The HVAC playbook
Covers installs, changeouts, service and repair, refrigeration
Fast, honest quotes for installs and service — scoped before you roll a truck. A free starter setup: the intake questions Studio asks, structure-only starter quotes, and the nudges that make pricing learn from your own books.
Free to start · no credit card · structure only, never prices
What slows HVAC quoting down
Install, changeout, service call, maintenance agreement — four different quote shapes, usually rebuilt from whatever you happened to send last.
The small lines are the ones that vanish: the permit, the haul-away, the refrigerant. Every miss comes straight out of the margin after the job is sold.
Generic tools never ask the questions that actually move an HVAC price — system type and size class, duct condition, panel capacity, site access.
What the playbook sets up on day one
All structure, no numbers — the scaffold your quotes hang on.
- ✓Intake guidance for Studio: it separates install vs. repair vs. maintenance up front, then asks what moves the price — system type and size class (it asks rather than assumes tonnage), condition of existing ductwork, electrical panel capacity, permit requirements, site access like attic, crawlspace, or rooftop, and refrigerant line status.
- ✓Three starter quote structures, by name: System Changeout (equipment, labor, materials and refrigerant, permit and inspection, haul-away as separate lines), Service Call / Repair (diagnostic-first), and Maintenance Agreement (quoted per visit, with the cadence stated in the scope). Structure only — every price field starts unset.
- ✓Shop-profile placeholder hints for an HVAC operation — recovery machine, vacuum pumps, brazing rig, the brands you install, your service area — so Studio speaks your setup from the start.
- ✓A payment-terms suggestion (“Due on completion”) plus integration nudges: inbound email so service requests land as drafts, QuickBooks so Setell learns your real equipment and labor costs, and the Deal Room so customers approve from their phone.
What Setell learns from your own data
The playbook is the scaffold. The pricing comes from you.
- ✓Your real equipment and labor costs from QuickBooks history — connected once, Setell mines your recent invoices for pricing signal before your first Setell quote goes out.
- ✓Your accepted quotes — every approved changeout and service call sharpens your per-customer baselines, so suggestions converge on your numbers, not a national flat-rate book.
- ✓Your revision patterns — which lines customers question and where you actually land, learned from your own history.
- ✓The receipts behind every number — suggested prices show their work, so a homeowner-facing quote is grounded in what your business actually charges.
Structure on day one. Your prices, not ours.
A playbook never includes prices. Day one it gives you your trade’s structure; connect QuickBooks and Setell learns from what you actually paid and charged — and shows its work on every line.
See how the pricing engine learns →HVAC playbook: FAQ
Does the playbook come with pricing?
No — structure only. It sets up intake questions, starter quote structures, and profile hints; every price field starts unset. Pricing comes from your own data: connect QuickBooks and Setell learns from what you actually paid and charged — and shows its work on every suggested line.
Is the playbook free?
Yes. Applying a playbook is free — it is the starting scaffold for your account, not a paid add-on.
Does it cover service work or just installs?
Both, plus maintenance. The cluster covers installs, changeouts, service and repair, and refrigeration — with a diagnostic-first structure for service calls and a per-visit structure for maintenance agreements.
How do I apply it?
Three ways: pick it during onboarding, ask Studio in the app (“set me up with the HVAC playbook”), or call the setell_apply_playbook MCP tool from your own agent.
What happens if I apply it again later?
Re-applying is safe. Setell returns a report of what it applied and what it skipped — and it never overwrites structures or settings you have edited.
Can I change the starter structures?
Yes — they become your templates the moment they are applied. Rename them, add or remove lines, change units, or set a different default.
Start with the structure
Apply the HVAC playbook during onboarding and send a structured quote today — the pricing gets smarter with every job you close.