Your HVAC close rate is the share of the install estimates your company presents that end in a signed replacement contract.
It is the stage where marketing spend becomes revenue, and it sits downstream of HVAC replacement leads, which decides how many estimates reach the calendar in the first place.
What an HVAC close rate measures
The definition this page uses
The denominator is the whole game, because close rate gets quoted against leads run, estimates given, or proposals presented, and a shop counting leads run will post a far lower number than one counting proposals presented, even if neither sells a dollar more.
"HVAC sales close rate" and "hvac install close rate" are the same math at different stages of one funnel, so name the stage whenever the number leaves your office.
What the published numbers say
The only method-disclosed HVAC close rate figure we found is the ACCA / Farmington Consulting Group "Contractor of the Future" survey of more than 1,000 HVACR contractors, fielded in September and October 2025 and covered by ACHR News in February 2026.
In it, contractors reported closing 43% of install jobs: 45% for residential contractors and 38% for commercial.
Close rates contractors reported, ACCA / Farmington survey (fall 2025)
Three caveats keep this honest: the numbers are self-reported, the survey never defines its denominator (leads run, estimates given or proposals presented), and one survey's average is not a target.
Financing and the close rate
Financing is the practice that moved most with close rate in the survey: contractors that offer financing reported a 49% close rate, against 38% for those that don't.
Practices that moved with close rate, same survey
The same survey shows how uneven the practice is: 68% of contractors have financing available, but only 37% offer it on every job, and contractors that never offer financing see base models on 50% of sales, against 35% for those that always offer it.
Homeowner-side data says why financing belongs in the conversation at all: in a February 2026 Housecall Pro survey of 1,100+ US homeowners, 62% said they're more likely to move forward with a home project when financing or payment plans are offered, which is stated intent rather than behavior.
Payment data points the same direction: in Harvard JCHS's tabulation of the 2023 American Housing Survey, 76% of home improvement projects were paid mainly with cash and only 2% with contractor-arranged financing, but financed projects were the big ones, averaging $10,600 against $5,000 for projects paid from savings.
An HVAC replacement fits that pattern, since homeowners reported spending an average of $8,398 on replacement projects in the same data.
The cost side has a published price list at one lender: Wisetack charges the business a flat 3.9% transaction fee per financed job as of October 2026, and 4.9%, 6.9% or 9.9% if the business opts into extended 0% plans and the customer qualifies for and picks the 6-, 12- or 24-month option, which shows who pays for the customer's 0% term.
Presentation moved the numbers too: 72% of contractors lead a proposal with the total price and 28% lead with a monthly payment, and payment-first shops reported financing 42% of new and replacement sales against 21% for total-price-first shops.
One takeaway comes with all of this: the Federal Reserve's G.19 release put commercial-bank rates at 20.94% on credit card plans and 11.86% on 24-month personal loans as of May 2026, which is why a 0% plan is often the cheapest money on the table.
The other rule is legal: under Regulation Z's triggering-terms rule for closed-end credit (12 CFR 1026.24(d)), if an ad for financing states the amount or percentage of a down payment, the number of payments or the repayment period, the amount of any payment, or the amount of any finance charge, it must also state the down payment, the repayment terms and the annual percentage rate using that term, and say whether the rate can increase.
That is the closed-end installment rule, card-style revolving plans fall under a different section, and your lender can usually supply compliant ad language, so confirm specifics with the lender or an attorney before running payment creative.
Which programs to offer and what they cost you is covered in HVAC financing for customers.
Options on the proposal
The second practice that moved with close rate: contractors presenting four or more options reported a 52% close rate, against 42% for one to three options, and only 10% of contractors present four or more.
Those shops also reported premium equipment on 42% of sales, against 26% for everyone else.
Again, correlation: nothing in the survey proves that adding options causes the lift, and a four-option proposal done badly just reads as four prices.
How those options get built and presented inside the visit is the subject of the HVAC sales process page.
Comfort advisor close rate and the visit itself
A comfort advisor close rate is the same equation computed per advisor, and it is the number to read before rewriting anything, because a company average hides which visits actually lose.
We found no published comfort-advisor benchmark either, so baseline each advisor for 90 days before changing a script, a price presentation, or a process.
One diligence item belongs in every estimate because it protects the result after the sale: ENERGY STAR says improper installation can reduce a new system's efficiency by up to 30 percent, and that sealing and insulating ducts can improve heating and cooling efficiency by as much as 20 percent, which is why the load calculation and the duct inspection belong in the visit rather than after the contract.
Quote them to homeowners as ENERGY STAR's "up to" figures, with the attribution, and never promise a specific saving.
What a point of close rate is worth
Close rate multiplies traffic you have already paid for, so run the arithmetic on your own numbers; the figures below are illustrative.
Say your shop presents 100 replacement estimates in a quarter: at the survey's reported 43%, that is 43 installs, and at 52% it is 52, nine more replacements from the same calendar.
At the $8,398 homeowners reported spending on HVAC replacement projects in Harvard JCHS's tabulation of the 2023 American Housing Survey, nine more installs is about $75,600 more in sold work a quarter (illustrative arithmetic on two published figures).
Run the same math in reverse and it is a warning: if contractors close 43% of install jobs, about 57% of estimates end without a sale, and every one of those homeowners heard your price.
What to do with that 57% is the playbook at HVAC unsold estimates.
How to measure your own close rate
1. Write the denominator down
Decide whether an estimate counts as presented when it is quoted, emailed or walked through in the home, and record the rule before counting anything.
2. Pull 90 days, not one month
A single month is small numbers and weather; 90 days of signed contracts against presented estimates is a baseline you can act on.
3. Cut it by advisor, season and lead source
The average hides the pattern, and we found no published benchmark for close rate by lead source, so treat these cuts as your own comparisons, not a report card.
4. Change one thing, then re-measure
Offer financing on every job, or present a fourth option, or lead with the monthly payment: pick one, hold it for a quarter, and compare against the baseline you just built.
The upstream half, how many estimates reach the calendar at all, is the HVAC replacement leads problem, and the website side of it is what one controlled test a month works on.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good HVAC close rate?
We found no method-disclosed benchmark for what a good close rate is, and the only survey figure on file is the ACCA / Farmington study in which contractors reported closing 43% of install jobs. That is one self-reported survey with an undefined denominator, so track your own estimates-to-signed number and judge every change against it.
How do I calculate my HVAC close rate?
Signed replacement contracts divided by install estimates presented over the same period. Write down what counts as presented before you count, because the denominator choice is what makes two shops' numbers incomparable.
Does offering financing raise an HVAC close rate?
In the ACCA / Farmington survey, contractors that offer financing reported a 49% close rate against 38% for those that don't. That is a correlation in self-reported data, not proof that financing causes the lift, so the honest move is to offer it consistently and measure your own result.
What is a comfort advisor close rate?
The same close-rate equation computed for one salesperson, the advisor who runs the in-home estimate. We found no published benchmark for it either, so baseline each advisor before changing anything.
How many options should an HVAC estimate include?
In the ACCA / Farmington survey, contractors presenting four or more options reported a 52% close rate against 42% for one to three, and only 10% presented four or more. It is a correlation, but a cheap one to test on your own proposals.