Most HVAC profiles do not say they answer at night. Fix yours before the first cold snap
Only a minority of HVAC companies list 24-hour hours on Google. What that number means as heating season starts, and what to change on your profile this week.
The first night it drops into the 30s, furnaces that sat idle since March get switched on, and some of them do not light. The homeowner grabs a phone, searches "furnace repair near me", and looks for one thing before anything else: is this company open right now.
Here is the number that matters this week. Across 46,610 HVAC listings in our data, only 29.3% list themselves as open 24 hours on Google. Another 28.1% list no hours at all. In a trade where a no-heat call at 10 p.m. is some of the best-paying work of the year, most of the field does not tell Google it takes those calls.
What the number means
There are two readings, and both are useful.
Many companies do take after-hours calls but never say so on the profile. They have an on-call tech and a phone forwarded to a cell. Google does not know that. The homeowner looking at the map at night sees "Closed" and scrolls past.
Many companies genuinely do not run after hours. That is a fair business choice. But it means that in your market, the after-hours search results are thinner than the daytime ones. If you can cover nights even part of the season, there is less competition on that screen than you might think.
Either way, the hours field is doing work for the few who set it correctly and against everyone else.
What happens on a phone at night
When someone searches at night, Google shows "Open 24 hours" or "Closed, opens 8 AM" right under each listing name. Searches like "emergency furnace repair" or "HVAC open now" signal urgency, and Google leans toward listings it knows are open.
So a company with 40 reviews and correct 24-hour hours can get a call that a company with 300 reviews and blank hours does not. Reviews still matter a lot. The median HVAC company has 30 reviews, and the top tenth has 511 or more. But at 11 p.m., "open" can beat "popular".
What to do this week
Decide honestly what you cover. Pick one: true 24/7 with a live answer, after-hours on-call with a callback inside 15 minutes, or business hours only. Do not list 24 hours if the phone goes to a full voicemail box at night. Homeowners who get no answer from a company marked "Open 24 hours" leave reviews about it.
If you cover nights, set it. In your Google Business Profile, set hours to "Open 24 hours" for every day you take calls. If weekends are covered too, set those. Only 39% of the field lists Sunday hours, so a covered Sunday is a real edge.
If you cover some nights, use "More hours". Google lets you add separate hours for things like emergency service or online appointments. You can keep regular office hours as the main schedule and list emergency service with longer hours. That is more honest than blanket 24-hour hours, and it still shows up.
Fix the phone before the hours. Changing the hours sends you calls you have to catch. Forward after-hours calls to the on-call tech or an answering service that can book. Set up a missed-call text-back that replies within a minute: "This is [company]. We got your call. If you have no heat, reply with your address and we will call you back within 15 minutes." The missed calls guide has the setup, and the calculator shows what a few missed no-heat calls a week cost over a season.
Set the after-hours price, and say it. Homeowners expect a premium at night. Decide your after-hours dispatch fee, say $150 to $250 over your standard diagnostic depending on your market, and have the on-call tech say it before rolling the truck. Surprise charges at 1 a.m. are a fast route to a one-star review. The pricing guide covers how to present it.
Mention it everywhere. Add "24-hour emergency heating repair" or "after-hours no-heat service" to the first line of your profile description, your services list, and the top of your website. AI answers and the map both read that text.
Then ask for the review
After-hours calls produce some of the strongest reviews in the trade. Someone whose heat was out at midnight and back on by 1 a.m. is about as grateful as a customer gets. Have the tech ask at the door and text the review link before leaving. Reviews that say "came out at midnight when nobody else answered" do more for your night-time calls than any setting. The reviews guide has the script.
A five-minute check
Search "furnace repair near me" on your phone tonight after 9 p.m. Count how many listings in the map show as open. Then search your own company name. If your listing says "Closed" and you would have taken that call, change it before you go to bed.
If you want the after-hours phone setup and the profile handled for you, any service is available as a free 14-day trial, no card. Text or call (385) 364-3875.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, HVAC companies among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor