Home services competitor analysis: HVAC to roofing
Home services competitor analysis for HVAC, plumbing, roofing and electrical firms: Local Services Ads, offers, financing, seasonality, reviews and a routine.
Home services competitor analysis is about one question: when a homeowner's air conditioning, pipes, roof or wiring fails, who gets the call? Usually it is the business sitting in the Local Services Ads block, the top Google ads or the map pack, with the most reassuring reviews and offer. Watch those positions, read the offers, and time your checks to your trade's busy season.
The general local routine (map pack from several points, Google Business Profile fields, new location pages) is in our guide to competitor monitoring for local businesses. This page covers what is specific to HVAC, plumbing, roofing and electrical.
Who gets the call
Search "ac repair near me" or "emergency plumber" on a phone in your service area. From the top, you will often see the Local Services Ads block, then search ads, then the map pack, then ordinary results.
Local Services Ads often come first, and they are pay per lead. In the US the categories include HVAC, plumbers, roofers, electricians and general contractors.
The badge changed. Google has replaced the old Google Guaranteed and Google Screened badges with a single Google Verified badge, and reimbursement under the old guarantee only covers jobs booked before 7 December 2025. Rivals still advertising "Google Guaranteed" on their trucks and sites are out of date.
Ranking rewards answering the phone. Google ranks the block on bid, responsiveness (missed calls count against you) and profile quality, including rating, number of reviews, response time, photos and verification checks. A rival who is always first is likely answering every call and collecting reviews steadily, not just bidding high.
Positions move during the day, so check morning, evening and weekend. Then read each rival's standard search ads in the Google Ads Transparency Center, and use our guide on whether a competitor is outspending you before you raise bids.
Trade by trade
The four trades compete on different calendars and offers.
| Trade | When competition peaks | Offers you will see | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC | First heatwave, first cold snap | Pre-season tune-up price, maintenance plans, replacement financing | Replacement offers and tune-up pricing a few weeks before each season |
| Plumbing | Freezes and emergencies year round | Waived trip fee, dollars-off coupons, water heater deals | Who shows for emergency searches overnight |
| Roofing | After hail and wind storms, plus spring and autumn | Free inspection, insurance claim help, financing | New storm pages, and out-of-area roofers appearing in ads after a storm |
| Electrical | Steadier through the year | Free estimates, panel upgrades, EV charger and generator installs | New service pages, which signal a new line of work |
Hypothetically: a six-van HVAC company in Dallas notices in late April that two rivals have both published new heat pump pages and started Meta ads offering a free second opinion on replacement quotes. That is the summer replacement season being fought in April. The company that sees it in April can respond in May; the one that sees it in July has already lost the jobs.
Offers, coupons and financing
Most home services websites have a specials or coupons page. It is the closest thing the trade has to a pricing page, and it changes with the season.
Screenshot each rival's page monthly, and weekly in the run-up to your peak. Note the conventions they use:
- Diagnostic or trip fee, and whether it is waived with a repair.
- Flat-rate pricing by job versus hourly.
- Seasonal tune-up price, often the lowest number on the page.
- Membership or maintenance plan: annual fee, priority scheduling, discount on repairs.
- Financing: monthly payment framing on replacements, usually subject to credit approval.
- Rebates: manufacturer or utility rebates in replacement ads. Check the rebate is current before you match it.
A rival waiving trip fees in your quietest month is probably trying to keep technicians busy. A rival raising its tune-up price before the season probably has full schedules. Both are useful to know.
Reviews: read for technicians and pricing complaints
Google reviews feed both the map pack and Local Services ranking, so they matter twice.
Read the newest reviews of each rival for three things:
- Technician names. New names appearing every month usually means they are hiring and have more vans out.
- Punctuality. Count praise like "on time" and "called ahead". If a rival rarely gets it, punctuality is a weakness you can claim.
- Upselling complaints. "Quoted for a new unit when it needed a part" is a pricing practice, and a trust angle for you.
Homeowners also use Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, Nextdoor, the BBB and Yelp, depending on the area. Check the ones your own customers mention, by hand, monthly. Our guide to review monitoring covers tools for the platforms you cannot check by hand.
A home services competitor analysis routine
Weekly during your peak season, monthly the rest of the year.
| When | What to check | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly in season | Who holds Local Services, ads and map pack, three times of day | Your phone | 10 min |
| Weekly in season | New ads and offers | Ads Transparency Center, Meta Ad Library | 10 min |
| Monthly | Specials and coupons page per rival | Their website | 10 min |
| Monthly | Review count, technician names, complaints | Google, plus the platforms your customers use | 15 min |
| Monthly | New service and city pages | Their sitemap | 10 min |
| After every major storm (roofing) | New advertisers in your area | Ads Transparency Center, Meta Ad Library | 10 min |
If you would rather not do the weekly part
Ours, so judge accordingly. Figo checks each rival once a week and covers their Google, Meta and TikTok ads, changes to pages on their site such as the specials page or a new city page, their Google rating, review count and star spread, their Instagram and Facebook posts, and Reddit threads that are really about them.
It does not show Local Services Ads positions, does not read Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, Nextdoor, the BBB or Yelp, and its rankings are country-level rather than a map grid of your service area.
A one-van business with three local rivals can do this by hand. Figo starts at $49 a month for three competitors and $99 for eight, which suits multi-van companies in contested metros, and agencies that look after several contractors.
Questions people ask
Does the Google Guaranteed badge still exist?
Google has moved Local Services Ads to a single Google Verified badge for all advertisers. If a rival's website still promotes Google Guaranteed, it has not been updated, which is worth knowing but not worth copying.
How do I find out what a competitor charges for a service call?
Check their specials or coupons page and their Local Services profile first. If neither shows it, the honest route is to read their reviews, where customers often mention diagnostic fees and quotes.
Should I lower my price when a competitor runs a cheap tune-up offer?
Usually not. A low tune-up price is a lead generator for replacement sales. Compete on the replacement offer, financing and reviews rather than the loss leader.
How far should my competitive set reach?
As far as your service area and no further. A company forty miles away that never sends a van to your customers is not a rival, however big its ads look.
See it on your own competitors
Figo checks their ads, pages, rankings and reviews every week, then tells you what to do in plain words. Set up in two minutes.
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