Texting for HVAC
The AC is out, they called you, and nobody picked up.
On the first hot week of summer your phone rings more than you can answer. Every call you miss is a customer calling the next company. We text them back from your number so they wait for you.
HVAC: on the first hot week, the phone rings more than you can answer.
- 1:03 PMMissed call, 95 degrees outside
- 1:03 PMYour number texts them back, automatically
- 1:05 PM“AC’s blowing warm since this morning. Can anyone come today?”
- 1:12 PMSame-day call booked$350
One caller, start to finish. An example, except the green figure: that one comes from the published averages in 02, with their sources.
No trap here
- No contract
- Prices on the site
- Set up for you by a real person
- Texts from your own number
Where the money goes
Four leaks in an HVAC company.
Peak-season calls that ring out
When it is 95 degrees, homeowners call three companies in a row and go with whoever answers. A text within seconds keeps you in the running.
Unsold system replacements
A $5,000 to $15,000 replacement quote does not close on the first visit. Without a follow-up it quietly closes with someone else.
Empty shoulder seasons
Spring and fall are slow because nobody reminds customers about tune-ups. Reminders fill the schedule before the rush.
Maintenance plans that lapse
Customers forget they have a plan. A reminder before each visit keeps the plan alive and the recurring revenue with it.
What a job is worth
What a call is worth when the AC is out.
A repair visit is a few hundred dollars. The replacement it often turns into is a few thousand. Both figures below are national averages from cost guides homeowners read before they call you.
- $350
average HVAC repair visit, in a range of $100 to $3,000
- $5,978
average central AC replacement, in a range of $1,400 to $12,500
- $7,500
average furnace and AC replaced together, in a range of $5,000 to $12,500
What one caller adds up to
- One repair visit, at the average$350
- If one in ten repair calls becomes a replacement, each call carries a tenth of $5,978 on top$598
Each line states its own assumption. The averages are the ones above.
A month of missed calls, at the average
$3,792
10 missed calls a week, one in 4 of them ready to book, at $350 each. Those are the calculator’s defaults, not your company’s numbers.
A week in an HVAC company
Five days, one phone
nobody could answer.
Every rust line is a call you could not take. Every teal line is your number answering for you. Every green line is the job it became, priced near the averages above.
One week, one company
ExampleMonday
- 7:40 AMMissed call, you are loading the van
- 7:40 AMText-back goes out from your number
- 7:52 AM“No heat since last night.” Booked for 10:00$350
Tuesday
- 9:00 AMReplacement estimate from eleven days ago gets its follow-up
- 6:14 PM“Can we do the two-stage instead?” Quote back in play$5,978
Wednesday
- 1:03 PMMissed call, 95 degrees, you are on a roof
- 1:03 PMText-back goes out
- 1:05 PM“Blowing warm since this morning.” Same-day call booked$350
- 4:30 PMYesterday’s tune-up customer gets the review request
Thursday
- 8:00 AMTwelve maintenance-plan customers get their fall reminder
- 11:20 AMFour of them reply with a day. Tune-ups booked$760
Friday
- 3:15 PMMissed call while you are in a crawlspace
- 3:15 PMText-back goes out
- 3:40 PM“Just need a filter and a look at the unit.” Booked Monday$350
Booked that week, from texts
$7,788
Made up, like every ledger on this site, and priced at the published averages in 02 so it is a week you would recognise. Your dashboard shows the real one.
What your customer sees
In your words, from your own number.
We write every message with you during setup, in HVAC language. You approve all of them before a single one goes out.
Missed call on a 95-degree day
ExampleThe customer hears from you before they finish dialing the next company.
New caller- Missed call, 1:03 PM
- This is Dave at Summit Heating & Air. Sorry we missed your call, we’re on a job. Is your AC out? Text here and I’ll get you on the schedule.1:03 PM
- Yes, it’s blowing warm air since this morning1:05 PM
- I can be there between 4 and 6 today. Address?1:12 PM
- Same-day call booked
Replacement quote follow-up
ExampleA calm nudge ten days after the estimate, with a reason to act.
The Nguyens- Hi, Dave from Summit. Following up on the furnace and AC replacement estimate from last week. Happy to answer questions or walk through the financing option. Our install schedule for October is filling up, so let me know either way.10:00 AM
- Can we do the 2-stage unit instead of the variable? Trying to keep it under 11k6:22 PM
- Yes. I’ll send a revised number tonight.6:40 PM
- Quote back in play
Fall furnace tune-up reminder
ExampleSent in September, before the first cold night.
