An HVAC install is mostly one big purchase and one long day. The equipment is half the job, it's paid for before you touch the house, and the margin is set by what happens in the attic: the ducts, the electrical, the platform the inspector wants. Most HVAC contractors know their price per ton. Fewer know what each install actually returned after the surprises.
Obra keeps each install as its own job, counts the equipment the day you buy it, and turns the attic surprises into change orders instead of overruns.
The equipment counts from day one
You order the heat pump and pay the distributor three weeks before the install. Enter that invoice when you get it, not when the job closes. It shows in the job's recorded cost right away. Then review what's still left to spend, and Obra keeps the expected final cost current as the receipts come in. The committed costs guide explains why this matters more for HVAC than for most trades.
Removal, install, startup
Split labor into removal and install. When you look back at ten installs, you'll see whether the removal days are eating the margin or whether it's startup and callbacks. The cost code guide has a short list you can copy.
The panel, the ducts, the platform
The three change orders below are the same on every replacement job. Write each one as a change order the day you find it, price it with markup, and get the signature before the electrician books the visit. The change order guide walks through the wording.
Margin per install
At the end of the job, the page shows the contract, total cost and margin. Compare your heat-pump replacements against your furnace swaps and your new-construction rough-ins. The markup and margin guide helps you set the number to aim for.
What Obra isn't for an HVAC contractor
Not dispatch, not maintenance agreements, not a flat-rate price book. Obra is the money on install jobs, in English and Spanish, from receipts your crew already sends, exported clean to the accountant.