Unitary Trends – Full Report (Residential & Light Commercial)
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Every figure includes its question wording and base size, with study methodology and fieldwork details included in the report.
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A finding from this report
Quality wins the brand. Price is what loses it.
Ask residential HVAC professionals what matters when they pick a unitary brand and price comes fifth, behind quality, reliability, durability and availability. Ask what would make them leave the brand they use now and price is the answer, ahead of everything else. Those are two different questions, and brands that only ask the first one get a misleading picture of their own position.
What makes them choose a brand
% rating “very important”
What would make them leave
Top reasons to switch primary brand
55%
say they are loyal to their primary brand. Which leaves a very large minority who are not.
Price ranks fifth in choosing a brand and first in leaving one. A brand tracked only on selection criteria will not see the risk coming.
Residential HVAC professionals, n=330, fielded May 29 – June 17, 2025. Selection factors are the share rating each “very important” when deciding which brand of residential HVAC equipment to purchase; switching reasons are asked of those open to switching their primary brand. Light commercial professionals (n=192) are measured separately throughout the report. Source: myCLEARopinion Insights Hub & The NEWS, 2025 Unitary Trends.
So where does your brand actually stand?
Familiarity, product quality, most-satisfactory brand, perceived industry leadership, usage, primary-brand share and satisfaction — scored brand by brand, for residential and light commercial separately, with five waves of trend behind each one.
Four more numbers from the study
59%
of residential contractors carry only two or three brands. Winning one usually means displacing another.
52%
of residential purchasing still runs through HVACR wholesalers and distributors — against 16% direct from the manufacturer.
68%
name manufacturer websites a main information source, ahead of trade shows, trade magazines and distributors.
55%
average closing rate on replacement sales — the benchmark to hold your own dealer network against.
Residential professionals, n=330 unless otherwise noted. Light commercial figures are reported separately in the report.
Every brand in the study
Thirty-six unitary HVAC brands are measured across the residential and light commercial questionnaires. Brands clearing the familiarity threshold are carried through the full scorecard — product quality, satisfaction, perceived leadership, usage and primary-brand status — with significance testing between brands and against prior waves.
The residential and light commercial questionnaires each test their own brand set, and the two overlap but are not identical; this is the combined list. All brand names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and appear here only to identify the brands measured. Their inclusion is not an endorsement, and no ranking, score or standing is implied by their listing or order.
The brand-level data stays in the report
Everything above is context. The 87 pages behind it are the scorecard — run twice, once for residential and once for light commercial, because the two markets do not rank the same brands the same way.
Pages 12 & 50
The Top Brands scorecards
One page each for residential and light commercial. Every leading brand down the side, seven metrics across — familiarity, quality, satisfaction, leadership, usage, primary share. If you buy this for two pages, these are them.
Pages 27–33 & 65–72
Brand analysis
Familiarity, “excellent” product quality ratings, most satisfactory brand, perceived industry leadership and actual usage — every brand, both markets, trended across five waves.
Pages 34–39 & 73–78
Brand relationship
Which brands hold primary, secondary and tertiary slots, satisfaction with each, brand versus supplier loyalty, and the reasons professionals give for leaving a primary brand.
Pages 13–26 & 51–64
How the business runs
Business mix, brands carried, close rate and warranty impact, dollar volume, purchase channels, information sources, technician certification and advertising budget.
Pages 23–24, 59–60 & 72
Controls and automation
How many projects include smart thermostats and controls, how often customers ask for them, and which building automation systems light commercial professionals work with.
Pages 40–47 & 79–86
Full appendix
The complete brand tables behind every headline chart, wave by wave back to 2017, plus the demographic and firmographic profile of each sample.
87 pages · 522 professionals · five waves since 2017
Two markets, measured separately.
Residential and light commercial professionals answer the same questions about different businesses — and rank the brands differently. This edition covers both, with eight years of trend behind every figure.
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Who was surveyed
330
Residential completes
Professionals whose work is predominantly residential — on average 79% of their business.
192
Light commercial completes
Professionals whose work is predominantly commercial — on average 85% of their business.
5
Waves since 2017
Fielded every two years — 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025 — on consistent questions, so brand movement is readable.
HVAC industry professionals responsible for, or influencing, which residential and light commercial brands their company buys. Sample drawn from subscribers to The NEWS, Plumbing & Mechanical, Engineered Systems and SNIPS, plus the myCLEARopinion panel. Fielded May 29 – June 17, 2025. Closed-ended data is tabulated in SPSS; base sizes appear on every chart as “n=xx”. Significance is tested at a 95% confidence level, both between brands and against the prior wave.
What's in the report
87 pages · section contents
Shared
Purpose & Objectives
4
Sampling & Methodology
5
Unitary Trends Industry Overview
6–9
Residential
Key Findings
10–12
Industry Overview
13–26
Brand Analysis
27–33
Brand Relationship
34–39
Appendix & Demographics
40–47
Light Commercial
Key Findings
48–50
Business Overview
51–64
Brand Analysis
65–72
Brand Relationship
73–78
Appendix & Demographics
79–86
Contact Us
87
Frequently asked questions
What matters most when HVAC professionals choose a unitary brand?
Quality, ahead of everything else. Among 330 residential professionals in 2025, 79% rated quality “very important” and 76% said the same of reliability, both up on 2023. Durability (67%) and availability (64%) follow. Competitive pricing places fifth at 61%.
Why do HVAC contractors switch their primary brand?
Price, first and by a margin. 62% name better pricing as a reason they would move their primary brand, ahead of superior equipment performance (43%), a better warranty (42%) and better availability (39%). Note the reversal: price ranks fifth in choosing a brand and first in leaving one.
How many HVAC brands does a contractor carry?
Not many. 59% of residential contractors sell just two or three brands, which is the structural fact behind the whole category: for a brand to gain a slot, another brand generally has to lose one.
Which unitary HVAC brands rank highest with professionals?
That is the report, and it is not published here. Thirty-six brands are measured on familiarity, “excellent” product quality, most-satisfactory brand, perceived industry leadership, usage and primary-brand share — scored separately for residential and light commercial, with significance testing between brands and back to 2017.
Where do HVAC contractors buy equipment, and where do they get their information?
Just over half of residential purchasing — 52% — runs through HVACR wholesalers and distributors, against 16% direct from manufacturers. For information, manufacturer websites lead at 68%, followed by trade shows (60%), trade magazines and distributors (58% each) and webinars (51%).
Does this cover both residential and light commercial?
Yes, and separately rather than blended. Residential professionals (n=330) and light commercial professionals (n=192) answer parallel questionnaires, each with its own brand set, and the two markets rank brands differently. Single-market editions are available if you only need one.
Who should buy this report?
Unitary HVAC manufacturers tracking their standing against named competitors; brand and product managers deciding where to spend; distributors and reps setting line cards against real contractor preference; and anyone who needs a defensible read on where the category has moved since 2017.