AI Search Report
HVAC · Brooklyn, Queens & Monmouth County · October 2026Which HVAC companies does AI recommend?
Homeowners are starting to ask ChatGPT and Perplexity who to call when the heat goes out. We asked both the questions a homeowner would, twice each, in Brooklyn, Queens and Monmouth County, NJ, and recorded every company they recommended.
- Assistants
- ChatGPT and Perplexity
- Sample
- 5 questions × 2 assistants × 2 runs × 3 markets = 59 answers analysed
- Businesses recommended
- 96
- Fieldwork
- October 9–10, 2026
Summary
Key findings
55%
of recommended companies came back when the identical question was asked again (101 of 184).
23of 96
recommended companies were named by both ChatGPT and Perplexity in the same market.
15of 30
established local firms we selected in advance were never recommended in their own market.
118of 288
recommendations came with a link to that business's own website.
AI recommendations for HVAC are less stable, and less shared between assistants, than a single check suggests. Ask the same question twice and part of the list changes. Ask a different assistant and you mostly get different companies.
For a business owner, one screenshot of an AI answer, good or bad, says little. A fair picture needs both assistants and more than one check.
Section 1 · Method
How we ran the study
We picked three markets with very different housing and competition: Brooklyn, Queens and Monmouth County, New Jersey. In each, we asked ChatGPT and Perplexity five questions a homeowner might type, from “What are the best HVAC companies in Brooklyn?” to “My heating stopped working tonight. Who offers emergency HVAC repair?”
Every question was asked twice, in a fresh private session, to see how stable the answers were. Before collecting anything, we also fixed a list of 30 established HVAC companies (10 per market) found through ordinary web search, so we could see how a typical local firm fares. Full notes are in the appendix.
Section 2
Ask twice, get a different list
Figure 1. Recommended businesses that appeared in both runs of the same question
Across 29 repeated question pairs. Pooled: 101 of 184 (54.9%).
ChatGPT never returned an identical list (0 of 15 repeated pairs). Perplexity returned the same list in 8 of 14. Neither assistant ever returned a completely different list on the repeat: some companies always carried over.
Section 3
ChatGPT and Perplexity keep different shortlists
Figure 2. Businesses recommended at least once in each market, by assistant
23 of 96 (24%) were recommended by both.
The split can be stark for individual firms. In Queens, KOKA-TECH HVAC was recommended in 8 of 10 ChatGPT answers and 2 of 10 Perplexity answers. In Monmouth County, MG Air Group appeared in 6 of 10 ChatGPT answers and none on Perplexity, while Swanton Energy Services showed the reverse (2 of 10 on ChatGPT, 6 of 10 on Perplexity).
Checking one assistant tells you about that assistant only.
Section 4
A few names come up again and again
Brooklyn, NY
19 answers · 28 businesses recommended
Queens, NY
20 answers · 36 businesses recommended
Monmouth County, NJ
20 answers · 32 businesses recommended
Businesses recommended in at least 5 of the market's answers, all five questions combined. Equal counts are listed alphabetically. Every recommended business is in the appendix.
In every market, the most-recommended companies appeared in 40–50% of answers. Meanwhile, 15 of the 30 established firms we selected in advance were not recommended in any answer for their own market. Each has a website and a stated service area, so being on the web is not the same as being named by an AI assistant.
These are counts within our sampled answers, not a ranking of quality.
Section 5
What the answers linked to
57 of 59 answers showed at least one source link. We recorded what was linked, not why a business was recommended.
Figure 3. Answers that linked to each kind of source at least once
Out of 59 answers.
Perplexity linked to business websites more often (24 of 29) than ChatGPT (16 of 30). Of 288 individual recommendations, 118 (41%) came with a link to that business's own site.
Government pages, such as New York City licence lookups and New Jersey consumer-protection pages, appeared in 19 answers, mostly on ChatGPT (14 of 30). Review sites and directories appeared in 24; the most-linked were reviews.birdeye.com and thumbtack.com.
Section 6
What an HVAC company can do about it
Each step separates what we observed in this study from general good practice. The study did not test whether these steps change AI recommendations.
- 01
Check both assistants
ObservedOnly 23 of 96 recommended businesses appeared on both ChatGPT and Perplexity.
Good practiceAsk both the questions your customers ask, using your town's name.
- 02
Check more than once
ObservedRepeating an identical question kept 55% of recommended businesses; ChatGPT never returned the same list twice.
Good practiceRe-check on different days before drawing conclusions.
- 03
Make each service and area easy to find
Observed118 of 288 recommendations linked to the business's own site.
Good practiceGive each core service its own page that says what you do, where you work and how to reach you.
- 04
Keep directory and review profiles accurate
Observed24 of 59 answers linked to review sites or directories such as Birdeye, Thumbtack and Yelp.
Good practiceKeep your name, address, phone, services and hours consistent everywhere you are listed.
- 05
Make your licence and insurance easy to verify
Observed19 of 59 answers sent readers to government licence-check or consumer-protection pages.
Good practiceShow licence numbers and insurance details on your site so they match what a homeowner can look up.
Is your HVAC business being recommended by AI?
We'll ask ChatGPT and Perplexity the questions your customers ask and show you where you're named, where you're missing, and who is recommended instead.
Appendix
Method notes and full recommendation data
- Each of the 5 questions was asked twice on ChatGPT and twice on Perplexity in each market: 60 planned answers. 59 were analysed; one Brooklyn Perplexity answer was cut off during collection and is reported as missing, not replaced.
