Buying an HVAC company in Tampa Bay

• A large, growing list of maintenance agreement customers who renew every year: the closest thing the trade has to recurring revenue.
• Most revenue from service and replacements for homes and small businesses, rather than new construction for one or two builders.
• Technicians who stay. A company that keeps experienced people is getting training, pay and culture right.
• Someone besides the owner who can sell replacements and run the day's service calls.
• A licensed qualifier who will stay after the sale, or a clear plan to replace them before closing.
• Records in field service software: past calls, equipment at each address, warranty registrations.
• Trucks and tools that don't all need replacing in the next two years.

• The license itself. Look up the qualifier at myfloridalicense.com: the license should be active, in the right category and in this company's name.
• How many maintenance agreements are active, how many renewed last year, and whether the promised visits actually happen.
• The mix of service, replacement and new construction, by month. Summers are busy; look at January.
• Who sells replacements. If it's the owner, those sales may dip when they leave.
• Warranty costs: the labor warranties the company has promised, and how often it goes back to fix its own installations.
• Technician pay and turnover, and whether the best people have agreed to stay.
• How replacements are financed. If customers borrow through the company's lender, read that agreement and its fees.
• Federal refrigerant rules have been changing. Ask how the company handled the move to newer refrigerants and what older equipment sits in inventory.
• Truck age and condition, and any vehicle leases.

• How many customers are on maintenance agreements, and how has that changed in three years?
• Whose license does the company work under, and would they stay after a sale?
• Roughly how does your work split between replacements, repairs and new construction?
• Who sells replacements now, and how do leads get to them?
• What does a slow month look like, and how do you keep the techs busy?
• How long have your senior technicians been with you, and how are they paid?
• What warranty do you give on installation labor, and how often do you go back?
• Are any supplier rebates or dealer programs tied to you personally?

Tampa Bay, as we draw it, runs from Citrus County south through Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough, and east into Polk: Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Brandon, Wesley Chapel, Brooksville, Inverness, Lakeland and Winter Haven. Tampa is the business center, with Port Tampa Bay, Tampa International Airport, the University of South Florida and MacDill Air Force Base, home to the headquarters of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command. Financial services, insurance and health care employ many people, and the Gulf beaches of Pinellas bring tourists and seasonal residents.

Polk County sits on Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando and has become a center for warehouses and distribution, alongside its older citrus and phosphate industries. To the north, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus are more suburban and rural, with many retirees. Home service companies, the building trades, medical practices and auto businesses all have a deep customer base across the region.

Hurricane Helene's storm surge in September 2024 and Hurricane Milton two weeks later both hit the region hard. Flood zones and insurance costs now matter in any deal near the water. Ask how the business came through those storms, what it claimed, and whether its building sits in a flood zone.

The labor market is deep by Florida standards, though skilled tradespeople can still be hard to find. New homes have pushed north and east into Pasco and eastern Hillsborough, and along Interstate 4 in Polk, bringing demand for services with them. Coastal Pinellas is more seasonal than inland Tampa or Lakeland. The bay itself shapes a service company's territory: crossing a bridge at rush hour can turn a short distance into a long drive, so look at where the customers actually are.