Searching for commercial HVAC companies in Dallas usually starts with a problem that is costing money by the hour: customers leaving a hot dining room, staff sent home from a stuffy office, product at risk in a back room that will not cool. Commercial heating and air conditioning works on the same principles as a house, but the equipment is bigger, it usually lives on the roof, it runs longer hours and more rules apply to it. This page explains what commercial service looks like in Dallas-Fort Worth, the Texas licensing that matters on bigger systems, the city and federal paperwork owners should know about, and what to ask before you approve work.
Dallas Air & Heating is not an HVAC contractor and sends no one to your roof. It is a free phone line. Call (469) 649-7066, say the property is commercial, and give your name, a callback number, the address or ZIP and what the system is doing. Business calls are handled the same way as home calls: the automated assistant transfers you to an independent, locally owned heating and air conditioning company, which inspects the equipment, quotes the job and bills your business directly.
Residential vs commercial HVAC service, side by side
The same company may do both, but the work and the paperwork are different. Knowing the differences helps you ask the right questions.
| Topic | Typical home | Typical commercial building |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment | A split system: condenser in the yard, furnace or air handler in the attic or a closet | Packaged rooftop units, split systems in older or smaller suites, ductless units in add-on rooms, chillers in big buildings |
| Size | Usually a few tons of cooling | From a single small rooftop unit to many units or a central plant; size decides the Texas license class needed |
| Texas license class | A Class B license covers most homes | Class B up to 25 tons cooling and 1.5 million BTU per hour heating; Class A for any size |
| Hours of use | Comfort hours, with setbacks at night | Long schedules, kitchens and server rooms that run all day, buildings that sit empty on weekends |
| Maintenance standard | ANSI/ACCA 4 QM, residential maintenance | ANSI/ASHRAE/ACCA Standard 180, commercial inspection and maintenance |
| Access | Yard and attic | Roof hatch or ladder, keys, escorts, landlord rules, sometimes a crane for replacement |
| Refrigerant rules | Residential and light commercial AC is excluded from EPA's newer HFC leak repair rules | Larger comfort cooling and commercial refrigeration can fall under EPA leak repair and record keeping rules |
| Who decides | The homeowner | Owner, tenant or property manager, depending on the lease |
The equipment on most Dallas commercial roofs
Most small and mid-sized commercial buildings in North Texas are cooled and heated by packaged rooftop units, often called RTUs. Each is one cabinet holding the compressor, both coils, the blower and often a gas heat section, set on a curb over the space it serves. Strip centers might have one per tenant. A big-box store or school may have dozens.
Many rooftop units also have an economizer: a set of outdoor air dampers and controls that, in the words of the ASHRAE definition quoted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, lets the system use outdoor air to reduce or eliminate mechanical cooling in mild or cold weather. When an economizer's damper sticks open or its sensor fails, it can pour hot, humid Dallas air into the building in summer, and the result looks exactly like a weak air conditioner. A good commercial technician checks it before blaming the compressor.
Older buildings and small suites often run split systems much like a house. Server rooms and additions frequently get ductless units. Large office towers and campuses move up to chilled water plants, which is specialized work that not every commercial company takes on. Tell the line what you have if you know, so the company you reach can come prepared.
What goes wrong, by type of building
Restaurants and kitchens
Kitchen hoods pull a lot of air out of the building. The current International Mechanical Code requires makeup air to be supplied whenever the kitchen exhaust runs, in an amount approximately equal to what all the exhaust systems remove, with mechanical makeup air starting and running together with the exhaust. When the makeup air unit fails, the building goes negative, doors get hard to open and the dining room pulls in hot outside air faster than the rooftop units can cool it. Ask the technician to look at the hood, the makeup air and the cooling together.
Offices and medical suites
The complaint is usually one zone: the corner office that is always hot or the exam room that never cools. Common causes include a stuck damper, a thermostat in the wrong spot, or a unit sized for a tenant layout that has since been rebuilt.
Retail and showrooms
Doors open all day and big glass storefronts face the afternoon sun. Rooftop units over sales floors work hard from spring to fall, and dirty coils or a failed condenser fan show up fast as a warm store and higher electric bills.
Warehouses and flex space
The office and break room may be air conditioned while the floor is ventilated or heated only. Dust from loading docks and forklifts loads filters and coils quickly, so maintenance intervals are often shorter than the calendar suggests.
Server closets deserve their own mention. ASHRAE's recommended range for air entering IT equipment is 64.4 to 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit, so a closet does not have to be cold, but it does need cooling every hour of the year. A closet that depends on the building system loses cooling every night and weekend when the thermostat sets back. A dedicated unit with a high-temperature alarm is the usual answer.
Texas license classes for commercial HVAC
In Texas, air conditioning and refrigeration contractors are licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), and on commercial jobs the license class matters. According to TDLR, a Class B license allows work on cooling systems of 25 tons and under and heating systems of 1.5 million BTUs per hour and under. A Class A license allows work on any size unit. One rooftop unit on a small shop is well inside Class B. A building with very large units or a central plant needs Class A.
TDLR also offers endorsements on the license for environmental air conditioning, commercial refrigeration and process cooling or heating. If your problem is a walk-in cooler or ice machine rather than the comfort system, ask whether the company holds the commercial refrigeration endorsement. TDLR requires licensed contractors to carry commercial general liability insurance while the license is active, with higher minimums for Class A than Class B. Ask for a certificate of insurance naming your business before work starts, and confirm the license yourself.
Check the license yourself. In Texas, air conditioning and refrigeration contractors are licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), and the license number belongs on the company's quotes and invoices. Ask for it and look it up with the TDLR license search (opens in a new tab) before work starts. It is also fair to ask for a certificate of insurance.
