How Much Do HVAC Business Owners Make? (2026)

HVAC business owners average $86,197 a year, or $41.44 an hour, according to ZipRecruiter’s national estimate for September 2026. That average hides a huge spread: the 25th percentile sits at $26,500 and the 90th at $242,000.

No government agency tracks owner income for this trade. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports what HVAC technicians earn, and it counts about 6 percent of them as self-employed, but not what those owners take home.

Every owner figure below comes from job-listing data, tax-return analysis, or dated industry surveys, and each one is labeled.

Key takeaways

• ZipRecruiter puts the average HVAC business owner at $86,197 a year (September 2026), with a range of $21,500 to $295,000.
• Owner pay tracks company size: roughly $40,000 to $80,000 under $1 million in revenue, $80,000 to $150,000 at $1 million to $3 million, and $250,000 or more above $10 million (Profitability Partners, 2026).
• Incorporated HVAC and plumbing contractors netted 5.7 percent on average in IRS 2022 tax data, measured after the owner’s salary but before distributions. On a $1.2 million shop that is about $68,400.
• A W-2 technician at the 90th percentile earns $95,210 (BLS, May 2025), more than the average owner. On these figures, ownership beats a top technician job once the business runs more than one truck.

Owner pay at a glance	25th percentile	Average	75th percentile	90th percentile
ZipRecruiter, Hvac Owner, September 2026	$26,500	$86,197	$125,000	$242,000

What is the average HVAC business owner salary in 2026?

The average HVAC business owner salary is $86,197 a year, per ZipRecruiter’s “Hvac Owner” estimate for September 2026. That works out to $7,183 a month or $1,658 a week. The 25th percentile is $26,500, the 75th is $125,000, and the 90th is $242,000.

Treat those numbers as a rough band. ZipRecruiter builds its estimate from active job listings for the title “HVAC owner,” and very few founders post their own job. It likely reflects owner-operator and partner roles that companies advertise rather than what founders draw.

Three other figures circulate widely. Housecall Pro’s 2026 guide says most owners earn $70,000 to $150,000, citing ZipRecruiter’s $86,197 figure, which has not moved since.

CertainPath, a contractor coaching company, states an average of $57,767 with most owners between $35,000 and $75,000, but gives no source or sample for that number.

A third number, $107,647, comes from Comparably’s “HVAC contractor” salary page, last updated December 14, 2023. It covers contractors of any kind rather than owners, which is why it runs high (Comparably, retrieved September 24, 2026).

In short, a typical owner of a small HVAC company earns somewhere between a senior technician’s wage and about $150,000. Where you land in that band depends almost entirely on revenue and margin, which the next sections break down.

Why do the numbers disagree so much?

They measure different things. A job-listing average captures salary for someone hired as an owner or operating partner.

A survey of take-home pay captures what founders actually pull out after payroll and parts. A tax-return margin captures what the company keeps after everyone, including the owner, has drawn a salary.

Owner income also has three parts. There is a salary or draw, there is profit distribution at year end, and there is equity that only turns into cash when the company sells.

A $1 million shop might pay its owner a $60,000 salary and distribute another $20,000 in a good year.

So when one source says $57,767, another $86,197, and a third $107,647, all three can be right about different people. The better question is what a company your size pays its owner, and the acquisition data below answers that.

How much do you make owning your own HVAC company?

Owner pay scales with revenue. Profitability Partners co-founder Matthew Mooney, who has reviewed more than 200 trades acquisitions, published owner pay benchmarks by company size on March 10, 2026.

Owners of sub-$1 million shops take $40,000 to $80,000. Owners of $10 million companies take $250,000 to $500,000 or more.

