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How Do You Get HVAC Leads in the Off Season?
Short answer: To get HVAC leads in the off season, sell the work that does not need a breakdown: tune-ups, maintenance plans, planned system replacements and duct or thermostat upgrades. Message your past customers, ask for reviews, and build the web pages you will need for the next rush. Slow months are when this work pays off.
- The EIA reports 88% of US households used air conditioning in 2020, and all those systems age.
- ENERGY STAR advises annual pre-season check-ups: the cooling system in spring and the heating system in fall.
- Zarla found named businesses had a median of 444 Google reviews against 192, across ten trades.
- Google bans free or discounted service for reviews and selectively soliciting positive ones.
- Google says Local Services Ads charge only when potential customers get in touch through the ads.
- Find your slow weeks from last year's job list: weeks below half your busiest weeks.
Every HVAC owner knows the pattern. The first heat wave or cold snap fills the schedule for weeks. Then the weather turns mild and the phone goes quiet. This guide covers what to do in those quiet weeks to keep techs busy and to set up the next busy season.
An off season in HVAC is a stretch of mild weather when few systems fail. It is not the same in every place. For example, in a hot place like Phoenix, winter can be slow for cooling work. In a cold place like Duluth, Minnesota, a cool summer week can be slow for heating. The two stretches between peak seasons, spring and fall, are often called shoulder seasons. Use your own job history to find your slow weeks.
Why do leads drop when the weather is mild?
Most emergency calls come from a system that fails under stress. A hot day kills a tired air conditioner. A cold night finds a bad igniter. When the weather is mild, nothing is stressed, so fewer systems fail and fewer people search for help.
The demand does not vanish. It changes shape. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that 88% of U.S. households used air conditioning in 2020, and about two-thirds used central AC or a central heat pump as their main equipment. All of those systems age. In the mild months, homeowners think about cost and timing, not an emergency. They search for "new AC unit cost," "furnace replacement" and "is my system worth repairing." You can meet them there.
What work sells in the slow season?
Sell what a homeowner can book calmly. This table is our estimate of where to look first. Check it against your own books.
| Slow-season offer | Who to ask | Why it fits mild weather |
|---|---|---|
| Tune-ups and maintenance plans | Past customers | No breakdown needed, and techs have time |
| Planned system replacement | Owners of older systems | The homeowner can compare quotes without a hot house |
| Heat pump and ductless installs | Homes with no central AC, or with an aging system | Installs go faster when the crew is not slammed |
| Duct sealing and duct work | Rooms that are too hot or too cold | Less urgency, so the crew can do clean work |
| Thermostat and air quality upgrades | Existing customers | Small tickets that fill gaps |
| Commercial maintenance | Small offices, shops, churches | Building owners plan ahead |
| New construction and remodel work | Builders, remodelers | Their schedules do not follow the weather |
Why does a maintenance plan fill the gap?
A tune-up call is the easiest sale in the slow season because the homeowner has a real reason to book now. ENERGY STAR tells homeowners to have a contractor do annual pre-season check-ups, with the cooling system in spring and the heating system in fall, since contractors get busy once summer and winter arrive. In other words, you are not being pushy when you call in March. You are saying what a government energy program already says.
The check-up, per ENERGY STAR, covers thermostat settings, electrical connections, lubrication, the condensate drain, controls, coil cleaning, refrigerant level, blower parts, and gas connections, burners and heat exchangers. List those on your page so people know what they get.
A maintenance plan is a yearly agreement where the customer pays for scheduled tune-ups and perks. It turns a once-in-ten-years customer into one you see twice a year. We cover how to build and sell one in how to sell more HVAC maintenance plans from your website.
How do you build an HVAC off-season plan?
Follow these six steps. Do them one or two months before your slow stretch starts.
Step 1: Find your slow weeks
Open last year's job list. Count calls per week. Mark the weeks that fell below half your busiest weeks. Those are your off-season weeks. Do not guess. A guess puts your campaign in the wrong month.
Step 2: Clean up your customer list
Put every past customer in one list: name, phone, email, system type, install year, last service date. Remove duplicates. Mark the oldest systems. Those are your best replacement leads. Ask your own techs at what age they tell a customer to start planning, and use that age.
Step 3: Send a short message with one offer
Text or email the list with one offer and one link. For example: "Your AC is due for its yearly check. We have openings next week. Tap to book." Do not send three offers in one message. Make sure each person agreed to hear from you, and check your state's rules on bulk texts and email before you send.
