Guide for HVAC companies on QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks for HVAC companies: how to set it up
QuickBooks Online works well as the books for an HVAC company once it is set up for how HVAC work runs: service calls, installs, maintenance agreements, refrigerant and vans. Here are the settings, in order, each linked to the source.
By Nischal, CA, the senior accountant at Books and Trucks, which does monthly bookkeeping for US HVAC companies in QuickBooks Online from $599 a month, or $995 with ServiceTitan. Checked against Intuit, ServiceTitan, EPA, IRS and Department of Labor guidance on October 22, 2026.
The short answer
QuickBooks keeps the books. Your field app runs the trucks.
QuickBooks Online is the accounting system: invoices, bills, payroll, sales tax, and the profit and loss, balance sheet and job reports your lender and CPA ask for. It does not dispatch technicians or hold a price book for the field. Most HVAC companies pair it with a field service app, such as ServiceTitan or Jobber, which sends invoices and payments into QuickBooks. New companies start on QuickBooks Online: Intuit stopped selling new QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus and Premier Plus subscriptions in the US after September 30, 2024.
Source: Intuit, What the QuickBooks Desktop stop-sell means for your business
Which plan
Plus, for most HVAC companies
Three features decide it, and all three start at QuickBooks Online Plus. Projects shows the profit on each install or replacement. Class tracking splits income and costs by line of work. Inventory tracking follows the parts on your trucks. Simple Start and Essentials have none of the three. Advanced makes sense when you need more than the 40 classes and locations Plus allows, more users, or more detailed reporting for a larger office.
Source: Intuit, Create projects in QuickBooks Online
Source: Intuit, Track transactions with classes (updated August 4, 2026)
Source: Intuit, Set up and track your inventory in QuickBooks Online
Set it up in nine steps
The settings that matter for HVAC, in order
Do them in this order. Classes and the chart of accounts come first, because every item, invoice and bill you set up afterwards needs somewhere to post.
- 1
Turn on classes, one for each line of work
Where: Settings, Account and settings, Advanced, Categories, Track classes
Make one class for each kind of work you sell: service and repair, installs and replacements, maintenance agreements, and commercial or new construction if you do it. Tag every invoice and bill with its class and the profit and loss report splits by line of work, so you can see whether installs carry the service side or the other way round. Classes are in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced. Plus allows 40 classes and locations combined, which is plenty for an HVAC company that keeps classes for lines of work and not for each technician.
Source: Intuit, Track transactions with classes (updated August 4, 2026)
- 2
Use a chart of accounts built for HVAC
Give each line of work its own income account, and put the costs of doing the job above the gross profit line: technician labor, labor burden, equipment, parts and materials, refrigerant, permits and subcontractors. Add the three accounts trade shops forget: Customer Deposits for money taken before an install, Deferred Maintenance Revenue for agreements paid in advance, and Retainage Receivable if you do commercial work. Our free chart of accounts has all of them, ready to import.
- 3
Decide how you track parts, then set up items
Where: Settings, Account and settings, Sales, Products and services, Track inventory quantity on hand
Inventory tracking is in Plus and Advanced and uses first in, first out costing. Pick one method for truck and warehouse stock and stick to it: either track it as inventory items, so QuickBooks moves the cost to cost of goods sold when a part goes on an invoice, or expense parts to a materials account when you buy them and count the trucks each month. Doing both counts the same part twice. Equipment bought for one job, such as a condenser for a replacement, is usually a non-inventory item charged to that job.
Source: Intuit, Set up and track your inventory in QuickBooks Online
- 4
Give refrigerant its own items, by type
Set up a separate item and cost account line for each refrigerant you buy, so you can see what it costs you each month and on each job. Refrigerant may only be sold to Section 608 certified technicians or to employers who can show proof, and the seller must keep the records for three years, so keep the certified buyer on the bill. Federal rules hold HFC supply at 60 percent of the baseline from 2024 to 2028 and 30 percent from 2029, so the price you pay will move and old job estimates go stale.
- 5
Run installs and replacements as projects
Where: Settings, Account and settings, Advanced, Projects
A system replacement needs its own income and costs before you can see what it made. Projects in Plus and Advanced collect the estimate, invoices, bills, labor and expenses for one job in one place and show its profit. Check that Projects is turned on before the first install. Bill the deposit and the balance with progress invoicing against the estimate, and keep the deposit in Customer Deposits until the work is done, not in income.
- 6
Book maintenance agreements as deferred revenue
Cash collected for a tune-up plan is not yet earned. Record it in Deferred Maintenance Revenue, a liability, and move it to income as each visit is completed or as each month of coverage passes. ServiceTitan's own example is a $200 yearly plan with four visits: $50 moves to income each time a visit is done. Booked this way, a busy spring of plan sales does not make the month look better than the work done in it, and the balance shows how many visits you still owe customers.
