Find reviews of an HVAC contractor
Who reviews an HVAC contractor, and can you trust them?
Plumb does not review an HVAC contractor itself. We tell you which sites do, and grade each on the one thing that decides whether to believe it: how independent and evidence-based the ranking is.
| Grade | Review site | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | C+ | Grades: its verified surveys of a contractor's own customers Real verified-customer surveys with an all-reviews-published policy, but only paying contractors get profiled and surveyed, so it is a reputation tool for members, not an independent cross-vendor ranking. |
| 2 | C+ | Grades: its contractor scores and matches from permit data Grades contractors mostly on hard public records (licenses, permits, BBB), but the same contractors pay BuildZoom a success fee and their on-platform activity feeds the score that drives placement, so the ranking is not arm's-length. |
| 3 | C+ | Grades: its contractor ratings and rankings A lead-gen marketplace in a review site's clothes: the pros up top paid to be there. |
| 4 | C | Grades: its crowd-sourced star ratings of local businesses The star you see is not the average you think, and ad spend buys the placement above it. |
| 5 | C | Grades: its reviews of local design and remodeling pros A photo-inspiration giant and contractor directory whose review listings double as an ad product, and by its own disclosure the price a pro pays is a ranking factor for sponsored placement. |
| 6 | C | Grades: its neighbor 'recommendations' and 'Faves' Reviewers are address-verified neighbors, which is a real anti-fake-review edge, but there's no published ranking method and businesses are openly coached to solicit their own recommendations. |
| 7 | C- | Grades: its 'best [pro] in [city]' lists A tidy 'best local pro' badge that its own contract says you can pay to wear. |
| 8 | C- | Grades: its star-rated local-pro listings and matches The pros you see are the ones outspending rivals on leads, not out-qualifying them. |
| 9 | C- | Grades: its consumer-review rankings of solar installers Useful consumer-review hub for solar, but it earns its money selling leads to the same installers it lists, and critics call it a lead-gen site first. |
| 10 | C- | Grades: its phone, internet, and TV provider rankings Carrier reviews from a site owned by a company that, by its own portfolio, is paid to market and generate leads for many of the carriers it ranks. |
| 11 | C- | Grades: its contractor matches and ratings A home-services lead marketplace where contractors pay for leads and, by Porch's own description, buy premium "first priority" placement -- treat its pro rankings as advertising, not an independent verdict. |
| 12 | C- | Grades: its star-average of user reviews on Business Profiles Free and everywhere, impossible to buy rank in, and swimming in fake reviews with an opaque order. |
| 13 | D+ | Grades: its A+ to F business letter grades and accreditation seal A trusted-looking letter grade that a 2010 ABC News 20/20 investigation showed a $425 payment could obtain, even for fabricated companies. |
| 14 | D | Grades: its matches between requests and local pros A pay-per-lead marketplace, not an impartial reviewer: by its own marketing, the paid Elite Pro tier buys top placement in the listings buyers see. |
| 15 | D | Grades: its contractor matches, ratings, and badges Your details sold to several contractors at once; visibility goes to whoever pays per lead. |
| 16 | D | Grades: its caregiver profiles, ratings, and reviews A paid caregiver marketplace, not an independent reviewer: profiles carry family ratings but caregivers can pay to boost visibility, and the FTC took action in 2024 over its deceptive job and background-check claims. |
These are the sites that review an HVAC contractor (and the rest of the local & home services). Columns are the five rubric dimensions, scored 0-5, with each column's weight shown in its header (independence and evidence carry the most). See the full methodology.
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