Annual revenue	Typical owner total pay	Share of revenue
Under $1 million	$40,000 to $80,000	6 to 10 percent
$1 million to $3 million	$80,000 to $150,000	5 to 8 percent
$3 million to $5 million	$120,000 to $200,000	4 to 6 percent
$5 million to $10 million	$175,000 to $300,000	3 to 5 percent
Over $10 million	$250,000 to $500,000 or more	2 to 4 percent

Source: Profitability Partners, “How Much Should HVAC Business Owners Pay Themselves?”, March 10, 2026 (updated June 7, 2026), retrieved September 24, 2026. Figures are the author’s benchmarks from deal reviews rather than a survey.

The client data behind them covers companies from $2 million to $30 million in revenue, so the two smallest tiers lean on acquisition reviews rather than monthly books.

Why the share falls as revenue grows

Notice the percentages fall as companies grow. A solo operator keeps up to a tenth of revenue as personal pay.

A $10 million company pays its owner 2 to 4 percent, because most of the money goes to a management layer, more trucks, and a marketing budget.

The trade-off is hours. The sub-$1 million owner is usually also the lead technician, the dispatcher, and the bookkeeper. Our guide on how to start an HVAC business walks through the costs of adding each of those roles.

HVAC company profit margins (latest IRS data)

Incorporated HVAC and plumbing contractors posted an aggregate net margin of 5.7 percent (net income as a share of receipts) in IRS Statistics of Income corporate returns for tax year 2022, according to VantaInsights’ analysis of NAICS code 238220 (updated September 9, 2026).

The same analysis puts the trade at more than 111,000 establishments (Census County Business Patterns, 2023) and $297.6 billion in receipts (Economic Census, 2022).

Two caveats matter for owners. The IRS figure covers only incorporated companies, so the smallest one-person shops filing a Schedule C are missing.

And it is book income after owner salary but before distributions, so an S-corp owner’s real return is usually higher than 5.7 percent.

Housecall Pro’s worked example shows how the arithmetic plays out. A $1.2 million company at a 12 percent net margin earns $144,000. If the owner takes 40 percent of that as compensation, the owner earns $57,600.

Lift the margin to 18 percent and the same 40 percent share becomes $86,400.

Run the same shop at the IRS average of 5.7 percent and the profit left after the owner’s salary is about $68,400. Taxes, debt payments, and new trucks come out of that before any distribution.

Revenue headlines mislead for that reason. A million-dollar HVAC company is often a $60,000-a-year job with a truck payment attached.

HVAC business owner salary by state

In the three most populous states, owner pay averages $85,068 in California, $80,306 in Texas, and $64,414 in Florida, per ZipRecruiter estimates for September 2026. All three sit under the $86,197 national average, Florida by about a quarter.

State	Average owner pay	75th percentile	90th percentile
United States	$86,197	$125,000	$242,000
California	$85,068	$123,400	$238,830
Texas	$80,306	$116,500	$225,460
Florida	$64,414	$93,400	$180,844

Source: ZipRecruiter “Hvac Owner Salary” pages for the United States, California, Texas, and Florida, all showing September 2026 figures, retrieved September 24, 2026.

The top-paying cities on ZipRecruiter’s list are Nome, Alaska at $106,927, Berkeley, California at $105,543, and Aspen, Colorado at $104,188. ZipRecruiter’s city figures are estimates adjusted for local pay levels, which is why remote and expensive markets top the list.

Florida’s lower figure is worth checking against the technician side before you plan around it. Compare it with the state table in our HVAC technician salary guide.

Owner versus technician: which pays more?

On these figures, ownership beats a top technician job once the company runs more than one truck. HVAC mechanics and installers earned a median of $61,010 in May 2025, with the top 10 percent above $95,210 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, retrieved September 24, 2026).

The average owner at $86,197 earns less than that top technician.

The upside is the tail of the distribution. Almost no W-2 technician earns $242,000, but the top 10 percent of owners on ZipRecruiter’s data do, and Mooney’s acquisition reviews put $5 million-plus owners at $175,000 to $300,000.

Add equity: a profitable HVAC company sells for a multiple of earnings, and the technician has nothing to sell.

The downside is risk and hours. The owner carries payroll, a truck fleet, liability insurance, and the 2 a.m. callback, and takes a draw only after those are paid.

