How hvac business software fits your year
Think of the year in three parts.
- Shoulder seasons. Spring AC tune-ups and fall furnace tune-ups. This is when maintenance plans pay off and when you have time to quote replacements.
- Peak cooling and heating. No cool and no heat calls, often at night and on weekends. Speed matters more than anything.
- Replacement decisions. Older systems that limped through peak season turn into replacement quotes. These are large tickets with longer decisions and more follow up.
Each part needs something different. Dheed keeps them in one place, so you are not switching apps when the weather turns.
Keep maintenance customers on a schedule
Maintenance agreements are the steady base of many HVAC shops. Dheed's recurring services let you repeat a visit on a schedule, anywhere from every week to once a year, with a start date, time, length, assigned tech and the price the customer sees. Visits are booked as real appointments 45 days ahead, so they show on the calendar while you still have time to plan. Changing or pausing a plan cancels its future visits quietly and rebooks them. That gives you hvac maintenance agreement software without a spreadsheet of who is due.
AC tune up reminders go out by text the day before, with an optional reminder two hours ahead. Customers can reply C to confirm, or R to ask for a call back, which creates a high priority task. Texts wait during quiet hours, 9 PM to 8 AM in your time zone. For a step by step plan, read how to set up recurring service plans.
Peak season: answer, sort and dispatch
When it is hot, a missed call is often a lost job. The AI Receptionist answers with your business name, knows your service area and hours, and books into open slots. You can edit the emergency script, so a no heat call during a freeze is treated as urgent and texted to you right away. Each call saves a summary, transcript and recording on the customer.
As hvac dispatch software, Dheed shows every tech's week on one calendar. Staff schedules set each person's hours and the services they can do, so a tune-up tech is not offered for a compressor diagnosis. Service lengths include travel and cleanup buffers, and holds stop two callers from grabbing the same slot. That is the core of good hvac scheduling software. Techs see only their own jobs on their phones, with notes and photos. See field service scheduling software for the calendar in more detail.
Replacement quotes with clear options
System replacements are where hvac estimate software earns its keep. Put up to three options on one estimate, for example a repair to get through the season, a standard efficiency system, and a higher efficiency system. Each option pulls from your price book, with its own discount and tax on the taxable amount. The homeowner compares them side by side and signs on their phone. Signing wins the deal and creates the job, so nothing gets retyped. The estimate follow up recipe emails the customer and then adds a call task for you if they have not signed. More on quoting in our estimate and invoice app for contractors.
Deposits on equipment
For installs, send a deposit invoice as a percentage when the customer signs, then credit it on the final invoice after tax. Customers pay by card into your own Stripe account. Online card payments carry Stripe's fee plus a Dheed fee of 1% on Free and Starter, 0.5% on Pro or 0.25% on Business. Automatic sales tax by address is included on Pro and Business and is $15 a month on the other plans.
Learn from each season
Reports show money collected per month, estimate win rate, unpaid invoices by age, work by person and lead sources with conversion. This is where hvac business software pays off after a busy summer: you can see which techs closed the most work and which sources brought paying jobs, then plan your shoulder season marketing from your own numbers. Read how it all connects in the CRM for service businesses overview.
Getting started
Pick HVAC when you sign up so the words and pipeline stages fit, add your services and tune-up pricing, then invite your techs. Any hvac business software takes a little setup, so start with the schedule and add pieces as you go. See plans and pricing to compare Free, Starter, Pro and Business, or start free.
Frequently asked questions
Can HVAC software track maintenance agreements?
Dheed tracks them as recurring services. You set how often the visit repeats, the assigned tech and the price the customer sees, and Dheed books each visit as a real appointment 45 days ahead. Pausing a plan cancels its future visits.
Does Dheed help with dispatch during a heat wave?
It helps you see every tech's day on one calendar, limit each tech to the services they do, and keep two callers from taking the same slot. With the AI Receptionist add-on, calls are answered and urgent ones are texted to you.
Can homeowners sign HVAC replacement estimates on their phone?
Yes. The estimate opens as a page on their phone with up to three options. They pick one, check the agreement box and draw a signature. Dheed keeps a signed copy and creates the job.
Is the AI Receptionist included in every Dheed plan?
No. It is an add-on for Pro and Business at $250 a month with 500 minutes. Setup is $299 on Pro and $149 on Business. Free and Starter can still use scheduling, estimates, jobs and invoices.