Bill W.- Bill, it’s Summit Heating & Air. Time for the furnace tune-up before it gets cold. We’re booking the last two weeks of September. Reply with a day that works.8:00 AM
- Any Wednesday9:15 AM
- Tune-up booked
Every text, explained
Seven messages. Here is each one,
and why it is written that way.
When it goes, what it says, why it works in HVAC, and the one thing it will never do. You approve every word of every one before it goes live.
01
Missed-call text-back
When. Within seconds of a call you did not answer, during your working hours.
On a 95-degree day the homeowner is calling the next company before your voicemail finishes. A text from your number in the same minute keeps you in the running, and “is your system out” tells them you took it seriously.
Never. It never goes out when you answered, and it never goes out at 2 AM. A night call waits for 8 AM, with “you called last night” wording.
What they read
ExampleThis is Dave at Summit Heating & Air. Sorry we missed you, we’re on a job. Is your system out? Text here with what’s going on and I’ll get you on the schedule. Reply STOP to opt out.
182 characters · 2 segments02
Replacement quote follow-up
When. Ten days after an estimate for a system replacement, then once more a week later. Two texts, never a third.
A replacement is a kitchen-table decision that takes two weeks and three opinions. Most companies never follow up, so the one that does, calmly, with a real reason to decide, is the one that gets the call back.
Never. It never pressures. No countdown, no “price goes up Friday”. The install calendar filling up is true or we do not say it.
What they read
ExampleHi, Dave from Summit. Following up on the furnace and AC estimate from last week. Happy to walk through the financing option or adjust the equipment. Our install calendar for October is filling up, so let me know either way. Reply STOP to opt out.
247 characters · 2 segments03
Spring AC tune-up reminder
When. March, to every customer whose last cooling-season service is more than ten months old, and to maintenance-plan members two weeks before their window.
Spring is a slow month because nobody reminds anyone. A tune-up in April is a $350 visit that also finds the compressor that would have failed in July, which is the replacement conversation you want to have in May, not on the hottest day of the year.
Never. It never goes to a customer who had service in the last ten months, and never to an address you told us is a rental turnover.
What they read
ExamplePat, it’s Summit Heating & Air. Time for the AC tune-up before the first hot week. We’re booking the last two weeks of April. Reply with a day that works and we’ll hold it. Reply STOP to opt out.
195 characters · 2 segments04
Fall furnace tune-up reminder
When. September, same rule as spring, on the heating side.
The first cold night is when every furnace that was going to fail, fails, and you cannot answer the phone. September fills the calendar with the customers you already have, so October’s emergencies go to the top of a schedule that is not already full.
Never. Never more than one reminder per season per customer. If they do not answer, we leave it until next year.
What they read
ExampleBill, it’s Summit Heating & Air. Furnace tune-up before it gets cold? We’re booking the last two weeks of September. Reply with a day. Reply STOP to opt out.
157 characters · 1 segment05
Maintenance plan renewal
When. Thirty days before a plan lapses, and once more at seven days.
A plan that lapses is a customer who forgot, not one who left. The renewal is the single most profitable text on this page because it keeps money you already earned.
Never. It never changes the price in a text. A price change is a phone call from you.
What they read
ExamplePat, your Summit maintenance plan renews next month. Same two visits, same price. Reply YES to keep it or call us with questions. Reply STOP to opt out.
152 characters · 1 segment06
Google review request
When. The evening after a completed job, to customers whose job closed without a complaint.
Homeowners choose an HVAC company off the review count more than any other trade, because they are about to spend five figures with a stranger. One request a job, the same evening, is how a thirty-review company becomes a three-hundred-review company in two years.
Never. It never goes to a job that had a callback, a complaint or a billing dispute. We ask once; we never ask twice.
What they read
ExampleThanks for having Summit out today, Pat. If the visit went well, a quick Google review helps a small company more than you’d think: g.page/r/summit-hvac. Reply STOP to opt out.
176 characters · 2 segments07
Win-back
When. Eighteen months after a customer’s last visit, once.
Half of a company’s list goes quiet without ever deciding to leave. One plain text brings back the ones who simply forgot who they used last time.
Never. It is one text, not a campaign. Nobody is nudged twice.
What they read
ExamplePat, it’s Dave at Summit Heating & Air. It’s been a while since we looked at your system. If you’d like a tune-up before summer, reply here and we’ll find a day. Reply STOP to opt out.
184 characters · 2 segments
The year, already written
Twelve months in HVAC,
and what goes out in each.
Set once during setup around your seasons, not ours. Change any month by texting us. The quiet months stay quiet on purpose.
January
No-heat text-backs around the clock, delivered at 8 AM for night calls. Filter reminders.
