Be the answer when the furnace quits.
when the furnace quits
Homeowners now ask an assistant who to call before they open a search engine, and OpenAI has opened paid placement inside those conversations. We plan, buy and measure ChatGPT ads for heating and cooling companies, tied back to booked work rather than impressions, alongside our ChatGPT ads and AI search visibility teams.
Tell us a little about your brand and we'll be in touch within 24 hours to lock in a time.
FOUR WORKSTREAMS
Four workstreams behind paid placement inside AI answers.
inside AI answers
Eligibility and account setup, the buying itself, the organic visibility that decides whether the assistant recommends you unpaid, and attribution honest enough to tell you what any of it produced.
Eligibility, setup and creative
Campaign buying and bidding
Organic AI visibility and local presence
Attribution and reporting
Get the account right before spending a dollar.
These placements are a real ad product with real rules, not a growth hack. They serve only to logged-in adult users on the ad-supported Go and no-subscription tiers, while Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise subscribers stay ad-free, and the placements are labelled and do not influence the assistant's answer. Local services was one of the first verticals opened, which is why home service companies can buy here at all.
We handle eligibility, account structure and the short, factual creative this surface rewards — service, area covered, availability, price honesty — and check the restricted category list before a campaign is written, since OpenAI restricts advertising in categories including adult content, alcohol, tobacco, financial services and gambling.
- Advertiser account, billing and verification set up in your name
- Category and claim review before anything goes live
- Short factual creative written for an assistant answer, not a banner
- Service area and availability stated the way a homeowner asks
Go tier
ads serve only on the ad-supported ChatGPT tiers
Labelled
ads are marked and do not change the assistant's answer
Buy it like performance media, because it is.
The buying side matured fast. The self-serve platform opened to everyone in May 2026, and campaigns are bought per click with conversion-optimised bidding now in beta, so this can be managed with the same discipline as any other channel rather than treated as an experiment.
We start small, deliberately. Budgets step up as data arrives, creative is tested in pairs, and every campaign is judged against what your existing channels already deliver — a blended $104 per lead and $472 per paying customer across 816 contractors is the bar a new surface must clear before it earns more of the budget.
- Small, controlled launch with daily spend limits
- Per-click bidding, moved to conversion optimisation when eligible
- Two creative variants live at all times
- Benchmarked against your existing paid channels, not in isolation
May 2026
when the ChatGPT self-serve ad platform opened to everyone
$104
blended HVAC price per lead on Google Ads, the bar to beat
Paid placement fails without a credible business behind it.
The assistant recommends companies it can verify: a complete Google Business Profile, consistent details across directories, recent reviews, and pages that answer the question the homeowner actually asked. Paid placement puts you in the conversation, but the unpaid recommendation is what keeps you there.
Contractors know they are behind here: 80% of local service business leaders are unsure how to appear in AI-driven results, and 55% struggle to differentiate themselves. We fix the profile, the citations and the answer-shaped content with our GEO and AEO team so both routes point at the same company.
- Google Business Profile completed, categorised and kept current
- Consistent name, address and phone details across the directories that matter
- Review generation supported, because recency is what gets cited
- Answer-shaped service pages an assistant can quote
80%
of local service leaders unsure how to appear in AI results
22%
of homeowners already using AI tools to find a contractor
Find the work this actually produced.
The hardest part of this channel is not buying it, it is proving it. AI-driven discovery is producing zero-click calls where the homeowner simply says the assistant gave them your number, which never appears in a standard report.
So we instrument for it: dedicated numbers and landing pages, a question at the point of booking, and referral traffic tagged and separated. That matters more here than elsewhere, because phone calls are 70 to 80% of home services conversions and this surface is very good at generating them without sending a visitor to your website.
