Quick answer
Choose an HVAC marketing agency by asking who owns the ad accounts, whether they work with competitors in your area, how leads are filtered and answered, what they report weekly, how ad spend is separated from their fee, how you can leave and what proof they have. Compare offers on all-in cost per booked estimate, not on cost per lead or the monthly fee alone.
How do you choose an HVAC marketing agency?
Ask the same 12 questions of every agency you talk to, write down the answers and compare offers on one number: all-in cost per booked estimate. The questions cover ownership, exclusivity, lead handling, reporting, money, contract terms, people and proof. A good agency answers them plainly. A weak one changes the subject.
I'm Sam, and I run audits, strategy and media buying at Scale Theory. We are an HVAC marketing agency, so read this knowing that. I have tried to write the list I would want if I were on your side of the table, and I answer each question for us too, including the ones where our answer is not the most comfortable one.
The biggest one first: we are new to the US. My brother Alan and I are based in Sydney, Australia. We have no US clients, no US case studies and no reviews yet. You should weigh that, and question 11 covers what it means.
What should you ask about ownership and exclusivity?
Ask who owns the ad accounts, landing pages and lead data, and whether the agency works with other HVAC contractors in your area. You want to own everything you paid for, and you do not want your agency bidding against itself for your own customers.
1. Who owns the ad accounts, landing pages and data?
A good answer: the ads run in your own Meta Business Manager and Google Ads account, the agency gets access, and the landing pages and CRM data belong to you. A red flag: "we run it through our accounts". If you leave, you lose the history your ads learned from and start again at zero.
Our answer: ads run in your accounts, landing pages sit on your domain, and leads live in a CRM you log into. Everything stays if you leave.
2. Do you work with other HVAC contractors in my area?
Some agencies take several contractors in the same metro. That can mean the same agency writing ads that compete for the same homeowners. Ask how they handle it.
Our answer: one HVAC contractor per service line per metro area. First come.
What should you ask about leads and how they are handled?
Ask which jobs the ads target, how leads are filtered and what happens in the first minute after a form comes in. Most wasted marketing spend is not bad ads. It is the wrong leads, or good leads nobody called back in time.
3. Which jobs will the ads go after?
If replacements are what you want, ask whether the ads, landing pages and offers are built for replacements, or whether they are general "HVAC services" campaigns that bring in whatever comes.
Our answer: we lead with system replacements and new installs, such as central AC, heat pumps and AC plus furnace changeouts. We do not run ads for single repairs, window units or one-off ductless mini-split heads.
4. How do you filter out the leads I don't want?
Ask what questions a homeowner answers before their details reach you, and what happens to repairs and renters.
Our answer: six questions on the landing page covering home type, current system and age, replacement or repair, timing, budget range and homeowner or renter. Only qualified leads go to the CRM. Repairs never route to Priority.
5. What happens in the first 60 seconds after a lead comes in?
This question separates agencies that deliver leads from ones that deliver booked estimates. A booked estimate is a qualified homeowner booked for an in-home estimate on your calendar, at a set time.
Our answer: a text and a call inside 60 seconds from an AI receptionist plus a VA, seven days a week, with the estimate booked on your calendar and the qualifier answers attached. Then follow-up texts in your name on days 1, 3 and 7 after the estimate.
What should you ask about reporting and money?
Ask what they report each week, how ad spend is kept separate from their fee and what the full monthly cost is. You should be able to see what you spent, what it produced and what it cost per booked estimate, every week, without asking.
6. What will you report, and how often?
A good answer names business numbers: qualified leads, booked estimates, jobs sold. A weak one leads with impressions, clicks and "engagement".
Our answer: a Friday report with ad spend by channel, qualified leads, booked estimates, cost per booked estimate and jobs sold.
7. How is ad spend separated from your fee?
Ask whether you pay the ad platforms directly or pay the agency, and whether there is any markup. Paying Meta and Google yourself means you can see every dollar on their invoices.
Our answer: you pay Meta and Google directly, minimum $4,000 a month combined. Our fee is separate.
8. What will I pay in total, and what does it cover?
Get the fee, the setup cost, any software costs and the recommended ad spend in writing, as one monthly total.
Our answer: $2,500 a month. For the first 90 days, you pay $3,750 on signing, which covers setup, and $3,750 once we have booked 3 central AC or heat pump replacement or installation estimates of $5,000 or more before sales tax into your calendar, or at day 90, whichever comes first. Pay half to start. You pay the other half once we've booked 3 central AC or heat pump estimates into your calendar. We do not guarantee results.
What should you ask about the contract and the people?
Ask how you can leave, who will actually work on your account and where they are. Contracts and people are where agency relationships usually go wrong: a long lock-in, or a senior person on the sales call and a junior one on the account.
9. What are the contract terms, and how do I leave?
A good answer is short: the minimum period, the notice required and what you keep.
Our answer: after the first 90 days, month to month with 30 days notice. You keep the ad accounts, landing pages and CRM data.
10. Who will do the work, and where are they?
Ask for names and roles, and whether the person on the call is the person on your account. Ask where they are based and what hours they keep.
