identify buildings to qualify, then ask for the equipment register, service history, access arrangements, and agreement review date. [7]
Treat an aerial equipment sighting as a research lead. Verify capacity, condition, model, ownership, and buying intent through records and an authorized visit. A matching building is not an owner requesting a quote. Carry the evidence and unanswered questions into the account record before committing survey time.
Standards and references
Source review for the November 5, 2026 edition: links accessed November 4, 2026. The Standard 180 preview is the 2018 edition; the Carrier service manual is dated May 2014 and applies only to its identified models. These publication dates do not establish the instructions or adopted requirements for another unit or jurisdiction.
The links support the maintenance-plan structure, equipment example, safety subjects, refrigerant scope, and product description. Local supplier prices, actual job conditions, applicable tax, and the full site-specific compliance basis remain inputs to verify before quoting.
ASHRAE: Standard 180-2018 public previewCarrier: 48TC sizes 04 through 16 service instructionsNorth Carolina Department of Labor: Subpart JNorth Carolina Department of Labor: Subpart DEPA: Section 608 technician certification requirementsEPA: HFC phasedown frequently asked questionsPorchRocket: buildings with rooftop HVAC unitsUnits and terms
- Person-hour
- One person's paid hour. Crew elapsed time must be multiplied by the number of people working.
- Service round
- One scheduled pass through the covered inventory; it may require several site days and mobilizations.
- Loaded labor cost
- The contractor's wage and employment burden per hour, with included cost categories stated explicitly.
- Allocated overhead
- The share of company operating costs assigned to the agreement and not already counted in direct costs.
- Profit margin on the stated cost basis
- Selling price minus the defined cost basis, divided by selling price; identify whether overhead and contingency are included.
Methodology
Counts, prices, work rates, schedules and outcomes in typical cases are inputs to the Anvilfield research model. Calculations use the stated scope, formulas, cost inclusions and exclusions. Cited public records and technical documents support their attributed facts. The cost model uses November 2026 planning inputs; actual payroll and purchasing costs follow the project requirements.
FAQ
How much should a commercial RTU maintenance agreement cost?
Build the price from verified task hours, materials, access, travel, overhead, and your chosen margin. The typical eight-unit estimate has a $6,876.60 annual cost basis and an $8,640 quoted annual price, plus a separate $420 onboarding survey. Repairs are excluded.
Should I price commercial HVAC maintenance per unit or per square foot?
Build the price from equipment and tasks, then express the result per unit if useful. Floor area alone does not count filters, heating sections, required trips, or roof-access time. A per-unit number remains specific to the inventory and scope used to calculate it.
Are four RTU maintenance visits a year enough?
Only if the complete maintenance plan assigns every required task at its proper frequency. Some observations or tasks may fall between contractor rounds. Verify the equipment instructions and actual conditions, and name who performs and records the intervening work.
Are filters, belts, and coil cleaning included in an RTU agreement?
They are included when the written scope lists them. Specify filter quantities and changes, belt quantities, the coils to be cleaned, and the cleaning boundaries. The example includes 128 filters, eight belts, and its defined annual condenser-coil cleaning work.
Does commercial RTU maintenance include refrigerant and repairs?
Not in this maintenance-only example. Refrigerant work, additional diagnosis, repair parts and labor, and emergency calls require separate approval and billing. If the buyer wants them included, estimate the coverage using equipment condition, service history, and the actual response commitment.
What is the difference between markup and margin?
Markup is measured against cost; margin is measured against selling price. A 20% markup gives a 16.7% margin on the same cost basis. To obtain a 20% margin, divide that cost basis by 0.80 and state whether it includes overhead and contingency.
How do I price a roof that requires a second technician?
Add the second person's paid hours and any extra travel, equipment, or handling costs required by the actual work arrangement. The example's nine added person-hours cost $648 directly and increase the calculated price by $850.50 under its stated contingency and margin inputs.
Can I quote RTU maintenance from aerial images?
No. An aerial count alone cannot support a firm maintenance price. Use it to select buildings for qualification, then verify the equipment, task list, access, and responsibility before quoting. The image does not establish model, service condition, filter quantities, or the owner's interest in an agreement.
People also ask
Codes cited in this guide
This guide is written and reviewed against the published standards below. Always confirm the current adopted edition with the authority having jurisdiction.
Sources checked
- ASHRAE: Standard 180-2018 public preview Reviewed November 4, 2026. Sections 4.3.1 and 4.3.2 support inventory and task-plan structure. The preview is not the full standard or proof of site compliance.
- Carrier: 48TC sizes 04 through 16 service and maintenance instructions Reviewed November 4, 2026. May 2014 manual, page 3: routine, quarterly, and seasonal maintenance distinctions for the identified models. No example labor times or prices come from this manual.
- North Carolina Department of Labor: Subpart J, General Environmental Controls Reviewed November 4, 2026. Includes 1910.147 hazardous-energy program requirements and coordination between the site and outside service employers. Confirm the applicable jurisdiction and work classification.
- North Carolina Department of Labor: Subpart D, Walking and Working Surfaces Reviewed November 4, 2026. Primary state agency reference for walking surfaces, access, and fall-protection subjects. The article does not prescribe a universal rooftop protection arrangement.
- EPA: Section 608 technician certification requirements Reviewed November 4, 2026. Certification scope includes attaching and detaching pressure gauges; the page states the closely supervised apprentice exception.
- EPA: Frequent questions on the phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons Reviewed November 4, 2026. Leak-repair FAQ gives the January 1, 2026 applicability date and the residential and light commercial air-conditioning and heat-pump subsector exclusion. Equipment applicability requires a separate check.
- PorchRocket: Buildings with rooftop HVAC units Reviewed November 4, 2026. Live page supports visible-equipment, area, business-type, and building-size selection. No equipment condition, capacity, or buying intent is inferred.