Two kinds of HVAC lead
Residential leads are householders: a furnace that will not light, an air conditioner that has stopped in a heatwave, a system at the end of its life. Commercial leads are businesses and the people who build for them: a restaurant, an office, a clinic, a contractor fitting out a new building.
The two are found in different ways. Householders find you, or are sold to you by a lead service. Businesses can be listed and contacted first, because they publish how to reach them. To be plain about what this site does: LeadsByCity sells lists of businesses and no homeowner or consumer data, so it helps with the second kind only.
The ways HVAC companies get leads
| Source | Kind of lead | You pay | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Past customers and referrals | Residential | Nothing | Only as large as your customer list |
| Maintenance agreements | Both | Your time to sell them | Slow to build; pays every year after |
| Local search and reviews | Residential | Time, or an agency | Urgent searches go to whoever shows first |
| Paid search ads | Residential | Per click | Prices climb in the hot and cold weeks |
| Pay-per-lead services | Residential | Per lead | The same enquiry is often sold to several firms |
| Builders and general contractors | Commercial | A list and your time | Won on price and reliability, then repeats |
| Businesses with premises | Commercial | A list and your time | A longer sale; steady work once won |
The season problem, and what solves it
Emergency work comes when the weather turns, and so does everyone else’s. In those weeks you have more calls than crews and advertising costs the most. In the months between you have crews and no calls.
Two kinds of work do not follow the weather, and both are business customers:
- Maintenance contracts with commercial premises. A restaurant kitchen, a gym or a medical practice needs its systems serviced on a schedule, whatever the season.
- Installation work for builders. New buildings and fit-outs are planned months ahead, and the HVAC work is subcontracted.
A calendar of contract visits and booked installations is what keeps crews working in spring and autumn. It is built by contacting those businesses in the quiet months, when you have the time and they are planning.
The businesses worth contacting
| Who | Why they need an HVAC company | The lists |
|---|---|---|
| General contractors | They subcontract heating and cooling on builds and renovations | General contractor leads |
| Restaurants | Kitchens and dining rooms run cooling and ventilation hard, all year | Restaurant leads |
| Hotels | Many rooms, many units, and guests who notice at once | Hotel leads |
| Gyms | Ventilation and cooling are part of what members pay for | Gym leads |
| Dentists and other practices | Treatment rooms need a steady temperature and clean air | Dentist leads |
| Real estate agents | A failed system found at inspection has to be fixed before a sale | Real estate agent leads |
The method is the one in local lead generation: take every business of one kind in your service area and contact each with one specific offer, such as a fixed-price inspection before the season starts. One kind of business at a time keeps the message specific.
Judging a paid lead service
A service that sells homeowner enquiries usually sells each one to more than one company. What matters is not the price of a lead but how many leads it takes to win a job, and what that job is worth. A repair call and a full system replacement are very different, so track them separately.
Put your own numbers into the cost per lead calculator: what you spent, the leads you received, the jobs you won. The cost per lead guide explains how to compare one source with another.
If you sell to HVAC companies
Suppliers, software companies and marketing agencies search for HVAC leads too, meaning HVAC companies to sell to. For that, the list is the contractors themselves: HVAC contractor leads by country and city, with the count and sample rows for each place.
Questions and answers
- How do HVAC companies get leads?
- From past customers and referrals, maintenance agreements, local search, paid ads, pay-per-lead services, and direct contact with builders and businesses that have premises to heat and cool. Residential enquiries are mostly urgent and seasonal; commercial work is planned and steadier.
- How do I get commercial HVAC leads?
- List the businesses in your service area that depend on heating, cooling or ventilation, such as restaurants, hotels, gyms and medical practices, along with the general contractors who subcontract installations. Contact each kind with one specific offer, in the months when you are not busy with emergency calls.
- Are pay-per-lead services worth it for HVAC?
- It depends on how many companies receive each lead and how many leads you need to win a job. Measure cost per job won, separately for repairs and for replacements, and stop when that cost passes what the job is worth to you.
- Does LeadsByCity sell homeowner HVAC leads?
- No. It sells lists of businesses only, and no consumer data. For an HVAC company that means lists of commercial customers and of builders. For a company that sells to HVAC contractors, it means lists of the contractors.