Our answer: Sam (audits, strategy, media buying) and Alan (onboarding, CRM and client operations). We are based in Sydney, Australia, and work US business hours for our clients, Central Time for Texas. We have no US office, no US employees and no US phone number yet. The 60-second lead reply runs around the clock regardless.
What should you ask about proof?
Ask for results from contractors like you, and ask to speak to one. If an agency has proof, it should be easy to share. If it does not, it should say so and explain how it is managing your risk instead. Be wary of screenshots with no names and numbers you cannot check.
11. What results can you show, and can I talk to a client?
A good answer is a named client you can call, in a similar market, with numbers they will confirm.
Our answer: we cannot give you that yet, because we are new to the US and have no US clients. Here is what that means in practice. You would be one of our first US clients, which means the founders work on your account directly. It also means you take more risk than hiring an agency with a long US track record. That is why half of the first 90 days is only due once we have booked 3 qualifying estimates into your calendar, or at day 90. If proof is your top requirement, an agency with US references may be a better fit today, and we would rather you know that before the call.
12. What will you need from me?
Every lead system depends on the contractor. Ask what the agency expects of you.
Our answer: open estimate slots on your calendar each day, a comfort advisor who runs the estimates we book, and one habit: mark every estimate won or lost with a reason. Without that, nobody can report jobs sold honestly.
How do the good and bad answers compare?
Put the answers side by side. Most agencies will sound good on some questions. What you are looking for is plain, specific answers across all 12, and a willingness to say what they do not do. The table sums up what to listen for.
| Topic | A good answer sounds like | A red flag sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | "Your ad accounts, your domain, your CRM" | "We run everything through our accounts" |
| Exclusivity | "One contractor per service line per metro" | "We work with lots of contractors near you" |
| Job focus | "Replacement and install offers" | "All HVAC services" |
| Filtering | Named qualifier questions | "Every lead is a good lead" |
| Speed | "Text and call inside 60 seconds" | "We send you the leads by email" |
| Reporting | Booked estimates and jobs sold, weekly | Clicks, impressions, "reach" |
| Ad spend | Paid by you, directly to Meta and Google | Bundled into one fee, no invoices |
| Contract | Clear minimum and notice period | 12 months, no exit terms |
| People | Named people on your account | "Our team" with no names |
| Proof | Named clients you can call, or honesty about having none | Unnamed screenshots, "guaranteed" results |
How do you compare two HVAC agency offers fairly?
Divide the total monthly cost, fee plus ad spend plus any extras, by the booked estimates each agency expects to deliver. That gives you all-in cost per booked estimate. It is the only number that puts a cheap fee with poor lead handling next to a higher fee with strong lead handling on equal terms.
Worked example: comparing two agency offers (illustrative numbers, not real agencies)
Offer A: $1,500 a month fee, $3,000 ad spend, total $4,500. It sends leads by email, with no qualifier and no booking. Say 8 booked estimates a month.
All-in cost per booked estimate: $4,500 / 8 = about $560
Offer B: $2,500 a month fee, $4,000 ad spend, total $6,500. It qualifies, replies inside 60 seconds and books estimates. Say 12 to 13 booked estimates a month.
All-in cost per booked estimate: $6,500 / 12.5 = about $520
Offer B costs about $40 less per booked estimate, and it produces about 4 to 5 more estimates a month. At a 30% close rate, that is about 1 to 1.5 more jobs a month.
Illustrative only: if each replacement brings $3,500 in gross profit, those extra jobs are worth about $3,500 to $5,250 a month.
Offer B's numbers match our planning assumptions, not results. Offer A's are made up for the example. Ask every agency for their own planning numbers and how they arrived at them.
The point is not that the higher fee wins. It is that the monthly fee on its own tells you almost nothing. Ask each agency to fill in the same formula, then compare.
What does this mean for a Las Vegas HVAC contractor?
Las Vegas has an extreme cooling season and mostly gas heat, so a good agency should talk about AC plus furnace changeouts, summer capacity and speed of reply without being prompted. If they talk about Las Vegas the same way they talk about Florida, that is a sign the local work has not been done.
NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for the Las Vegas airport show about 137 days a year at or above 90°F, including about 78 at or above 100°F. The Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey shows about 63% of occupied homes in the metro heat with utility gas. So most replacement jobs pair an AC with a furnace, and a heat-pump-only pitch misses the bigger share of the market.
Two questions from the list matter more in Las Vegas. Question 5, on speed, because a dead system in 105°F heat means the homeowner calls whoever answers first. And question 2, on exclusivity, because in a market where every contractor is chasing the same summer, sharing an agency with a direct competitor is a real conflict.
Ask us all 12 questions on a call. Our answers are the same as the ones above. More on the local market is on our Las Vegas HVAC marketing page, and the full system is on the HVAC Profit Machine page. When you are ready, you can book a strategy call.
Sources
Sam
Sam runs every strategy call and buys every ad. Before going HVAC-only, he ran a performance marketing agency: SEO, Meta and Google ads, CRM automation.
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