Free HVAC Contract Template

Build and download a free hvac contract on the pricing basis the job actually uses — fixed price, time and materials, or cost-plus. It grades a missing not-to-exceed cap, projects your hourly rates against the cap you set, makes you define which costs are reimbursable, and prints verified prompt-payment law instead of a made-up interest rate. PDF, Excel, or Word export.

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Build your HVAC contract

Pick the pricing basis first — fixed price, time and materials, or cost-plus — and the clauses, the payment terms and the review all change to match. On time and materials it projects your rates against the not-to-exceed cap and grades what is missing, worst first.

HVAC Contract

HVAC · Time-and-materials work agreement — NOT a fixed price

Est. labor

$0.00

Materials + markup

$0.00

Projected total

$0.00

No cap agreed

Set one

1Parties, work & governing stateWho is contracting, what the work is, and whose law governs it.

Contractor

Contractor license #

Client

What the work is
Contract #optional
Contract date
Governing state
Work begins
Work complete byoptional
2Pricing basisThe pivotPick this first — every step after it changes with the answer.

Hourly rates by classification

Material markup %
Est. material costoptional
Not-to-exceed cap
Rates × hours + materials + markup$0.00
No not-to-exceed cap agreedUnlimited
3Scope & exclusionsWhat the work covers — and, in writing, what it does not.

Covered by this contract

NOT covered

4Payment terms & change ordersWhen money is due, and how a change becomes chargeable.
Payment due
days

Prompt payment

Prompt-payment rights on private work are state law: enter the governing state to see what has been verified. Only California and New York have been verified for this template; there is no national statutory late-payment rate.

5Termination & riskConvenience versus cause — and the insurance the indemnity relies on.
For convenience — written notice
days
For cause — days to cure
days
Dispute resolution
Venue
6Governing law & the right to cancelWhere the client signed is what the federal rule turns on.
Where did the client sign?

Federal 3-day right to cancel does not apply

Below the $25 threshold that 16 CFR 429.0(a) sets for this signing location, so the federal rule does not apply. Enter the contract price to re-check.

7ReviewLiveEvery gap graded, worst first. Dismissed items leave the exports too.

Not-to-exceed cap · No not-to-exceed cap — both parties are exposed

Critical

This is the clause that decides whether a time-and-materials contract blows up, and it is missing. The risk runs in BOTH directions. The client has no ceiling at all: nothing in this document limits what the job can bill to. And the contractor has no defense either — with no written cap, a client who later says "you told me it would be about..." is arguing against nothing, and a verbal ballpark is what a court or a licensing board will be asked to reconstruct. No statute sets a cap in any state; it is purely contractual, which is exactly why the contract has to state one. Agree a not-to-exceed amount and the obligation to stop and notify on reaching it.

Labor rates · No hourly rate stated for any classification

High risk

A time-and-materials contract with no stated rate has no agreed price for its main cost. Bill it and the client can dispute every hour. State a rate for each classification that will actually appear on the invoice — the classification, not the individual — and state whether overtime, travel and diagnostic time bill at that rate.

Payment terms · No payment period stated — nothing is ever late

High risk

With no number of days on the invoice there is no date from which payment is late, and nothing to attach a remedy to. Prompt-payment rights on private work are state law: enter the governing state to see what has been verified. Only California and New York have been verified for this template; there is no national statutory late-payment rate.

Termination · Termination incomplete — missing the notice period for termination for convenience and the cure period for termination for cause

High risk

Termination for convenience and termination for cause are different rights and different money, and a contract that runs them together settles neither. On this basis the difference is sharper than on a fixed price: everything worked to the termination date is owed regardless, so what actually turns on the distinction is demobilization, restocking and cancellation charges — payable on convenience, not on your own uncured breach. Set both periods.

Material markup · No material markup stated — materials bill at cost

Worth fixing

With no markup stated, this contract has you supplying, handling, warranting and financing materials for nothing. No authority publishes a standard markup, so this builder will not fill one in — but state the number you actually use, and state that it applies to documented invoice cost.

Dispute resolution · No venue named

Worth fixing

A dispute-resolution clause that names no forum leaves the parties arguing where before they argue about what. Name the county and state court, or the arbitration forum and its seat.

Written contract · Signed in writing before work begins

Not evaluated

States set their own trigger for when a residential contract must be written and signed before work starts, and their own list of what it must contain. California sets the trigger above $500 and then dictates the contents. Confirm your state’s threshold and its required contents.

Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 7159

Change orders · Written change orders required, with the consequence stated

Looks fine

The clause requires a signed change order before the work begins and states what follows: no obligation to pay for un-ordered extra work, no obligation to perform un-priced extras. California requires the same for home improvement contracts under Bus. & Prof. Code § 7159 — confirm your state’s version.

Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 7159

Right to cancel · FTC 3-business-day cancellation does not apply

Looks fine

Below the $25 threshold that 16 CFR 429.0(a) sets for this signing location, so the federal rule does not apply. Enter the contract price to re-check.

16 CFR §§ 429.0, 429.1

8Clauses & signaturesThe clause spine for this basis, then both parties sign.
1. Scope of Work
2. Pricing Basis — Time and materials
3. Change Orders in Writing
4. Payment Terms
5. Schedule
6. Termination for Convenience
7. Termination for Cause
8. Insurance & Indemnity
9. Dispute Resolution & Venue
10. Governing Law & Right to Cancel
11. Entire Agreement

Contractor

Print name

Date

Client

Print name

Date
Customize:

Download your contract:

Free · no signup · fully editable

What's included

  • Three pricing bases in one builder — fixed price, time and materials, or cost-plus — with the later steps changing to match
  • A document that refuses to call itself a fixed-price agreement when it is not: the T&M and cost-plus headings say so on the page and in every export
  • Hourly rates by labor classification, with estimated hours, and a live projection of what those rates imply
  • A not-to-exceed cap with live headroom — what the entered rates and hours project against the cap, in dollars and percent
  • A graded warning when a T&M contract has no NTE cap, stated in both directions: no ceiling for the client, no defense for the contractor
  • A stop-work-and-notify-at-the-cap obligation, and a finding when a cap is agreed without one
  • Cost-plus fee as a percentage or a fixed amount, plus the reimbursable-cost list that defines the cost base
  • An audit / open-books right, and an explicit answer to whether the fee applies to change-order costs
  • Change orders in writing with the consequence spelled out — no obligation to pay for un-ordered work, none to perform un-priced extras
  • Payment terms that print the verified prompt-payment reality for California and New York, and say "not evaluated" for every other state instead of inventing a rate
  • Termination for convenience versus for cause, with what is owed on each — different on T&M than on a fixed price
  • Indemnity with a certificate-of-insurance requirement, and a dispute-resolution clause that names the venue
  • A correct FTC cooling-off calculation — 3 business days counted the way 16 CFR 429.0(f) defines them, from where the client actually signed
  • A graded review that lists every gap worst-first, with the statute behind each one, and lets you dismiss the ones that do not apply
  • Contractor and client signature blocks with typed, drawn or uploaded signatures
  • PDF, Excel and Word export — the full disclaimer ships inside every file

How to use this template

  1. 1

    Fill in the parties, the work and the governing state

    Contractor, client, and the site if it differs from the billing address. Describe the work in one line. Then set the governing state — it decides what the payment-terms finding can tell you, because prompt-payment rights on private work are state law and only two states have been verified for this template.

  2. 2

    Pick the pricing basis — this is the pivot

    Fixed price, time and materials, or cost-plus. Everything after this step changes with the choice: the pricing clause, the payment clause, the termination clause and the review all rewrite themselves. If you pick T&M or cost-plus, the document stops describing itself as a fixed-price agreement, on the page and in the exports, because saying otherwise is the most misleading thing a contract template can do.

  3. 3

    On T&M: state the rates, then set a not-to-exceed cap

    Enter an hourly rate for each classification that will actually appear on an invoice, and the hours you expect. Add a material markup and an estimated material cost. Then set the cap. The builder multiplies the rates by the hours, adds materials plus markup, and shows the headroom under the cap in dollars and percent — and tells you when your own estimate already exceeds the cap you were about to sign.

  4. 4

    On cost-plus: define which costs are reimbursable

    State the fee as a percentage of reimbursable costs or as a fixed amount, then edit the reimbursable-cost list. That list is the whole ballgame: with no boundary between a cost the client owes and a cost you absorb, every invoice becomes a negotiation over supervision, small tools, truck time and payroll burden. Grant an audit right, and answer whether the fee applies to change-order costs — silence there is where cost-plus disputes land.

  5. 5

    Set payment terms, change orders and termination

    Enter the number of days an invoice is payable in — with no number, nothing is ever late and there is nothing to attach a remedy to. Require change orders in writing. Then set BOTH termination periods separately: notice for convenience, and the cure period for cause. On a fixed price the argument is about the unearned balance; on T&M everything worked is owed either way, so what the distinction actually decides is demobilization, restocking and cancellation charges.

  6. 6

    Answer the one question the federal rule turns on

    Tell the builder where the client signed. The FTC Cooling-Off Rule (16 CFR Part 429) reaches sales made away from the seller's place of business — $25 or more at the client's home, $130 or more somewhere else that is not your office. Signed at your own office, it does not apply at all. When it does, the builder counts the 3 business days — Saturday counts, Sunday and federal holidays do not — and prints the deadline date.

