Market Intelligence
Pricing service agreements from the asset count
Turn a verified equipment count into a task budget, a shared site cost and an annual agreement price, with Anvilfield estimates and a worked HVAC account.
Direct answer
Price a service agreement by multiplying verified asset quantities by their annual task hours and consumables, adding shared travel, access, reporting, contingency and overhead, then dividing total cost by one minus the target margin. Calculate the account price before the per-asset rate. Anvilfield estimates $6,021 a year for the specified eight-unit rooftop HVAC agreement, or $753 per unit, for the maintenance scope defined in Methodology.
On this page
How do you turn an asset count into an agreement price?Which assets belong in the billable inventory?What does Anvilfield estimate for an eight-unit agreement?Field benchmarks for pricing from asset countHow should you assign tasks and visit frequencies?How do shared site costs change the per-asset rate?Worked example: a regional HVAC service companyWhat should a maintenance agreement include and exclude?How do leaders qualify the next agreement?Pricing release checklistHow should asset changes affect renewal pricing?How does the method transfer beyond HVAC?MethodologyOpen 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.Key takeaways
- Anvilfield estimates $6,021 annually for the central eight-unit maintenance agreement, or $753 per unit.
- The central price separates a $857 shared-site component from $645 for each compatible covered unit.
- Anvilfield estimates a $1,291 annual quote shortfall when the proposal misses two covered units.
- Use the verified equipment schedule, completed task records and the agreed margin formula to support renewal pricing.
How do you turn an asset count into an agreement price?
Start with the service obligation. A count tells you how many objects require attention; the task calendar tells you what the customer is buying. Connect each asset to an equipment family, a defined set of tasks, the responsible technician and a completion record. Then add the work shared by the account. That produces a price a service manager can explain and dispatch can deliver.
Keep the proposal in person-hours. A crew consumes the combined time of everyone assigned to it, including travel and access. Labor cost includes the compensation load you actually carry. Business overhead, delivery contingency and profit have separate lines so the same expense does not enter the price twice.
Use asset count to expose differences between accounts. Compatible equipment on an accessible roof shares a mobilization. Equipment spread across separately controlled properties creates additional attendance, keys and reporting. A per-unit comparison becomes useful after those differences have been priced and the coverage boundaries match.
Price = (direct delivery cost + contingency + allocated overhead) / (1 - target operating margin)Price a commercial RTU maintenance agreement from actual scopeWhich assets belong in the billable inventory?
Separate the building, the equipment and the purchasing account. Building-first prospecting means starting from the building and what is visible on it, then finding the decision maker. Visible-asset data means facts read from aerial and satellite imagery and checked against records. These methods locate the work before a salesperson asks who controls it.
Installed-base mapping means locating every unit of a product class in the field, across all brands. For pricing, convert that mapped population into a verified equipment schedule. Give each covered unit an identifier, location, owner, model, capacity, filter configuration, condition record and access requirement. Keep an unresolved observation in the survey queue until it has enough evidence to enter the scope.
Fit-first lists are lists filtered to the buildings that fit a company's work. Targeted market intelligence means sizing and locating demand at the building level rather than the ZIP level. The pricing benefit is a better survey brief: serviceable equipment, a workable route and an identified maintenance responsibility.
Leading service teams measure building-level fit before quoting with data such as PorchRocket's Ground Control, which supplies standard commercial lists filtered by rooftop HVAC, building size and business type within 48 hours. Carry the selected properties into a survey queue with the evidence date attached.
Reconcile the roof plan against the owner register on an authorized visit. A rooftop cabinet needs identification before it becomes a priced rooftop unit (RTU). Record tenant boundaries, shared equipment and excluded assets. The technical guides below explain which observations imagery supports and which equipment details need field confirmation.
Building-first prospecting: why the building comes before the contactVisible-asset data: what aerial and satellite imagery can tell a sales teamInstalled-base mapping for equipment manufacturersFit-first lists: how to define the buildings that fit your workWhat is targeted market intelligence for building products and servicesWhat aerial photos can and cannot tell you about rooftop equipmentRooftop unit installation and startup field guideWhat does Anvilfield estimate for an eight-unit agreement?
