How Much Can An HVAC Coil Cleaning Service Owner Make? $80K+
A modeled HVAC coil cleaning service owner can take $80,000 before personal taxes as owner/CEO salary in the first year under these researched assumptions The business itself shows Year 1 revenue of $1779 million and EBITDA of $904,000, where EBITDA means earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization Any owner income above salary should be treated as possible distribution capacity, not guaranteed take-home The model reaches break-even in Month 4, but it also needs minimum cash of $787,000 in Month 2
Owner income$80kNet margin51%-68%Revenue for target pay$158kBusiness difficultyHard
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Planning note: This is a researched planning estimate, not guaranteed salary, tax advice, or owner distribution advice. Actual owner income depends on revenue, margins, payroll, taxes, debt, and reinvestment.
How much can an HVAC coil cleaning business owner make?
An HVAC Coil Cleaning Service owner in this crew-based plan earns an $80,000 annual owner/CEO salary before personal taxes, while business profit capacity is separate: How Increase HVAC Coil Cleaning Service Profits? shows why salary, distributions, reserves, debt, and taxes must be viewed separately.
Owner pay
$80,000 annual CEO salary
Paid before personal taxes
Not a solo operator model
Starts with 2 technicians
Profit capacity
$904,000 Year 1 EBITDA
$2.305 million Year 2 EBITDA
$6.335 million Year 5 EBITDA
Cash reduced by capex, reserves, debt, taxes
What HVAC coil cleaning profit margin should owners expect?
If you’re pricing an HVAC Coil Cleaning Service, expect an EBITDA margin of about 50.8% in Year 1, based on $904,000 EBITDA on $1.779 million revenue. For the operating-cost split, What Are Operating Costs For HVAC Coil Cleaning Service? helps separate direct margin from overhead.
That margin can shrink fast because the model also carries $9,100 in monthly fixed overhead, $180,000 in Year 1 marketing, and $296,000 in payroll including the owner. Callbacks, long drive times, underused technicians, and high CAC can pull owner take-home down.
Margin math
$1.779 million Year 1 revenue
$904,000 Year 1 EBITDA
50.8% EBITDA margin
Separate direct margin from overhead
Cost pressure
$9,100 monthly fixed overhead
$180,000 Year 1 marketing
$296,000 payroll, including owner
Callbacks and long drives cut take-home
How many coil cleaning jobs per week to make money?
For HVAC Coil Cleaning Service, the target-pay math says you need about 107 jobs a week to cover Year 1 costs. That load comes from $109,200 fixed overhead, $296,000 payroll, $180,000 marketing, and $80,000 owner pay, with contribution at about $105 per service-equivalent job; recurring billing and actual visit frequency can still shift the field workload.
Year 1 cost load
$109,200 fixed overhead
$296,000 payroll
$180,000 marketing
$80,000 owner salary
Weekly job target
~$105 contribution per job
~$665,200 Year 1 burden
~107 jobs per week target
Visit frequency changes workload
What moves owner income most?
1
Job Volume
$1.8M-$9.3M
More billable jobs push revenue from Year 1 to Year 5, and that scale is what turns fixed costs into owner cash.
2
Pricing Mix
$49.99-$299.99
Shifting the mix from single-unit cleanings to higher-ticket commercial work lifts average ticket and protects take-home.
3
Labor Scale
2-14 techs
Technician count drives capacity, so the owner wins only if the crew stays productive as wages rise.
4
Commercial Share
20%-32%
A larger commercial mix steadies demand and raises order value, which makes earnings less choppy.
5
Overhead & CAC
$9.1K/mo
With fixed overhead at $9,100 a month and CAC dropping from $85 to $65, each new job keeps more cash for the owner.
6
Route Density
5.2%-4.4%
Tighter routing trims fuel and maintenance as a share of revenue, so more gross profit reaches take-home.
HVAC Coil Cleaning Service Core Six Income Drivers
Pricing And Service Mix
Pricing and service mix
Pricing and service mix set the ceiling on revenue per visit. A residential single-unit job is $4,999 in Year 1, multi-unit is $8,999, one-time service is $19,999, and commercial property is $29,999. That means a commercial job can bring in about 6.0x a single-unit visit, with much less need to add extra admin or sales overhead.
The mix matters as much as the sticker price. Commercial share rises from 20% in Year 1 to 32% in Year 5, so average ticket should lift even if job count stays flat. Bundled evaporator and condenser cleaning, multi-unit properties, and rooftop systems push revenue per stop up. The risk is simple: access trouble, heavy buildup, local price pressure, scope creep, and underpriced callbacks can erase the margin gain.
