Fixing a Revenue Plateau in HVAC & Plumbing: Hard Truths and Expert Strategies

Despite experienced hires and rebranding, many HVAC & plumbing businesses get stuck at $50K–$125K/month.

They have inconsistent performance, leadership gaps, weak sales, misaligned roles, and high expenses.

“You’ve fallen into the trap I like to call ‘death by Facebook.’ I’ve seen too many home service companies spending money on branding, expensive marketing agencies, and training programs, thinking it will fix everything. The truth is, without discipline and constant management, your team won’t change. You can’t spend your way out of poor leadership.” – Jamie Clark

Fix This Now:

✔ Keep top performers selling, not installing. Let your best tech close deals while lower performers handle installs.
✔ Implement call-by-call management. Daily tracking, huddles, and real-time adjustments increase revenue per job.
✔ Pay for performance. Incentivize technicians with commission-based pay to boost motivation and sales.
✔ Track daily revenue goals. Create a daily P&L report to identify weak points early.
✔ Fix leadership issues. If your manager isn’t driving results, restructure now before the business stagnates further.
✔ Cut wasteful expenses. Your overhead might be killing profitability—trim where necessary.

Statistics & Hard Facts

• A top-performing technician can close 3–5x more revenue than an average tech—yet many owners still have them doing installs.
• $1,500 minimum per job ticket should be the goal to maintain a healthy profit margin.
• A 35%+ board fill rate with aged opportunities (10+ year-old systems) significantly increases conversion rates.
• 100% of high-growth service companies enforce daily huddles and strict performance tracking.

“Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness. The lower an individual’s ability to lead, the lower the lid on their potential. The higher their leadership ability, the greater their effectiveness. Your leadership is always the lid on your success. If your leadership level is an 8, your effectiveness will never be higher than a 7. If your leadership is only a 4, you will struggle to perform at a 5. To reach the highest level of effectiveness, you must raise your lid by increasing your leadership skills.” – John C. Maxwell

Stuck and Frustrated? You’re Not Alone

Running an HVAC or plumbing business can feel like an endless cycle of ups and downs. One month, revenue looks great; the next, you’re barely covering expenses. Despite hiring experienced technicians, investing in top-tier training, and even rebranding, many business owners find themselves stuck in the same revenue range—never quite breaking through to the next level.

This is the exact struggle a home services business owner shared in a viral post that sparked hundreds of expert responses. The key question: Why are we stuck at $100K–$125K per month in revenue despite doing all the “right” things?

Through deep discussion, industry veterans uncovered several hard truths—and real solutions—that could transform a stagnant business into a thriving operation.

Key Challenges Holding HVAC & Plumbing Businesses Back

1. Inconsistent Performance & Revenue Fluctuations

Your best technician is closing deals left and right, but the rest of the team is underperforming. That means some weeks are great while others barely cover payroll. The lack of consistency creates stress, poor planning, and operational inefficiencies.

2. Leadership & Accountability Gaps

One of the biggest roadblocks? Sporadic leadership. Many HVAC/plumbing businesses have systems in place but only enforce them when revenue starts slipping. Without consistent accountability, technicians default to their lowest allowed performance.

3. Technicians Are Not Selling—or Maximizing Opportunities

If your bottom three technicians are turning in low-dollar tickets, it’s not just a skill problem—it’s a sales problem. Many techs struggle to offer full solutions to customers and leave money on the table with every service call.

4. Misalignment of Roles & Responsibilities

If your top technician is your best closer, why is he still installing jobs? High-performing techs should be focused on what they do best—closing deals. Meanwhile, your underperforming techs need a structured plan to step up or step out.

5. High Expenses vs. Low Revenue

With $100K+ in monthly expenses, many home service businesses find themselves in financial quicksand. If revenue isn’t outpacing overhead, it’s time to make cuts, adjust pricing, or drive better efficiency in operations.

Expert Solutions to Break the Revenue Ceiling

We pulled the most actionable, no-BS advice from industry leaders in the discussion. Here’s how they recommend fixing a revenue plateau in HVAC and plumbing:

1. Focus High Performers on Sales, Not Installs

Advice from Norris Ayvazian & Brian Burton:

• If your top tech is great at closing, they should not be doing installations.
• Assign installs to lower-performing techs, keeping your top seller focused on maximizing revenue per call.
• Consider setting up a dedicated install team so your best closer stays in front of customers.

➡ Norris Ayvazian:

“If your manager actually had experience growing a company, they’d be obsessed with metrics and execution. Someone’s resume needs a fact-check. A real growth-focused manager would be living and dying by the numbers, not avoiding revenue discussions. Your top tech should be closing, not installing. Have the lower performers do installs to support the high performer.”

