Your listing gets you considered. Your page decides what gets said.
Thanks for taking the survey call. Here is the report I promised, written for HVAC businesses that have a website, but one set up some years ago and not given much attention since: a page or two, a template, a contact form and not much else.
I asked Google’s AI and ChatGPT who to call for a furnace repair in Hamilton, Burlington, Dundas, Grimsby and Stoney Creek. This is what they said, and a plan you can do yourself. It is a five-minute read, and nothing in it needs a web designer.
Skip to the planRated 3.7, 12 reviews, a website
Google’s AI named this company first. Its site names the town, the services and 24-hour availability.
Rated 5.0, 46 reviews, no website
Neither Google’s AI nor ChatGPT named this company.
One town on one day, and other towns went differently. Reviews still count. Every business that took part gets this same page.
How homeowners find an HVAC company now
Three routes, in order: asking someone they know, searching Google, and, growing fast, asking an AI assistant such as ChatGPT or Google’s own AI. If word of mouth brings most of your work, keep it. This plan is about the other two.
Google now answers many searches with an AI summary above the map. ChatGPT answers a question like “who should I call for a furnace repair in my town” with a named shortlist of three to five companies.
A few reviews and a plain page still got these companies named
Both assistants start from the Google Business Profile: name, rating, review count, hours. In Hamilton and Burlington, every company named had a website and most had hundreds of reviews. These three had far fewer.
| Town | Google’s AI named it? | ChatGPT named it? | The company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton | Google’s AI: No | ChatGPT: Yes, fifth | 58 reviews and a one-page website that says 24/7 and lists furnace work, beside firms with ten to twenty times its reviews. |
| Dundas | Google’s AI: Yes, first | ChatGPT: No | Rated 3.7 with 12 reviews, on a site that names the town, the services and 24-hour availability. |
| Stoney Creek | Google’s AI: Yes, third | ChatGPT: No | Rated 5.0 with 40 reviews and a one-page website. |
What the assistants could say about each
- “24/7 emergency service”
- “since 1989”
- “TSSA registered”
- “furnace repairs and replacements”
- and a link
- a generic line
Show who was named, town by townHide the town-by-town results
Google’s AI Mode and ChatGPT, both signed out, from a Canadian connection, on 4 November 2026. Ratings and review counts are what the assistants showed that day. This is one day’s answers, and the wording of the question varied by town. Businesses that took the survey are described, not named.
Hamilton
“Who should I call for furnace repair in Hamilton, Ontario?”
- Spurr Heating & Air Conditioning · 4.9 / 1,300 reviews · website
- Dynamic Heating & Cooling · 5.0 / 838 reviews · website
- HAMCO Heating and Cooling · 4.8 / 797 reviews · website
- Shipton’s Heating & Cooling · 4.8 / 2,600 reviews · website
- Boonstra Heating and Air Conditioning · 4.7 / 5,100 reviews · website
- Spurr Heating & Air Conditioning · 4.9 / 1,268 reviews · website
- Dynamic Heating & Cooling · 5.0 / 835 reviews · website
- HAMCO Heating and Cooling · 4.8 / 794 reviews · website
- B & G Heating & Cooling · 4.8 / 77 reviews · website
- a Hamilton company with 58 reviews and a one-page website
No Hamilton business without a website was named by either assistant. What ChatGPT said about each company came from text on its site: “24/7 emergency service”, “TSSA registered, licensed and insured”, “furnace troubleshooting and repairs”.
Burlington
“My furnace stopped working in Burlington Ontario, who do you recommend I call?”
- Maintemp Heating & Air Conditioning · 4.9 / 534 reviews · website
- AirTemp HVAC · 5.0 / 342 reviews · website
- Infinite Home Comfort · 4.9 / 192 reviews · website
- 905 HVAC Inc. · 5.0 / 129 reviews · website
ChatGPT named Not tested for this town.
Not named: four Burlington businesses with 11 to 21 reviews each, two with no website and one whose domain forwards elsewhere.
