Marketing
for plumbers and HVAC

Marketing for plumbers and HVAC runs on the weather

No industry in Canada feels the seasons like the trades. The first night below minus twenty brings frozen pipes and dead furnaces. A heat wave in July fills every AC company's voicemail. Marketing for plumbers, electricians and HVAC contractors has to ride those waves: be visible and answer fast when demand spikes, and create demand when it does not.

That starts on the map. When someone's basement is flooding, they search "plumber near me" and call one of the first three businesses they see. A complete Google Business Profile, with your real service area, categories for each trade, photos of real jobs and a steady flow of reviews, decides most of those calls.

Local Services Ads and search campaigns

Google Local Services Ads run in many Canadian cities for plumbing, electrical and HVAC. You pay per lead rather than per click, and the badge signals that Google has screened the business. They are a good fit for emergency work. Regular search campaigns add control: separate budgets for furnace repair, water heaters, heat pumps or panel upgrades, ad schedules that match your crew's hours, and landing pages that match each service.

Licences, insurance and honest claims

Trades are regulated provincially. Electricians, gas fitters and refrigeration mechanics need licences, and some provinces expect licence numbers on advertising. Put them on the site, along with insurance and workers' compensation coverage. Avoid claims you cannot back, like "cheapest in town" or "guaranteed same-hour service". The Competition Act applies to price claims and reviews too: no fake reviews, and the price you advertise should include mandatory fees such as a service call charge.

If you talk about rebates or financing for heat pumps, link to the official program and keep wording careful. Programs change, and outdated promises do more harm than none.

Smoothing the slow months

The best contractors I talk to plan their slow season in their busy one. Every emergency customer is a candidate for an annual maintenance plan. A CRM that records equipment age, last service date and consent to contact lets you send a tune-up reminder in September and an AC check in May. Under CASL, promotional texts and emails need consent, so I add it to the booking form from the start.

Larger projects, like heat pump installs, panel upgrades or bathroom re-pipes, have longer decision times and are worth content: a page explaining the process, typical timelines and what affects cost. Those pages rank over time and make ads cheaper.

Call tracking, or you are guessing

Most trade leads arrive by phone. Without call tracking, a report full of clicks tells you very little. I set up tracking numbers by source and connect them to your analytics, so the monthly report shows calls, booked jobs and cost per job for Maps, ads and the website.

For home renovation work beyond service calls, see marketing for construction companies. Window and roofing contractors have their own page: marketing for windows, doors and roofing.