- Dedicated phone numbers and pages for AI-sourced demand
- A one-line question added to the booking script
- Referral traffic from assistants tagged and reported separately
- A monthly written read on what this channel produced
70-80%
share of home services conversions arriving as phone calls
Monthly
written read on AI-sourced enquiries and booked work
of homeowners now use AI tools to research a contractor
average HVAC price per click on Google Ads, the comparison point
Creative variants live at all times during a test
Advertiser account and phone numbers stay in your name
We made the difference for those brands
Home essentials, appliances, kitchen & pet
B2B software, fintech, insurance
Consumer tech and platforms
Creative, content, arts & culture
B2B software, fintech, insurance
Consumer tech and platforms
B2B software, fintech, insurance
Creative, content, arts & culture
Creative, content, arts & culture
B2B software, fintech, insurance
Apparel and lifestyle
Food & beverage
B2B software, fintech, insurance
Food & beverage
Travel & mobility
Beauty, personal care & wellness
Creative, content, arts & culture
Beauty, personal care & wellness
Apparel and lifestyle
Consumer tech and platforms
Healthcare & regulated services
Food & beverage
Creative, content, arts & culture
Beauty, personal care & wellness
Consumer tech and platforms
B2B software, fintech, insurance
Home essentials, appliances, kitchen & pet
B2B software, fintech, insurance
Apparel and lifestyle
B2B software, fintech, insurance
Healthcare & regulated services
01 — The challenge
Customers started saying a chatbot sent them.
It usually begins as an anecdote. A homeowner calls on a Saturday, says your company came up when they asked which contractor to trust, and books a system replacement. Nobody in the office can find that visit in any dashboard, so the anecdote never turns into a decision about where the money goes.
“Three customers this month told us a chatbot recommended us. We have no idea how many did not mention it.”
02 — Our approach
Earn the recommendation, buy the placement, measure both.
We start with what the assistant can already verify about you. Business profile, service areas, hours, licences, reviews and the pages that answer real homeowner questions in plain language. This is unglamorous work and it decides whether an assistant is willing to name you at all.
Then we buy the placement. Account setup and category checks first, then a small controlled launch with daily limits, short factual creative in two variants, and cost per click bidding moved to conversion optimisation as soon as there is enough data to justify it. Every campaign is benchmarked against what your existing channels deliver, so this is judged on merit rather than novelty.
Measurement runs alongside from day one, because this surface produces phone calls that never touch your website. Dedicated numbers, a question at booking, tagged referral traffic and a monthly written read on enquiries and booked work. If the channel is not earning its place we will say so, and the advertiser account stays in your name either way.
03 — What we did
Four weeks in, then a monthly rhythm.
Visibility groundwork, account setup, a controlled launch, then measured scaling with a written read every month.
Week 1 / Audit
What an assistant can see about you
Profile, reviews, service areas and site content checked the way an assistant reads them, with the gaps that stop you being named listed plainly.
Week 2 / Build
Account, creative and pages
Advertiser account set up in your name, category checks completed, short factual creative written, and a page per service ready to receive the traffic.
Weeks 3-4 / Launch
Small, controlled, measured
Campaigns go live with daily limits and dedicated phone numbers, so the first enquiries can be traced instead of guessed at.
Ongoing / Manage and scale
Scale what books work
Spend moves towards the creative and services producing booked work, reported next to your other channels rather than in a flattering silo.
WHAT YOU GET
Deliverables you keep, whatever happens next.
you keep
Advertiser account, phone numbers, creative and landing pages stay in your name from day one.
AI visibility audit
What assistants can verify about your company today, and the specific gaps keeping you out of the answer.
Channel and spend plan
What this surface gets, what it has to beat to keep it, and how the test steps up if it works.
Creative built for AI answers
Short factual variants covering service, area and availability, tested in pairs rather than shipped once.
Answer-shaped service pages
Pages that answer the questions homeowners actually ask, quotable by an assistant and fast on a phone.
Attribution and reporting
Dedicated numbers, tagged referrals and a written note on the enquiries and work this channel produced.
Front office playbook
The question to ask at booking and how to log the answer, so the anecdotes become data you can act on.
HOW WE WORK
Operating standards, not promises.
Operating standards
Residential contractors
Emergency repair and replacement demand, where the assistant is asked who to trust.
ExploreCommercial contractors
Fewer conversations, far larger contracts, and buyers who research before calling.
ExploreMulti-location operators
Several service areas that need to be verifiable one market at a time.
Explore
Built on trust. Proven by results.
We partner with SMBs and Fortune 500 companies to deliver more than reach — we bring clarity, execution, and measurable outcomes. Every successful partnership starts with a strong culture fit and a shared drive to grow.
