Is your HVAC business profitable per truck?
There is no single number that proves it. The real test is whether your books can answer five specific questions about revenue, payroll, margin, and cash for that truck, not just for the business as a whole.
Five questions your books should be able to answer, per truck
Not for the business overall. For each individual truck, separately.
If your bookkeeping cannot break these out by truck today, that is the actual gap, not a mystery about whether the truck itself is profitable.
What business-wide numbers hide
A business-wide margin can look healthy while one truck is barely covering its own loaded cost and another is carrying the business. Blended numbers average that difference away.
This matters most right before a capacity decision. Adding a truck when the existing fleet's per-truck economics are unclear means adding overhead on top of a problem you cannot see yet.
Common questions
How do I know if a specific truck is profitable?
There is no single number that proves it on its own. You need revenue per truck, loaded labor cost for that truck, and service versus install margin, tracked separately by truck rather than blended across the whole business. If your books cannot separate those by truck today, that is the actual gap, not the profitability number itself.
What is "loaded labor cost" and why does it matter per truck?
Loaded labor cost is a technician's total cost, not just wages: payroll taxes, benefits, vehicle cost, and overhead allocated to that seat. Comparing raw wages to revenue per truck understates the real cost and can make an unprofitable truck look fine.
Why separate service and install margin by truck?
Service and install work carry different margins, and a truck running mostly high-volume, lower-margin service calls looks different financially than one running fewer, higher-margin installs, even at similar revenue. Blending the two hides which trucks are actually carrying the business.
What if I do not have this data yet?
Most owner-led HVAC shops do not, and that is normal. Getting there means class or job tracking set up by truck in QuickBooks, and field software (ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Jobber) reconciled cleanly enough to trust. The free HVAC Roadmap is the starting point for seeing where your setup currently stands.
Does this replace revenue per truck as a metric?
No, it adds to it. Revenue per truck alone can be misleading if payroll or margin is not tracked alongside it. A truck can generate strong revenue and still be a weak contributor once loaded cost and margin are factored in.
Start with the numbers before adding more capacity.
Use the free HVAC Roadmap to see whether your business is financially ready for the next truck, tech, crew, or location.