BLS counts about 6 percent of the trade’s 440,900 workers as self-employed, roughly 26,000 people, so most technicians never make the jump.

A fair test: if you can earn $90,000 or more as an employed technician in your market, ownership needs a credible path past one truck to beat it.

Can an HVAC business owner make $100,000 a year?

Yes, and on ZipRecruiter’s data more than a quarter of HVAC owners do, since the 75th percentile is $125,000.

The benchmark table above says the same thing from the company side: $100,000 in owner pay usually arrives at $1 million to $3 million in revenue.

To clear $100,000 in profit on top of a salary, a shop at the IRS average margin of 5.7 percent needs about $1.75 million in revenue. At a 15 percent margin it needs about $670,000. Margin gets you to six figures faster than revenue does.

How HVAC owners raise their take-home pay

Four things raise owner income without adding trucks:

• maintenance agreements
• pricing to a target margin
• technician productivity
• cutting the admin work the owner does for free

Sell maintenance agreements

Recurring service plans smooth the spring and fall dead zones and put a tech in front of every furnace before it fails. The field service platforms reviewed on this site can bill them automatically. Our HVAC software hub lists which ones handle agreements natively.

Price to a target margin

The gap between a 5.7 percent shop and a 15 percent shop often comes down to pricing: flat-rate prices that cover overhead, and a price book updated when parts cost more. A software price book keeps techs from quoting from memory.

Measure revenue per technician

Owners who track billable hours per tech and the average ticket per call spot the problem crew and the problem service line quickly. Dispatch software does this reporting for you. See our best HVAC software comparison for which ones report it well.

Stop doing the office work yourself

Every hour the owner spends on invoicing and scheduling is an hour not billed at a technician’s rate.

Jobber starts at $29 a month billed annually and Housecall Pro at $59 a month billed annually (both verified September 24, 2026), and both replace most of that admin.

Disclosure: FieldCompare may earn a commission if you buy Jobber or Housecall Pro through links on this page. It does not change the figures above.

HVAC business owner salary FAQ

What does a one-truck HVAC owner make?

Under $1 million in revenue, owners take $40,000 to $80,000 a year, or 6 to 10 percent of revenue, per Profitability Partners benchmarks (March 2026). ZipRecruiter’s national average across owners of every size is $86,197 for September 2026.

Is owning your own HVAC business worth it?

On the numbers above, once the company runs more than one truck. The average owner ($86,197) earns less than a 90th-percentile technician ($95,210, BLS May 2025).

The reward is the top end: $125,000 at the 75th percentile and $242,000 at the 90th, plus a business to sell.

Can an HVAC technician make $100,000 a year without owning a business?

Only at the top of the trade. The highest-paid 10 percent of HVAC technicians earned more than $95,210 in May 2025 (BLS), so six figures as an employee usually means overtime, union scale, or commercial work.

For owners, six figures usually arrives at $1 million to $3 million in revenue.

How much do HVAC CEOs make?

There is no public dataset for HVAC company executives. The closest benchmark is owner pay at the largest private companies: $175,000 to $300,000 at $5 million to $10 million in revenue and $250,000 to $500,000 or more above $10 million (Profitability Partners, March 2026).

What is the average profit margin for an HVAC business?

Incorporated HVAC and plumbing contractors posted an aggregate net margin of 5.7 percent in IRS Statistics of Income data for 2022 (NAICS 238220, per VantaInsights, updated September 2026).

Housecall Pro’s worked example uses 12 to 18 percent, but that is a hypothetical rather than a measured figure.

Do HVAC business owners make more than plumbing business owners?

No dataset separates the two trades’ owner pay. The IRS counts both under one code at 5.7 percent. On the technician side, plumbers earn a slightly higher median ($63,800 vs $61,010, BLS May 2025) and are more often self-employed (8 percent vs 6 percent).

See our plumber salary guide.

