A 90-day program has one timing rule: day 90 should land a few weeks before your busiest weeks, never after them. The diagnosis needs calm, the fixes need staff time, and the measurement needs at least some real call volume. That combination rules out the middle of the rush and points most heating companies toward a day 1 in late winter or spring.
Why the start date matters more than the format
The middle third of the program, days 31 to 60, is when fixes go in: new call handling, a rebuilt service page, a quote follow-up step, a reworked ads account. Every one of those needs someone in the office to learn a new habit.
In the first cold week, nobody learns a new habit. The phones ring constantly, technicians work late, and every change gets postponed. A program that starts there spends its fix phase waiting. A program that starts in spring spends its fix phase fixing, and enters the next heating season ready.
Start months by situation
| Situation | Suggested day 1 | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Phone and booking problems at peak | February to April | Fresh memory of the rush, calm enough to change things |
| Empty summer and shoulder months | January to March | Fixes and offers live before the quiet season starts |
| Weak replacement close rate | March to May | Quote follow-up built and tested before the fall replacement wave |
| Ads spend with unclear results | Any month outside peak | The diagnosis can read last season's data at any time |
| Already in the rush | Collect numbers now, start in spring | A clean baseline beats a rushed start |
If none of these fit, count backwards: find your three busiest weeks last year, subtract about four weeks, and that is your target day 90. Day 1 is 90 days earlier.
How the calendar differs across Canada
Canada does not have one heating season. Climate and fuel mix shift both the length of the peak and the shape of the quiet months. As of October 2026, Statistics Canada's household heating data for 2023 shows how different the provinces are.
Coastal British Columbia
Winters on the southwest coast are mild and wet, so the peak is gentler and longer, without the violent first-cold-week spike of the Prairies. Natural gas and electricity are close in share as primary heating sources in BC overall. A day 1 anywhere from January to June usually works. See the British Columbia page.
Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba
Long, very cold winters and a heavy reliance on natural gas make for a long, intense peak. Fixes need to be live by early fall. Day 1 in January to April is safest; a June start is usually too late. The Prairie pages cover each province.
Ontario and Quebec
Southern Ontario's winters are cold but moderated near the Great Lakes, with longer seasons in the north. Quebec heats mainly with electricity and has a long, snowy winter. Both provinces suit a February to May start, with Quebec companies also allowing time for French-language marketing work.
Atlantic Canada
The Maritimes and Newfoundland combine damp, changeable winters with a large share of heat pumps and, in some provinces, oil. Heat-pump cooling softens the summer lull. A February to May start lets fixes cover both seasons.
Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut
Heating is needed for most of the year, so there is barely a quiet season to schedule around. The practical approach is to start in the warmest months available and keep the fix list short. The territories page explains more.
If you are already in the rush
You do not have to waste the season. Three things are worth doing during peak, and none of them needs a consultant:
- Start the scorecard. Record calls received, calls answered and visits booked every week. The scorecard guide shows how.
- Fix the one obvious leak. If after-hours calls go to an unchecked voicemail, change that today.
- Write down what hurt. Every Friday, the office lead writes three lines about what went wrong that week. In spring, those notes become a large part of the diagnosis.
Then book the program to start once the peak eases, with a baseline already half built.
How the retainer follows the same calendar
The monthly retainer does not have a start-date problem in the same way, because it works one season ahead. But its priorities follow the calendar closely:
- Late winter: review the season just finished, plan maintenance renewals.
- Spring: shoulder-season offers, website and service-page work.
- Summer: readiness for fall, phone coverage, budgets.
- Fall and early winter: protect booking rate, watch cost per booked job weekly.
A retainer that begins in spring has its most valuable review, the August readiness check, within a few months. One that begins in November spends its first months simply keeping up.
What a well-timed program looks like on paper
Here is a sample calendar for a southern Ontario furnace and heat-pump company whose busiest weeks last year ran from mid-November to mid-December.
| Checkpoint | Date | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Early June | Baseline from last winter's data, access set up |
| Day 30 | Early July | Findings and ranked fix list |
| Day 60 | Early August | Fixes live, first reading on summer cooling calls |
| Day 90 | Early September | Report, with fixes tested before the fall pickup |
That gives roughly ten weeks of buffer before the peak, enough to adjust anything the day-90 report flags. A company with the same peak in Saskatoon would move every date back about two months.
A simple timing checklist
Before setting day 1, confirm:
- ☐ Your three busiest weeks last year are identified
- ☐ Day 90 lands at least four weeks before them
- ☐ One person in the office has two to four hours a week from days 31 to 60
- ☐ Access to phone reports, ad accounts and dispatch exports can be arranged in the first week
- ☐ No planned software change or office move falls inside the 90 days
If all five are ticked, the calendar is on your side. The 90-day heating program page shows what happens at each checkpoint, and the contact page explains how to ask about start dates.
Frequently asked questions
We are in the middle of the rush. Should we wait until spring?
Wait for the program, but not for everything. A few weeks of collecting scorecard numbers during peak gives the spring program a far better baseline, and one or two urgent phone fixes can go in straight away.
Is summer a bad time to start?
Not if the goal is the coming winter. A June or July day 1 puts day 90 in September or October, which is tight but workable for southern Canada. It is too late for most Prairie and northern companies.
Does the retainer have a start date problem too?
Less so. A retainer can start any month, because its job is to plan one season ahead. It does help to begin before August, so the readiness review happens before the first cold week.
How do heat pumps change the calendar?
Where heat pumps are common, cooling demand fills some of the summer and the quiet season gets shorter. That shifts the program start earlier, so fixes are in before both the cooling and heating peaks.