Exclusive vs Shared HVAC Leads: The Close-Rate Math

Here’s a Tuesday that thousands of HVAC contractors know: the lead lands, your CSR calls within ten minutes, and the homeowner is already irritated — you’re the fourth company to ring since breakfast. You paid for that call. So did the other three.

The two products

An exclusive lead is generated for you and delivered to you alone. A shared lead is the same homeowner’s details sold to 3–5 contractors at once — Angi’s own documentation caps matches at five pros. The price difference looks big. The value difference is bigger.

The published numbers

Elevarus’s HVAC comparison puts it in one line: shared form leads $25–90 converting at 10–20%; exclusive form leads $100–264 converting at 40–60%. Minyona’s cross-trade data shows the same shape from the social side: 15–25% close on exclusive installation leads against 5–10% for shared marketplace leads. Thumbtack-style platforms carry a further tax — reported ghost rates of 70–75%, homeowners who never respond to anyone at all.

The math, worked

Take a $45 shared lead and a $100 exclusive lead for the same replacement job.

• Shared: $45 at a 10% close = $450 per booked job — plus membership fees, plus the CSR hours spent racing four competitors to a homeowner who picks whoever called first.
• Exclusive: $100 at a 30% close = $333 per booked job — one caller, one conversation, no race.

On a $7,000+ replacement ticket, both numbers are affordable. But one of them comes with predictable follow-up economics and the other comes with a speed lottery. This is why the cheapest-looking lead is so often the most expensive thing a contractor buys.

Why shared platforms still exist

Volume and inertia. Shared marketplaces aggregate enormous demand, and for a contractor with idle capacity and a fast phone team, discounted fifth-of-a-lead volume can fill gaps. The failure mode is treating it as the growth plan — the published contractor accounts, and the FTC’s $7.2 million order against HomeAdvisor over lead-quality claims, are what that looks like at scale.

What to demand from “exclusive”

“Exclusive” is a claim until it’s in writing. Four questions any vendor should answer on paper: Is every lead sold to exactly one contractor, and what happens to your money if it isn’t? What is the written definition of a valid lead? What is the replacement policy for dead numbers and out-of-area contacts? Is the per-lead price the whole price, or is there a setup fee and a monthly fee around it?

Our answers: one contractor per locked ZIP set; a published four-point standard every lead is measured against; bad leads replaced free on a reply; and if we ever supply a lead from your locked ZIP codes to another contractor while you hold an active balance, your remaining balance is refunded in full. From $69 per accepted lead, nothing else on the bill. Check whether your ZIPs are open.