City of Dallas rules and federal refrigerant records
- Building codeThe City of Dallas has adopted the 2021 International Mechanical Code with local amendments in Chapter 55 of the city code. Suburbs such as Plano, Irving or Garland run their own building departments and their own adopted codes.
- Contractor registrationMechanical contractors register with the City of Dallas Development Services Department by showing the license holder's current state air conditioning license, and the city registration expires when the state license does. A company working in Dallas should be able to show both.
- PermitsWhether a given repair or replacement needs a mechanical permit, and whether plans are required, depends on the scope of work. Ask the contractor who pulls the permit and whether the inspection is in the price. Dallas Development Services can be reached at 214-948-4480.
- EPA Section 608Federal law prohibits intentionally venting refrigerant during service, repair or disposal, and requires technicians who service this equipment to be EPA certified.
- Leak repair rulesFor older equipment holding 50 pounds or more of ozone-depleting refrigerant, and since January 1, 2026 for equipment holding 15 pounds or more of most HFC refrigerants, owners must repair leaks within 30 days once the leak rate passes a threshold: 10 percent a year for comfort cooling and 20 percent for commercial refrigeration. EPA excludes residential and light commercial air conditioning and heat pumps from the newer HFC rules.
- RecordsEPA's HFC rules call for owners and operators of covered equipment to keep records for three years. Ask your contractor for a copy of every service report that lists refrigerant added.
Preventive maintenance agreements
A planned maintenance agreement is the main tool businesses use to avoid emergency calls. There is an industry yardstick: ANSI/ASHRAE/ACCA Standard 180 sets minimum inspection and maintenance requirements for commercial building HVAC, aimed at keeping comfort, energy efficiency and indoor air quality where they should be. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's rooftop unit maintenance guide for facility managers makes the business case plainly: maintenance is critical to efficiency, reliability and low operating costs.
Worth getting in writing
- Number of visits a year and the months they happen
- What each visit covers: filters, belts, coils, drains, electrical readings, economizer, controls
- Whether parts, refrigerant and after-hours calls are included or billed separately
- A written report for each unit after every visit
- The TDLR license number and class, and a certificate of insurance
Reasons to slow down
- Automatic multi-year renewal with no clear way out
- "Unlimited service" with no list of exclusions
- Replacement pushed on the first visit with no repair price beside it
- No answer about who keeps refrigerant records
- Reluctance to say which license class the company holds
What to ask commercial HVAC companies in Dallas
Whether you reach a company through the line or on your own, these questions separate a contractor ready for commercial work from one that mostly does houses.
- What is your TDLR license number and class? Check that the class covers the size of your equipment, and look it up.
- Are you registered with the city where the building is? In Dallas, mechanical contractors register with Development Services.
- Who on your crew is EPA certified? Anyone handling refrigerant must be.
- Can you send a certificate of insurance? Ask for it before anyone goes on the roof.
- Which of our units fall under EPA leak repair rules? And will you give us copies of the service records?
- Can work be scheduled around our hours? Ask how after-hours labor is priced.
- If replacement comes up: Is the new unit sized from a load calculation, will it fit the existing roof curb, does it need a crane and a permit, and what is the labor warranty separate from the equipment warranty? New light commercial equipment now has to use a refrigerant with a global warming potential under 700 under EPA rules that took effect January 1, 2025, so a replacement may differ from the old unit in more than size.
Before you call: a five-minute checklist
- Which unit serves which space. If units are not labeled, note which thermostat controls the problem area.
- What the thermostat or controls show. Mode, setpoint, schedule and whether it is in an occupied period. A holiday schedule that never reset is a common "broken AC" call.
- Breakers. A tripped breaker can be reset once. If it trips again, leave it off for the technician.
- Service history. Who serviced the units last and when filters were changed.
- Roof access. Where the hatch or ladder is and whether a key, escort or landlord approval is needed.
- The lease. Many commercial leases put rooftop unit repair on the tenant. Check before approving a large job.
Utility incentives for business equipment
Oncor, which delivers electricity across much of Dallas-Fort Worth, runs a commercial Midstream HVAC program that offers incentives at the point of sale through participating distributors on qualifying efficient air conditioners, heat pumps and packaged terminal units. To qualify, a business must be in Oncor's service territory, be served by an Oncor meter and have a qualifying rate code. Ask the company quoting your replacement whether its distributor participates. Businesses served by a city-owned utility or an electric co-op fall outside it and should ask their own provider.
Have the unit, the space and your business hours ready, then call. Say it is a commercial property, and the company you are put through to will ask what it needs to send the right technician.
- Call any hourAn automated assistant answers (469) 649-7066 and asks whether it is about cooling or heating.
- Describe the problemGive your name, a callback number, your city or ZIP and what the system is doing.
- Get put throughThe call goes to an independent, locally owned heating and air conditioning company, which hears a short summary before it picks up.
- Deal with them directlyThat company diagnoses, quotes, does the work and is paid by you. If it cannot answer, it gets your details to call back.
How this line works: Dallas Air & Heating is a free phone line, not an HVAC company. It answers your call and connects you with an independent local heating and air conditioning company, which inspects, quotes and does the work, and which you pay directly. The line holds no HVAC license and does not repair, install or schedule anything itself. Those companies may pay Dallas Air & Heating a referral fee. You never pay the line. How it works.
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Business calls across Dallas-Fort Worth
The line takes commercial calls from Dallas and the surrounding cities. Building departments and electric providers differ from one city to the next, which each area page covers.
- All Dallas-Fort Worth service areas
- McKinney
- Frisco
- Plano
- Allen
- Richardson
- Garland
- Mesquite
- Irving
- Carrollton
- Lewisville
- Flower Mound
- Denton
- Fort Worth
- Arlington
- Grand Prairie