Editorial · Last reviewed 2026-04-22
Editorial policy
The rules we apply to every page on this site. They cover how we pick the cities we cover, where our facts come from, how we handle paid placements, and how we handle errors when we make them.
On this page
Independence from contractors
Compare HVAC Pro does not accept payment for editorial ranking. A contractor cannot buy their way into the top of a ranked shortlist on any city, county, “best”, or cost page. Where a listing is sponsored or featured, the placement is labeled as such — in-line on the card, and explained in our affiliate disclosure.
Partner contractors — the companies that pay to receive matched quote requests from homeowners — are held to the same license, conduct, and complaint-history bar as every other listed provider. A partner with a lapsed license drops off the site on the next refresh cycle; there is no override. A partner with a pattern of unresolved complaints is delisted on the same cadence as a non-partner.
Our revenue comes from the contractor side (featured placements, matched lead fees). Reading Compare HVAC Pro is free for homeowners, and we never sell or resell homeowner contact information to call centers or third-party lead aggregators.
How we choose cities to cover
We build city pages on a contractor-density rule, not a population rule. A city gets a dedicated page when the licensed HVAC roster in that market (or served from a neighboring market with primary service coverage) is large enough to produce a useful, non-empty shortlist — generally 4+ verified providers. Below that threshold we either fold the city into a larger neighboring market or list it under the county hub.
Cities in our geographic registry that do not yet meet the threshold are not published to the sitemap and return 404 to crawlers. We prune these aggressively — in April 2026 we marked 7,502 thin city pages noindex after a coverage audit (see our corrections log). We would rather cover 1,500 cities well than 9,000 cities poorly.
Sourcing standards
Every factual claim on Compare HVAC Pro — licensing, rebates, permits, tax credits, code requirements — is sourced from primary public records. Our order of preference:
- State and federal agencies (.gov). IRS, DOE, state licensing bodies (Oregon CCB, Washington L&I, Texas TDLR, Florida DBPR), state energy offices.
- Utility program documentation. MassSave, NYSERDA, PSE, Energy Trust of Oregon, Xcel, ConEd — we link directly to the program page when citing a rebate.
- Industry bodies. AHRI for equipment certifications, NATE for technician credentials, ACCA for design standards.
- Manufacturer specifications. For equipment performance and warranty terms.
- Google Business profiles. For ratings, reviews, hours, and contact info — clearly attributed.
Secondary sources (other publisher sites, press releases, contractor marketing copy) are used only when no primary source exists, and they are cited rather than restated as fact.
Reviewer roles
Every guide and evergreen content page is written by the editorial team and reviewed by a subject-matter expert before publication. Roles:
- Editor. Owns the editorial calendar, sets publication standards, approves or rejects new content against this policy.
- Writer. Produces initial draft and fact-checks against primary sources. All drafts cite their sources before going to technical review.
- Technical reviewer. Licensed HVAC technician (currently Ken Landers, EPA 608 Universal — placeholder credential until full reviewer bench is published here). Reviews technical accuracy on equipment, code, and safety claims. Flags any claim that cannot be verified against a primary source.
- Data engineering. Owns the license-verification pipeline, review-ingestion pipeline, and the freshness audits that run on every published page.
Conflict-of-interest policy
Writers and reviewers must disclose any financial relationship with a listed contractor, equipment manufacturer, or utility program we are covering. Disclosed conflicts are managed by reassigning coverage to a non-conflicted contributor, not by suppressing the coverage itself.
Writers and reviewers may not accept gifts, travel, paid consulting engagements, or equipment samples from any contractor that is — or could become — featured on the site. Reviewer credentials (EPA 608, NATE) are verified independently of any contractor employer.
How we keep pages fresh
Licensing status is re-verified on a rolling cadence against state agency records. Ratings and review counts refresh weekly from Google Business profiles. Cost ranges and rebate programs are reviewed at least quarterly and updated whenever a utility program changes or a federal incentive is amended.
Every evergreen content page (guides, Compare HVAC Pro educational pages) carries a visible “Updated” date in its byline. Programmatic pages (city, county, best, cost) carry a data provenance strip near the footer with the license source and most recent refresh date.
Corrections
If we publish something incorrect, we fix it quickly and log the change. Our public corrections policy and log records every material correction with date and what changed. To report an inaccuracy, email editorial@comparehvacpro.com or use the contact page.
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