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The 3 mistakes HVAC companies make every heating season.
All three happen in the busy weeks, when every tech is on a job and nobody is at the desk. Here is each one, what it costs at published rates, and the fix you can make yourself this week.
Mistake 01 · The front desk
The no-heat call rings out, and the homeowner dials the next company.
The first cold snap lands and every line in the shop rings at once. Your techs are under furnaces, the office line is forwarded to a cell in a pocket, and the call goes to voicemail. Most callers don't leave one. They go back to Google and call the next name on the map, and that's who gets the install.
35of 100
calls never reach a personEven leaving out misdials and quick hang-ups, 35% of calls to a business ring out.
Invoca, 70 million calls, July 202658of 100
missed callers leave no voicemailOnly 42% leave a message, so you have nothing to call back. 82% say they'll call a competitor instead.
CallRail, 1,000 consumers, September 2025Fix it yourself this week
- Turn on missed-call text-back in your software.Jobber, Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan each have a version. Which plan it needs, which number it texts from, and how each works in Canada: the side-by-side from the vendors' own docs.
- Say so on your voicemail.If your line can take texts, the greeting says: "Text this number and we'll text you straight back." A caller who won't leave a voicemail will often send a text.
- Write the after-hours rule down.Who answers after 6 pm, which calls wake the on-call tech (no heat, a smell of gas), and which wait for the morning. On paper, in the shop, so the newest person knows it too.
A smell of gas or a CO alarm is never a text-back. Those callers are told to leave the house and call 911 first.
Mistake 02 · The sales desk
The quote goes out, and nobody goes back to it.
Most quotes don't close in the kitchen. The homeowner says they'll think about it, gets two more prices, and waits for someone to follow up. In a busy week nobody does, so the job goes to whoever called back, or to nobody. Those quotes are still sitting in your software with a date on them.
63of 100
quotes don't close on the first visitOnly 37% of in-home sales close on the spot. The rest ride on a follow-up that rarely happens in a busy week.
ServiceTitan data, April 20266months
to text about an estimate requestThat's the window Canada's anti-spam law gives a business after an inquiry. After that, the quote is cold.
Government of Canada, CASL and textingFix it yourself this week
- Pull the list.In your software, filter estimates sent but not approved in the last six months. Count them. That number is the size of the mistake.
- Text every one, once.In your company's name, with the question you'd ask across the counter. One follow-up five days later, then stop. Replies go to your office to book.
- Make day three automatic.Set a follow-up on every new quote at day 3 and day 10 in your software's own tools. How that's set up in Jobber, Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan.
Name your business and offer an opt-out in every text. That's what the law asks for, and it's what keeps a follow-up from feeling like a pitch.
Mistake 03 · The maintenance book
The install is done, and the customer never hears from you again.
The furnace you put in last winter is in your software with a date on it. So is the one from 2009. A tune-up is due every autumn, a filter every season, a replacement conversation somewhere around year fifteen. None of it goes out, so when the next thing breaks the homeowner is back on Google, and whoever ranks first that day gets a customer you already earned.
2years
to text a paid customerCanada's anti-spam law counts a purchase as consent for two years from the date of the job. Most shops never use it.
The Act, section 101a year
tune-up every system is dueEvery furnace and heat pump you've installed is due a tune-up once a year. How many of your customers got a reminder last autumn?
Fix it yourself this week
- Export the quiet customers.Everyone whose last service was more than twelve months ago, with a mobile number. Drop the landlines.
- Send the tune-up text before the weather does it for you.A reminder in the shoulder weeks fills the quiet days first, when your techs have room.
- Ask for the review the same day.A text with your Google link after every finished job, while they're still pleased. The next homeowner on Google reads it.
- Write the schedule down.Eleven months after every install, and every autumn after that. Put it in your software as a reminder, not in someone's head.
Why they keep happening
None of this is a knowledge problem.
Every owner knows a missed call is a lost job and a quote needs a follow-up. It's a time problem. The fix lives at a desk, and in a heating season the desk is empty. The three fixes above take an afternoon to set up. The hard part is the texts going out every week, in the busy weeks, when nobody has time to send them.
If you'd rather not run it yourself
Or let us run all three, free, for 14 days.
The free Estimate Sweep is mistakes two and three done on your shop: we text your unsold estimates and the customers due for a tune-up, in your company's name, and your office books the replies. Missed-call text-back runs for the same 14 days, so mistake one is covered too. You see every text first. Free, no contract, no card. Four shops a month.
- Mistake 01Missed-call text-back, on for 14 daysEvery call that rings out gets a text back in your company's name in under a minute.
- Mistake 02Your unsold estimates, textedUp to six months back. One text, one follow-up at day five, every reply to your office.
- Mistake 03Your tune-up list, textedCustomers due for a tune-up get the reminder, and the quiet weeks fill first.
- Day 14A 20-minute reviewTexts sent, replies, jobs booked, each one tagged in your own software. Then you decide.
Three mistakes. One afternoon to fix.
Or hand them to us for 14 days and see what gets booked. Free, no contract, no card. Four shops a month.
Next Truck by Tekton Digital · tektondigital.ca/go/mistakes · 905-517-1517 · dan@tektondigital.ca. The free Estimate Sweep: 14 days, free, no contract, no card.