Study of 17,241 HVAC Reviews Finds Explaining the Work Outranks Speed and Price

FORT MYERS, Florida – September 18, 2026 – Honest HVAC Marketing Agency, a marketing agency that helps HVAC contractors with Marketing, today published a study of 17,241 Google reviews across 95 HVAC businesses in five U.S. metros, finding that clear explanation is the most praised technician behavior.

The study analyzed reviews from Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles and New York City, covering roughly 2022 through August 2026. Reviews were classified by job type, praise theme, complaint theme and outcome, then compared against a baseline negative review rate of 3.5 percent.

Explaining the problem was named in 18.4 percent of positive reviews, ahead of speed or emergency response at 11.2 percent, punctuality at 9.7 percent and honesty or refusing to upsell at 8 percent. Technical skill was rarely the deciding factor in either direction.

The complaint side showed the same pattern. The four most common complaints were a rude or condescending technician at 11.1 percent, a missed appointment window at 10.1 percent, pricing far above competitors at 9 percent and pressure to replace equipment at 8.1 percent. Only one of the six most common complaints concerned technical competence.

“Contractors tend to compete on being faster or cheaper, and the reviews say customers are rewarding something else entirely,” said Shaurya Jain, founder of Honest HVAC Marketing Agency. “The technician who takes five extra minutes to show a homeowner the failed part is generating more goodwill than the one who arrives an hour sooner.”

The study also identified a pricing signal that runs counter to common assumptions. Of reviews that quote a specific dollar figure, 60.8 percent are negative, compared with the 3.5 percent baseline. The report argues these are not complaints about expense but about unexplained expense, since customers typically cite a number only after comparing it with another quote or a looked-up part cost.

Other findings include:

• Second-opinion jobs, where a customer arrives after another contractor’s diagnosis, carry a 23.7 percent negative rate, nearly seven times baseline, and are also the source of the dataset’s most persuasive positive reviews. Fewer than one percent of positive reviews contain that story.
• Complaint rates rise with demand. Negative reviews reached 5.1 percent in August against 2 percent in March, while summer review volume ran roughly three times the winter floor.
• More than a third of one-star reviews received no public owner response.
• Reviews mentioning a maintenance plan or membership ran 15.1 percent negative, more than four times baseline.
• New York City was the weakest of the five markets, with a 4.70 average rating, a 6.8 percent negative rate and a 58 percent owner response rate, against 86 percent in Chicago.

The report notes limitations. The dataset is heavily skewed positive, with 94.3 percent five-star ratings, and some of the businesses sampled also perform plumbing and electrical work, so a portion of complaints relate to non-HVAC jobs.

The full report, including four customer personas and eight prioritized recommendations for contractors, is available at no cost at honesthvacmarketing.agency. Contractors can request the underlying methodology through the agency’s website.

About Honest HVAC Marketing

Honest HVAC Marketing is a marketing agency working exclusively with residential HVAC contractors in the United States, providing search optimization, paid advertising and website development. The agency operates on a founder-led model with a capped client roster, no long-term contracts and transparent reporting.

Here is the link to the research study video:

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Website: https://www.honesthvacmarketing.agency