What Does a Bookkeeper for HVAC Contractors Actually Cost?

 The most common reason a contractor doesn't reach out to a bookkeeper is not that they don't think they need one. It is that they don't know what to expect on price, and they don't want to get into a conversation only to find out they can't afford it.

This page is here to fix that. No mystery, no rate card you have to request by filling out a form. Just a plain explanation of how bookkeeping is priced and what drives the number up or down.

The Short Version

For most HVAC contractors, plumbers, and electricians in the Greater Baton Rouge area, monthly bookkeeping services from 911 Bookkeepers run somewhere between $350 and $850 per month, depending on the complexity of the business.

Some smaller owner-operators come in under that. Larger companies with multiple crews, payroll, and job costing needs come in higher. The only way to get an accurate number is a 20-minute conversation — but the range above should tell you whether it is worth having that conversation.

What Drives the Price

Three things determine where a business falls in that range.

1. Transaction Volume

Every bank transaction, credit card charge, vendor payment, and customer invoice has to be categorized and reconciled. A solo HVAC tech running one truck doing 80 to 100 transactions a month is a very different workload from a five-truck company running 400 to 600 transactions a month during peak season.

Simpler books cost less. More volume costs more. This is the single biggest driver of price.

2. Services and Revenue Streams

A company that does residential service calls only is simpler to track than a company that does residential service, commercial installs, a maintenance agreement program, and equipment sales. Each revenue stream has its own accounts, its own cost tracking, and its own reporting needs.

If you have maintenance agreements, multiple service lines, or commercial work that bills differently than residential, that adds complexity and affects pricing.

3. Payroll and Job Costing

Payroll coordination adds time to the monthly workflow — especially if you have seasonal payroll patterns, overtime tracking, or commission structures. Job costing (tracking profitability at the individual job level) is one of the highest-value things I do for HVAC clients, but it requires setup and monthly maintenance.

If you want both clean books and a clear picture of which jobs are actually making money, that is a fuller service engagement than reconciliation alone.

What Is Always Included

Regardless of where a client falls on the pricing range, every engagement includes:

  • Xero setup and/or cleanup
  • Monthly bank and credit card reconciliation
  • Monthly P&L and balance sheet
  • Email and phone access between monthly reviews
  • Year-end package ready for your CPA

Add-On Services

Some clients want more than clean monthly books. These are the most common add-ons:

Financial Dashboard (Looker Studio or Google Sheets) A visual dashboard built on your actual Xero data. Revenue trends, gross margin, cash position, seasonal comparisons. Set up once, updated monthly. Pricing varies based on complexity.

90-Day Cash Flow Projection A forward-looking cash flow model updated monthly. Especially useful for Gulf Coast HVAC companies managing through seasonal swings and hurricane season cash planning.

Job Costing Setup and Reporting If you want to know whether your service calls, installs, and maintenance agreements are actually profitable — not just combined, but separately — this is the service that answers that question.

CFO Advisory (Quarterly) Quarterly calls where we review the numbers together and talk through what they mean for decisions you're making right now: hiring, equipment, financing, pricing strategy.

The Cleanup Question

If your books haven't been touched in six months or more, or if you've never had a bookkeeper before, there is usually a one-time cleanup fee before the monthly engagement begins. The amount depends entirely on how far back the books need to go and how much is missing.

I don't charge cleanup fees as a penalty. They reflect actual time. And I'll tell you what to expect before we start.

How to Get a Real Number

The fastest way is a 20-minute call. Bring a sense of your transaction volume (how many bank accounts, how many credit cards, roughly how many transactions a month), your services lines, and whether you have employees. From that conversation I can give you a specific number, not a range.

There is no sales pitch and no pressure. If the number does not work, I will tell you so.

Contact: 911bookkeepers.com/contact

911 Bookkeepers LLC is a Baton Rouge-based bookkeeping firm built specifically for trades contractors. Services run on Xero. Monthly pricing is fixed — no hourly billing, no surprise invoices.

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