Virginia HVAC marketing timed to two seasons and true to the letters on your license

In Virginia, the letters on your DPOR license decide which jobs your ads may offer. An HVAC license does not reach the gas pipe. So a furnace page that promises a new gas line needs a second credential behind it.

The Board for Contractors' classification rule defines the HVAC contractor (HVA) by the work: heating, ventilating and cooling systems, boilers, process piping and mechanical refrigeration. The same definition says it does not cover gas piping, fire suppression or sprinklers.

Gas has a home of its own. The gas fitting specialty covers installing, repairing and removing gas piping and gas appliances. So "gas furnace conversion, new line included" is a promise for a firm that holds both, or that names the licensed gas fitter who runs the line. A heat pump swap, with no gas involved, sits inside HVA alone.

The class on the license sets the dollar size of each job you may take. A heat pump changeout and a whole-building chiller job can land in different classes. Our Virginia general contractor page walks through the Class A, B and C limits, so we will not repeat them here.

People need licenses too. Under the tradesman licensing law, nobody may do or offer HVAC work as a tradesman without a DPOR license. The exception is a worker supervised by a licensed tradesman in that trade. Our reading: an ad promising a solo night visit should send someone who holds the license, and a "meet the techs" page that names license levels earns trust a stock photo cannot.

Virginia is a two-season HVAC state, but each season reaches each metro on its own schedule. A heating campaign that starts on one statewide date wastes a month of budget somewhere.

NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for Dulles Airport, in Loudoun County, put the median first fall freeze on October 24. The station counts 101.7 nights a year that drop to 32 degrees or lower.

The coast runs a month behind. The Norfolk normals put the first freeze around November 23, with 40.6 freezing nights a year. So furnace and heat pump checks can open in Fairfax and Loudoun while Virginia Beach still runs the air.

Richmond is where cooling lasts. Its station normals count 44.9 days a year reaching 90 degrees, more than any other Virginia station we read, and a first freeze around November 4. That makes Richmond the metro where a summer cooling budget pays longest.

Roanoke sits nearer to Northern Virginia than to the coast. The Roanoke normals show 76.6 freezing nights, 14.8 inches of snow and a first freeze around November 1. The Virginia page explains why clicks there cost less than in the big metros.

If your maintenance plan renews and charges a card by itself, Virginia sets rules for the sign-up and for the exit. A plan sold at the kitchen table still has to be cancelable by phone or online.

The automatic renewal law asks for three things at sign-up. Show the renewal terms clearly, right beside the request for consent. Get the customer's yes before the first charge. Then send an acknowledgment they can keep, with the terms and how to cancel.

The exit has to be as easy as the entrance. A plan sold in person needs a cancel route online or by phone. A phone cancel costs the customer nothing and works in normal business hours. If members joined online, nobody can be made to talk to an agent before canceling.

Commercial plans count. The law's definitions treat a small business as a consumer when it has 250 or fewer employees or $10 million or less in yearly receipts. So a small restaurant's rooftop maintenance contract gets the same rights as a homeowner's club.

Changing the price or the visits mid-plan needs clear notice first. A plan that renews for longer than 12 months also needs a reminder 30 to 60 days before the cancel deadline. A violation is a consumer protection violation under the chapter's enforcement section. Not legal advice. Confirm with counsel.

Dominion Energy pays business customers rebates on HVAC tune-ups, which hands a commercial service pitch a ready reason to call. The ad has to make plain that the rebate is Dominion's and the company is yours.

Dominion's business rebate program lists HVAC tune-ups for air conditioners, heat pumps and chillers among its rebated improvements. Duct testing and sealing is on the same list. Amounts change, so we check the current measures chart before any figure goes in an ad.

Google is strict about borrowed authority. Under its unacceptable business practices policy, an ad may not suggest that a brand, organization or government stands behind you when none does. Google treats that as egregious and can suspend the account on detection. "Dominion-approved contractor" is the phrase to avoid unless the program says so in writing.

Homes are different. Dominion's save energy page lists heat pump and air conditioner tune-ups among no-cost measures for income-qualified customers, done by weatherization providers. Our reading: that program is not a lead source for your residential ads, but your call team should know it exists.