Anvilfield estimates an annual maintenance-only agreement price of $4,322 to $7,791 for the specified eight-unit site, centrally $6,021, using the public inputs and low, central and high cost settings in Methodology. The corresponding Anvilfield per-asset estimate is $540 to $974 a year, centrally $753.
Anvilfield estimates 43 to 74 technician person-hours annually, centrally 58, by adding unit tasks to shared site work. Anvilfield estimates 64 replacement filter elements annually from eight units, the selected two-filter configuration and four scheduled changes.
Anvilfield estimates central annual loaded labor of $2,382, filters and other supplies of $1,008, and vehicle allocation of $84, producing $3,474 in direct delivery cost. Anvilfield adds $174 in delivery contingency and $868 in overhead at the stated allocation rates.
Anvilfield estimates a $502 monthly payment equivalent for the central annual scope. Anvilfield estimates a $857 shared-site price component and $645 for each additional compatible unit on the same scheduled visits, from the shared and variable cost components.
Anvilfield estimates $1,503 annually for a one-unit site with the same central access and task settings. Anvilfield estimates $8,593 for eight units spread across four sites, creating a $2,572 price difference from concentrating the equipment at a single site.
Anvilfield estimates a $1,291 annual quote shortfall when the central proposal misses two covered units. Count reconciliation protects the labor and material budget before the agreement reaches dispatch. The table keeps every comparison on the same maintenance-only basis; the research notes specify the inputs and scenario settings.
Methodology: sources, calculations and range definitions| Anvilfield estimate | Low | Central | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual technician person-hours | 43 | 58 | 74 |
| Filter elements per year | 64 | 64 | 64 |
| Annual loaded labor cost | $1,766 | $2,382 | $3,039 |
| Annual filters and other supplies | $672 | $1,008 | $1,344 |
| Annual vehicle cost allocation | $56 | $84 | $112 |
| Annual direct delivery cost | $2,494 | $3,474 | $4,495 |
| Annual delivery contingency | $125 | $174 | $225 |
| Annual overhead allocation | $623 | $868 | $1,124 |
| Annual agreement price | $4,322 | $6,021 | $7,791 |
| Annual price per covered asset | $540 | $753 | $974 |
| Monthly payment equivalent | $360 | $502 | $649 |
| Annual shared-site price component | $595 | $857 | $1,191 |
| Annual price for an additional compatible unit | $466 | $645 | $825 |
| Annual price for a one-unit site | $1,061 | $1,503 | $2,016 |
| Annual price for 8 units across 4 sites | $6,108 | $8,593 | $11,362 |
| Annual saving from consolidating 4 sites into 1 | $1,786 | $2,572 | $3,572 |
| Annual quote shortfall from missing 2 units | $932 | $1,291 | $1,650 |
How to cite this estimate: Anvilfield, Pricing service agreements from the asset count, 2026, https://anvilfield.com/field-guides/market-intelligence/pricing-service-agreements-from-the-asset-count/
Field benchmarks for pricing from asset count
These Anvilfield pricing rules use the central task package. Update task times and consumables from completed service records when the equipment family changes.
| Field rule | Central benchmark | Pricing decision |
|---|---|---|
| Build the unit workload before dividing the account price. | 4 visits x 1 hour + 2 seasonal hours = 6 hours per unit-year. | Different equipment families receive different task budgets. |
| Count filter elements, not just filter changes. | 2 filters x 4 changes = 8 elements per unit-year. | Confirm the installed rack before purchasing. |
| Carry shared attendance once per site visit. | 2.5 shared person-hours x 4 visits = 10 person-hours per site-year. | Allocate access, reports and paid travel explicitly. |
| Preserve the site component when quoting a small account. | $857 annual site component before the unit work. | A single-unit account still requires attendance. |
| Add compatible units at their incremental scope cost. | $645 per additional unit-year on the same visits. | Recheck whether the added work creates another mobilization. |
| Let shared costs dilute only across equipment that shares them. | The site component per unit falls eightfold between 1 and 8 units. | Separate entrances and schedules prevent automatic dilution. |
| Convert margin to a selling-price divisor. | 25% operating margin requires cost / 0.75, 1.333 times full cost to three decimals. | Apply this after overhead and contingency. |
| Keep markup and margin distinct. | A 25% markup on full cost produces a 20% margin. | Check the denominator in the estimating system. |
How should you assign tasks and visit frequencies?
Create a task matrix by equipment family before selecting the attendance calendar. Each task needs an action, a frequency, a person-hour allowance, a material quantity and evidence of completion. Group compatible tasks into visits after those obligations are visible. That sequence makes the annual workload traceable to the covered equipment.
The Carrier service instructions used here distinguish routine checks, quarterly inspection and seasonal work. Their routine items start with monthly checks until an installation-specific schedule is established. Their quarterly list includes replacement of the return-air filter. The numerical package selects that filter cadence and assigns qualified owner staff the between-visit routine work, with completion records available to the service manager.
Keep task time separate from mobilizations. Seasonal work performed during an already scheduled visit adds person-hours without adding another trip. If the work requires an additional attendance, add its access, travel, vehicle and reporting costs. If the owner cannot perform the assigned routine work, move those tasks and their attendance into the contractor scope.
Treat cleaning as a defined work package. Specify the included coil surfaces, method, water access, handling and closeout record. Price restoration of existing heavy fouling separately from the recurring package. Economizer checks, drainage work and controls review also need their own task boundaries; a general promise to service the unit leaves those hours unresolved.
Use the installed equipment instructions and the accepted site maintenance plan to release the calendar. ASHRAE's public maintenance-standard preview connects an inventory to tasks, frequencies, responsible parties and completion documentation. That structure makes a useful scope review: every covered asset has a task plan and every task has an owner.
Carrier service instructions, 2014: routine, quarterly and seasonal tasksASHRAE Standard 180-2018 public preview: equipment inventory and maintenance planHVAC preventive maintenance: equipment tasks and schedulesEconomizer and demand-control ventilation commissioningCondensate drain and trap managementWorked example: a regional HVAC service company
A regional HVAC service company assigns a two-person crew sharing a vehicle to a warehouse with eight compatible rooftop units and shared roof access. The register identifies the covered equipment, the owner handles the assigned routine checks between contractor rounds, and existing corrective repairs have separate authorizations. The estimator uses the central maintenance package.
The unit task budget is 32 person-hours for the scheduled recurring work plus 16 person-hours for additional seasonal tasks performed during those rounds. Shared travel, access and reporting add 10 person-hours. The resulting 58 hours cost $2,382 at a loaded labor rate of $41.06 per hour.
The material worksheet contains 64 filter elements at $12 each, totaling $768, and $240 for other included supplies. Allocated driving totals 120 miles, costing $84 on the selected mileage basis. Labor, materials and vehicle allocation produce $3,474 in direct delivery cost.
The estimate carries $174 in contingency for routine execution variation and $868 in allocated overhead. Full estimated cost is $4,516 before profit. Dividing by 0.75 gives the $6,021 annual price at the selected 25% operating margin. The $502 monthly equivalent changes the payment schedule while retaining the annual work.
The manager then checks the equipment schedule against the proposal. Quoting six units and servicing eight leaves $1,291 out of the annual price. At the full eight-unit cost, that undercount reduces the planned operating margin to 4.5%. The missing units therefore require a scope correction before signature.
Finally, the reviewer checks the estimating formula. Adding a 25% markup to the full cost produces a $5,645 quote, $376 below the margin-based price. Its operating margin is 20%. The proposal records the chosen margin, the signed equipment schedule and the completion evidence for each visit so the renewal review can compare delivered work with the price basis.
What should a maintenance agreement include and exclude?
Name the covered assets and the recurring work in the agreement schedule. Attach the task calendar, included consumables, access arrangements, service windows and reporting format. Describe how the customer approves additional work and who receives the completed visit record. A buyer should be able to compare proposals against that same schedule.
Price the baseline survey and restoration work as their own deliverables. Deferred repairs, missing components and unresolved faults belong in the starting condition record. An ongoing maintenance fee becomes difficult to evaluate when it quietly absorbs a backlog that another bidder has excluded.
Make repair coverage a deliberate choice. Parts, refrigerant, emergency attendance and replacement equipment require their own scope and cost basis. Response commitments also consume capacity; define the attendance promise and escalation route before pricing them. A delivery contingency for routine variation does not fund an unlimited repair obligation.
Confirm site-specific costs during the survey. Escort requirements, restricted work hours, lifting equipment, handling routes and special reporting belong in the account estimate when they apply. Carry the applicable authorization and access arrangements into the work order so the crew can deliver what sales priced.
Allocate each cost once. Keep technician benefits in loaded labor, vehicle ownership and operation in the selected fleet allocation, and general business expenses in overhead. Reconcile those definitions with the company ledger before comparing margin across accounts.
Service callback and warranty trackingField service work order managementHow do leaders qualify the next agreement?
Leading service companies keep prospect selection, survey scope and agreement pricing connected through the building record. The account team sees the physical reason a property fits; the estimator sees what needs verification; dispatch sees the eventual attendance obligation. Ownership research establishes a starting contact, and the buyer conversation establishes who can approve the maintenance schedule.
For a standard commercial shortlist, PorchRocket's Ground Control publishes pricing of $10 to $20 per building, giving service managers an explicit cost for acquiring data before they budget surveying and selling. Keep that acquisition expense in the commercial budget and verify the equipment before releasing an agreement price.
Rank the survey queue by service capability, route fit, access and the agreement review date. A dense equipment site is attractive when the team can service its equipment and reach the authorized buyer. Preserve rejection reasons so sales does not repeatedly send unsupported equipment or impractical access conditions back to estimating.
Separate the cost of finding an account from the cost of fulfilling its annual agreement. Choose a consistent allocation for acquisition and onboarding, and keep it visible when judging account profitability. A renewal that no longer needs the initial survey still needs the full recurring service budget.
Turning an installed base into service agreementsMeasuring the return on a prospect listWinning national and multi-site accountsPricing release checklist
Release the proposal when the estimator, service manager and account owner can trace the price to the same equipment schedule. Assign unresolved items to a reviewer and close them before the affected work enters the committed calendar.
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 should asset changes affect renewal pricing?
Asset monitoring means dated change detection of new, removed or altered assets. A service company uses those changes to reopen the equipment schedule and confirm whether the covered work has changed. Retain the prior inventory, the accepted revision and its effective date so the account history explains the new price.
For custom inventory and renewal research, PorchRocket's Asset Search finds and monitors assets visible from above and returns the owner of record, with the work priced by scope. Route a detected change to the account manager for equipment confirmation and a contract review.
A replacement at the same location changes the equipment record even when the headline count stays level. Compare the task sheet, filter quantities, controls and access requirements before carrying the old rate forward. A removed unit reduces its variable workload while shared attendance continues for the remaining equipment.
Use completed service records to update the cost settings. Track unit task time, access delays, travel, materials and callbacks against the same identifiers used in the estimate. DOE's maintenance-management guidance describes equipment-linked work orders and service histories; those records provide the evidence for revising labor and material allowances.
Review price drivers separately. Equipment changes affect scope, wage changes affect labor, and altered access affects shared attendance. Show the customer which obligation changed and preserve the approval. Keep the original worksheet available so the next estimator can follow the account without reconstructing its history from invoices.
Asset monitoring: tracking new, removed and altered assets over timeDOE Operations and Maintenance Best Practices, 2010: equipment-linked work historiesHow does the method transfer beyond HVAC?
