According to the survey of 400 homeowners, contractor reputation was top of mind for the vast majority, with 92% of respondents saying reputation was either extremely important or very important. Reputation was followed by the warranty offered, which was called extremely or very important by 86% of respondents, and then by pricing, which was at 85%.

The results, which were not much different from those of a 2023 survey, didn’t surprise Cassie Pound, a co-owner of Quality Heating, Cooling, Plumbing & Electric, based in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area and part of the Nexstar Network, or Crystal Williams, founder of Lemon Seed Marketing, which has a nationwide client base of HVAC, plumbing, and electrical contractors.

“The ranking is consistent with my experience,” Pound said. “Homeowners tend to prioritize contractor reputation and warranty offered because HVAC systems are a long-term investment, and they want to ensure they are working with a reliable company that stands behind their work. While I might have expected equipment pricing to rank slightly higher, it’s not surprising that reputation and warranty are at the top.”

Homeowners, Pound said, often associate pricing with quality, meaning they will pay more to work with a contractor they trust.

Williams called the order in which survey respondents put the factors spot on.

“Many of us think the pricing would rank higher, but these results prove that perceived reliability will beat urgency,” Williams said. “A trusted contractor with a solid reputation can have higher pricing and get very little pushback.”

Sean Tremblay, vice president of procurement at Redwood Services, an umbrella company for 17 home services contractors — 15 of which offer HVAC services — said he was “pleasantly surprised” to see reputation at the top of the list.

“Nice to see that that’s the most important, because it’s an area where we feel like we have the most control,” said Tremblay. “There’s a lot to do in that space, and we can really influence that, and it’s everybody’s job.”

Likewise, Tremblay said he was pleased to find equipment brand lower on the list.

“That’s good for brand-agnostic companies like us, and we find that very few homeowners demand a certain brand of HVAC system to be installed. They’re more inclined to trust our contractors for their local brand presence and name.”

Reputation and trustworthiness will always trump prices, Pound, Williams, and Tremblay suggested.

“Homeowners may become more selective with spending, but they won’t want to compromise on the trustworthiness of their contractor,” Pound said.

So how should contractors address the seven major decision factors — reputation, warranties, pricing, speed of installation, brand, tax incentives and financing — in their businesses, and give them attention proportional to the way homeowners view them? Here are some ideas from the experts:

• Leverage marketing tools like customer reviews, referrals, and testimonials to build reputation and trust.
  “Our approach focuses on building trust first because reputation is the most critical factor for homeowners,” Pound said. “We focus on customer reviews, referrals, and testimonials in our marketing. They show real experiences and build confidence.”
  “Contractors should share their video testimonials, pictures of jobs, and reviews that showcase their differentiators from the competition,” Williams said.
  “Whether we like it or not, people are looking at our online presence and our content, and they are expecting a high-end response,” she added.
• Make sure technicians and comfort advisors are acting professionally and communicating clearly during home visits. This furthers a company’s reputation, Tremblay said, and the resulting word-of-mouth marketing from homeowners is valuable.
  Even seemingly little things, such as having technicians put on shoe covers when entering a home, or asking a homeowner whether the work van is parked in the right place, can go a long way, he said.
• Showcase manufacturers’ warranties, but also support warranties by training technicians to a high standard, making any needed warranty repairs easier. Warranties can be supplemented, Tremblay said, by contractors’ membership plans.
• Rather than worry too much about pricing, employ pre-authorized discounts in a tactical way to help close sales.
  “It’s important to watch, but I wouldn’t advise anyone to try to be the lowest-cost provider,” Tremblay said.
• Staff the shop at a level that keeps the quote-to-installation period short, and look for operational efficiencies that also help with that.
  “We streamline scheduling and inventory to minimize delays,” Pound said. “Clear expectations are set with customers, so they understand the process and feel informed.”
• Carry two or three good brands, and don’t worry about what Tremblay said is the “rare” customer who demands a specific brand. In that case, if it’s not a brand the contractor carries, the contractor may decide it’s worthwhile to get it, but a distributor isn’t likely to give the contractor a good price for that single sale, Tremblay said.
• Don’t spend a lot of time on tax incentives, but instead refer customers to a government or nonprofit resource and encourage them to do the research.
  “This area is too complex and too risky for us to try to train everyone to be tax advisors,” Tremblay said.
  “Tax incentives and financing terms are likely at the bottom because they are secondary decision factors — most homeowners don’t think about them until they’ve already chosen a contractor or system,” Pound said. “While these incentives can sway a decision, they are rarely the primary reason someone selects an HVAC contractor.”
• Work with a couple of quality lenders to have financing options available. Some lenders, Tremblay said, have “know-before-you-go” tools that can indicate who will qualify for what type of financing.
  “Once a contractor has a couple quality lenders in place with competitive rate cards, training the comfort advisors on how to present financing options is extremely important, because the familiarity that a comfort advisor has with those credit application tools can really make that discussion less daunting,” Tremblay said.