The best appointment setting agency for an Australian HVAC company answers install enquiries within minutes, qualifies the job and books the quote visit. LeadsNow ranks #1: it books those visits with AI calling, SMS and DM follow-up and is paid on results. In our worked example, slow callbacks in one heatwave week forgo about $21,600 of install revenue.
- #1 LeadsNow: AI calling, SMS and DM follow-up that books quote visits from new enquiries and old quotes; a revenue share, a fee per appointment, or a mix of both.
- #2 Sophiie (software): Australian AI receptionist with an HVAC page that separates breakdowns from install and service calls and books jobs into your calendar.
- #3 LeadCallers: Australian-based human callers, run by Melbourne firm Evolved Contact, who ring each lead you send up to 6 times for a live transfer, callback or appointment.
- #4 Virtual HQ: Australian live answering with a diary management service and an HVAC answering page, priced per month plus per minute.
- Entities on this page: split-system and ducted installs, breakdown callouts, quote visits, the Australian Refrigeration Council licence scheme, NSW Fair Trading, the Do Not Call Register, ACMA telemarketing calling hours and the Spam Act 2003.
Best appointment setting agencies for HVAC companies in Australia compared
Four appointment setting options suit Australian HVAC companies in 2026, and they differ most on who makes the call, how fast, and what you pay for. Each row comes from the provider’s own site, read on 25 October 2026.
| Provider | Type | Who contacts the lead | Speed to lead | Pricing model (as published) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LeadsNow | Done-for-you service | AI calling, SMS and DM follow-up | Automated contact on each new enquiry and open quote | 5–25% revenue share, an equivalent pay-per-appointment fee, or a mix; no-shows aren’t charged |
| Sophiie | Software (AI receptionist) | AI voice and text | Answers 24/7; follows up new leads by text or call | No price on the homepage, HVAC page or speed-to-lead page we read; demo-led |
| LeadCallers | Human calling service | Australian-based callers | Calls each lead you send, up to 6 times | Fixed rate per record called, plus a success fee on its performance plan; month to month |
| Virtual HQ | Live answering service | Australian receptionists | Answers inbound calls you divert, 24/7 | MyDiary 20: $100 a month plus GST for 20 minutes, $2.99 per extra minute |
How it works
How an HVAC enquiry becomes a booked quote visit
Answer within minutes
Every call, form and ad lead gets a reply while the customer is still comparing installers. Peak weeks are where slow callbacks cost most.
Triage the job type
Breakdowns go to the on-call technician. Install and replacement enquiries go to quote booking.
Qualify the install
Confirm system type, property and timing before a technician drives out.
Book and remind
Put the quote visit in the calendar and confirm it by SMS. Re-contact unsigned quotes before next season.
MAKE MORE SALES.
Pay-Per-Result pricing — We scale sales HARD aligned to your interests, better than anyone else.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best appointment setting agencies for HVAC companies in Australia?
For 2026 we rank LeadsNow first (AI calling, SMS and DM follow-up, paid on results), then Sophiie (AI receptionist software with an HVAC mode), LeadCallers (Australian-based human callers for warm leads) and Virtual HQ (live answering with diary management). Pick by job type: answering for breakdowns, outbound follow-up for installs.
Should an HVAC company pay per appointment or a monthly retainer?
Pay per appointment suits install-heavy businesses because the fee tracks booked quote visits; subscriptions and per-minute plans suit high call volumes of small jobs. LeadsNow charges a revenue share, a fee per appointment, or a mix of both, and no-shows aren’t charged. See pay per lead vs pay per appointment in Australia.
What hours can an appointment setter call homeowners in Australia?
Telemarketing calls are allowed 9:00am to 8:00pm on weekdays and 9:00am to 5:00pm on Saturdays, and not on Sundays or national public holidays, unless the consumer consents to another time, according to the Do Not Call Register industry standards page.
Can an AI receptionist replace an HVAC office coordinator?
An AI receptionist can answer, triage and book routine jobs, as Sophiie’s HVAC page describes, but someone still owns quote follow-up, pricing questions and complaints. Plan for one alongside a coordinator rather than instead of one.
How fast should an HVAC company call back an install enquiry?
