The New Flat Rate alternative for small HVAC shops
The New Flat Rate built its name on getting techs to sell instead of just quote, and the pricing book that comes with it reflects that: built-in options, upsell paths, a system designed around how a sales-trained tech works a call. It’s a good system. It’s also priced and structured around ongoing membership, which is a heavier commitment than a lot of small shops want when all they’re really after is a price book that’s actually set at their margins.
Here’s how the two stack up if you’re weighing your options.
Why shops search for a New Flat Rate alternative
TNFR’s pricing book is comprehensive and the sales training that comes with it has real value for shops that want to build a selling culture. The tradeoff is cost and complexity. You’re paying for a membership that bundles pricing, training, and support together, and if what you actually need is a Housecall Pro price book set at your target margins, you’re paying for a lot of extra machinery to get there.
PriceTuneup strips it down to the part most small shops actually need: a correctly priced HCP price book, built once, owned by you.
What the Margin-Right Rebuild includes
$249, one time, done for you:
Complete Housecall Pro price book rebuild at your target margins
HVAC starter task library, 500+ tasks
Good/better/best presets on your top 50 services, so you get the option-selling structure without the full membership
3 months of PriceTuneup software included
Annual price-review checklist and price-increase letter templates
Import-verified clean HCP load
Stack value on all of that comes to $1,664. You pay $249. We hold it to 10 rebuild slots a month since each one is built by hand for your numbers, not pulled from a template. Want to see what a well-structured task list looks like before you commit? Grab the free HVAC price book template.
Membership subscription — published list price $99/tech/month as of July 2026, so the bill scales with your tech count; check their current pricing for plan details
Best-fit shop size
1-4 truck HVAC, plumbing, or electrical shops
Shops investing in a full sales-training system alongside their pricing book
What you get
HCP rebuild at your margins, task library, good/better/best presets, price-increase templates
Flat-rate pricing book with built-in upsell structure, sales training, ongoing membership support
Lock-in
None. You keep the CSV files, cancel continuity anytime
Access typically tied to active membership
Data handling
Free analyzer runs in your browser, pricing data never leaves your machine
N/A
HCP integration
CSV round-trip, works on every HCP plan
Manual import/mapping into HCP
What The New Flat Rate reviews keep saying
We don’t host TNFR reviews and we’re not going to quote a star rating we didn’t earn. What we can do is tell you the themes that show up again and again when contractors talk about it, on review sites, in trade groups, and in the conversations we have with shops that tried it before calling us. Read the reviews yourself with these in mind.
Where the praise lands
Option selling works. The most consistent positive: techs who present five options close bigger tickets than techs who quote one price. Owners who stuck with the system credit it for a real average-ticket lift.
Training and support are the product. Reviewers who rate it highly almost always mention the coaching, not just the book. If your shop will run the training, that is where the value is.
It takes pricing decisions off the tech.A menu means the tech isn’t guessing in the driveway, which owners of newer or less experienced crews like.
Where the complaints land
Per-tech cost adds up. Published list price is $99/tech/month as of July 2026. Small shops that only wanted a priced book feel the seat pricing most, because every tech on the truck is a seat whether or not they sell.
Menu prices don’t always fit the market.A recurring complaint from rural and lower-cost markets is that the top options price above what the customer will accept, and the bottom options still have to cover the shop’s real overhead. Either way the owner ends up adjusting the book by hand.
It’s a commitment, not a download. Reviews from owners who left usually say the same thing: they bought a price book and got a sales program. Good program, wrong purchase.
Getting it into Housecall Pro is on you.TNFR’s book lives in its own format, so shops running HCP end up mapping and importing tasks themselves. If that’s the part you dread, the HCP import walkthrough covers it.
The quickest way to tell which camp you’re in: if the complaint you’d write is “I just wanted my prices fixed,” you don’t need a membership. Run your current book through the Margin Leak Finder first and see how far off the margins actually are.
If you’re building out a formal sales program and want training baked into your pricing tool, TNFR’s membership model earns its cost. If you want your Housecall Pro price book fixed at your target margins without signing up for a training system you may not have time to run, that’s the gap PriceTuneup was built for. Curious how the other flat-rate platforms compare? See the best flat-rate software for small HVAC shops.
The 60-Day Ticket-Lift Guarantee
If your average ticket doesn't go up within 60 days of importing your new price book, we refund the full price — and you keep every file.
Frequently asked questions
Does PriceTuneup include sales training like TNFR does?
No, and we’re not pretending otherwise. What we include is good/better/best presets on your top 50 services, which gives your techs an option structure to present without a full training curriculum attached.
Is $249 really one-time, or does it roll into a subscription?
Yes, it’s one-time for the rebuild. Continuity software access ($299/yr, founding rate $199/yr for the first 25 subscribers) is optional and separate. You’re never forced into it to keep your price book.
Can I switch from TNFR without losing my current pricing structure?
Yes. We rebuild your HCP price book at your target margins using your numbers, not TNFR’s book. You’re not trying to port their content over, you’re getting a fresh build.
How does the free analyzer protect my pricing data?
The Margin Leak Finder runs entirely in your browser. Your cost and pricing data never gets uploaded anywhere, it stays on your machine the whole time you’re using it.
How much does The New Flat Rate cost?
Published list price is $99/tech/month as of July 2026, so a three-tech shop is paying for three seats every month. Final numbers depend on plan and add-ons — check their current pricing. PriceTuneup's rebuild is $249 once, regardless of how many techs you run.
Are The New Flat Rate reviews mostly positive?
Mostly, yes, but read who is writing them. The strongest reviews come from owners who committed to the menu-pricing method and ran the training with their techs; the critical ones usually come from small shops that wanted a priced book, found the per-tech subscription and the sales system heavier than they needed, or found the menu prices didn’t fit their local market. Neither group is wrong, they wanted different things.
Is The New Flat Rate worth it for a one- or two-truck shop?
It can be, if you will actually run the sales training and present options on every call. If what you need is your existing Housecall Pro price book set at the right margins, a per-tech monthly membership is a lot of machinery for that job, and a one-time rebuild gets you there without the recurring bill.
What if I only have 40 services, not 50?
The good/better/best presets apply to your top 50 or your full list, whichever is smaller. Small task lists aren’t a problem, that’s exactly the shop size this was built for.
Get a clear read on your current pricing first
Run your existing price book through the free Margin Leak Finder before deciding anything. It’s browser-based and private, and it’ll show you where your current pricing is leaving margin on the table. When you’re ready to fix it, one of the 10 monthly rebuild slots is open for $249, backed by the 60-Day Ticket-Lift Guarantee.