These guides exist so an HVAC owner can make a good marketing decision without needing to trust anyone, us included. Each one is long enough to be useful and practical enough to use in a real meeting. They share one idea: judge marketing by booked jobs and what each one cost, and make sure the accounts and data stay yours.
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How to hire an HVAC marketing agency without regretting it
Hire the agency that measures booked jobs, leaves your accounts in your name and can explain its plan in plain language. This guide gives you the preparation, questions, red flags and scorecard to tell the difference.
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How to set an HVAC marketing budget that pays for itself
Build your HVAC marketing budget backwards from the booked jobs you need and the most you can afford to pay for each one. Percent-of-revenue rules are a starting point; your own margins are the real answer.
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How to read an HVAC marketing report, and what to demand from one
A good HVAC marketing report starts with calls, booked jobs and cost per booked job, then explains the activity behind them. If a report leads with impressions and rankings, ask why.
How to hire an HVAC marketing agency
Short answer: a seven-step process with questions to ask, red flags and a weighted scorecard for comparing proposals.
How to hire an HVAC marketing agency starts with the one-page brief you should write before talking to anyone: job values, close rate, capacity, service area and who holds your account logins. It then gives you ten questions for the first meeting, with what good and weak answers sound like, and eight red flags that should end a conversation.
What you'll learn:
- How to shortlist agencies using evidence you can check, such as named, live HVAC sites
- Which contract clauses protect you (ownership, exit terms, ad-spend billing, GST/HST)
- How to score three proposals so price doesn't drown out measurement and ownership
- How to set up the first 90 days so you can judge results fairly
It's the guide to read before signing anything.
How to set an HVAC marketing budget
Short answer: build the budget backwards from your margins, close rate and capacity, then shape it around your province's seasons.
How to set an HVAC marketing budget replaces rules of thumb with a calculation you can do on a napkin. It shows how to work out your affordable cost per booked job from gross margin and close rate, how many jobs you can realistically handle, and how to split money between foundations, paid search, SEO and reviews.
What you'll learn:
- The formula for affordable cost per booked job, with a worked example
- Why improving close rate is often cheaper than buying more leads
- An example seasonal split for a heating-led company, and how Canadian regions differ
- Why you shouldn't build a budget around a rebate program that hasn't opened, with the current status of federal programs as of October 2026
It pairs well with our pricing page, which includes a break-even check on each plan.
How to read an HVAC marketing report
Short answer: the five numbers every report should open with, the vanity metrics to discount and a one-hour self-audit.
How to read an HVAC marketing report is for owners who already pay for marketing and want to know whether it's working. It explains what calls, qualified leads, booked jobs, spend and cost per booked job tell you, then covers the diagnostic numbers for paid search, SEO, your Business Profile and your website.
What you'll learn:
- How to spot-check call tracking and ad spend yourself
- The warning signs of a report designed to hide weak results
- A 30-minute monthly review agenda that ends in decisions
- Why comparing November with July misleads seasonal businesses
Where the guides connect to the rest of the site
Short answer: the guides explain the decisions; the service and region pages explain the work and the local context.
- For what each type of work involves, see the services hub and the individual pages on SEO, paid search, websites and reviews.
- For province-by-province climate, heating mix, regulators and programs, see the areas hub.
- For proof, see the results page, where every case names the client and links the live site.
- For the questions owners ask most, see the FAQ.
A note on how we write these
Short answer: plain language, checkable facts, dated program information and no promises.
Every program or regulation we mention links to the official source and carries an "as of" date, because rebate rules in particular change often. Worked examples use illustrative numbers that you should replace with your own. The guides are written by Ali Sedighi, MBA, who has 17+ years of digital marketing experience and has built 150+ live HVAC websites. We market and advise HVAC companies; we don't install or service equipment, and we don't give legal, technical or code-compliance advice.
If something in a guide doesn't fit your situation, call, text or email and ask. That conversation is free.
Frequently asked questions
Are these guides free to use?
Yes. Read them, print them and use the checklists in meetings with any agency, including us. They're written so you can make a good decision whether or not you ever call.
Which guide should I read first?
If you're about to hire someone, start with the hiring guide. If you already have an agency and aren't sure it's working, start with the reporting guide. If you're planning next year, start with the budget guide.
How often are the guides updated?
We review them when programs, platform rules or our own pricing change. Each guide shows its last-updated date, and program details are dated and linked to the official source.