HVAC, plumbing, roofing, landscaping, cleaning, home service businesses have the natural advantage of direct customer interaction after every job.
Home service businesses have an enormous review advantage that most of them squander.
Every completed job is a direct, in-person interaction with a satisfied customer. The customer watched you solve their problem, shook your hand, and paid you. They're in the highest-possible positive mindset about your business, for about the next 4 hours.
After that, life moves on. The gratitude fades. If you haven't asked for a review in that window, the probability drops dramatically.
Here's how to build a systematic review engine that captures that window automatically, every time.
Related reading: our guide to Thumbtack and HomeAdvisor reviews covers how home service pros should manage reviews on lead platforms.
Home service industries rank among the most review-sensitive categories in local search. Customers making high-stakes decisions (letting someone into their home, authorizing a $3,000 repair) rely heavily on social proof.
What strong reviews do for home service businesses:
📊 Flento Data: Home service businesses with 50+ Google reviews close 67% more local pack impressions into actual calls compared to competitors with fewer than 20 reviews, controlling for rating.
Timing is the single biggest lever in review generation, more than the channel, more than the message.
The golden window: 1–4 hours after job completion
At job completion, the customer is: relieved the problem is solved, grateful for professional work, in direct contact with you or your technician. This is peak motivation.
After 24 hours: they've moved on mentally. The job is done, life resumed. Response rates drop 60%. After 72 hours: they may not even remember exactly which company did the work.
Best practices by home service type:
HVAC / Plumbing / Electrical: Ask while the technician is still wrapping up, or trigger an automated SMS the moment the job is marked complete in your field service app. Customers are still in the "thank goodness that's handled" mindset.
Roofing / Major renovation: Ask at final walkthrough, after the customer has physically inspected the work and expressed satisfaction. Get confirmation before the ask, don't request a review from someone who has unresolved concerns.
Cleaning / Lawn care / Regular maintenance: Ask after the first service. Happy customers at the first visit are highly motivated to review. The relationship is fresh and they have a strong impression to share. Don't wait until they've been with you for 6 months and the experience has become routine.
Different customers respond to different channels. Use all three.
SMS (highest conversion rate) SMS review requests convert 3–4x better than email for home services. Send a short text: "Hi [Name], thanks for trusting [Company] with your [service] today! If you have 60 seconds, a Google review would mean the world to us: [short link]."
Keep it under 160 characters. Include their name. Include the service they received. One link. No fluff.
Email (backup for SMS non-responders) Send 24 hours after the SMS if no response. Email works well for customers who gave an email address but may not have seen the SMS, or customers who prefer email communication.
QR code (in-person immediate capture) A Smart QR Code on your invoice, receipt, or truck magnetic is scannable right at the moment the customer is saying goodbye. Some customers prefer to scan immediately rather than wait for a text. Print QR codes on your truck magnetics, work order forms, and leave-behind cards.
🔥 Quick Win: Set up a laminated "How'd We Do?" card with your review QR code and leave one with every customer at job completion. This captures immediate reviews from customers who want to act right now before they forget.
Not every job goes perfectly. Equipment fails, scheduling issues arise, technicians have bad days. It is tempting to ask only happy customers for reviews, but screening customers before sending the review link is review gating, which Google's policies and FTC rules prohibit. It can get reviews removed or your profile penalized.
A compliant approach for home service businesses:
A few honest critical reviews alongside many positive ones also make your profile look more trustworthy to people comparing providers.
Flento's Google Review Management Software sends every customer the same review request and helps you draft replies to every review, positive or negative.
Most home service businesses use job management software (Jobber, ServiceTitan, HouseCall Pro, Workiz, etc.). Flento integrates with these to trigger review requests automatically when a job is marked complete, no manual follow-up required.
How the integration works:
For businesses without field service software: Use Flento's manual trigger: log into the Flento dashboard, mark a customer interaction complete, and the review request fires automatically. Takes 15 seconds.
Every review deserves a response within 24 hours.
For 5-star reviews: Thank them, mention the specific service, include your city/neighborhood. "Thanks, James! So glad the HVAC installation went smoothly in Naperville, we'll be here for any future service needs."
For 4-star reviews: Same warmth + gently ask what you could improve. "Thanks for the kind words, Maria! We always aim for a 5-star experience, if there's anything we could do better next time, we'd love to hear it. [Phone/email]"
For 1-2 star reviews: Acknowledge without defending, offer offline resolution. "We're sorry your experience didn't meet expectations, Tom. Please call us at [number] so we can make this right. We stand behind our work."
💡 Pro Tip: In your positive review responses, naturally include a secondary service keyword: "Glad the drain cleaning went well, whenever you need water heater service in the future, we're your team." This cross-plants seeds for future jobs and adds keyword diversity to your indexed responses.
Home service demand is seasonal. Your review acquisition should match.
HVAC: Peak ask periods are after summer AC tune-ups and fall furnace checkups Plumbing: Consistent year-round; spike efforts in winter (freeze damage) and spring (post-winter inspections) Roofing: Spring (storm season) and fall (before winter) are peak review windows Landscaping: Spring kickoff and fall cleanup are the highest-satisfaction moments Cleaning: Immediately after first service and after any deep clean
Set automated review requests to always-on, but run manual campaigns after seasonal service pushes.
How many reviews do home service businesses need to rank in the local pack? In most US markets: 30–60 reviews with 4.5+ gets you into serious contention. In dense markets: 75–150+. The most important factor is consistent velocity, new reviews every week beats 100 reviews that stopped 6 months ago.
Should I ask every customer for a review, even ones who had minor issues? Yes. Send the same review request to every customer, including those who had minor issues. Screening customers first is review gating, which Google prohibits. If a customer raised a concern, resolve it quickly, and if they mention it in a review, reply publicly with how you fixed it.
Can I offer a discount in exchange for a review? No, this violates Google's review policies and can result in review removal or profile penalties. Ask for honest reviews from genuine customers only.
Home service businesses have a built-in review advantage that most industries would pay anything for: direct, personal access to the customer right after a successful job. The ones winning on Google Maps aren't better plumbers or better HVAC techs, they've just built the system to capture that advantage consistently.
Set up automated review generation for your home service business →
