An HVAC company losing a technician a quarter to bigger shops
The situation
- Residential and light commercial HVAC contractor, 19 employees, 12 of them licensed or apprentice technicians.
- Turnover running near 30% a year among field staff.
- No group benefits; the owner had been answering resignation letters with counter-offers.
What was actually wrong
- Each departure cost roughly a third of a salary once recruiting, onboarding and lost billable hours were counted — and the shop was replacing five or six people a year.
- Counter-offer raises reset the whole wage grid, so every retention save quietly raised payroll for everyone.
- Younger technicians with young families were leaving specifically for coverage, not for money.
- Nothing tied a good technician's long-term interest to the company.
What we did
- 1
Benchmark before buying
We took the census to market across carriers and priced three plan levels, showing the owner exactly what each incremental feature — richer dental grid, paramedical limits, disability — actually cost per employee per month.
- 2
Build the plan around who leaves
Coverage weighted toward the things field staff with families use: drug, dental, vision and paramedical, plus disability for people whose income depends on their body working.
- 3
Add a reason to stay past year three
A group retirement plan with an employer match that vests over time, so the value of leaving is visible and increasing.
- 4
Communicate it like compensation
We ran the employee sessions ourselves. A plan nobody understands is a cost with no retention effect; total-compensation statements made the employer contribution visible on every paycheque.
Where it landed
- Employer share of premiums came in below what the previous year's counter-offer raises had cost — and unlike raises, premiums are a deductible business expense.
- Field turnover trending down, with the owner no longer negotiating individually against outside offers.
- Recruiting improved: the shop now advertises benefits and a match in job postings against competitors who cannot.
These case studies are illustrative composites based on the types of engagements we run. Names, figures and identifying details have been changed or rounded to protect client privacy. They describe process and structure, not a guarantee of any particular result. Every situation depends on your own facts, and tax and insurance outcomes should be confirmed with your accountant and lawyer.
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