Case Study: 12-Person HVAC Company
Industry: Home Services (HVAC) · Team size: 12 (8 techs, 2 office, 1 sales, 1 owner) · Revenue: ~$2.8M/year
The situation
A residential and light commercial HVAC company running 8 service technicians with a 2-person office handling scheduling, dispatch, invoicing, and customer follow-up. The owner was working 60+ hour weeks and still felt like things were slipping through the cracks.
Software stack before engagement:
- ServiceTitan: $350/mo
- QuickBooks Online: $80/mo
- Mailchimp: $45/mo
- Google Workspace: $84/mo
- Angi/HomeAdvisor leads: $800/mo (avg)
- Yelp advertising: $300/mo
- Miscellaneous tools: ~$200/mo
Total SaaS spend: ~$1,860/month
The problems we found
In the audit, three things stood out:
The office manager spent roughly 18 hours/week on scheduling and dispatch — manually matching tech availability, skills, and location to incoming calls. Another 8 hours/week went to invoice creation and payment follow-up.
The second office person spent about 12 hours/week on customer follow-up calls — appointment reminders, post-service satisfaction checks, and review solicitation. Most calls went to voicemail.
The company was losing an estimated 15–20 after-hours leads per month because their website had no way to capture or respond to inquiries outside business hours.
What we built
Phase 1 (weeks 1–3): Scheduling and dispatch automation
Built an AI-powered dispatch system integrated with their existing ServiceTitan instance. The system matches incoming jobs to technician skills, certifications, current location, and availability — then proposes optimal routes for the day. The office manager reviews and approves rather than building from scratch.
Phase 2 (weeks 3–5): Communication automation
Implemented automated appointment confirmations, day-of reminders, post-service follow-ups, and review requests via text. Triggered by job status changes in ServiceTitan — no manual action required. Added an AI chatbot to their website for after-hours lead capture and basic appointment booking.
Phase 3 (weeks 5–7): Invoicing and collections
Automated invoice generation from completed job records. Invoices send immediately upon job completion, with automated payment reminder sequences (day 3, day 7, day 14, escalation to phone call).
The results
Where the savings came from:
- Office manager hours reduced from 50/week to 32/week — converted from full-time to 4-day week (savings: ~$1,200/mo)
- Second office position reduced from full-time to half-time (savings: ~$1,800/mo)
- SaaS consolidation — eliminated Mailchimp, replaced lead platform with chatbot (savings: ~$400/mo)
- Faster collections improved cash flow by $800+/mo in reduced late payments
What didn't change: Both office employees kept their jobs. One shifted to 4 days, the other to part-time with a focus on customer relationships and sales support rather than data entry and phone tag.
The owner's reaction: "I didn't believe it when you told me the numbers. Then I watched my office manager leave at 3pm on a Wednesday with everything done. That's when I got it."