How we compiled this guide

The author is a software reviewer who covers the trades and has never run an HVAC company, so nothing here is first-hand income data.

Every figure was checked against its source on September 24, 2026, and the source and date are stated next to each number.

We used ZipRecruiter for owner-title pay because it is the largest owner-title dataset we found with state breakdowns, BLS for technician pay, and IRS Statistics of Income (via VantaInsights) for company margins.

Profitability Partners supplies owner pay by revenue because its benchmarks come from acquisition reviews rather than self-reported surveys. CertainPath’s $57,767 is reported for completeness but is unsourced.

Sources

• ZipRecruiter, Hvac Owner Salary (US average $86,197; $41.44/hr; 25th $26,500; 75th $125,000; 90th $242,000; range $21,500 to $295,000; top cities Nome AK $106,927, Berkeley CA $105,543, Aspen CO $104,188; September 2026 estimate, page restamped daily), retrieved 2026-09-24, https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Hvac-Owner-Salary
• ZipRecruiter, Hvac Owner Salary in California ($85,068; 75th $123,400; 90th $238,830), retrieved 2026-09-24, ziprecruiter.com, Hvac Owner Salary in California
• ZipRecruiter, Hvac Owner Salary in Texas ($80,306; 75th $116,500; 90th $225,460), retrieved 2026-09-24, ziprecruiter.com, Hvac Owner Salary in Texas
• ZipRecruiter, Hvac Owner Salary in Florida ($64,414; 75th $93,400; 90th $180,844), retrieved 2026-09-24, ziprecruiter.com, Hvac Owner Salary in Florida
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers (median $61,010, May 2025; lowest 10% $40,050; highest 10% $95,210; 440,900 jobs; 6% self-employed; 11% growth 2025-35), retrieved 2026-09-24, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/installation-maintenance-and-repair/heating-air-conditioning-and-refrigeration-mechanics-and-installers.htm
• IRS, SOI Tax Stats, Corporation Tax Statistics (corporate returns by industry, the dataset behind the 5.7% figure), retrieved 2026-09-24, https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-corporation-tax-statistics
• VantaInsights, HVAC and Plumbing Business Profit Margins (5.7% net income to receipts, IRS SOI corporate returns 2022, NAICS 238220; 111,000+ establishments per Census CBP 2023; $297.6B receipts per Economic Census 2022; updated Sep 9, 2026), retrieved 2026-09-24, https://vantainsights.com/insights/hvac-plumbing-profit-margins
• Profitability Partners, Matthew Mooney, How Much Should HVAC Business Owners Pay Themselves? (owner pay by revenue band; author bio states 200+ trades acquisitions reviewed; published Mar 10, 2026, updated Jun 7, 2026), retrieved 2026-09-24, https://profitabilitypartners.io/hvac-owner-compensation/
• Housecall Pro, HVAC Business Owner Salary: 2026 Averages and Profit Tips ($70,000 to $150,000; $1.2M at 12% and 18% margin example; updated Feb 12, 2026), retrieved 2026-09-24, https://www.housecallpro.com/resources/hvac-business-owner-salary/
• CertainPath, How Much Do HVAC Companies Make? ($57,767 average, unsourced; published Feb 11, 2025, updated Jul 27, 2026), retrieved 2026-09-24, https://mycertainpath.com/resources/blog/how-much-do-hvac-companies-make/
• Comparably, Hvac Contractor Salary ($107,647 US average; page updated December 14, 2023; covers contractors, not owners), retrieved 2026-09-24, https://www.comparably.com/salaries/salaries-for-hvac-contractor
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters (median $63,800, May 2025; 8% self-employed), retrieved 2026-09-24, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters.htm
• Jobber, Pricing (Core $29/mo billed annually; $21/mo first-year promotion showing on retrieval date), retrieved 2026-09-24, https://www.getjobber.com/pricing/
• Housecall Pro, Pricing (Basic $59/mo billed annually), retrieved 2026-09-24, https://www.housecallpro.com/pricing/