➡ Brian Burton:

“If your top tech carries that opp average and conversion rate regularly, he shouldn’t be installing. Have the top tech sell and the other three install for him. The only calls they run are on-call until they get their ticket averages over $1300. If they leave, at those ticket averages, you’ll be better off. Then just hire two installers for your top tech. Find another version of the top tech and do it again…”

2. Implement Call-by-Call Management

Advice from Kyle Hagen & Steven Crosby:

• Daily call reviews must be non-negotiable.
• Before techs head to a job, they should have clear expectations on sales goals and service standards.
• Every call should be tracked, analyzed, and reviewed for missed revenue opportunities.

➡ Kyle Hagen:

“Call by call management is the only thing that can save you… Don’t wait, every day is lost revenue and greater frustration! Your expenses are HUGE!”

➡ Steven Crosby:

“Would be happy to dig into their operations and help. Daily huddles need to happen, period. If you’re not reviewing zero-dollar tickets, tracking performance, and setting clear expectations every single day, you might as well shut the doors now. This isn’t optional.”

“If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.” Patrick Lencioni, 5 Dysfunctions of a Team

3. Set and Enforce a Performance-Based Pay Structure

Advice from Nicholas Sambrick & Joe Payette:

• Offer commission or bonus incentives to reward techs who upsell properly.
• Set a minimum job ticket goal ($1,500 per job is common in high-performing companies).
• Track conversion rates per tech and take action if someone consistently underperforms.

➡ Nicholas Sambrick:

“The average tickets are way too low for those bottom people. Consider implementing a bonus for the techs when they reach a certain amount of sales for the month. If a tech can sell 40k for the month they get a bonus and then 10% commission on each sale above that. If they don’t have commission incentives there’s no motivation to put in the extra work and take care of customers and offer the solutions they need.”

➡ Joe Payette:

“Without reading through all the comments. My opinion is they feel underpaid or not paid by performance or commission pay. Seems like there is no incentive to do more on each job. You may also need to raise your rates.”

4. Get a Handle on Your Financial Metrics

Advice from Brian Delfield & Michael Fox:

• Your business must track daily revenue goals and job profitability.
• Create a daily profit and loss report that your leadership team reviews.
• If your overhead is too high, cut unnecessary costs immediately.

➡ Brian Delfield:

“If there is no map then how do you know where you are going? There will sometimes be a detour, but the target is always the same. If you do not have a target/goal, how does the company know where to aim? You need daily revenue tracking—expenses vs. sales—so you see problems before they hit.”

➡ Michael Fox:

“The root of your problem this week is not enough opportunities to guarantee each tech has 2-3 jobs per day. Then the secondary issue is the value per job is too low on 3 out of 4 technicians. You have to understand your traffic machine, your CSR, and your sales machine. That includes training to ensure every order is $2,500 minimum which is what would pay the bills and guarantee healthy profit.”

“You can’t rely on outsiders to build your company, or hope for a knight in shining armor to save you. You need a repeatable process that you can track, refine, and enforce—every single day.” – Ken Goodrich, Goettl Air Conditioning

5. Hold Leadership Accountable

➡ Advice from Ryan Redding & Jamie Clark:

• If your manager isn’t actively driving sales and operations, why are they there?
• Leadership must be obsessed with metrics—daily huddles, performance tracking, and goal setting should be mandatory.
• If leadership avoids tough conversations, restructure leadership now before it kills growth.

➡ Ryan Redding:

“Your revenue might not be the real problem—consistency is. It sounds like things slide when revenue is good, and panic sets in when it’s low. That kind of cycle makes it really hard to scale. Leadership isn’t just about stepping in when things are bad—it’s about holding the line every day, especially when things are going well.”

➡ Jamie Clark:

“You’ve fallen into the trap I like to call ‘death by Facebook.’ I’ve seen too many home service companies spending money on branding, expensive marketing agencies, and training programs, thinking it will fix everything. The truth is, without discipline and constant management, your team won’t change. You can’t spend your way out of poor leadership.”

Step-by-Step Action Plan to Fix Your Revenue Plateau

✔ Reassign your top closer to sales only—keep them off installs.

✔ Start call-by-call coaching today—no more guessing on results.

✔ Create a performance-based pay structure—bonuses for top earners.

✔ Track revenue daily—get a real-time handle on profitability.

✔ If leadership is weak, change it. Someone must drive accountability.

✔ Trim unnecessary expenses—every dollar wasted is a dollar lost.

The Hard Truth About HVAC & Plumbing Growth

If your business has been stuck at the same revenue level for months (or years), it’s not a fluke—it’s a leadership and accountability problem. You can’t train your way out of weak execution. You need a culture of ownership, daily accountability, and a clear plan for revenue growth.

Your Next Move? Take Action.

What’s the biggest challenge your HVAC or plumbing business is facing right now?

🚀 Need help driving leads and optimizing sales? Let’s talk strategy—because doing nothing is the only thing guaranteed to keep you stuck.