The choice between a 90-day program and a monthly retainer comes down to one distinction: are you trying to fix something, or trying to steer something? A fix has a beginning and an end and belongs in a fixed window. Steering is never finished and belongs in a regular rhythm. Most heating companies need the fix first.
This guide gives you four questions, three example companies and a simple test for day 90. It applies whether you hire us, someone else, or do the work yourself.
The four questions that settle it
Answer these in order. Most owners have their answer by the third.
1. Can you name the problem in one sentence?
"Replacements don't book." "We miss calls at peak." "Summer is empty." If you can say it in one sentence, it can be diagnosed and measured, and a program fits. If the honest answer is "things just feel harder than they should", a retainer, or a short scorecard exercise first, fits better.
2. What is the problem worth per month?
Put a rough dollar figure on it. Missed calls: unanswered calls per month × share that were real jobs × average ticket. A dead summer: last summer's revenue against what your crew could have billed. If the number is large relative to the cost of help, act now. If it is small, the problem may not need a consultant at all.
3. Who in your company will make the changes?
Both formats depend on someone inside the company doing the work: changing how calls are answered, following up quotes, updating the Business Profile. If nobody has two or three hours a week to give, neither format will work, and it is better to fix that first.
4. Do you want an outside view after the problem is fixed?
Some owners want a regular second opinion on budgets, prices, hiring timing and new lines like heat pumps. Others are glad to run things themselves once the leak is closed. The first group ends up on a retainer; the second ends at day 90.
Three example companies
These are composite examples, not real clients, written to show how the questions play out.
A two-truck furnace shop with a phone problem
The owner answers calls himself between jobs, and his spouse covers the office part-time. In January he receives about 350 calls and estimates he misses a quarter of them.
- Problem in one sentence: yes, missed calls.
- Worth per month: 350 × 25% = about 88 missed calls. If half were real jobs at a $400 average ticket, that is around $17,600 a month at peak.
- Who changes things: the spouse, with a few hours a week.
- Outside view afterwards: probably not.
Choice: the 90-day program, focused on booked-call recovery. Likely ending: day 90, then run it in-house.
A boiler and hydronic specialist with an empty summer
Eight technicians, steady winter work, and three months a year when technicians are sent home early. The owner has tried a summer discount before and it brought in a few small jobs.
- Problem in one sentence: yes, the summer.
- Worth per month: idle technician hours × billable rate, easily the largest number in the company.
- Who changes things: the service manager.
- Outside view afterwards: yes, the owner wants help planning each season.
Choice: the 90-day program first, started in early spring, then the monthly retainer. The program fixes the summer offer and maintenance plan marketing; the retainer keeps it working year after year.
A growing multi-line company
Furnaces, boilers, heat pumps and water heaters, two locations, twenty-plus staff. No single problem stands out, but the owner is making large decisions, a third crew, a heat-pump push, a new ad agency, with nobody to test them against.
- Problem in one sentence: not really.
- Worth per month: hard to say; the risk is a bad decision, not a leak.
- Who changes things: department leads.
- Outside view afterwards: that is the whole point.
Choice: the monthly retainer, starting with a baseline exercise like the one in the scorecard guide.
What each format costs you in time
Money is only half the cost. Time is the other half, and in a heating company time is scarce from October to March.
| 90-day program | Monthly retainer | |
|---|---|---|
| Owner's time | Kickoff, three checkpoint reviews | About an hour a month, plus ad hoc calls |
| Office lead's time | 2–4 hours a week putting fixes in place | Usually 1–2 hours a week on the three priorities |
| Hardest month | The fix phase, days 31–60 | Peak season, when reviews get skipped |
If you cannot see where those hours come from, the right move is to free them before you start. A program with no one to make the changes produces a well-written report and nothing else.
When to choose neither
Be honest about these three situations:
- The real constraint is labour. If you cannot hire technicians fast enough to serve the calls you already have, more demand is not the answer, and a marketing-led program will add pressure rather than relieve it.
- There are almost no records. If you cannot say even roughly how many calls you had last winter, spend a month collecting numbers with the scorecard first.
- The company is about to change hands. A sale or succession changes the questions entirely, and business valuation and exit readiness need different advice from what either format here provides.
The day-90 test
On day 90, three answers decide what happens next.
- Did the agreed measures move, and by how much? Compare against the written baseline, not memory.
- Can your people keep the changes going alone? If yes, stopping is a success, not a failure.
- Is there a next problem worth paying to solve? If yes, either a second program or a retainer. If no, stop.
Either way, the decision should be made on paper, with the numbers on the table. The 90-day heating program page shows what that report contains, and the pricing page explains how each format is quoted.
Frequently asked questions
Can I switch from the program to a retainer?
Yes, and that is the most common path. The day-90 report ends with a recommendation, and if it is to continue, the retainer starts from the measured baseline the program created.
Is a retainer just a slower program?
No. A program is built to find and fix a named problem. A retainer is built to make better decisions month after month. They answer different questions.
What if I have two big problems?
Rank them by money lost per month and put the larger one in the program. Most second problems shrink once the first is fixed, because they often share a cause.
Is there ever a reason to do neither?
Yes. If the company cannot spare anyone to make changes, if records are almost non-existent, or if the real constraint is hiring technicians, a consultant will mostly produce reports nobody acts on.