Agents The load calc and the permit paperwork, done on the iPad in the living room
It is a Tuesday evening in a living room and the comfort advisor is walking the walls with an iPad while the homeowner watches — no tape measure, no graph paper, and a load calculation that has to satisfy the permit office.
Source: ServiceTitan, "ServiceTitan Empowers HVAC Contractors with Acquisition of Conduit Tech" — https://www.servicetitan.com/blog/servicetitan-acquires-conduit-tech — the announcement describes an iPad-based platform that uses LiDAR to scan homes, build 3D models, run ACCA-certified Manual J load calculations usable for permitting, and show homeowners visualisations of the proposed system, with ServiceTitan saying the flow takes under 15 minutes. That timing is ServiceTitan’s claim, attributed here; no shop results are claimed.
The problem
A right-sized system starts with a load calculation, and the old way of getting one eats the sales call. The advisor measures every room, sketches the house on paper, notes windows and insulation, then re-enters it at the office before the Manual J can run. The permit packet waits on that work — and so does the homeowner’s decision.
The shortcuts are worse. Size by square footage, or by whatever came out last time, and the new system short-cycles, misses humidity, or fails on the design day — a callback built into the install. And the homeowner must approve an expensive system they cannot picture, from numbers they cannot check.
How the agent workflow works
- The home gets scanned, not taped. Walking the house with a LiDAR-equipped iPad, the advisor captures the measurements and builds a 3D model room by room, while the visit is still happening.
- The details the calc needs are layered onto the model. Construction, windows, insulation, orientation and existing equipment are recorded per room, alongside local weather requirements the workflow brings in.
- The Manual J runs from that model. The platform produces an ACCA-certified calculation sized to this house, not a rule of thumb, in a form usable for permitting, per the source.
- The homeowner sees the proposed system before signing. A visualisation shows the new equipment in place, so the conversation is about a system they can picture, not a tonnage and a price.
- The paperwork leaves with the proposal. The calculation, model and proposal save to the same job file, so the office files the permit packet without a measuring visit or a re-typed form.
- The advisor’s time shifts to the conversation. ServiceTitan frames the gain as options presented in minutes instead of manual assessment work — selling in the room, not after it.
What you need to set it up
- A LiDAR-capable iPad and the platform subscription for each scanning advisor. Cost, honestly: the announcement publishes no price, so expect a vendor quote, plus training time.
- Advisors trained to scan completely and verify inputs — every room walked, additions included, window and insulation assumptions checked rather than defaulted.
- Confirmation from your permit offices, before the first filing, that they accept this output in the form produced.
- A job-file routine the office follows, so the calc, model and proposal land where the permit packet is assembled — not stranded on one tablet.
Where it breaks
A fast scan makes a wrong calc look precise. Miss the finished basement, guess at wall insulation, or let a sunroom’s glass default to standard, and the model still produces a confident number — for a house that is not quite this one. The advisor still has to sanity-check it against the home in front of them.
Certified does not mean accepted everywhere. Permit offices differ, and an output one jurisdiction files happily can come back from the next asking for more. Verify acceptance locally first; a rejected packet costs more than the tape measure ever did.
The visualisation can over-promise. A tidy rendering hides the duct run that will not fit, the clearance that is not there, or the electrical work the job also needs. Sell from the picture, then survey like it does not exist — or the gap surfaces on install day, in front of the customer.
The bottom line
Start on replacement quotes that need a permit anyway, with one advisor, and have a second pair of eyes check the first calculations before filing. The win is not the scan itself. It is leaving with a defensible size, a homeowner who has seen the system, and a permit packet that needs no second trip to exist.