How to Buy an HVAC Business: Who Hears First
How to buy an HVAC business before it is listed: the distributors, ACCA members, equipment lenders and CPAs who hear first, a 90 day plan and texts.
By Brett Kaufman. 8 years using relationships to build sales pipelines, from political fundraising to a 7 figure business to running matchmaking for two communities. Over 1,000 introductions facilitated.
If you want to know how to buy an HVAC business before it is listed, start with the people who sell to and serve HVAC owners: distributor branch managers, ACCA chapter members, equipment finance reps, contractor CPAs and specialist brokers. Then stay recent, because they mention an owner to the buyer they think of first.
Here is the scene. It is a slow Tuesday in April at the supply house counter. The branch manager has known the owner of a 14 truck residential shop for twenty years. The owner says he is tired, his kids are not interested, and he does not want a private equity firm to “flip his guys.”
The branch manager nods. He knows two buyers. He texts the one he heard from last month.
Why do HVAC owners sell to people they already know?
Because an HVAC company is its techs, its service agreements and the owner’s name on the trucks. An owner protecting all three wants a buyer someone vouched for, not a stranger with a letter.
The market is also busy. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook counts 440,900 HVAC mechanic and installer jobs in 2025 and projects 11 percent growth from 2025 to 2035, citing commercial construction including data centers, residential building, and more sophisticated climate control systems. Growth draws buyers. More buyers means the owner’s trusted circle picks one, and it picks the one it remembers.
Who hears first when an HVAC owner is ready?
Not the listing sites. The people around the owner every week. This is my map, a framework, not data.
| Who | What they notice first | What they want from a buyer | How you earn a place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Distributor branch manager | Owner slowing down, fewer installs, talk of retirement at the counter | The account keeps buying after the sale | Promise supply continuity, visit the branch, buy lunch for the counter |
| Manufacturer territory rep | Dealers dropping out of programs or training | The dealer stays in the network | Ask which dealers have no successor |
| ACCA chapter members | Peers who stopped coming to meetings | A buyer who treats techs well | Join, sit on one committee, show up |
| Equipment finance reps | Owners who stopped replacing trucks and tools | A creditworthy borrower after the sale | Ask how they underwrite contractor deals |
| Contractor CPA | Margins, owner age, the “what is it worth” question at tax time | A buyer who closes and keeps the client | Send them deal flow they can bill on |
| HVAC specialist broker | The owner who called to “just get a number” | Buyers who close without drama | Send a clear buyer profile, stay recent |
Distributors are the row most buyers skip. HARDI, the Heating, Air conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International association, states its mission as “Making Wholesale Distributors the Channel of Choice for HVACR Manufacturers and Contractors.” The branch manager sees your target owners more often than anyone except their own staff.
How do you get in front of HVAC owners as an outsider?
Join the association honestly and say exactly what you do. ACCA, the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, lists contractor, associate, utility and school categories, describes its associate category as for a manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler or anyone with a relationship to the HVACR industry, and says it serves more than 3,000 HVACR business members. Ask whether you qualify. Then say, “I invest in and run HVAC businesses for the long term.”
For the association side in depth, read trade association acquisition targets. For the show floor, see how to meet business owners at trade shows.
Equipment lenders matter more in HVAC than most trades because the business runs on trucks, tools and inventory. The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association describes the industry it represents as the $1.3 trillion U.S. equipment finance industry. The rep who finances an owner’s fleet knows when the owner stopped renewing it.
How do you find brokers who specialize in HVAC?
Search, then verify with the people on the counter. The IBBA broker directory lets you select a geography and radius and optionally one or more specialty areas. Then ask distributor managers and CPAs which broker they have seen close a contractor deal. Keep two or three. Send each one a short buyer profile with size, region, residential or commercial, and your lender.
How to buy an HVAC business: the 90 day plan
Here is how I would run it in one metro.
- Days 1 to 14: pick the lane. Residential service, light commercial or commercial. One metro. A revenue range. Your lender conversation done.
- Days 15 to 30: the supply houses. Visit three distributor branches in the slow shoulder season, spring or fall in most markets. Meet each branch manager. Ask who the respected owners are and who has no successor.
- Days 31 to 45: the association. Join ACCA or your state association. Attend one chapter meeting. Volunteer for one thing.
- Days 46 to 60: the money and the numbers. Two equipment finance reps, two contractor CPAs. The SBA’s guide to buying a business says to consider hiring an attorney and an accountant. Meet them now, before you need them.
- Days 61 to 75: the brokers. Two or three specialists from the directory and from referrals. Send the profile.
- Days 76 to 90: one coffee a week with an owner. Peer conversations, no pitch. End each with “who else should I know?”
- Day 90 onward: a note per person, a touch every six to eight weeks. Each touch needs a real reason.
What do you text the people who hear first?
Short, specific, under 40 words. Illustrative examples.
To a branch manager after a visit:
“[Name], thanks for the time at the counter today. If any of your owners ever wants a quiet talk about what comes next, I keep the techs and buy from the same branch. Glad to just listen.”
To a contractor CPA:
“[Name], good to meet. I am buying one residential HVAC company in the metro and need a CPA who knows contractor books. Happy to send you the diligence work if we find the right one.”
To an owner after a chapter meeting:
“[Name], enjoyed your take on tech retention at the meeting. I would love to buy you coffee and hear how you built the service agreement side. No agenda.”
To a broker, 60 days later:
“[Name], still buying residential HVAC in the metro, 3 to 15 trucks, lender lined up. Saw your post on the commercial deal you closed. Congrats. Anything coming that fits?”
For the owners and connectors already in your phone, start with how to find owner direct business deals in your network. The full system is at deal flow for business buyers.
Where does this break?
Between visits. You meet three branch managers, two CPAs, a finance rep, a broker and six owners. That is 13 people. By month four you are in diligence on something else and nobody has heard from you. Then the branch manager hears the 14 truck owner is ready, and he texts the buyer he saw last week.
That is the job I built FRONT OF MIND for. At the counter or the chapter meeting, say a name and a sentence out loud, snap a business card or badge, or take a selfie together, and it is filed under the event. Then it opens on your 10 minutes for today. Each person has a one line reason why today: they posted, their company was in the news, you met weeks ago and never followed up, or they are going cold. Every draft is a text style message, 40 words max. Nothing sends without your tap, and it learns from your edits. Ask Liala “who do I know at HVAC distributors” and get the right people with why.
It runs in your phone’s browser and can be saved to your home screen. There is no native iPhone app yet. Your contacts are encrypted. No one on our team looks at them. Export or delete anytime.
Start free with your first 25 contacts and see which branch manager comes up first.