This is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Read the official pages linked here. Partner offers are optional and labeled.
Sell the repair you can finish with the license you hold. Add replacements when you can pull the permit and warrant the equipment. In a cold market the urgent calls sit in late fall through winter. In a short heating season, such as north Texas, the same page still has to say the season is a cold snap, not a five-month contract. Pair the slow months with cooling repair only if that work is real and licensed. Do not advertise boilers you have never opened.
The state guides under this page are where furnace repair is a real call. Florida, Hawaii, Arizona, Louisiana, and Nevada are omitted, and so are Virginia Beach, the Rio Grande Valley, San Diego, New Orleans, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. Each one names the filing office and the licensing board we could verify, and it says so when we could not confirm a direct address. City guides cover the metros ServiceBase writes about for this trade, including Austin, TX, Houston, TX, Dallas–Fort Worth, TX, New York, NY.
High-demand trades with thin local websites are the ones to read first: chimney sweeps and standby generator installation in cold markets, snow removal, and Christmas light installation from November through January, then landscaping, electrical, cleaning, and roofing, in the cities linked below. The steps are the same shape for every trade. The license and the first job are not.
Some boxes are labeled Partner. ServiceBase has not joined those programs. The links go to each company's own homepage, not a tracking link. If a program later approves us, the address will change and we may earn a commission. You can file, insure, and bank anywhere. Official government links are not partner links. Nothing on this page is a discount code.
$500 in free advertising when you launch
Keep the checklist on your account
The guide stays public. An account saves your state, city, and trade, and lets you mark each filing as you go. The advertising credit is reserved when you register. It can be spent after the free website is live.
Use a name a cold-house customer can say without spelling it twice. Search the license board and the state filing office together. The name on the mechanical permit, the invoice, and the voicemail should match. Skip 'comfort solutions.' People search no heat, then check whether you are a real company.
02Form an LLC or stay a sole proprietor
The mechanical or HVAC license is often held by a person who qualifies the company. A sole proprietorship works when that person is you. An LLC works when the board lets the company hold the registration with you as qualifier. Read the mechanical section before you file. An LLC does not let an unlicensed owner pull a permit or buy refrigerant. This page is not legal advice.
Each state guide links the filing office. Where we could verify an LLC fee from an official page, that guide prints the fee and the source. Everywhere else, the fee stays on the state's site.
An employer identification number is the business tax ID. The IRS issues it online at no charge and says you never have to pay a company to get one. If you form an LLC, file with the state first. The IRS says an EIN application can stall when the state filing is not done. A sole proprietor can often start with a Social Security number and get an EIN when a bank or a hire requires it.
Apply on the IRS page if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner beside this step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional. The IRS fee is still zero either way.
Furnace repair sits with HVAC, mechanical, or a fuel-gas classification, depending on the state. Read that board before you advertise a no-heat visit. A city permit is common on a change-out and sometimes on a like-for-like replacement. Carbon monoxide and a cracked heat exchanger are safety calls, not a sales script. If you do not service boilers, say so. Refrigerant work has its own federal credential when the visit becomes the cooling coil. Do not imply one license covers the gas line, the flue, and the condenser unless you have read each rule.
Read the mechanical or HVAC board for the license and who may pull a permit. Ask the city whether a furnace change-out needs one. Say whether boilers are in or out. Refrigerant handling is a separate credential when the job leaves the furnace.
05Insure the work
General liability that understands heating equipment. Tell the insurer you open furnaces and, if it is true, that you replace them. A carbon-monoxide claim and a water leak from a coil are the losses to describe. Commercial auto for the van. Workers' compensation before a helper is in an attic or a basement. A property manager will ask for the certificate and the license number together.
Workers' compensation is a state program. Before anyone works with you, including a friend, ask an insurer and the state labor office whether you must carry it. This guide does not quote a headcount, because those rules differ and the state page is the source. The SBA page describes the common policies. It does not sell them. Buy the policy before you work in a house in the city you will serve.
No-heat calls pay in smaller checks than a full system, and a replacement pays in a large one. Both belong in a business account, or the big jobs will hide whether the repairs pay the truck. Set tax money aside the day a change-out clears. Parts-house bills should not land on a personal card you sort out in April.
The bank will usually ask for your ID, the EIN or your Social Security number, and the formation papers if you filed an LLC. A checking account and a habit of setting tax money aside are enough at the start.
07Price the real visit
Treat these as typical planning estimates, not a quote. A diagnosis plus a common part, an ignitor or a flame sensor, is often discussed as a few hundred dollars. A heat exchanger, a blower motor, or a full furnace is a different visit and should not share the number. Write three prices from your own hours: the diagnostic visit, the repair you can finish with stocked parts, and the replacement you will not price until you have seen the equipment.
Attic furnaces, basement furnaces, and boilers do not take the same hour. A price copied from a one-story ranch will miss on a tight closet system. Adjust after ten real no-heat calls. Say on the page that the estimate is a starting point until someone has opened the cabinet.
08Get found, then create the free site
Open the Google Business Profile before the heating season, with the license number and a service area made of towns you can reach when the house is cold. Photos of furnaces you have actually repaired beat a stock cabinet. The website leads with no heat, splits repair from replacement, and says whether you service boilers. The form asks for the symptom, the fuel if they know it, and whether anyone in the house is at risk from the cold. ServiceBase publishes that page and keeps the requests. It does not diagnose the furnace.
In your first city, the profile, the reviews, and the site should name the neighborhoods you actually drive. ServiceBase publishes the page and keeps quote requests in a list on your account. No card. It does not file the LLC, get the EIN, or buy the insurance.
Do I need an LLC to start a furnace repair business?
The mechanical or HVAC license is often held by a person who qualifies the company. A sole proprietorship works when that person is you. An LLC works when the board lets the company hold the registration with you as qualifier. Read the mechanical section before you file. An LLC does not let an unlicensed owner pull a permit or buy refrigerant. This page is not legal advice. The SBA page linked in the steps explains the structures in general. A lawyer or an accountant can apply them to you. This guide cannot.
Does a furnace repair need a state license?
Furnace repair sits with HVAC, mechanical, or a fuel-gas classification, depending on the state. Read that board before you advertise a no-heat visit. A city permit is common on a change-out and sometimes on a like-for-like replacement. Carbon monoxide and a cracked heat exchanger are safety calls, not a sales script. If you do not service boilers, say so. Refrigerant work has its own federal credential when the visit becomes the cooling coil. Do not imply one license covers the gas line, the flue, and the condenser unless you have read each rule.
Is an EIN free?
Yes. The IRS issues an employer identification number at no charge and says you never have to pay a fee for one. Use the IRS link in the steps if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner on that step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional, and the IRS fee is still zero.
What does the free furnace repair site include?
A public page for your furnace repair business and city, and a list of the quote requests that come from that page. No card. It does not form the company, get the EIN, buy insurance, or replace a license. The website guide for this trade is separate: it is about what the page should say once the company is real.
Why is there no furnace repair guide for Florida or Phoenix?
Those markets heat with heat pumps or barely heat at all. A no-heat page written for a basement furnace would be the wrong climate. Virginia Beach, San Diego, the Rio Grande Valley, and New Orleans are omitted for the same reason. Texas cities that actually have gas furnaces, including Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, and Houston, stay in, with copy that says the heating season is short.