  7. 7

    Read the graded review, then have counsel read the contract

    The review orders every gap worst-first, with the statute behind each. A missing NTE cap on a T&M job and an undefined cost base on a cost-plus job are graded critical, because those two are what actually turn a job into a claim. Dismiss anything that genuinely does not apply and it disappears from the exports too. Then export, and have an attorney licensed where the work happens review it before you use it.

The pricing basis is the contract — not a detail inside it

Most free hvac contract templates are a fixed-price form wearing a generic name. Parties, scope, a price, some boilerplate. That is a fine document when you can quote the whole job before you start — and for that case we already publish a dedicated one with milestone payments, retainage and lien notices. But a great deal of hvac work cannot be quoted before you start. Chasing an intermittent fault across a rooftop unit, where nobody can honestly quote a lump sum until the unit has been opened. Signing a lump-sum form on that job means one of you is going to lose money, and the argument about which one starts the moment the invoice arrives.

So this builder asks for the basis first and then changes to match it. On time and materials you enter hourly rates by classification — lead installer, installer, service technician and apprentice — with the hours you expect and a markup on materials, and the document says in terms that it is NOT a fixed-price agreement and that no total is guaranteed. On cost-plus you state the fee as a percentage or a fixed amount and then define the reimbursable cost categories: equipment at invoice cost, refrigerant by the pound, and crane or lift rental. The clauses that get rewritten are not cosmetic. The pricing clause, the payment clause, the termination clause and the graded review are all different documents on a different basis.

The clause that decides whether a time-and-materials job ends in payment or in a claim is the not-to-exceed cap, and it is the one most T&M contracts leave out. No statute sets a cap, in any state — it is purely a matter of agreement, which is precisely why the agreement has to contain it. Leave it out and the exposure runs both ways: the client has no ceiling on the job at all, and the contractor has no answer to a client who later remembers a number that was never written down. This builder grades a missing cap as critical, and once you enter one it multiplies your rates by your hours, adds materials plus markup, and shows the headroom left under the cap in dollars and in percent — including the case where your own estimate already exceeds the cap you were about to sign. It also insists on the second half of the clause: on reaching the cap, stop work and notify in writing. A ceiling nobody has to announce gives the client no warning and the contractor no authority to continue.

Cost-plus fails somewhere else. There the fee is the part everyone negotiates and the cost base is the part nobody writes, so the dispute is never about the percentage — it is about whether supervision, small tools, consumables, truck time, payroll burden and warranty rework were the client's cost or yours. An undefined cost base is graded critical here for that reason, alongside two questions cost-plus contracts habitually leave silent: does the client get to examine the records behind the costs it is paying, and does the fee apply to costs added by a change order.

On payment terms this template does something slightly unusual: it refuses to print a number it has not read. There is no national statutory interest rate for late payment on private construction work, so a form that prints one is inventing it. Two states have been verified here. California Civil Code section 8800 gives the owner 30 days from a notice demanding payment, penalises wrongful withholding at 2 percent per month, and caps a good-faith-dispute withholding at 150 percent of the disputed amount. New York General Business Law sections 756-a and 756-b allow 12 business days to approve an invoice and 30 days after approval to pay it, set interest at 1 percent per month, and let the contractor suspend on 10 days' written notice. Enter any other state and it says "not evaluated — check your state", which is less satisfying than a number and considerably more honest than a wrong one.

Two more clauses earn their place because the basis changes them. Change orders in writing, with the consequence stated in both directions — no obligation to pay for un-ordered extra work, no obligation to perform extras with no agreed price or time — because on T&M and cost-plus the change-order file is the only record of what was authorized. And termination split into convenience and cause with what is owed on each: on a fixed price the fight is over the unearned balance, while on T&M everything worked is owed either way and what the distinction actually decides is demobilization, restocking and cancellation charges.

The one genuinely federal rule is stated the same way our fixed-price builder states it, deliberately, so the two documents cannot contradict each other. The FTC Cooling-Off Rule, 16 CFR Part 429, gives the client until midnight of the third business day to cancel — but only where the agreement was made away from your own place of business, at $25 or more at the client's residence or $130 or more elsewhere. And 16 CFR 429.0(f) defines a business day as any calendar day except Sunday or a federal holiday, so Saturday counts and a Monday-to-Friday count produces a defective notice. On a T&M contract the threshold is tested against the not-to-exceed amount, because that is the client's real ceiling rather than an estimate.

None of which makes this legal advice, and the builder says so — in a tooltip on the page so it stays out of your way, and in full inside every PDF, Excel and Word file it produces. A contract should be reviewed by an attorney licensed in the state where the work is performed before it goes in front of a customer.

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Contract Template FAQs

How is this different from your construction contract template?