Step 4: Ask for reviews while the schedule is light
Slow weeks are the best time to ask every recent customer for a review. Google says you can ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code. It bans giving free or discounted service in exchange for reviews, and it bans selectively soliciting positive reviews. A Zarla study of 1,851 listings across 10 local trades in 10 US cities, HVAC among them, found that businesses named by ChatGPT or Google AI Mode had a median of 444 Google reviews against 192 for those not named. That is a link, not proof of cause, and it covers all ten trades. Reviews you collect now are in place when the rush starts. Use our HVAC review request text templates.
Step 5: Build pages now for the next rush
New web pages take weeks or months to be found. If you write them during the rush, they will be live after it ends. In the slow weeks, write one page per main service and one per main town. Our checklist of what an HVAC website should include shows what goes on each. For town pages, see HVAC service area pages. If you are new to the idea, read our overview of HVAC SEO.
Step 6: Keep your Google Business Profile busy
Add new job photos, update hours, and post a short seasonal note. A March 2024 article in ACHR News tells HVAC owners to post updates and seasonal tips, and to upload photos of completed work. See HVAC Google Business Profile categories, services and photos for how to fill it in.
Can ads help in the off season?
Sometimes. Google says you pay for Local Services Ads only when potential customers get in touch through your ads, and HVAC is on its list of eligible businesses. Google says you choose a budget based on the number of new leads you want every week. In a slow month, you may raise the budget to keep the phone ringing. In a busy month, you can lower it or pause it.
We do not quote a typical cost per lead, because it changes a lot by city and season. Measure your own cost per booked job. If a lead costs more than the job earns, do not run it. Our hub guide on getting more contractor leads compares paid and free channels across trades.
What about commercial and referral work?
Many commercial customers book maintenance on a calendar, not on the weather, so a shop with a few small commercial accounts has steadier winters and summers. Read how to get commercial HVAC leads for how to find them.
Referral partners help too. Real estate agents and home inspectors see old systems on inspection reports. Property managers need a company they can call all year. Plumbers and electricians meet HVAC problems and want someone to send them to. In the slow weeks, visit five of them, leave a card, and say how fast you respond. It costs a few hours.
Which heat pump and mini split work is worth chasing?
Heat pumps and ductless mini splits are installs that homeowners plan ahead. A heat pump is a system that moves heat in and out of a home, so one unit can heat and cool. People research these in mild weather, when they are not in a hurry. Build a page for each, with the questions homeowners ask: what it costs, how long the job takes, and what your crew does. We cover this in heat pump installer marketing.
Be careful about price claims. We do not publish typical prices in this guide. If you post a price range on your site, make it your own, based on your real jobs, and say what it covers.
How does licensing affect off-season work?
It matters when you grow into new work. In Texas, the Department of Licensing and Regulation says unlicensed persons cannot install, maintain or repair a mini split, because it is a split system, not a self-contained unit, and that work needs an Air Conditioning Contractor's License. See our Texas page. In Florida, the state says contractors must show their license number on advertisements, signs and vehicles, so new off-season ads need it too. See Florida. Check your own state board before you add a new service or a new ad.
How do you know the plan worked?
Keep it simple. Pick three numbers for the slow stretch and write them down before you start: calls per week, tune-ups booked, and reviews gained. Compare them with the same weeks last year. If calls rose, keep the plan. If they did not, change one thing and try again next month.
If you want a website ready for the next season, you can see a free demo site.
Common questions
What do HVAC companies do in the slow season?
Most sell maintenance plans and tune-ups, ask past customers about replacing older systems, and chase installs that do not depend on a breakdown, such as heat pumps and duct work. They also use the quiet weeks to collect reviews and fix their website.
When is the HVAC off season?
It depends on where you work. In hot places, winter is the slow stretch for cooling work. In cold places, mild summer weeks can be slow for heating. Spring and fall are the shoulder seasons in most of the country. Count your calls by week to see your own pattern.
Should I lower my prices in the slow season?
You do not have to. A discount can teach customers to wait. A better move is to offer a perk that costs you little, such as priority booking in the rush for plan members. Check your own margins before you cut anything.
Is it too late to market once the busy season starts?
Some things work fast, like a missed-call text-back or Local Services Ads. Others do not. Reviews, web pages and referral partners take weeks to pay off, so start them before the rush. See missed-call text back for HVAC for a quick win.
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration: Nearly 90% of U.S. households used air conditioning in 2020 (2022)
- ENERGY STAR: Maintenance checklist for heating and cooling (2026)
- Google Business Profile Help: Get reviews (2026)
- Google Maps contribution policy: Fake engagement and review gating (2026)
- Zarla: AI Visibility Index (2026)
- ACHR News: Maximize your HVAC business potential, a Google Business Profile guide (2024)
- Google: Local Services Ads (2026)
- Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation: Air conditioning and refrigeration FAQ (2026)
- Florida DBPR: Construction Industry Licensing Board FAQs (2026)
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