Which Lead Platforms Are Worth It for HVAC Companies?

We read each platform's own help center, contract and pricing pages, checked on October 27, 2026, and compared what each publishes against the benchmarks we hold. A price appears as a platform price only when the platform published it; otherwise it is labelled as an owner report or third-party figure with its source. HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack were checked against platform pages on October 28, 2026. In our own tracker (ChatGPT and Perplexity, September 1 to October 27, 2026), the 12 HVAC questions, which include the lead-platform questions this page answers, cited BaaDigi in 56 of 504 answers (11.1%), and reddit.com ranked first with 258 citations and thumbtack.com ranked seventh with 125.

One limit up front: we have no verified HVAC-specific LSA sample. Three accounts' trade labels remain unconfirmed, so none of the lead costs on this page come from our own HVAC campaigns.

No platform here publishes an HVAC price list, so treat every number below as a range with a source.

The Google Ads anchor is SearchLight's January 2026 study of $14.9M in spend across 816 HVAC and plumbing contractors: $104 blended cost per lead, $149 non-branded, $72 on Performance Max and $34 branded. It is an HVAC and plumbing blend, not HVAC alone. Estatehub (2026) puts phone leads converting near 46% and lead-to-paying-customer near 7.8% across home services, which is not an HVAC-only figure.

**Angi.** Its help center says lead fees change with task, homeowner location and demand. We found no HVAC figure from Angi or any third party we fetched.

**HomeAdvisor.** No price is published. One third party lists HVAC at $30 to $80 per lead, with no method stated (workzen.io, April 2026).

**Thumbtack.** No rate card; the pro sets the price. Tack Tools Pro (March 12 to September 18, 2026) shows median prices of $95.88 for central A/C repair or maintenance (80 leads) and $86.29 for water heater installation or replacement (51 leads), what pros chose to pay.

**Networx.** The help center lists $10 to $100+ per shared lead and $15 to $120+ per exclusive lead across all categories, on articles dated 2022 to 2023.

**Modernize.** No figure is published and we found no third-party HVAC figure.

**Houzz Pro.** $99, $199 and from $399 a month for software, with advertising from $499 a month, per a Houzz blog dated October 5, 2026.

**Google Local Services Ads.** SearchLight's February 2026 benchmark (888 contractors, spend-weighted, outlier-filtered) puts HVAC at $51 per lead across 409 accounts and reports HVAC campaigns at 9.55x closed ROAS, the highest of the trades it tracked; both are SearchLight's numbers, not ours. 99 Calls shows an average of $72.03 and a median of $64.94 per charged HVAC lead from 7 sites over the trailing 12 months, with credited leads excluded. LocaliQ's 2025 figure of $52, cited secondhand through SearchLight, sits in the same range. The spread is the reason to track your own cost.

**Our own LSA data.** Across four accounts from June 11 to October 12, 2026, we paid $45.93 per charged lead ($40,876.82 on 890 charged of 1,110 leads). We have no verified HVAC-specific LSA sample, and three of those accounts' trade labels remain unconfirmed, so that figure is not an HVAC benchmark. Cost per booked job is cost per lead divided by your own close rate; we do not publish an HVAC close rate for shared leads because we have no sourced one.

Angi says each request is matched with no more than five pros, and since January 2025 a pro receives a lead only when the homeowner picks that pro from a list. Angi reports that self-reported pro win rate rose 10% after that change; that figure is vendor-reported and unaudited. Networx sends a shared lead to up to four contractors, and its exclusive plan sends it to one. Modernize's consent language allows the company and up to four others to contact the homeowner, while Branded Programs leads are exclusive, with a vendor-reported 40% average set rate. HomeAdvisor falls under the same no-more-than-five cap. On Thumbtack, a customer can contact up to five pros from search results in the first four hours and more after that (terms updated September 28, 2026). On Local Services Ads the customer chooses your profile, but Google prices message leads partly on whether the customer contacted other advertisers, so one homeowner can be charged to several.

Sharing matters because the same homeowner is called by several companies at once. The cost benchmarks we hold measure cost per lead, not lead-to-job, so we do not claim an HVAC close rate for any platform.

These are complaint counts and refund terms, not measured rates, and none is split out by trade.

**Angi and HomeAdvisor.** BBB lists 1,745 complaints in three years on the Angi profile where complaints are counted, 381 of them in the last 12 months. HomeAdvisor lead credits must be requested within 30 days, are issued as store credit, and exclude leads where you did not win the job.

**Thumbtack.** Fees are final except under the refund policy: no refund when the customer hires someone else, other refund requests within 45 days at Thumbtack's discretion, and no refund when you close the account.

**Google Local Services Ads.** Wrong-service and out-of-area leads are no longer credited, voicemails during business hours count as connected calls, and credits usually apply within 30 days, with the original charge remaining on the invoice.

Ask for these in writing before you fund or sign anything:

1. The term and what renews it. Angi subscriptions renew automatically and the fee can rise up to 10%; Houzz Pro needs a do-not-renew request at least 30 days before renewal. 2. The termination fee, as a number. Angi's public agreement makes any early termination fee conditional on your signed contract and does not state an amount. 3. Refund of unused money. Angi gives no refund of fees on termination; Networx does not document refund of an unused prepaid balance. 4. Credit rules. HomeAdvisor and Angi lead credit guidelines require a request within 30 days and exclude leads where you did not win the job; Networx requires it within 14 days; Thumbtack allows other refund requests within 45 days at its discretion. 5. A hard spending cap. Angi calls the monthly budget a target; Modernize lets you set a ceiling per lead. 6. Who answers the phone to cancel. Angi cancels by phone through Customer Care.

Pick by where you are, not by which platform sounds biggest.

**No verified Google profile or reviews yet: none yet, fix your Google Business Profile and Local Services Ads first.** Google says higher-quality profiles, including those with images, may rank higher and pay less per lead in Local Services Ads.

**Small crew with a thin calendar:** run Local Services Ads with a budget you can afford to lose, answer every call, and, if you want a second source, test one marketplace on pay-per-lead for a month while counting replies and booked jobs.

**A full schedule in peak heating or cooling weather:** do not buy volume. Spend the time on reviews and your own site.

**Larger HVAC company with a sales team:** ask Modernize and Angi for written terms, then compare cost per booked job against Local Services Ads using your own close rate.

**HVAC plus remodeling or design-build:** Houzz Pro is software first; buy it for estimates and proposals, and treat its advertising as optional.

**You want leads you own:** build your site, rankings and Google profile through a monthly retainer instead of renting a marketplace's audience.