- Answers were collected by hand in the consumer apps, signed out, in a private window with a new chat per question, October 9–10, 2026. They were saved as text with a fingerprint (hash) so they cannot be edited unnoticed. Screenshots were not kept.
- “Recommended” means the answer presented the business as an option to contact, without warnings. “Mentioned” means the name appeared at all. Ambiguous calls were logged with the quoted text.
- Before any answers were collected, we fixed a sample of 30 established HVAC firms (10 per market) from ordinary web search, each with its own website and a stated service area. Every business AI recommended was tracked, inside or outside that sample. Firms are counted against their own market's answers.
- A reviewer spot-checked 12 randomly selected answers against the collected text. This was not a check against the original AI sessions, which cannot be re-opened.
- This is a small, deliberate sample: 5 questions, 3 markets, 2 days. AI answers change with time, account and location, and the collector's city was not recorded. Counts describe this sample, not every search, and are not a ranking of quality.
- The study does not measure calls, leads, bookings or revenue, and does not show why any business was or was not recommended.
- One Queens naming case is unresolved (HomeServe); merging it changes the Queens platform overlap from 7 of 36 to 7 of 35.
The five questions
- What are the best HVAC companies in [town]?
- Which HVAC companies in [town] have the best customer reviews?
- My heating stopped working tonight. Who offers emergency HVAC repair in [town]?
- Which HVAC contractors in [town] would you recommend for replacing a central air conditioning system?
- Who should I call for boiler or furnace repair in [town]?
Brooklyn, NY: all 28 businesses recommended (19 answers)
| Business | ChatGPT (of 10) | Perplexity (of 9) | Total (of 19) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airnizer HVAC | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| Classic Home Services | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Petri Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Drain Cleaning | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| 212 HVAC | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| American HVAC Corp | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Mr. Air NYC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Prime Air Group | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| YP Mechanical | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Heatspan | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Iceberg Mechanical Corp | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Brooklyn Queens HVAC Services | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Panda HVAC Inc | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Parkset Plumbing & Heating | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| AC In NYC | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Arnica Heating and Air Conditioning Inc | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Einstein’s Plumbing & Heating | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| HVAC WIZ | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Joe The Plumber | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Star Heating and Cooling Company | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Air Rescue | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Art HVAC | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Brownstone Heating & Air Conditioning | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Coolfusion HVAC Corp | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Elite Air Conditioning & Beyond | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Fixar Inc. | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| NY HVAC Services Inc | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| S H Heating and Piping | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Switch and Fix | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Queens, NY: all 36 businesses recommended (20 answers)
| Business | ChatGPT (of 10) | Perplexity (of 10) | Total (of 20) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day Night HVAC & Plumbing Inc | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| KOKA-TECH HVAC | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| Air Tactical HVAC Services | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| Comfort Tech Mechanical | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Hi Tech HVAC Services | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Jah Bless HVAC/R | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Airnizer HVAC | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Heating, Cooling & Electric Solutions | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| HomeServe of Brooklyn-Queens | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Petri Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Drain Cleaning | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Ranshaw Plumbing & Heating | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Continental HVAC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Panda HVAC Inc | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Queensboro HVAC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Richair Comfort Solutions | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| AFGO Mechanical Services | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Arista Air Conditioning | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Best Air HVAC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Brooklyn Queens HVAC Services | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Fixar Inc. | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| HomeServe | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| HVAC FIX NYC | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| L A T Mechanical | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Skaggs-Walsh | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Smart Air NYC | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| T.F. O'Brien Cooling & Heating | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Testerman Plumbing & Heating Inc | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| American HVAC Corp | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Arnica Heating & Air Conditioning | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Excellent Air Conditioning and Heating Services Inc | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Interstate Air Conditioning & Heating | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| NY HVAC Services | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| NYC Pigeon Air Conditioner | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Systematic Control | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| TriStar Commercial HVAC Solutions | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Weston Bros | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Monmouth County, NJ: all 32 businesses recommended (20 answers)
| Business | ChatGPT (of 10) | Perplexity (of 10) | Total (of 20) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Shore Heating and Air Conditioning | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| Swanton Energy Services | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| MG Air Group | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Tamco Air | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| A-1 Comfort Care Heating, Cooling & Plumbing | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| A.J. Perri | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Arctic Air Conditioning | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| D & R Heating & Air Conditioning | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Edison Heating & Cooling | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Joe Hurley Heating & Cooling | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Air Care Heating & Air Conditioning | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| All Air Systems Heating and Cooling | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| FIXALL | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Pro Energy Solutions | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Dwyer Services | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Coastal Air Conditioning | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| First Degree Air Conditioning Heating & Plumbing | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Mr. Home Services | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| NJ Heat Masters | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Novus Mechanical Inc | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Tom Rostron Home Services | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| C & C Air Conditioning and Heating | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Aggressive Mechanical Contractors Inc | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Air Experts | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| American Dream Air | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Belmar Plumbing & Heating | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Coast LLC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Garden State Air Conditioning and Heat | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| ITAK Heating & Cooling | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| J&E Mechanical | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Neil Slattery Plumbing Heating and Cooling | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Disclosure. This research was conducted by an agency that offers AI search optimization services. Some businesses in the research sample may be current or prospective clients of the agency. No company paid for inclusion or received preferential treatment, and the company roster was fixed before any AI answers were collected. Businesses are named only as they appeared in AI answers; inclusion is not an endorsement.
A technical appendix with every answer, count and coding decision is available on request: contact@zohairai.com.