Level

HVAC sales recruiting

Hire HVAC comfort advisors who close tech leads and marketed leads.

Level helps HVAC companies hire comfort advisors who sell more replacements, and the sales managers who lead them. We headhunt proven advisors from the strongest shops in your market, and check every one's close-rate history, pay history and references before you meet them.

Comfort AdvisorsSales Managers
HVAC comfort advisor showing a homeowner her outdoor unit on a tablet

The roles

Who we recruit for HVAC companies

Most HVAC shops hire for one of two seats. The comfort advisor runs replacement leads. The sales manager runs the advisors, and often still runs leads too.

HVAC comfort advisor presenting system options on a tablet to a couple in their living room
Closer

Comfort Advisors

Runs the replacement calls your CSRs book and your techs turn over. Listens first, lays out good/better/best systems with financing and closes in the home.

Steps of hiring

From the brief to a rep running your leads.

  1. Step 1

    Tell us who you need

    Trade, territory, lead sources, average ticket and your pay plan. A short call or a two-minute form.

  2. Step 2

    We headhunt closers

    We go after the top reps at the strongest companies in your trade and market, people with a proven track record, and make the case for joining you.

    1,000+sales placements made

  3. Step 3

    We check the numbers

    Close-rate history, pay history and references, all checked before anyone reaches your shortlist.

    Within 7 daysto your first candidate

  4. Step 4

    You interview and hire

    You meet the shortlist and make the call. You pay only when you hire.

    21 daystypical time to hire
    60 daysfree replacement guarantee

Vetted on numbers, not résumés

How we screen HVAC sellers

Every hire should pay for itself many times over. So before a rep reaches your shortlist, we check three things.

01Verified

Close-rate history

How often they actually close, checked against their history.

50%+ target close rate on tech leads

ServiceTitan’s target for HVAC comfort advisors; 25-35% on marketing leads

02Verified

Pay history

Commission statements or W-2s that back up what they say they sold and earned.

9% of sale, ServiceTitan’s commission target

the plan we check their statements against

03Verified

References

We speak to people who worked with them to confirm how they sold, how they treated customers and why they moved on.

1,000+ placements

made with the same checks

How a shortlist gets built · a typical search

  1. 300+

    Headhunted

    Top reps at the strongest companies in your trade and market, contacted directly.

  2. ~25

    Close rate and pay checked

    Close-rate history and commission statements or W-2s that back it up.

  3. ~10

    References checked

    People who worked with them confirm how they sold and why they moved on.

  4. 3-5

    On your shortlist

    The few who clear every check. You interview and decide.

  1. 01300+

    Headhunted

    Top reps at the strongest companies in your trade and market, contacted directly.

  2. 02~25

    Close rate and pay checked

    Close-rate history and commission statements or W-2s that back it up.

  3. 03~10

    References checked

    People who worked with them confirm how they sold and why they moved on.

  4. 043-5

    On your shortlist

    The few who clear every check. You interview and decide.

Benchmarks

What good looks like in HVAC

The numbers a strong comfort advisor should hit. Treat them as the bar, not the average, then check them against your own board.

Verified before you meet them

We verify each rep's own number on these before you meet them, from their close-rate history and pay history, and confirm it with reference checks.

Close rate, technician leads75-85%
Close rate, service agreement customers70%
Close rate, customers without an agreement55-65%
Close rate, self-generated leads65-80%
Close rate, marketing leads25-35%
Close rate, all leads65%+
Average across home improvement:26.9%

Targets: ServiceTitan

$7,700+
Average replacement ticket
$1.5M+
Annual sales per advisor
20%+
Service calls where your tech sets a sales lead

Pay plans

How HVAC companies pay comfort advisors

  • Percent of sale

    9% of sales is a common target. Simple to run and easy for an advisor to check. The catch: you pay the same on a discounted job as a full-margin one.

  • Percent of gross profit

    For example, a training wage for the first 90 days, then 12–15% of gross profit, plus a bonus above budget. It protects your margin and teaches advisors to hold price.

  • Straight commission

    Commission-only seats are often advertised at $120,000–$200,000 in first-year potential. Only works if you can keep them fed with leads.

Pay reality

What comfort advisors earn

Most comfort advisors are paid mostly on commission, often with a small base or draw. Total pay usually lands between $43,000 and $138,000, depending on lead flow and close rate.

How a top advisor gets there

Example

$1.5M in sales × 9% commission

≈ $135,000 a year

HVAC comfort advisor walking a homeowner through his furnace in the basement

Total annual pay (base + commission)

10th $43,460Median $78,17090th $138,300

BLS, May 2025

The cost of waiting

An empty sales seat isn't free.