Dundas
“I live in Dundas, Ontario and my furnace has stopped working. Which local HVAC company should I call?”
- a Dundas company rated 3.7 with 12 reviews and a website
- Canadian Heating and Air Conditioning (Ancaster) · 4.6 / 306 reviews · website
- Boonstra Heating and Air Conditioning (Hamilton) · 4.7 / 5,100 reviews · website
- Spurr Heating & Air Conditioning (Hamilton) · 4.9 / 1,300 reviews · website
- Smith Heating & Cooling · 5.0 / 100 reviews · website
- Dundas Mechanical · website
- Express Heating and Cooling · 4.9 / 54 reviews · website
Not named by either: a Dundas company rated 5.0 with 46 reviews and no website, and another rated 5.0 with 10 reviews and no website. Google put the 3.7-rated company first; its site says Dundas, furnaces and 24-hour availability.
Grimsby
“Who is a good furnace repair company in Grimsby, Ontario?”
- Premium Home Services · 5.0 / 210 reviews · website
- Fouge-Air HVAC · 5.0 / 61 reviews · website
- a Grimsby company rated 4.8 with 23 reviews and no website
- Evans Heating & Cooling (Niagara Falls) · 4.8 / 1,000 reviews · website
- Aldershot Air Conditioning and Heating · 5.0 / 118 reviews · website
- Premium Home Services · 5.0 / 209 reviews · website
- Hubbard Air (Beamsville) · 4.9 / 751 reviews · website
- the same Grimsby company with 23 reviews and no website
The company without a website was named by both, third and fourth. All the assistants could say about it came from its Google listing: “fully licensed”, “24-hour availability”. The firms with sites got a sentence about what they do, how long they have traded, and a link. Not named: two Grimsby-area businesses whose website links are dead.
Stoney Creek
“Who is a good furnace repair company in Stoney Creek, Ontario?”
- Hamilton Home Comfort · 4.8 / 411 reviews · website
- A Plus Air Systems · 4.8 / 439 reviews · website
- a Stoney Creek company rated 5.0 with 40 reviews and a one-page website
- Hamilton Home Comfort · 4.8 / 411 reviews · website
- A Plus Air Systems · 4.8 / 439 reviews · website
- a Stoney Creek company rated 4.9 with 41 reviews and no website
- Capo Climate Control Solutions · 5.0 / 118 reviews · website
Want to know what they say about your business?
A free 15-minute call, by video or voice only, whichever suits you.
Five steps, easiest first
Most of it can be done in an afternoon.
- 1
Finish your Google Business Profile and make sure the website link on it works.
Category HVAC contractor, hours, the services list, the towns you serve, ten photos of real jobs, and a description in plain words.
- 2
Ask every customer for a review the same day, then put your reviews on the site.
By text, with the link, and reply to each one. In the bigger towns, review count still matters most for the first two or three names. A site that never mentions its reviews wastes them.
- 3
Fix the basics on the page you have.
An hour on any site builderOne main heading with your business name and town. A working contact button and a tap-to-call phone number. Remove anything left over from the template or from last season: a demo headline, a spring special in November, a year in the footer that is not this one.
- 4
Add one page for furnace repair and one for the area you serve.
About three hundred plain words eachWhat you fix, how fast you come, what the call-out costs or how pricing works, which towns, your licence or TSSA registration, how long you have traded. Those are the sentences the assistants quoted.
Write them in the words homeowners use when they ask: furnace repair, no heat, same day, and the name of your town. An assistant quotes sentences; it does not quote “your comfort is our priority”.
- 5
Check yourself.
Five minutes, every few monthsSearch your business name, then ask ChatGPT and Google’s AI who to call in your town, and read what they say about you. If it is a generic line, the page needs more of step 4.
I run Red Maple Studio, a small web studio for Canadian trades.
If you would like me to work through this for your business, I offer a free 15-minute call, by video or voice only, whichever suits you: what Google and the assistants say about you today, and the two or three changes that would move it. No obligation, and if nothing applies, I will say so.
Either way, the report is yours. Use what helps.