TL;DR
HVAC PPC management runs $600 to $2,500 a month in fees depending on the shop, before ad spend. The honest ranking: Skill Mammoth (ours, $600/mo flat or 12% of spend, LSA-first strategy), Sixth City Marketing and Thrive for full-service depth, Blue Corona for larger operations, Hook Agency for contractor-niche focus, and Built Right Digital for the budget-conscious. The bigger decision sits upstream of the agency choice: for most residential HVAC companies, Local Service Ads should get the first paid dollar and PPC the second, because LSA cost-per-acquired-customer runs 40 to 60% lower. Any PPC shop that doesn't tell you that is selling you their product, not your outcome.
One disclosure before the list: Skill Mammoth manages HVAC PPC, so we are on our own list. We put ourselves first and we say why, the same way our HVAC marketing agencies roundup recommends plenty of shops we compete with. The rankings below are built from published pricing, scope, and specialization, and we flag what each shop does better than us.
First, the question that outranks the agency question
PPC is pay-per-click: you pay for the visit whether or not it becomes a lead. Local Service Ads are pay-per-lead with the Google Verified badge, and in most HVAC markets they produce acquired customers 40 to 60% cheaper. So the right sequence for a residential shop is LSAs first, PPC layered on for what LSAs can't reach: research-phase queries ("best heat pump for Minnesota"), new-install and IAQ campaigns, branded search defense, and markets where your category is capped. The full channel logic is in our HVAC advertising guide.
Judge every agency on this list by whether they tell you something like that in the sales call, or whether every problem you bring them looks like a bigger ad budget.
The list
1. Skill Mammoth (ours)
Flat $600 a month or 12% of ad spend, whichever is higher, with a $1,000 setup that covers full campaign build, negative keyword lists tuned for HVAC ("furnace filter sizes" is not a lead), and conversion plus call tracking wired end to end. Meta bundles in at $1,000 a month total. No contracts. The market context: most shops on this list charge 15 to 20% of spend or $750 to $2,500 monthly, many with 6-to-12-month terms. Our honest weakness: we are a small team, and if you want a dedicated account manager and quarterly business reviews in a conference room, the bigger shops below do ceremony better. What you get instead is the LSA-first strategy and a fee that doesn't grow just because your budget did.
2. Sixth City Marketing
The strongest independent PPC specialist ranking for HVAC terms right now. Cleveland-based, 15+ years in, strong on conversion tracking discipline and landing page work. Full-service (SEO, web) but PPC is a genuine core competency rather than an add-on. Custom pricing; expect mid-market fees.
3. Thrive Internet Marketing Agency
The biggest general agency on the list, with an HVAC-specific PPC practice inside it. Deep bench, every channel under one roof, offices everywhere. The trade: HVAC is one vertical among dozens, and account quality depends heavily on which team you land. Our full Thrive comparison covers the structural differences. Pricing is custom and typically starts north of $1,000 a month for management.
4. Blue Corona (EverCommerce)
A home-services marketing heavyweight with real HVAC depth and serious reporting infrastructure. Best fit at $3M+ revenue where their minimums make sense. Expect enterprise-ish fees and processes, which is either reassuring or suffocating depending on your size.
5. Hook Agency
Contractor-niche specialists (roofing, HVAC, plumbing) with strong content and brand energy, and a PPC practice layered onto an SEO-first shop. Their paid media starts around $2,000 a month per channel. If you want one agency for SEO plus paid with a contractor-only client list, they are a legitimate pick; our side-by-side with Hook covers where we differ, mostly on price structure and software.
6. Built Right Digital
The value-tier specialist: home services only, Google Ads from around $999 a month. A sensible pick when budget is the binding constraint and you want a specialist rather than a generalist freelancer. Our Built-Right comparison has the fuller picture.
The comparison
| Agency | Management fee signal | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Skill Mammoth (ours) | $600/mo or 12% of spend, no contract | Residential shops that want LSA-first strategy and flat fees |
| Sixth City Marketing | Custom, mid-market | Tracking-discipline PPC with landing page depth |
| Thrive | Custom, $1,000+/mo typical | Everything under one large roof |
| Blue Corona | Enterprise-level | $3M+ operations wanting big-shop process |
| Hook Agency | ~$2,000/mo per channel | Contractor-only shop pairing PPC with strong SEO |
| Built Right Digital | From ~$999/mo | Budget-first specialist management |
| Verdict | Pick the fee structure and the strategy sequence before the logo. LSAs first, PPC second, and never pay 20% of spend for work that costs the agency the same at every budget level. | |
Want the LSA-first version of HVAC paid ads?
Flat fees, no contracts, and a channel plan that starts with the cheapest acquired customer, not the biggest budget. We'll show you the math for your market.
Questions to ask any HVAC PPC company
- What percent of my spend is your fee, and does it change as spend grows? (Percentage-only pricing rewards the agency for spending more.)
- Will you tell me when LSAs should get the dollar instead? (The honest ones will.)
- Who owns the ad account and the conversion data when I leave? (The answer must be you.)
- What happened to the last account that stopped growing? (Listen for optimization stories, not budget stories.)
And whichever shop you pick, ads inherit your website's conversion rate. If the site itself leaks, fix that first: our HVAC SEO guide covers the organic side, and the free audit below shows the leaks in ten minutes.
Frequently asked questions
How much does HVAC PPC management cost?
Management fees run $600 to $2,500 a month across the market, or 15 to 20% of ad spend at percentage-based shops, before the ad budget itself. Skill Mammoth charges $600 a month or 12% of spend, whichever is higher, with no contract. Typical HVAC ad budgets start at $1,500 to $5,000 a month paid directly to Google.
Should an HVAC company run PPC or Local Service Ads?
LSAs first for residential work: they are pay-per-lead with the Google Verified badge and deliver 40 to 60% lower cost per acquired customer in most trades. PPC earns its budget on what LSAs cannot reach: research-phase queries, new-install and IAQ campaigns, branded search defense, and capped categories.
Who is the best HVAC PPC company?
It depends on size and structure. Skill Mammoth for flat fees and LSA-first strategy, Sixth City Marketing for tracking-discipline PPC, Thrive for a big full-service bench, Blue Corona for $3M+ operations, Hook Agency for a contractor-only shop pairing PPC with strong SEO, and Built Right Digital from around $999 a month for budget-first management.
What questions should I ask an HVAC PPC agency?
Four: What percent of my spend is your fee and does it grow with my budget? Will you tell me when LSAs should get the dollar instead? Who owns the ad account and conversion data when I leave? And what happened to the last account that stopped growing? The answers reveal whether they sell outcomes or budgets.
Why does percentage-of-spend PPC pricing matter?
Because it rewards the agency for spending more of your money. Managing a $10,000 budget costs an agency roughly the same work as managing $5,000, but a 20% fee doubles. Flat fees or low percentage floors align the agency with your cost per lead instead of your spend level.
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