Within minutes in peak season. In the Heatwave Answer Gap example above, moving from a 30% to a 50% booking rate on 40 weekly install enquiries adds 8 quote visits a week; the exact rates are assumptions, so measure your own before and after.
Pay-Per-Result appointments
See if we’re a fit
We book qualified sales appointments for you and you pay on results, not retainers. Our booking page asks a few quick questions so you find out in two minutes whether that model suits your business.
- 50,769+ appointments booked without cold calling.
- Pay-Per-Result pricing — you pay for booked, qualified calls.
- Pick your own time on our live calendar, no phone tag.
How we chose and scored these HVAC appointment setters
We scored each HVAC appointment setter on speed to lead, show rate, job qualification and pricing model, using only what each provider publishes on its own site.
Disclosure. LeadsNow, a pay-per-result AI lead generation and appointment setting agency based in Melbourne, publishes this page and ranks itself #1. We rank ourselves first because our fee is tied to booked appointments rather than to call minutes or a monthly seat, which is the test this page uses. Judge the reasoning, not the position.
Method. We only listed providers that call, text or answer for you and book or hand over the job: not marketing agencies. Each was checked on its own website on 25 October 2026. We scored four things the backlog note set for this page: speed to lead, what happens to show rate (reminders, confirmations), how the job is qualified before a technician drives out, and the pricing model (per appointment, per record, per minute or subscription). We used no star ratings and have no commercial relationship with any provider listed. We deliberately chose different providers from our HVAC lead generation agencies ranking and our HVAC marketing agencies ranking, which cover the agencies that create the enquiries.
Want this done for you? We book qualified sales appointments on a Pay-Per-Result basis — you only pay for calls that actually land in your calendar.
The ranked list: four appointment setters for Australian HVAC companies
The ranked list below orders four HVAC appointment setting providers by how much of the enquiry-to-quote-visit path each one takes off the owner’s hands.
#1 LeadsNow: AI follow-up that books install quote visits, paid on results
Best for: HVAC companies with steady enquiry volume and an office that cannot call every lead back within minutes in peak weeks.
LeadsNow contacts each new enquiry and each unsigned quote by AI calling, SMS and DM follow-up, qualifies the job (system type, property, timing) and books the quote visit into your calendar with reminders. Since 2017 LeadsNow has booked 50,769+ AI-booked sales appointments and generated 1M+ leads across industries. Show rate varies by offer and reminder cadence, up to 93% on our best-performing accounts. Pricing is 5–25% of the revenue we generate for you (revenue share), or an equivalent pay-per-appointment fee, or a mix of both, depending on lead volume, what is being sold and its price, the type of business, and which part or all of the sales funnel we run. No-shows aren’t charged, and the cost of contacting people who never book is ours. More on our trades page and the AI appointment setting service.
Where we lose: we publish no HVAC-specific case study, and we are not a 24/7 breakdown dispatch desk. If your main leak is emergency calls ringing out, #2 or #4 answers the phone itself.
#2 Sophiie: AI receptionist software built for trades, with an HVAC mode
Best for: owner-operators who miss calls on the tools and want software, not a team, to answer and book.
Sophiie’s HVAC page says it answers 24/7, filters installs, services and breakdown calls, escalates emergency breakdowns to on-call staff, and books jobs into your calendar with a two-way ServiceM8 sync. Its speed-to-lead page says it follows up missed calls, website forms, Facebook, Instagram and Google Ads leads by text or call. Sophiie is software: you configure it and own the outcome.
#3 LeadCallers: human callers for the enquiries and quote lists you already have
Best for: HVAC firms with regular marketing enquiries or a past-customer list they want worked by people.
LeadCallers is run by Melbourne-based Evolved Contact, which says it has helped businesses increase phone, website and campaign conversions since 2016. Its callers are Australian-based. Its site lists appointment setting, lead qualifying and reinvigorating old leads among its campaigns, says it calls each contact up to 6 times, charges a fixed rate per record called (its performance plan adds a success fee), and runs month to month with 14 days notice before your next cycle. Its FAQ says you cannot run cold calling campaigns with it. It is a generalist that fits HVAC firms with warm leads to work.
#4 Virtual HQ: Australian receptionists who answer and fill the diary
Best for: HVAC businesses that want a human voice on every inbound call in peak season, at a published monthly price.