Source: ServiceTitan Help, Deferred revenue for recurring services
- 7
Split technician pay into payroll items, and cost it to jobs
Pay regular hours, overtime, spiffs or commissions, and per diem as separate payroll items mapped to their own accounts. It matters for more than reports: the Department of Labor counts nondiscretionary bonuses and commissions in the regular rate used for overtime, so a spiff paid in an overtime week raises that week's overtime rate. In its own example, $10 an hour plus a $50 bonus over 43 hours gives a regular rate of $11.16. To see labor on each job, QuickBooks Projects can use a burdened hourly cost for each employee.
Source: US Department of Labor, Fact Sheet 56C, bonuses and overtime
- 8
Set sales tax by type of job
Where: Taxes, Sales tax
HVAC sales tax depends on the state and on the job. In most states a contractor pays tax on materials and does not charge it on an installed system, a few states treat the contractor as a retailer, and some tax repair labor but not a new installation. Set each service item's taxability to match the work, and keep repair and replacement items apart so the tax follows the job. Our state-by-state guide links each rule to the state's own page.
- 9
Put vans and equipment on the books as assets
A service van is a fixed asset with its loan as a liability, not a vehicle expense in the month you buy it. The tax write-off is separate and generous: for 2026 the Section 179 limit is $2,560,000, and a van over 6,000 pounds gross vehicle weight with no seating behind the driver is not held to the $32,000 limit for heavy SUVs. Property bought after January 19, 2025 also qualifies for 100 percent bonus depreciation. Keep the asset, the loan and the tax return in agreement, and confirm the election with your CPA.
If you run ServiceTitan or Jobber
Set QuickBooks up first, then connect the field app
The field app sends its invoices and payments to whatever accounts and items you point it at, so the setup above decides whether the exports land in the right place. With ServiceTitan, each GL account name must match the QuickBooks account name exactly, and every price book item maps to one income account; use classes with the same names as your business units to split revenue. With Jobber, records sync one way in a fixed order, clients first, then items, invoices, payments and payouts, so a duplicate client name can hold up everything after it.
When something does not come across, our guides go error by error: ServiceTitan to QuickBooks export errors and Jobber to QuickBooks sync errors. The account mapping ServiceTitan needs is in the chart of accounts guide.
Every month
An HVAC month-end checklist
Set up once, QuickBooks still needs a short close each month for the numbers to mean anything. These eight steps take a few hours in a small shop and are the same ones we run for clients.
- 1Reconcile every bank and credit card account to its statement.
- 2Match the deposits from your field app or card processor, so Undeposited Funds holds only money not yet in the bank.
- 3Move this month's earned share of maintenance agreements from Deferred Maintenance Revenue to income.
- 4Count truck and warehouse stock, or post the month's materials, whichever method you chose.
- 5Look at profit on every install finished this month, in Projects, before the next round of estimates.
- 6Check the sales tax report against your returns and file.
- 7Review who owes you money in the A/R aging report and chase anything over 30 days.
- 8Set the closing date so nobody changes a month you have already reviewed.
Rather not set it up yourself?
We set QuickBooks up for HVAC and keep it clean
This is the setup we use for our HVAC clients: from $599 a month on QuickBooks Online, or from $995 a month with ServiceTitan. It starts with a free look at your books.
Questions
QuickBooks for HVAC questions
Is QuickBooks good for HVAC companies?
For the accounting, yes. QuickBooks Online handles invoices, bills, payroll, sales tax and the reports a lender or CPA asks for, and Plus adds the job costing, classes and inventory an HVAC company needs. It does not schedule or dispatch technicians. Most HVAC shops run a field service app for that and send its invoices and payments into QuickBooks.
QuickBooks Online or Desktop for a new HVAC company?
Online. Intuit stopped selling new QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus and Premier Plus subscriptions in the US after September 30, 2024. Existing subscribers can keep renewing, but a company setting up its books now starts on QuickBooks Online.
Source: Intuit, What the QuickBooks Desktop stop-sell means for your business
Can QuickBooks Online do job costing for HVAC?
Yes, on Plus and Advanced, with Projects. Each install or replacement becomes a project that collects its invoices, bills, labor and expenses and shows its profit. For labor to show on a job, enter each employee's hourly cost, including burden, and record time against the project.
Which QuickBooks Online plan does an HVAC company need?
Plus, for most. It has Projects, class tracking and inventory, which Simple Start and Essentials do not. Move to Advanced when you need more than 40 classes and locations combined, or more users than Plus allows.
Does ServiceTitan or Jobber replace QuickBooks?
No. Both send invoices, payments and, with ServiceTitan, bills into QuickBooks Online, which stays the general ledger your CPA works from. The setup above is what makes those exports land in the right accounts.
Can you set QuickBooks up for us?
Yes. Setting up QuickBooks this way and keeping it clean every month is what our HVAC plan does, from $599 a month, with past books cleaned up free when you start. It begins with a free look at your books.
General information, not accounting or tax advice. Check the setup with your CPA. QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. ServiceTitan and Jobber are trademarks of their owners. Books and Trucks is an independent firm.