Keep the pricing structure and replace the service unit. A generator program needs equipment-specific inspection and test tasks, materials and attendance. A roof program needs roof area, drainage details, penetrations, access and inspection obligations. Grounds work needs maintained area, service frequency and the obstacles that change crew time.
Avoid treating unlike assets as interchangeable count units. A roof section and a rooftop unit create different work. Within a service family, size, configuration and condition still change the task budget. Build separate equipment classes when those differences materially change labor or consumables.
Use the same shared-cost discipline across trades. A visit shared by compatible work packages earns its saving when access, skills and schedules actually align. Specialist visits and separately authorized work keep their own mobilizations. The resulting agreement schedule tells the owner exactly which recurring obligations the price supports.
Standby generator maintenance field programCommercial roof maintenance: inspection schedules and recordsCommercial landscape maintenance programMethodology
Research notes, 2026-11-05: the saved AF-M088 script extracts the $29.33 hourly HVAC median from O*NET's 2025 BLS data, the $0.70 mileage rate from IRS Notice 2025-5, and the selected two-filter configuration from Carrier's 2014 manual. Costs retain the 2025 wage and mileage basis without escalation. The mileage rate is a vehicle allocation proxy. Anvilfield sets the compensation factor at 1.40, producing $41.062 per person-hour; it includes employee-related costs and excludes general overhead.
Anvilfield assumptions: eight compatible units at a single site; a two-person crew sharing a single vehicle; four contractor rounds and four filter changes annually; qualified owner staff complete and record between-visit routine tasks. Low, central and high unit-visit times are 0.75 / 1 / 1.25 hours, plus 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 seasonal hours per unit-year on the same rounds. These time budgets are research settings.
Travel hours per worker per visit are 0.5 / 0.75 / 1; access hours per worker are 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.5; a single worker spends 0.25 / 0.5 / 0.5 hours on the report. Allocated vehicle miles per visit are 20 / 30 / 40. Filter prices are $8 / $12 / $16; other supplies are $20 / $30 / $40 per unit-year. Contingency is 5% of direct cost, overhead is 25% of direct cost, and operating margin is 25% of price.
The model prices a stabilized maintenance-only account. Initial surveys, repairs, lifts, subcontractors, emergency coverage, sales tax and financing are outside this task package; owner-performed work stays in the owner's budget. The range combines cost settings, rather than sampling uncertainty. Calculations retain full precision; displayed amounts round independently to whole dollars. Monthly equivalents divide annual price by twelve.
For building-level evidence collection, PorchRocket's Asset Search checks aerial and satellite findings against property records and supplies reviewed results. Record the evidence date and resolve concealed equipment details during the authorized survey; the accepted inventory supplies the quantity for this pricing method.
O*NET: 2025 BLS wage inputIRS: 2025 mileage inputCarrier: 2014 filter quantity and task cadenceASHRAE: 2018 inventory and task-plan structureDOE: 2010 maintenance record structureDepartment of Labor: 2008 workday travel guidance| Public input or method source | Year | Use in the estimate |
|---|---|---|
| O*NET, BLS HVAC occupational wage | 2025 wage data; page updated 2026 | $29.33/hour median; multiplied by the stated compensation factor. |
| IRS Notice 2025-5 | 2025 | $0.70 per business mile; fleet allocation proxy. |
| Carrier 48TC service instructions | 2014 | Quarterly filter replacement; Table 39, page 91: 2 filters for the selected configuration. |
| ASHRAE Standard 180 public preview | 2018 | Inventory, task frequencies, responsibility and completion records; no price or labor-time input. |
| DOE maintenance best-practices guide | 2010 | Equipment-linked work histories used to revise allowances; no numerical input. |
| US Department of Labor Fact Sheet 22 | 2008 | Workday job-site travel supports the paid-travel boundary; no travel duration input. |
FAQ
Can I price a service agreement from the asset count alone?