Track ticket mix, not just job count
Measure revenue by segment each month: single-unit, multi-unit, one-time, and commercial. Also track callback rate, extra labor minutes, and missed scope, because a $29,999 sale is weak if access delays or rework eat the margin. One clean rule: price the visit for the dirtiest realistic coil and the hardest legal access, not the easiest quote.
Here’s the quick math: higher-ticket work raises owner pay faster than low-ticket volume when fixed overhead is already in place. Protect that gain by documenting what is included, charging for rooftop or hard-access work, and testing whether bundled cleaning lifts average ticket without lifting callback rate. If callbacks rise, profit per visit falls fast.
Track average ticket by property type.
Separate bundled vs. basic jobs.
Charge for hard access.
Log callbacks and rework minutes.
1
Job Volume And Capacity
Booked Jobs and Technician Capacity
If your calendar looks full but cash still feels thin, the issue is usually capacity, not demand. Completed coil cleaning jobs only turn into owner pay when technicians stay booked and routes stay tight. In the source model, revenue rises from $1.779 million in Year 1 to $9.299 million in Year 5 as staffing grows from 2 FTEs to 14 FTEs.
Here’s the quick math: more appointments help only if setup time, drive time, dispatch gaps, and seasonal swings do not eat labor hours. The model shows EBITDA margin improving from 508% to 681% as utilization rises, so idle time is the main leak. Empty slots push labor cost up per job and slow owner draw.
Track Utilization, Not Just Bookings
Measure completed jobs per technician day, drive time, setup time, and canceled slots. Bookings only matter if they become billable hours, so separate scheduled jobs from completed jobs and from hours actually worked. That shows whether growth is adding profit or just adding payroll.
Cluster jobs by zip
Cut gaps between visits
Fill seasonal slow weeks
Track completed jobs per FTE
If the schedule gets thin, add routes before adding headcount. More technicians with weak density usually lowers owner pay, because payroll rises before revenue catches up.
2
Route Density And Travel Efficiency
Route Density
Route density is how many jobs a tech can finish in a tight area without wasting time on the road. In this HVAC coil cleaning business, shorter drive time lifts profit per labor hour because price stays the same, but travel cost does not. Fuel and maintenance equal 52% of revenue in Year 1 and still run 44% by Year 5, so every extra mile cuts owner pay fast.
Every long gap between jobs reduces capacity. The key inputs are route miles, drive minutes, jobs per day, and service-area size. Wide coverage, emergency reschedules, traffic, parking, roof access delays, and low-density residential demand all lower completed visits per technician, which slows cash flow and can turn a busy schedule into weak profit.
Keep Routes Tight
Track drive minutes per job, jobs per route, and fuel plus maintenance as a % of revenue. Then cluster property manager routes, book multi-unit buildings on the same day, and keep the service area compact. If one job adds a long gap, the tech loses billable time even if the day looks full.
Group nearby accounts on one route
Batch multi-unit buildings same day
Set a hard service-area limit
Reserve time for access delays
Watch reschedules and deadhead miles
One clean metric: more completed jobs per drive hour. If parking, roof access, or traffic keeps pushing jobs past plan, route density drops and owner income falls even when sales hold steady.
3
Recurring Commercial Accounts
Recurring Commercial Accounts
Recurring commercial accounts turn coil cleaning into steadier revenue, so the owner depends less on paid leads. In your model, the commercial property mix rises from 20% in Year 1 to 32% in Year 5, while one-time cleaning falls from 15% to 6%. That shift also improves CAC from $85 to $65, which leaves more cash for owner pay.
Here’s the quick math: more repeat accounts mean better route fit, fewer cold leads, and steadier technician schedules. The risk is churn, account concentration, seasonal maintenance budgets, delayed approvals, and service gaps that stretch cash flow. If approvals slow or renewals slip, revenue still looks busy on paper, but take-home income gets tighter fast.
Track Renewal Mix and CAC
Measure how much revenue comes from recurring commercial contracts, not one-time jobs. That mix tells you whether the business is building predictable cash or buying each month’s sales again.
Track commercial share by year.
Watch one-time job mix decline.
Compare CAC to $85 and $65.
Flag delayed approvals fast.
Separate renewals by account size.
Price and schedule contracts around service intervals, then forecast cash by renewal month. If a few accounts drive most of the revenue, watch concentration closely; losing one large property can hit monthly profit and owner draw harder than a dozen small jobs.
