How Much Does a PM Plan Save You? Real Data from an HVAC Company

Based on McCorry Comfort job data — 813 maintenance visits, January 2024–February 2026

The honest answer to "is a maintenance plan worth it" requires actual numbers, not talking points. We pulled the data from our own job history — 813 maintenance visits across two years — to give you a real answer.

What a PM Plan Costs

A standard McCorry Comfort preventive maintenance plan covers two visits per year:

• Fall: Heating system tune-up (furnace, boiler, or heat pump heating mode)
• Spring: Cooling system tune-up (AC, heat pump cooling mode)

Annual plan pricing for most residential systems runs $300–$500. That covers the two scheduled visit fees. Parts and repairs found during visits are additional — but you get priority scheduling, including for emergency calls.

What Maintenance Visits Actually Cost Without a Plan

From 813 maintenance jobs in our data:

Metric	Cost
Average maintenance visit	$495
Median maintenance visit	$300
10th percentile (simplest jobs)	$150
25th percentile	$160
75th percentile	$540
90th percentile (more complex)	$960

The median maintenance visit costs $300. Two visits per year at that rate is $600. A PM plan at $350–$450 annually is less than two one-off visits — and you get priority service on top of it.

The Real Savings: What Maintenance Finds

The visit fee isn't the primary value of a maintenance plan. The value is in what gets caught during the visit and addressed before it becomes an emergency.

Common finds during maintenance visits, and what they cost to address on-site versus as emergency calls:

Finding	Cost When Found at Tune-Up	Cost as Emergency Failure
Weak capacitor	$80–$200	$200–$400 (emergency dispatch premium)
Failing contactor	$100–$200	$200–$450 (emergency)
Dirty/clogged coil	$100–$300 (cleaning)	AC failure in peak summer heat; emergency call $350–$600+
Low refrigerant	$200–$500 (add + leak check)	Compressor damage: $800–$2,500
Cracked heat exchanger	Orderly replacement planning	Furnace lockout in January; emergency replacement $3,000–$6,000
Fouled burners	$100–$200 (cleaning)	Ignition failure: $150–$400 emergency call
Belt/bearing wear (older systems)	$100–$250	Motor failure: $400–$800

One avoided emergency service call — average $496 in our data, versus a standard call average of $352 — covers roughly one year of PM plan cost. And that's before accounting for the catastrophic failures: a compressor killed by low refrigerant runs $1,500–$3,000. A heat exchanger caught early versus replaced as an emergency can be the difference between $300 and $4,000.

Maintenance Costs by Location — Why They Vary

Maintenance averages vary significantly across our service area:

Area	Avg Maintenance Cost	Jobs
Philadelphia	$428	405
Glenside	$2,301	8
Conshohocken	$669	11
Bryn Mawr	$640	14
Ambler	$612	5
Woodlyn	$522	16
Jenkintown	$299	25
Elkins Park	$212	9
Huntingdon Valley	$267	9

Glenside's $2,301 average is driven by a small number of large-scope jobs that included significant repair work found during maintenance. That's exactly what maintenance is supposed to do — find these things in a controlled way rather than as emergency failures.

Jenkintown and Elkins Park average lower because those visits tended to be cleaner systems with less work found on visit. The maintenance visit fee is paid either way; the difference is what it uncovers.

Equipment Life Extension — The Long Game

The industry data on equipment longevity is consistent: regularly maintained HVAC systems last 15–20 years versus 10–15 years for systems without regular service. For a $6,000 central AC system:

• Unmaintained life expectancy: 12–14 years → replacement at year 13
• Maintained life expectancy: 17–20 years → replacement at year 18
• Difference: 5 years of deferred replacement cost
• Annual PM plan cost over 5 years: $1,750–$2,500
• Deferred replacement value: ~$6,000
• Net benefit: $3,500–$4,250

This math is approximate but directionally sound for most residential systems.

Who Benefits Most from a PM Plan

The value-to-cost ratio is highest for:

• Systems 8+ years old (more components at end of life, more to find)
• Homes with higher equipment counts (multi-system, boiler + AC, etc.)
• Homeowners without mechanical background who want early-warning coverage
• Landlords and property managers who need reliable scheduling

For a brand-new system in a newer home, the ROI is lower in the early years. The math shifts when equipment ages.

Get on the Plan

Call (215) 399-2056 to enroll in a McCorry Comfort PM plan. We'll document your equipment at the first visit, give you a written report of what we found, and schedule you for two visits per year going forward. Priority dispatch for plan members — no sitting on hold when your heat goes out in January.