Virtual HQ has an HVAC answering service page offering 24/7 answering by Australian receptionists, after-hours emergency handling, no lock-in contract and a 7-day free trial. Its diary management page lists MyDiary 20 at $100 a month plus GST with 20 minutes included and $2.99 per extra minute. Both pages describe answering and booking the inbound calls you divert to Virtual HQ, not outbound follow-up of web forms or old quotes.
The Heatwave Answer Gap: what slow callbacks cost an HVAC company
The Heatwave Answer Gap is the install revenue an HVAC company forgoes when peak-week enquiries are called back in hours instead of minutes. Every input below is an illustrative assumption, not a market average: use your own job book.
- Peak-week enquiries: 120, of which one third (40) are install or replacement enquiries.
- Share of install enquiries that book a quote visit: 50% when called back within minutes, 30% when called back hours later (assumed bands).
- Quote-to-win rate: 30%.
Fast callbacks book 20 quote visits (40 × 50%) and slow ones book 12 (40 × 30%), a gap of 8 visits. At a 30% win rate that is 2.4 installs a week. Multiply by the install value:
| Average install value (assumption) | Extra quote visits | Extra installs at 30% win | Install revenue forgone per peak week |
|---|---|---|---|
| $4,000 (single split system) | 8 | 2.4 | $9,600 |
| $9,000 (ducted, mid-size home) | 8 | 2.4 | $21,600 |
| $20,000 (multi-zone or light commercial) | 8 | 2.4 | $48,000 |
The gap comes from install enquiries, not breakdown calls, so judge any appointment setter on how fast it reaches install leads, and on reminders: a booked visit only pays if the customer is home. Our speed-to-lead guide for trade businesses covers the response-time side in more depth.
If we can’t make you money, we don’t deserve yours.
Pay-Per-Result pricing — performance-based alignment.
Which type of HVAC appointment setter fits which job
The right HVAC appointment setter depends on the job type: breakdowns need an answered phone, installs need fast outbound follow-up, and old quotes need a calling campaign.
| Situation | Best-fit provider type | Pricing model to expect | Do it yourself instead when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakdown calls ring out while techs are on jobs | AI receptionist or live answering (Sophiie, Virtual HQ) | Subscription or per minute | Someone in the office reliably answers within a few rings |
| Install web forms and ad leads wait hours for a callback | Outbound AI follow-up service (LeadsNow) or AI receptionist software | Per appointment or revenue share; or subscription | You get fewer than a handful of install enquiries a week |
| Last season’s unsigned quotes are sitting in the CRM | Calling campaign (LeadsNow, LeadCallers) | Per appointment, or per record called | The list is small enough to ring yourself in an afternoon |
| Quote visits get booked but customers are not home | Any provider that sends reminders and confirmations | Prefer models where no-shows cost the provider | Your job software already sends SMS reminders |
For dormant quote lists specifically, see our database reactivation guide; for the wider Australian market of appointment setters across industries, see the best appointment setting agencies in Australia.
Australian rules an HVAC appointment setter must follow
Australian HVAC appointment setters must respect ACMA telemarketing calling hours, the Do Not Call Register, the Spam Act 2003 and the licence rules that govern how air conditioning work is advertised.
- Calling hours. The telemarketing industry standard limits telemarketing calls to 9:00am to 8:00pm on weekdays and 9:00am to 5:00pm on Saturdays, with no calls on Sundays or national public holidays, unless the consumer has consented to a call at that time (Do Not Call Register: industry standards).
- SMS and email. ACMA says you need consent before sending marketing messages, even if someone else sends them for you, and each message must identify you as the sender and make it easy to unsubscribe (ACMA: avoid sending spam).
- Refrigerant licensing. The Australian Refrigeration Council runs the Refrigerant Handling Licence and Refrigerant Trading Authorisation schemes, which trace back to the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989. A setter’s script should never promise credentials your technicians do not hold.
- Licence numbers in NSW advertising. NSW Fair Trading says air conditioning and refrigeration work is specialist work that cannot be advertised at any value without a current contractor licence, and the licensee’s name and licence number must be shown in all advertising (NSW building trade advertisements).
This is general information, not legal advice.