Your phone rings most when you can least answer it. The text-back is the whole product this month.
February
Replacement follow-ups on the January emergencies that were patched, not fixed.
A furnace nursed through January is a replacement in February, if somebody asks.
March
Spring AC tune-up reminders go out in the second week.
Books April with customers you already have, before the first hot week books it for you.
April
Tune-up bookings, review requests after each. Maintenance plan renewals for spring-cycle plans.
The slow month fills from the list. The reviews land before summer shoppers start reading them.
May
Replacement follow-ups on everything the tune-ups found.
A compressor that is going is a planned install in May and an emergency in July. May is cheaper for both of you.
June
Text-backs on every missed call. Nothing promotional.
You do not need more work in June. You need to not lose the work that is calling.
July
Text-backs. Review requests. Quiet hours hold.
Same as June. The review requests matter: July jobs are the happiest customers of the year.
August
Text-backs. Replacement follow-ups on July’s emergency repairs.
A unit that failed twice in a summer is a replacement conversation in August, before you lose the customer to the company that replaces it in September.
September
Fall furnace tune-up reminders in the first week. Maintenance plan renewals for fall-cycle plans.
Books October before the first cold night does.
October
Tune-up bookings, review requests. Win-backs to anyone quiet for eighteen months.
The second slow month. The win-back goes now because people think about heat in October.
November
No-heat text-backs. Replacement follow-ups on anything the tune-ups flagged.
The heating season’s May.
December
Text-backs only. Holiday closed dates set so wording and timing respect them.
Nobody wants a tune-up reminder on the 24th, and the text-back should say you are closed when you are closed.
The standing reminders
The rules behind the calendar, each one a date the customer would otherwise have to remember.
- Spring AC tune-up
- March to April
- Fall furnace tune-up
- September to October
- Replacement quote follow-up
- 7 to 14 days after the estimate
- Filter change
- Every 1 to 3 months
- Maintenance plan renewal
- 30 days before it lapses
An example month
What a month of this looks like.
Every line is a booked job that started with a text, priced near the averages above. Your dashboard shows yours, not this one.
HVAC
Example- 5 jobsMissed-call text-backs$2,150
- 1 jobQuote follow-ups$5,980
- 4 jobsMaintenance reminders$760
Recovered this month
$8,890
Made up figures for an HVAC company of average size. Not a promise, and not another shop’s results.
The first week
Set up for an HVAC company, by a person.
About an hour of your time, once. We do the carrier paperwork, the number, the list and the writing. Here is what that week looks like for your trade.
Day 0
Kickoff call, 30 minutes
We ask what you work on (residential, light commercial, both), how many trucks, whether you sell maintenance plans and what they include, what you charge for a diagnostic and a tune-up, and which months you dread. We ask for your customer list in whatever shape it is in, and whether your dispatch software can export it.
Days 1 to 3
Your number, made text-capable
We register your business number with the carriers under your company’s legal name. Calls do not change. If you use a call-tracking number on your trucks, we talk about which number customers actually dial.
Days 2 to 4
Your texts, in your words
We draft the seven messages above with your company name, your tech’s first name, your real tune-up windows and your review link. You read every one on your phone, change what you want, and approve. The replacement follow-up gets the most edits; that is normal.
Days 4 to 7
Go live, and the inbox on your phone
We turn on the text-back first and watch a day of it with you. Reminders start the following week so you can see what a reply looks like before fifty of them land. A 20-minute call shows you and your dispatcher the inbox.
Every month after
The dashboard, together
Before each season we look at what went out and what came back, move the reminder windows if your calendar moved, and add a seasonal text if it makes sense. If the number is not comfortably above what you pay us, we say so.
What it costs
Three plans. Which one
is yours, by the size of the company.
Every price is on this site and there is no contract. Here is how the three plans map onto the way this trade is usually run.
Starter
$249 /month
One truck, you answer the phone when you can
The text-back alone pays for it in June. Add the rest when you have a list worth reminding.
Pro
$449 /month
Most HVAC companies
Two to five trucks, a dispatcher, a pile of open replacement quotes
The replacement follow-ups and the maintenance plan renewals are where an HVAC company’s money is. This is the plan most HVAC companies run.
Full
$649 /month
Running ServiceTitan or FieldEdge, a sales tech, financing on the table
Jobs and agreements are read from your software, so nothing is typed twice, and the financing offer goes out on the big quotes automatically.
Software we commonly connect
On the Full plan. Names only; what we can read depends on what your software allows, and we confirm yours on the call.
- ServiceTitan
- Customers, completed jobs, estimates and their status, maintenance agreements.
