One four-technician roster can support a mixed plumbing and HVAC offer only if every sold hour is assigned once and the required skills fit the schedule. This fictional contractor uses six exclusive service categories inside one paid field pool. Its installed hourly-equivalent prices include the scoped equipment, so equipment value is not a second revenue stream.
Use a skills-and-hours schedule alongside the service mix. An aggregate pool can reconcile arithmetically while a real replacement job still lacks the right technician or service window.
Which capacity does the mixed offer actually have?
The scenario serves a suburban mixed-climate US area from January 2027 through December 2029. It covers repairs, maintenance and replacement, excluding new construction and a retail equipment outlet. Four compensated technicians supply 640 available individual labor hours monthly; a paid owner-manager and dispatcher handle scope and coordination without adding field hours.
Six service allocations sum to that same roster. They are not six independently staffed businesses. The nominal sold utilization is 55%, with one seasonal pattern across the mix and a three-month opening ramp. The saved pattern changes workload, while the paid technician count stays fixed.
How is the peak-month work divided?
July’s seasonal weight raises sold work to 422.4 individual technician hours. The table shows the exclusive allocation and the inclusive realized fee assigned to each hour. Water-heater and HVAC-replacement fees include their scoped equipment; a high hourly equivalent is not a claim about a technician’s labor-only charge.
The July pool remains below the aggregate 640 available hours, but that alone does not prove a workable dispatch plan. Check the trade competence, number of people needed simultaneously, travel, parts availability and callback cover for each work order. A maintenance booking cannot use a technician who is already committed to a replacement.
| Scope | Sold hours | Realized fee/hour | Earned revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plumbing | 118.272 | $180.00 | $21,288.96 |
| Drains | 50.688 | $170.00 | $8,616.96 |
| Water heaters | 42.24 | $375.00 | $15,840.00 |
| HVAC repairs | 92.928 | $210.00 | $19,514.88 |
| HVAC upkeep | 42.24 | $150.00 | $6,336.00 |
| HVAC renewal | 76.032 | $500.00 | $38,016.00 |
Which costs are already inside the installed scope?
The scenario’s 32.5% direct-cost allowance covers parts, equipment and outside specialists. Physical goods are handled through the stock cycle; specialist purchases do not become extra uncounted employees. Fuel, lead acquisition, collection charges and callbacks are additional sales-linked operating expenses.
The distinction matters when a customer compares a repair with a replacement. Keep the quote’s included hardware, labor responsibility, disposal and acceptance clear. If an inverter, unit or maintenance task is already inside an accepted installation scope, do not sell it again as another category within that same job.
Does a busy season support the whole year?
July revenue of $109,612.80 produces EBITDA of $18,967.69. The same fixed roster faces a quieter April, whose EBITDA is -$214.56. The first operating year ends with net income of -$12,339.64, after owner remuneration and depreciation, despite its positive annual EBITDA.
Parts use 14 inventory days; the blended supplier payment assumption is 22 days and collection is eight days. The forecast minimum cash is $207,619.09, conditional on $481,226.71 of proposed uncommitted equity. No debt is modeled. Startup assets and opening stock require funding before the roster can earn its planned fees.
What should a mixed-service pilot measure?
Take a paid sequence of repair, maintenance and replacement jobs through invoicing and collection. Record individual technician hours by exclusive scope, skills used, nonbillable dispatch/travel, ordinary purchases and callbacks. Reconcile those records to one roster rather than adding the productive hours reported by overlapping departments.
Use those records to decide whether to narrow the offer, change the mix or secure explicitly priced specialist cover. Keep the selected seasonal case as a planning assumption until actual paid work and receipts support the schedule.
Make the next decision with your own evidence
Build a skills-based dispatch calendar from collected jobs and reconcile each sold technician hour, equipment purchase and callback to one exclusive service scope.
Explore published business plan examples ↗Hearthline Mechanical is a fictional prelaunch scenario prepared with AI assistance. Inputs are illustrative; forecast results come from the matching saved financial model. Funding is proposed. The diagrams explain the case and do not depict actual premises, established demand or promised earnings. Replace the assumptions with evidence before committing.
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