How to Lower Your HVAC Company Overhead
No matter how well you’re doing in sales, too much overhead can hold your company back, lower your revenue and prevent growth. You need all of the money you can scrape together to keep paying the most essential things that keep your HVAC business going, from hiring better talent to buying gas. What can you do to cut down your costs and invest where you really need it? Here are some options to help you lower your HVAC company’s overhead.
1. Lease Your Vehicle
Leasing can cost more than just buying the vehicle in the long run. However, through leasing, you can get much lower monthly payments than you may be able to otherwise. And, if your alternative is to buy a used truck that might be much less reliable and may end up needing a lot of repairs, then leasing can help you have a more stable business and healthier cashflow too. Unless you can afford to buy the vehicle you need for work in cash, leasing can help you get a lower overhead.
2. Find Better Payment Methods
Often, you forget about how much your payment processor is taking from you in fees because you may not even see that money. Credit card companies take a fee, and many companies that offer point of sale technology do as well. You may be able to find a cheaper option if you spend some time looking. Good leads include your customer relationship management software, like AccuPay through AccuLynx, or your accounting software, like the payment process available through QuickBooks Pro.
3. Choose Broader Software
Speaking of software, how many subscriptions do you have these days? In the early days, you may have needed several different kinds of software to run your business. But, many of these companies have now expanded into their competitor’s realm. You may now be able to get away with only one or two subscriptions.
Consider HouseCall Pro, one of our favorite software options. It supports scheduling and also handles your GPS tracking so that you don’t need separate solutions for each. As a result of choosing fewer, broader software tools, you can pay less in subscriptions.
4. Pay Quarterly Taxes
What happens to your business at tax time? Not only may you have a big crunch to meet the deadline, but you may get penalties and fees from the IRS if your estimates about what you would make were off for the year. Paying quarterly helps avoid the fees and ensures that you have a healthy cash flow.
5. Try a Call Answering Service
Hiring people is one of the most expensive overhead items there are. But, what other choice do you have but to hire someone to answer your phones and schedule appointments, that is, if you want to focus on growing the business? The other option is a call answering service. We can provide your customers with exceptional service, more reliably than a single employee, and for less money.
Choosing other labor outsourcing options, like outsourcing your accounting, can also help you lower your overhead costs. When you have to hire, make sure you’re hiring technicians, the people who can’t be replaced.
