Specialist HVAC Business Brokers, United Kingdom
enquiries@hvacbusinessforsale.co.uk • 01285 704466

The 90-day test

How much of the business is you?

A test of whether your HVAC business could quote, dispatch and sign off gas and refrigerant work for 90 days without you, with a one-page scorecard.

For sellers 15 pages 16-minute read Checked Mon 12th Oct 2026

Get the guide

Who this guide is for

For the owner of a heating, ventilation or air conditioning business who still prices the jobs, holds a ticket or takes the out-of-hours call. It is worth doing whether you plan to sell in a few years or simply want the business to run when you are away.

What you will take from it

  • Find out who could quote, dispatch and sign off gas and refrigerant work if you were not there, one job at a time.
  • Check whether the Gas Safe registration, the company F-gas certificate and your customers' approvals rest on you or on the company.
  • Score the business on one page before the test and again on day 90. Ninety days is the length of the test, not a market standard.

What is inside

  1. The question behind the test
  2. The test, and the business we use to show it
  3. Who can quote without you
  4. Who can dispatch without you
  5. Who can authorise gas work without you
  6. Who can authorise refrigerant work without you
  7. Who holds the customer approvals
  8. What your role costs to replace
  9. Running the test
  10. Who stayed when firms changed hands

The tool: owner dependency scorecard

One page with ten lines, from quoting installations to your role in the accounts, each scored red, amber or green. Type into the PDF and save it, or print it and fill it in twice: before the test and on day 90.

It comes as its own file as well as a page of the guide.

Two pages from the guide

Page 2 of the guide
Page 2 of 15
Page 11 of the guide
Page 11 of 15

Get the guide

Tell us who you are and the guide opens on this page, with the owner dependency scorecard as its own file.

PDF 15 pages 449 KB

Your details go to Simon Read's team at HVAC Business Sales. We do not sell them or share them for marketing. Privacy policy.

Simon Read

Prepared by Simon Read

Founder & Managing Director, Reads Advice Partners Ltd

Simon founded Reads M&A Advisory to specialise in trades such as HVAC, electrical, fire safety and facilities management, and has spent many years selling businesses to independent buyers, trade companies and private equity-backed groups across the UK.

Checked Mon 12th Oct 2026. The Autumn Budget is scheduled for Wed 28th Oct 2026, and we review every guide after it.

Start with a free first conversation: 01285 704466. Meet the team.

Related articles

Every article, by topic

Related guides

  • Normalising your profit

    Three tests for every add-back when you sell an HVAC business, with a one-page schedule for your own figures.

    For sellers 15 pages Includes the add-back schedule Checked Mon 12th Oct 2026

    Get the guide

  • Why prices fall after "yes"

    Five gaps a buyer can find in an HVAC business after the offer, what good looks like for each, and a one-page list for raising them first.

    For sellers 14 pages Includes the early disclosure list Checked Mon 12th Oct 2026

    Get the guide

See what your business could sell for

Type in your own figures and see a price range on screen, then start with a free first conversation.

Try the free calculator