CASE STUDIES
Case studies
Website Portfolio
Video Ads
Static Ads
FAQ
Questions contractors ask us
Where do ChatGPT ads actually appear?
Inside the conversation, clearly marked as sponsored. They are shown only to logged-in adult users on the Free and Go plans, while Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise users remain ad-free, and OpenAI states the advertising does not influence the answers generated. So you are buying presence beside a recommendation, not the recommendation itself.
Is our category allowed to advertise there?
Home services are in scope — local services was one of the initial verticals. Some categories are not: OpenAI restricts advertising in areas including adult content, alcohol, tobacco, financial services and gambling. We check the current policy and your specific claims, particularly around guarantees and finance offers, before any campaign is written.
How is it bought and priced?
Through partners or the self-serve manager, on a per-click basis, with conversion-optimised bidding now in beta. The self-serve platform opened to everyone in May 2026, so this is managed like any other performance channel: daily limits, creative testing and a target to hit rather than a fixed package.
What should we spend on a first test?
Enough to gather signal for a month or two without exposing the marketing plan. We size it against your current numbers — a blended $104 per lead and $472 per paying customer across 816 contractors — so there is a defined bar this surface has to clear before it takes budget from something that already works.
Will this replace Google Ads for us?
Not today, and we would not advise treating it that way. Search still carries the urgent volume, at an average HVAC price per click of $20.12 across 176 US cities. This is an additional surface where your future customers are already asking who to trust, and the sensible position is a funded test running beside a healthy HVAC PPC programme.
How do we track leads that never visit our website?
Deliberately, because they will not track themselves. AI-driven discovery is already producing zero-click calls where the homeowner names the assistant as the referrer. We set up dedicated numbers, add one question to the booking script, tag referral traffic and report it all together, so a pattern becomes visible instead of remaining an office anecdote.
Do we need our Google Business Profile in order first?
Yes, and it is the cheapest work on the list. Assistants lean on verifiable signals: complete profile, correct categories, consistent details across directories, and recent reviews. Paid placement buys attention, but an unverifiable business does not get recommended between the paid slots, which is where most of the volume sits.
What sort of creative works on this surface?
Short, factual and specific. The reader is mid-question, not browsing, so service, area covered, availability and honest pricing language outperform slogans. We keep two variants live so there is always a comparison, and we avoid claims that cannot be substantiated, since this is exactly the context in which a bad claim gets checked.
Are homeowners really using AI to choose a contractor?
A meaningful minority already are. 83% of homeowners start their search online and 22% now use AI tools such as ChatGPT to research or find recommendations, and 56% want 24/7 scheduling or after-hours communication — the exact convenience an assistant offers at midnight when the heating fails.
How quickly could we be live?
Usually inside a month. Week one is the visibility audit, week two is account setup, category checks, creative and pages, and launch follows once the phone numbers and booking question are in place. We would rather spend a fortnight preparing than start spending into a setup that cannot be measured.
What happens if the channel does not perform?
We tell you, with the numbers next to your other channels, and recommend moving the money. A test that produces a clear negative answer for a modest sum is a good outcome, and it is far cheaper than assuming either way. The visibility groundwork keeps paying regardless, because it is what earns the unpaid recommendation.
Is it available outside the United States?
Increasingly. OpenAI began testing in the US in February, expanded to eight further markets, and announced a rollout to 31 European countries in August 2026. Availability and buying routes differ by market, so we confirm what is open where you operate before planning anything.
Who owns the account and the data?
You do. The advertiser account, billing, phone numbers, creative and landing pages are set up in your name from the start, so the whole programme can move with you. We ask for a fair testing window because a new surface needs learning time, not because anything is locked.
Does this help our normal search rankings?
Indirectly, and quite usefully. The groundwork that makes you quotable to an assistant — answer-shaped pages, a complete profile, consistent details and current reviews — is the same work that supports HVAC marketing performance generally. Paid placement is the only part that stops the day you stop paying.
Who will be running this for us?
A named senior strategist who also joins the monthly session, working with our AI search specialists. You will know who writes the creative and who controls the spend, and you can reach them directly rather than through an anonymous queue.
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