4
Labor Model And Productivity
Labor Model And Productivity
Owner labor can boost early cash because the founder replaces paid labor, but that only works until the business needs more field capacity. In Year 1, payroll is $296,000, including $80,000 for the owner, 2 service technicians at $48,000 each, a $65,000 operations manager, and a $55,000 sales specialist.
Scale comes from hired technicians only when utilization stays high. By Year 5, technician staffing reaches 14 FTEs, but the model’s payroll figure is shown as $1022 million, so that forecast needs a careful check. Here’s the key split: owner labor replacement helps cash flow; true profit depends on billable hours, callbacks, overtime, and idle time.
Track Billable Hours
Measure utilization as billable hours divided by paid hours, then compare it to training time, drive time, and rework. If a technician is on payroll but not on job, the business pays wages without earning margin. In this model, productivity matters more than headcount, because each added tech only lifts owner income when schedules stay full and quality stays tight.
Track billable hours per tech weekly.
Separate owner labor from profit.
Watch callbacks and overtime closely.
Schedule work to cut idle time.
Hold quality standards before hiring.
5
Overhead And Customer Acquisition Cost
Overhead And CAC
This driver includes $9,100/month in fixed overhead for rent, software, insurance, supplies, communications, accounting, and payment processing, plus paid acquisition. On paper, margin can look fine; in cash, these costs come out before owner pay. The Year 1 model also shows direct costs like 85% cleaning solutions and 52% fuel, so gross profit is only useful if overhead stays lean.
Here’s the quick math: marketing rises from $180,000 in Year 1 to $420,000 in Year 5, while CAC drops from $85 to $65. That means roughly 2,118 new customers at Year 1 CAC and about 6,462 at Year 5 CAC, if spend goes straight to acquisition. If callbacks or routing waste climb, the lower CAC gets eaten fast.
Cut CAC Before It Hits Take-Home
Track CAC, callbacks, and route waste by channel. The owner should know which ads bring booked jobs, which jobs trigger rework, and which neighborhoods create the fewest drive minutes. The goal is simple: keep paid leads cheap and jobs dense.
Watch CAC by channel weekly.
Cap callbacks and rework.
Cluster jobs to cut fuel.
Hold cash for slow months.
Protect reserve gear and upkeep.
Control the avoidable costs first: ads, callbacks, admin tools, and routing. Leave the unavoidable costs in the forecast: insurance, core equipment, vehicle upkeep, slow-month reserves, and replacement gear. If monthly overhead stays near $9,100 and CAC trends from $85 toward $65, more of each collected dollar can reach owner draw.
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Compare lean, base, and high owner-income scenarios
Owner income scenarios
Owner income rises as revenue, technician count, and marketing efficiency improve. EBITDA runs from $904,000 in Year 1 to $6,335,000 in Year 5, but cash, capex, debt, and taxes still shape take-home pay.
Low, base, and high owner income cases for an HVAC coil cleaning service.
Scenario
Low CaseLow Case
Base CaseBase Case
High CaseHigh Case
Launch model
Lower earnings path built on Year 1 scale and early demand.
Modeled earnings path built on Year 3 scale and steady conversion.
Stronger earnings path built on Year 5 scale and lower CAC.
Typical setup
Year 1 revenue is $1.779 million with $904,000 EBITDA, 2 technicians, $180,000 marketing, $85 CAC, break-even by Month 4, and minimum cash of $787,000.
Year 3 revenue is $5.283 million with $3.437 million EBITDA, 7 technicians, $300,000 marketing, and $72 CAC.
Year 5 revenue reaches $9.299 million with $6.335 million EBITDA, 14 technicians, $420,000 marketing, and $65 CAC.
Cost drivers
2 technicians
$180,000 marketing
$85 CAC
Year 1 volume
50.8% EBITDA margin
7 technicians
$300,000 marketing
$72 CAC
Year 3 volume
65.1% EBITDA margin
14 technicians
$420,000 marketing
$65 CAC
Year 5 volume
68.1% EBITDA margin
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves
Salary plus early distributionsLow Case
Salary plus steady distributionsBase Case
Salary plus larger distributionsHigh Case
Best fit
Use this to stress-test early demand, hiring pace, and cash needs.
Use this as the planning case for normal growth and staffing.
Use this to test what faster scaling and lower CAC could do.
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Planning note: Scenario figures are researched planning assumptions, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or cash distributions.