That one is a single project at a fixed price — a lump sum broken into milestone payments, with retainage, substantial completion and mechanics lien notices. It is the right document when you can quote the whole job up front. This one exists because a lot of trade work cannot be quoted up front, so the pricing basis is the choice you make first: fixed price, time and materials, or cost-plus. Pick T&M or cost-plus and the pricing clause, the payment clause, the termination clause and the review all change, and the document stops calling itself a fixed-price agreement. There are no milestones, no retainage and no lien-notice field here, on purpose — that is the other builder’s job, and duplicating it would just give you the same document twice.

It is a ceiling on what a time-and-materials contract can bill to without a signed change order raising it. It is not an estimate and not a quote. It gets a fuss made about it because it is the single clause that decides whether a T&M job ends in payment or in a claim, and the risk runs both ways. Without a cap the client has no ceiling at all — nothing in the document limits the job. And the contractor is no better off: with nothing in writing, a client who later insists "you told me it would be about..." is arguing against thin air, and a verbal ballpark is what a court or a licensing board will be asked to reconstruct. No statute sets a cap in any state, which is exactly why the contract has to. This builder grades a missing cap as critical, and once you set one it projects your entered rates and hours against it and shows the headroom.

Because a ceiling nobody has to announce is close to useless. If charges reach the cap and the contract says nothing about what happens next, the choice on the day is working unpaid past the cap or walking off a live job with the client’s system in pieces — and the client gets no warning that the money is about to run out. The fix is one sentence: on reaching the cap the contractor stops, notifies in writing, and resumes only on written authorization of a higher amount. This builder ships that obligation switched on and raises a high-risk finding if you set a cap and turn it off.

The cost base is undefined. The fee is usually the part everyone negotiates and the reimbursable-cost list is the part nobody writes, and then every invoice becomes an argument about whether supervision, small tools, consumables, truck time, payroll burden, rework and warranty callbacks are the client’s cost or yours. This builder grades a missing reimbursable-cost list as critical and ships an editable starting list for your trade, with the clause stating plainly that anything not on the list is not reimbursable. Two more things it will not let you leave silent: an audit right, because a cost-plus contract asks the client to pay costs it cannot see and the objection stalls payment, and whether your fee applies to costs added by a change order — either answer is fine, silence is not, because it surfaces at the invoice for the biggest change on the job.

That is state law, and this template will not print a national figure because there is no national statutory rate for private construction work. Two states have been read and verified here. California Civil Code section 8800 requires an owner on private work to pay the direct contractor within 30 days after notice demanding payment is given, imposes a penalty of 2 percent per month on an amount wrongfully withheld in lieu of interest, and on a good-faith dispute allows the owner to withhold no more than 150 percent of the disputed amount. New York General Business Law sections 756-a and 756-b give the owner 12 business days to approve or disapprove an invoice, make payment due within 30 days of approval, set interest at 1 percent per month or a higher contract rate, and let the contractor suspend work on at least 10 calendar days’ written notice. Enter any other state and the builder prints "not evaluated — check your state" rather than a number it has not verified.

Only if the client’s agreement was made somewhere other than your own place of business. 16 CFR 429.0(a) defines the covered sale that way and sets the dollar floor at $25 or more when the sale is made at the buyer’s residence and $130 or more when it is made elsewhere. Signed at your showroom or office, the federal rule does not reach it — printing a blanket three-day notice on every contract is the most common error in a downloaded form. The counting is the other trap: 16 CFR 429.0(f) defines a business day as any calendar day except Sunday or a federal holiday, so SATURDAY COUNTS, and a Monday-to-Friday count hands the client a notice with the wrong date on it. Tell this builder where the client signed and it applies both tests and prints the real deadline. On a T&M contract it tests the threshold against the not-to-exceed amount, since that is the client’s actual ceiling.

Because on a fixed price there is a lump sum to measure a change against — you can point at the contract and say the extra work is outside it. On time-and-materials and cost-plus there is no lump sum, so the signed change orders ARE the record of what was authorized, and if they do not exist the record is two people’s memories. This builder requires change orders in writing and, more importantly, states the consequence in both directions so nobody has to argue it later: the client has no obligation to pay for extra work that was not ordered in a signed change order, and the contractor has no obligation to perform extra work with no agreed price and no agreed time extension.

No. It is a well-organised starting point that gets the pricing-basis distinction right, does the arithmetic honestly, states the one federal rule correctly, and is explicit about the difference between what it has verified and what it has not. What it verified: 16 CFR Part 429 at the CFR text, California Civil Code 8800 and Business and Professions Code 7159, and New York General Business Law 756-a and 756-b. What it did not: the other forty-eight states, which print as not evaluated. California also requires a written home improvement contract above $500 with specific mandatory contents, and other states set their own threshold and list. Have an attorney licensed in the state where the work is performed review and adapt this before you use it on a real job. That disclaimer ships in full inside every PDF, Excel and Word file.

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