The NEWS Homeowner Study — How Homeowners Buy HVAC
myCLEAReport
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New for 2026
What actually makes a homeowner call you — and what makes them stop at the quote.
782 homeowners who hold the HVAC decision, taken through the whole journey: what triggers a replacement, how they search, which reviews they trust, what they expect to pay, which financing terms land, and what a service agreement or extended warranty is worth to them. This edition also asks, for the first time, how they feel about a contractor using AI.
One finding from the report
Would a contractor using AI change who you hire?
The trade assumes homeowners will be put off. Half of them simply do not care — and the rest are closer to evenly split than you would expect.
That is the headline. The report goes further: which specific tasks homeowners will accept AI being used for, which they will not, and the single concern that drives the objection — on page 11.
n=782. Q510H asks whether an HVAC contractor's use of AI would make the homeowner more or less likely to hire them. Fielded May 11 – 19, 2026. Every chart in the report carries its question wording, base size and field date like this one. Source: myCLEARopinion Insights Hub & The NEWS, Homeowner Study.
39 pages of it, with the base size on every figure
Priced, sourced and fielded by us — not a syndicated round-up of someone else's numbers.
Questions you'll be able to answer
Each of these is a question in the study with its own chart, base size and question wording.
Pricing & quoting
Does listing prices on your website win you calls or cost you them? Will homeowners pay a fee for an assessment visit, and what is the most they will accept? How many quotes do they gather before deciding?
Money & financing
What do homeowners expect a full replacement to cost — and how far is that from what you quote? Which payment terms actually appeal? What monthly payment will they sign up to, and how many have financed before?
Getting found & chosen
Which of nine channels do homeowners use to find a contractor, and where do AI tools now sit among them? Which review sites do they actually check? How much does a certification such as NATE or EPA move the decision?
What to sell next
What is a service agreement worth in dollars, and which benefits do homeowners want inside it? How much will they pay for an extended warranty with labour? Where is heat pump interest real, and which smart products do they want?
What the study covers
This is a homeowner study, not a manufacturer study — it measures how people decide, what they will pay and who they trust, at every stage from the moment something breaks to the moment they sign. Each item below is measured separately with its own base size.
Purchase journey · 13 stages tracked
Replacement triggersSeeking out a contractorOnline reviewsAI usagePricing transparencyVisit fee to assess equipmentNumber of quotesChoosing equipment replacementEquipment replacement pricingPayment termsFinancing a purchaseFinancing a repairMonthly payment ceiling
Purchase decision factors · 6 rated
Brand of equipmentContractor reputationEquipment pricingFinancing termsTime from quote to installationWarranty offered
Smart HVAC features · 7 tested for familiarity and interest
Air quality monitorsHVAC integration with smart home platformsHVAC monitoring systemsSmart duct dampersSmart filtersSmart thermostatsSmart vents
Equipment & add-on services · 12 tracked
Air conditionersDuctless systemsFurnacesGeothermal systemsHeat pumpsZoning systemsElectrical installationGarage door installationLighting installationPlumbing installationSecurity system installationSmart home controls installation
Review & discovery channels · 8 measured
AI tools and assistantsAngiContractor's own websiteFacebookGoogle BusinessHouzzThumbtackYelp
This study does not measure HVAC manufacturer brands — there are no brand awareness, preference or consideration questions in it, and no manufacturer is named. Platform and certification names appear only to identify the channels and credentials respondents were asked about; all names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners, and their inclusion is not an endorsement. If you need a manufacturer brand scorecard in residential HVAC, that is a separate study.
39 pages · n=782 · fielded May 2026
Sell the way homeowners actually buy.
Every number in this report came from 782 homeowners who hold the decision, each figure carrying its own base size and question wording. Instant digital download.
Instant digital download
Who was surveyed
782
Usable completes
Homeowners involved in HVAC decisions at their own residence or one they are responsible for. Fielded May 11 – 19, 2026.
69%
Are the primary decision-maker
A further 28% share the decision equally with a partner or family member. Only 3% merely influence it — these are buyers, not bystanders.
4×4
Quota-balanced sample
Deliberately balanced across four generations and four U.S. regions, each at roughly a quarter of the sample, so generational and regional cuts are readable rather than incidental.
Sample sourced from a trusted third-party panel. The survey ran online and took an average of 10 minutes to complete; 1,345 surveys were attempted at a 58.14% incidence to reach 782 usable completes. Closed-ended data is tabulated in SPSS; open-ended answers are summarised, coded or reproduced as written. Base sizes appear on every chart as “n=xx” and vary by question through skip logic and data cleaning. Significance is tested at the 90% confidence level and flagged on the charts themselves. Some totals may not sum to 100% due to rounding, and multiple-response questions sum above it.
What's in the report
39 pages · table of contents
Study Overview
3–4
Respondent Profile
5–6
Purchase Journey
7–20
Replacement triggers, finding a contractor, online reviews
Heat pumps, high efficiency equipment, smart features
30–33
Lifetime expectations, what was replaced, brand selection
34–36
Appendix — demographics
37–38
Contact Us
39
Frequently asked questions
How do homeowners find an HVAC contractor?
Nine channels are measured and ranked — search engines, word of mouth, returning to a contractor they have used, home improvement retailers, home services websites, AI tools, local print, television and radio. Page 9 gives the share of homeowners using each, and page 10 covers which review sites they check before deciding.
Should HVAC contractors put pricing on their website?
The study asks homeowners directly whether published pricing makes them more or less likely to call, with the full three-way split on page 12. It is one of the more one-sided findings in the report.
Will homeowners pay a fee for an estimate visit?
Some will, and there is a clear ceiling. Page 13 gives the full five-point likelihood scale alongside the average maximum fee homeowners say they would accept, so you can price an assessment visit against what the market will bear.
How much do homeowners expect to pay to replace an HVAC system?
Page 16 gives the full distribution of expected replacement cost across six price bands. Pages 17 to 20 then cover which payment and financing terms appeal most, how many have financed a purchase or a repair before, how likely they are to finance next time, and the maximum monthly payment they will accept.
Are homeowners interested in heat pumps?
Interest is real but constrained by familiarity. Page 30 covers how well homeowners know the technology, whether they would consider one, how many already have one, and the reasons given on both sides — in their own words, coded and summarised.
Do homeowners mind if an HVAC contractor uses AI?
Less than the trade expects — the headline split is the chart at the top of this page. Page 11 goes further, breaking out the six specific tasks homeowners would accept AI being used for, the share comfortable with none of them, and the single concern that drives the objection.
Does this report rank HVAC equipment brands?
No, and it does not name any. This is a homeowner study about the purchase process. It does measure how the brand decision gets made — whether the homeowner asked for a brand, the contractor chose it, or the contractor moved them off the one they first requested — on page 36. For manufacturer awareness and preference, that is a separate study.
Who should buy this report?
HVAC contractors and dealer networks setting pricing, financing and service-agreement offers against what homeowners will actually accept; manufacturers building homeowner-facing demand generation and dealer marketing programmes; marketing agencies serving the trades, who need the channel and review data; and distributors and finance partners sizing consumer appetite for monthly-payment products, extended warranties and heat pumps.