Your numbers

Example values

Revenue walking out the door

$20,713/ week

Over 8 weeks

$165,704

2.7 jobs a week

Gross profit lost

$66,282

at a 40% margin

leads × close rate × ticket = weekly revenue

  • Only home service sales roles
  • Close rate, pay history and references checked
  • You pay only when you hire
  • Free replacement if they don’t perform in 60 days

When to hire

There's no bad season to hire a closer

Hire in your slow season to be ready for the rush. Hire in the rush when leads are going unrun.

  • Slow seasonSpringPrepare. Time to learn your price book and run real calls before summer.
  • Busy seasonSummerKeep up. Homeowners who wait a day for a price call the next company.
  • Slow seasonFallPrepare. A new advisor is selling on their own before winter hits.
  • Busy seasonWinterKeep up. Unrun replacement leads are money left on the table.

Leads going unrun right now?

See what an empty seat costs

Multi-location & private equity

One hiring standard across every branch.

Acquisitions add territories faster than branch managers can staff them. Level runs the same checks, close rate, pay history and references, on every seat in every market, so a rep in Phoenix clears the same bar as a rep in Charlotte.

41.3%
HVAC deal volume that was PE add-ons, July 2026
17 to 56
PE-backed roofing platforms, 2023 to 2024
5-10 reps
Team size where most companies add a sales manager

Results

Owners, in their own words.

HVAC company owner with arms crossed in front of his service vansHVAC

HVAC comfort advisor

Owner, family-owned HVAC company · Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

Example
18 days
brief to accepted offer
160
leads run in the first 90 days

A family-owned HVAC company with 9 service techs had the owner running every replacement lead himself, most of them at night.

We headhunted a comfort advisor with 7 years at a larger regional competitor, closing around 40% on a mix of tech and marketed leads.

He ran 160 leads in his first 90 days, and the owner got his evenings back.

Owner shaking hands with a new sales rep in front of the company vans

Working with Level

Simple terms. You pay when you hire.

We've made 1,000+ sales placements. Our team supports you through the whole process, so hiring a great rep takes less of your time.

  • You pay only when you hire

    A one-time placement fee per hire, and nothing upfront to start a search. We quote the fee for your seat on the first call.

  • Free replacement within 60 days

    If the rep is let go for performance within that window, counted from their first day, we find you one replacement at no extra cost.

  • Field sales roles only

    We focus on reps who run appointments in the home, the managers who lead them and the canvassers who book them. Every hire joins your company directly.

FAQ

Hiring HVAC sales reps: questions owners ask.

  • Does a comfort advisor need EPA 608 certification?

    Usually not. EPA Section 608 covers people who handle refrigerant, and an advisor who sells but doesn't touch the equipment doesn't. That's our reading, not legal advice, so check your state's licensing rules too.

  • Should I promote a technician or hire a salesperson?

    Both can work, and plenty of great advisors started as techs. Promote a tech who's already turning service calls into sales. If you don't have one, hire a proven seller and let your techs keep feeding them leads. Selling is the hard part to teach; HVAC basics aren't.

  • What close rate should I expect from a new comfort advisor?

    It depends on your lead mix. Strong advisors close 25–35% of marketed leads and 75–85% of tech leads. Expect lower while a new hire learns your price book.

  • Should I pay commission on the sale or on gross profit?

    Percent of sale (around 9%) is simpler and easier for an advisor to trust. Percent of gross profit protects your margin when advisors discount. If your job costing isn't solid yet, start with percent of sale.

  • Should comfort advisors be W-2 or 1099?

    That's your call, and one to check with your accountant, because classification depends on how the job is run. Either way, the advisor is hired directly by your company, not by Level.

  • Do you recruit CSRs or remote booking staff?

    No. We focus on field salespeople who run appointments in the homeowner's home, and the managers who lead them. Staying focused is how we know the best sellers in your market. CSRs, dispatchers and phone setters are outside what we do.

  • How fast can you fill a comfort advisor seat?

    We aim to have a first candidate in front of you within 7 days of onboarding and getting your job description. A typical hire takes 21 days. Both vary by role and market, and hiring in May is a different search from hiring in October.

  • Do you place HVAC sales managers?

    Yes, both selling sales managers who still run leads and directors of sales who don't. We check their own close-rate history, pay history and references the same way we do for advisors.

Related

Other trades

Don't see your trade? Book a call and we'll tell you straight if we can fill the seat.

Hire a comfort advisor.

How it worksGet reps