Key Takeaway
A 100% commission HVAC sales income rewards timing more than effort. Build a 90-day cash reserve so the slow months stop becoming a crisis. The system is small: find your floor number and split every commission check the day it lands.
The Month That Pays for the Year
August can hand an HVAC closer a $14,000 check, while February can hand the same person $900. The effort is identical, but demand swings hard.
Under commission, the check tracks closed deals far more than hours on the road.
Most commission reps get wrecked by this in year one. A new rep often needs 90 to 120 days to build a pipeline that closes with any rhythm. During that ramp the paychecks arrive late and small.
Find Your Floor Number First
The reserve covers your cheapest workable life. Base the number on a lean month, because slow season is exactly when you will use it.
Add up what you truly need each month: rent or mortgage, utilities, food, insurance, fuel for a car that runs and minimum payments on any debt.
Call that your floor. Say it lands at $3,200 a month, which makes your 90-day reserve target $9,600.
That is the finish line: a real number you can write on the fridge.
The formula
Monthly floor = housing + utilities + food + insurance + transport + debt minimums.
Reserve target = monthly floor x 3.
If $9,600 feels impossible, cut the floor instead. Dropping a $180 car payment moves the target down by $540. The floor number is the lever and the reserve is just math after that.
Split Every Check the Day It Lands
The mistake is waiting to see what is left at month end; commission income is lumpy and there is never anything left.
Split the check on the day it hits. Pay the reserve first, before groceries and before the online carts.
A simple split on a $5,000 check:
- 40% to taxes if you are a 1099 contractor. Move it now, not in April.
- 25% to your reserve until it reaches the target.
- 25% to your living account for that month’s bills.
- 10% to a buffer for repairs and the unexpected.
Once the reserve is full, the reserve cut shifts to debt payoff or savings. Keep the habit. Change the destination.
Handle the ramp-up months
New reps rarely have a full check to split at first, which is normal. During ramp, protect the reserve from the other direction.
Take side income and route 100% of it to the reserve until you clear one month of floor. A single $3,200 month changes how you sleep.
Keep your personal spending frozen at a starter level even as checks grow. Lifestyle creep in a strong August is what empties a reserve by winter.
Rules for the Reserve Account
The account needs walls. Without rules it becomes a checking account with a nicer name.
- No debit card attached to it. Make withdrawals annoying on purpose.
- Use it only for a real income gap in a slow month.
- Refill it before you celebrate the next big deal.
- Recheck the floor number every six months.
Treat every withdrawal as a loan from your future slow season, then pay it back on the next check.
What “bare-bones” means in practice
Bare-bones keeps you housed, fed, insured and able to drive to appointments. That is the test for every line item.
A rep with a $3,200 floor can survive a lean February on that reserve. A rep holding a $5,800 floor will burn the same account in half the time.
Why a 90-Day Cash Reserve Beats a 30-Day One
One month of buffer covers a single bad payday. It does not cover the shoulder season when HVAC demand sits between heating and cooling calls.
Ninety days covers a full ramp for a new territory or a slow shoulder stretch. It buys time to make a calm decision instead of a desperate one.
Three months of floor is a target most reps can build inside a year with steady splits.
What to Do This Week
Write your floor number on paper and open the reserve account. Pick your split percentages and route the next check the day it lands.
That is the whole system: one account and one number. Repeat the split until the slow month feels boring instead of scary.
Read the full guide: Residential HVAC Sales on 100% Commission: Do This, Not That