How Much Should an HVAC Company Spend on Marketing?

The most common budgeting mistake in HVAC isn't spending too little — it's spending inconsistently. A big push when the schedule board looks empty, silence when it's full, and a budget that resets every time a slow week rattles someone. Here's the framework we use with heating and air companies instead.

The short answer

Growth-mode HVAC companies typically invest 5–10% of annual revenue in marketing. Maintenance mode — a mature company defending its position — can run leaner, around 3–5%. Below 3%, you're not marketing; you're gambling on referrals and weather.

What that means at your size

Annual revenue	5–10% budget	What it should buy
$1M	$50K–$100K/yr	Local SEO + Google Business Profile, LSA, review engine, a real website
$3M	$150K–$300K/yr	All of the above, plus PPC, brand video, email/reactivation, retargeting
$10M	$500K–$1M/yr	Full system: video-led brand, multi-channel paid, geofencing/OTT, recruiting marketing

For scale: TopServ's 3 BrandFormance programs have monthly bases of $3,000, $5,000 and $8,000 starting in month 2, plus quarterly Performance Pay we have to earn and a one time $15,000 activation that includes your first month, the new website and the initial video production. Advertising spend is separate. Which program fits comes from your market, your competition and your goals. (Most agencies make you book a call to learn even that much. We publish the whole thing.)

Where the money should go

The allocation that holds up across most residential HVAC companies:

Foundation (always on): website, local SEO, Google Business Profile, review generation. This is the compounding layer — it gets cheaper per lead every year it runs.
Demand capture (always on, throttled by season): LSA and paid search for people looking for you right now.
Brand (the multiplier): video, social, geofencing/OTT. This is what makes the capture layer cheaper — homeowners click the name they already recognize.
Reactivation (cheapest revenue you have): email and SMS to past customers for maintenance plans and seasonal tune-ups.

Companies that cut the brand layer "because it's hard to measure" end up paying more per lead in the capture layer, forever, and calling it normal.

Let seasonality bend the plan — not break it

HVAC demand is a sine wave; your budget shouldn't be a flat line. The pattern that works: hold the foundation steady year-round, scale demand-capture spend up ahead of the first heat wave and cold snap (not after — by then everyone's bidding), and use the shoulder seasons for brand video production, maintenance-plan pushes, and IAQ/duct campaigns that keep techs busy.

The mistake to avoid is going dark in the shoulders. The company that disappears in October is a stranger again by June — and pays stranger prices for leads.

When to spend above 10%

Three situations justify it: entering a new market, launching a new service line (heat pumps have been this for many of our clients), or buying market share while a competitor stumbles. In all three, treat the overage as a time-boxed investment with a specific goal — not a new normal.

FAQ

Is 5–10% of revenue realistic for a company under $1M? The percentage holds, but the floor matters more: below roughly $50K/year it's hard to run even the foundation layer properly. Under that, concentrate everything on Google Business Profile, reviews, and LSA — the highest-intent, lowest-waste trio — and skip everything else until revenue supports it.

Should the marketing budget include truck wraps and uniforms? Yes — brand identity is marketing, and in HVAC it's some of the best you can buy. A wrapped fleet is a billboard network you already own. See our graphic design service for how we build that system.

Want the full HVAC playbook? Start with the HVAC industry page, or book a BrandFormance Call and we'll build the budget with you.