Notice period

What it means

The gap between telling an agency you are leaving and the last invoice. Thirty days is the common figure. What varies, and what costs people money, is when the clock starts.

Notice served on the 2nd against a billing date of the 1st can mean two more invoices rather than one, because the notice has to clear a full cycle. The wording that does this is ordinary and nobody hides it. It is simply not read until it matters.

Why it matters in HVAC

Heating and cooling is seasonal, and agency relationships end in the shoulder months, when a slow April has made the invoice look expensive. That is the worst possible time to owe two more payments, because you are paying them out of the quarter with the least cash in it.

It is also the moment you can least afford the work to stop. Giving notice in April means the handover lands in May, which is when the run-up to cooling season should already be underway.

How to check it

Look for three things in the agreement: the number of days, whether notice must be written, and whether it runs from the date received or from the next billing date. The third is the one that changes the number of invoices.

Two contracts, same thirty days, different bill

TradeOps Consulting publishes "cancel anytime with 30 days notice before your next billing date" on its pricing page. On a $2,000 monthly SEO engagement, notice given on the 10th against a billing date of the 1st means one more invoice: $2,000.

Plumbing & HVAC SEO publishes thirty days notice too, but only after a twelve-month initial term. On their $2,495 organic programme, an owner wanting out in month nine is not giving notice at all. They are looking at three remaining months, $7,485, or a buyout.

Same phrase, same thirty days, and the difference is four thousand dollars because of what sits in front of it.