- Housecall Pro
- Customers, jobs and estimates. Reminders key off the last completed job.
- Jobber
- Clients, jobs and quotes.
- FieldEdge
- Customers, work orders and service agreements.
- Service Fusion
- Customers, jobs and estimates.
Why not just…
The other ways an HVAC company handles a missed call.
Each one is a real option, and some are the right one at a certain size. Here is what each costs and where it falls down, as plainly as we can put it.
Keep letting it go to voicemail
Nothing on paper.
Nobody leaves one anymore. The 1:03 PM caller is talking to the next company by 1:05, and that call never shows up on any report, so it never gets added up.
An answering service
Roughly $200 to $500 a month for the hours you miss, more in season.
A stranger reading a script who cannot see your calendar, cannot quote a diagnostic fee and puts the homeowner on hold. They take a message. The message does not book the job.
A dispatcher or a second office person
A salary.
The right answer at a certain size, and the texts still help them: the text-back covers the two calls that ring at once, and the reminders are a day of calls they do not have to make.
A big texting and reviews platform
Typically $300 to $600 a month, on an annual contract, from a number that is not yours.
You set it up yourself, the account manager goes quiet after the sale, and cancelling takes ninety days’ notice. The texts come from a number your customers have never seen.
Do it yourself from your cell phone
Your evenings.
It works for a month. Then it is July and you are the one on the roof, and the one text that mattered is the one you did not send.
Questions HVAC owners ask
The ones specific to your trade.
The contract, the number and the cancel-by-text answers are on the FAQ page. These are the ones that only come up on a call with an HVAC company.
No. A missed call outside your hours gets its text at 8 AM in the customer’s time zone, worded for a call that came in overnight. If you want night calls to get an immediate text that says you are on your way, that is a different setup: tell us on the kickoff call and we build it that way, and the after-hours call answering add-on can take the message in the meantime.
They get the two tune-up reminders inside their windows, the renewal text at thirty and seven days, and nothing promotional. If your software tracks agreements, we read the dates from it. If it does not, we keep them in a list you can edit by texting us.
It can run alongside it or instead of it. ServiceTitan’s texting is good at appointment confirmations from inside a job; this is about the calls you missed and the quotes you did not close, from your business number, with the dollar figure tracked. On the Full plan we read jobs and agreements from ServiceTitan so nothing is typed twice.
A text that says “our October calendar is filling up, let me know either way” is the follow-up a good sales tech would make if they had the time. It is calm, it is from a name they met, and it is the only follow-up most homeowners will get from any of the three companies they called. The pushy version is the one we do not write.
Yes. The inbox is on as many phones as you want, and every reply shows who answered it. The on-call tech sees the night’s texts in the morning with the rest of the queue.
No. The texts come from the number customers already call. If your trucks carry a tracking number that forwards to the office, we text from whichever one the customer dialed, so the reply thread is with the number they know.
They get the text-back and the follow-ups, which they tend to like, because a property manager is judged on response time. They do not get the seasonal reminders unless you want them to: a commercial account is usually on a schedule already.
The text-back still goes out, and it tells the truth: “we’re booking about a week out, text here and we’ll get you in line”. Being honest about the wait keeps the customer who would otherwise call four companies and take whichever shows up first. You can change the wording from your phone in a minute.
We do not. A text never gives technical advice or quotes a price. If a customer asks something technical in a reply, it lands in your inbox for a person to answer, and the follow-up texts say “happy to walk you through the options” rather than naming them.
Lines we do not cross
Six rules, written for HVAC.
They are not settings. They are how it is built, and no plan or request turns them off.
Nothing goes out between 8 PM and 8 AM, the customer’s time.
An HVAC company texts at 11 PM once and is the company that texts at 11 PM forever.
One reminder per season per customer. One follow-up pair per quote. One win-back, ever.
The point is to be the company that reached out, not the company that keeps reaching out.
STOP means stop, in English or Spanish, instantly, on every message type.
It is the law, and it is also just what you would do if someone said it to your face.
No price, no diagnosis and no promise ever appears in an automated text.
A text cannot see the unit. The person who can is you.
Review requests go only to jobs that closed clean, once.
Asking a customer with an open callback for a review is how a company earns its first one-star.
Imported lists get no marketing texts until the customer has heard from you another way.
A tune-up reminder to someone who last called you in 2019 is, to them, spam from a number they forgot.
Book a demo
Fifteen minutes, about
your company.
A phone call with the person who would set it up. We look at how many calls you miss, what HVAC jobs are worth to you, and whether this fits. If it does not, we will say so.
- No contract
- Prices on the site
- Set up for you by a real person
- Texts from your own number