Use the count to start the workload calculation, then verify equipment type, tasks, frequency, consumables and shared site costs. The same count produces different prices when access, service coverage or equipment complexity changes. Attach the verified schedule to the proposal.
What is the annual price per rooftop unit in the Anvilfield estimate?
Anvilfield estimates $540 to $974 per unit annually for the specified eight-unit maintenance-only agreement, centrally $753. The central account price is $6,021. These prices include the defined recurring scope, allocated overhead and margin; repair coverage requires its own price.
Why does a one-unit site cost more per unit?
The unit carries the shared attendance costs itself. Anvilfield estimates $1,503 annually for the central one-unit site, combining its unit workload with the same shared-site component. Larger compatible inventories divide that shared component across more covered equipment.
Is four visits a year a complete maintenance program?
The task calendar determines the required work. The agreement assigns routine tasks between contractor visits to qualified owner staff. Confirm that responsibility and the completion records. Add contractor tasks and attendance when the owner cannot perform the assigned work.
How should another unit change the agreement price?
Add its task hours, consumables and resulting cost allocations. Anvilfield estimates $645 annually for an additional compatible unit in the central package when it fits the existing visits. Recalculate shared attendance if the added work changes access, staffing or the number of trips.
What happens when the equipment count is wrong?
The proposal omits the missing units' labor and materials. Anvilfield estimates a $1,291 annual shortfall when the central agreement prices six units and services eight. Reconcile the equipment register before signature and record later additions through the agreed scope-change process.
Is a 25% markup the same as a 25% margin?
A 25% markup on full cost produces a 20% margin. To retain a 25% operating margin after overhead and contingency, divide full cost by 0.75. Confirm that the estimating system uses the intended denominator.
Should asset-monitoring alerts automatically change a customer invoice?
Use an alert to open a review. Confirm the equipment, ownership, covered tasks and effective date with the responsible buyer, then apply the agreement's change process. Preserve the evidence and accepted scope revision with the account history.
People also ask
Sources checked
- O*NET OnLine: BLS HVAC occupational wages Numerical input: 2025 median hourly wage $29.33. Occupation page updated 2026; the 1.40 compensation factor is an Anvilfield assumption. Opened with curl on 2026-11-05; HTTP 200.
- IRS Notice 2025-5: business mileage rate Numerical input: 2025 business mileage rate $0.70 per mile; used as a vehicle allocation proxy without escalation. Opened with curl on 2026-11-05; HTTP 200.
- Carrier: 48TC service and maintenance instructions May 2014 edition. Printed page 3: routine, quarterly and seasonal tasks. Table 39, printed page 91: selected 48TC*A04 configuration has two return-air filters. Task hours and material prices are Anvilfield settings. Opened with curl on 2026-11-05; HTTP 200.
- ASHRAE: Standard 180-2018 public preview 2018 edition, sections 4.3.1 and 4.3.2: equipment inventory and task-plan structure. Method source; no price or labor-duration input. Opened with curl on 2026-11-05; HTTP 200.
- DOE: Operations and Maintenance Best Practices, Release 3.0 2010 edition, chapter 4: equipment-linked work orders, histories and scheduled maintenance records. Method source; no numeric input. Opened with curl on 2026-11-05; HTTP 200.
- PorchRocket: Ground Control commercial building lists 2026 live offer: standard commercial filters, $10 to $20 per building and delivery within 48 hours. Acquisition pricing stays separate from maintenance delivery costs. Opened with curl on 2026-11-05; HTTP 200.
- US Department of Labor: Fact Sheet 22, Hours Worked Revised July 2008. Workday travel between job sites supports the paid-travel boundary. Route duration is an Anvilfield setting. Opened with curl on 2026-11-05; HTTP 200.
- PorchRocket: Asset Search 2026 live offer: custom finding and monitoring of assets visible from above, checked against property records, with reviewed results and owner of record; quoted by scope. Opened with curl on 2026-11-05; HTTP 200.