Most HVAC owners aren't choosing between Recoup and nothing. They're weighing five real options. This is what the math looks like — and what each one actually stops.
Every month, roughly $13,300 in recoverable revenue leaks out of a $2M HVAC company across three channels. Here's what each option costs — and how much of that leak it actually stops.
| Option | Monthly Cost | Revenue Recovered from Existing Leak | Revenue Still Leaking | Net Monthly Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Hire an Office Manager
Answers phones, handles admin, manually follows up when they remember
|
$3,800–$4,500
Salary + payroll taxes + benefits (FL)
|
~$2,000–$3,500
Manual, inconsistent. No after-hours coverage. No reactivation system.
|
$9,800–$11,300
After-hours leak and dormant database go untouched
|
–$11,800 to –$14,800/mo
High cost, partial coverage, no system
|
|
Lead Gen Agency
Angi, HomeAdvisor, or local PPC — adds new demand on top of the existing leak
|
$1,200–$2,500
Monthly retainer + per-lead fees
|
$0
Brings new leads. Does nothing to recover demand already in your pipeline.
|
$13,300
The full leak continues untouched
|
–$14,500 to –$15,800/mo
New spend on top of the original leak — zero recovery
|
|
DIY Software
Jobber, ServiceTitan, or similar — CRM and job scheduling platform
|
$150–$500
Platform fee — requires owner or staff time to actually operate
|
~$0–$1,000
Software doesn't follow up. Someone still has to work it.
|
$12,300–$13,300
Near-total leakage continues without systematic execution
|
–$12,300 to –$13,300/mo
Tools don't execute. Leak stays.
|
|
Do Nothing
Handle calls as they come, hope estimates close, wait for customers to return on their own
|
$0
No additional spend
|
$0
No recovery mechanism exists
|
$13,300
Every dollar of recoverable revenue leaks permanently
|
–$13,300/mo
Full leak. Every month. The baseline.
|
|
Recoup
Done-for-you system. Missed calls, cold estimates, dormant customers — all three channels, running automatically.
|
$1,650
Flat monthly. No per-lead charges. No rev-share. Ever.
|
$13,300/mo
Realistic · Conservative: $9,300
|
$0 — all three channels
addressed |
+$11,600/mo above fee
8× ROI · Guarantee: $6,500 in contract · Break-even: 4 jobs
|
* $2M annual revenue scenario. Monthly call volume: ~168 peak. Miss rate: 25% business hours / 60% after-hours. Avg service ticket: $475. Avg replacement: $8,500. Estimate close rate: 42%. Customer database: 1,000 records, 58% dormant. Conservative = Realistic × 0.70. Guarantee = Conservative × 0.70. Source: Recoup HVAC Math Framework v2, May 2026. Office Manager cost estimates reflect fully-loaded FL market rate (salary + payroll taxes + benefits). Lead gen agency range reflects typical HVAC local PPC spend.
The gap between doing nothing and using Recoup is $11,600 every single month — modeled from documented recovery patterns across HVAC companies in the $1.5M–$6M revenue range. Every month without a recovery system, that revenue is gone permanently. It doesn't roll forward.
The dollar table shows cost. This shows execution. Every row is a real revenue leak — and whether each option actually stops it.
| Revenue Leak Addressed | Office Manager |
Lead Gen Agency |
DIY Software |
Do Nothing |
Recoup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
No job lost to voicemail
Automated text-back the moment a call goes unanswered — business hours and after hours
|
Sometimes | ✕ | Partial | ✕ | ✓ |
|
No estimate goes cold
Systematic follow-up on every unsold quote — not just the ones someone remembers to chase
|
Sometimes | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
|
Old customers come back on their own
Dormant reactivation runs against your full customer database — not a one-time blast
|
✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
|
After-hours coverage with no added staff
Demand coming in nights and weekends is captured — without hiring someone to cover it
|
✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
|
Dollar-attributed proof of what was recovered
Every recovered job traced back to the trigger — contact, channel, and attributed revenue logged
|
✕ | Partial | Partial | ✕ | ✓ |
|
Performance guarantee in the contract
A specific dollar target agreed before we start. Miss it in month one — month two is free.
|
✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
|
Grows the lifetime value of customers you already have
Review, referral, maintenance, and revival working as one loop — so a first job turns into a customer worth far more over the years
|
✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
This compares monthly recovery. It doesn't count the bigger number — lifetime value.
A $475 job becomes a customer worth $3,000+ over the years — up to 6× more — and only the full loop grows it. Every alternative touches one moment: a phone, a quote, a record. Lifetime value comes from review, referral, maintenance, and revival working together across the whole relationship. None of the alternatives can touch it.
Illustrative model for a typical $2M home-services operator: avg service ticket $475, $350/yr maintenance, 75% same-company replacement and 65–85% repeat rate for maintained customers (vs. 20–28% without), 18% referral rate. Individual results vary; figures show modeled lifetime value, not a guarantee.
The $2M scenario is the framework-verified baseline. Bands above and below are proportionally scaled to trucks, call volume, and database size — same three-pillar methodology throughout.
* Non-featured band estimates are proportionally scaled from the verified $2M / 7-truck baseline. Actual results vary by call volume, estimate history, and database size. ROI figures use realistic recovery ÷ $1,650 monthly fee. Source: Recoup HVAC Math Framework v2, May 2026.
Before we start, we agree on a specific dollar amount — based on your actual call volume, your estimate history, and your customer database. That number goes into the agreement. If we don't hit it in month one, month two is free. Not a percentage. Not "we'll do our best." A specific recovery target, in writing, before we touch a single thing.
Every company is different. Book a 30-minute call and we'll build your actual recovery estimate — based on your call volume, your estimate history, and your customer database. No pitch. Just math.
Book Your Free Revenue Auditor reach us directly at nelson@gorecoup.com