It is 9:43 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. A detached house owner in a residential region types "certified heat pump installer" on Google. He calls the first result. Voicemail. He calls the second. Voicemail again. The third picks up — but it's a secretary who tells him "I'll call you back this week". On the fourth, a voice answers immediately, asks him three questions, estimates his subsidy eligibility live and offers a technical appointment the following Thursday. That fourth tradesperson won the job.
This scenario plays out hundreds of times a day. The heat pump market is in hypergrowth, driven by renovation subsidies, energy retrofit obligations and soaring gas prices. But the certified tradespeople who would benefit most are missing most of the inbound leads — not from lack of skill, but from lack of responsiveness and qualification.
The explosion of heat pump demand: an opportunity you miss every day
The figures are dizzying. In 2023, more than 646,000 heat pumps were installed — a 21 % growth over the previous year. In 2024 and 2025, the dynamic eased slightly with subsidy reforms, but the addressable market remains colossal: the 7.5 million homes heated with oil and the 15 million heated with gas constitute a stock to convert that represents several decades of work for certified heat pump tradespeople.
Renovation subsidies have transformed demand into a structural flow. Eligible households — and there are many — call spontaneously, motivated, with a real project. This is not cold prospecting. These are prospects who have already decided to switch to a heat pump, who are looking for a trustworthy certified tradesperson in their area, and who are ready to sign quickly if they find someone responsive and competent.
The problem, therefore, is not demand. The problem is the ability to capture and qualify this demand at the right moment. According to an internal study conducted on a panel of certified heating engineers supported between 2024 and 2026, 60 % of inbound heat pump calls do not generate a quote. The reasons are always the same: the phone is not picked up (tradesperson on a job), the person answering does not know how to qualify (untrained secretary), or the late callback leaves the prospect cold.
This reality creates a massive asymmetry: the best-organised tradespeople — those who respond quickly, qualify correctly and follow up within 24 hours — capture a disproportionate share of the market. The others complain about "not having enough customers" while letting dozens of heat pump calls ring out each week.
Why heat pumps are the hardest segment to qualify by phone
Installing a heat pump is not like unblocking a sink. It is a complex technical project, with significant financial implications, strict regulatory prerequisites (mandatory certification for subsidies), variable installation constraints (outdoor space, existing hydraulic network, available electrical power) and government aid conditional on numerous criteria.
The technical variables of a heat pump project
An experienced tradesperson knows that before even travelling for a quote, several fundamental parameters must be known:
- The type of heat pump considered — air-air (comfort only), air-water (heating + DHW), geothermal (ground, water table) — costs and subsidies vary threefold
- The heated living area — determines the nominal power required (in kW)
- The current heating system — high-temperature radiators, underfloor heating, or mixed: compatibility with a low-temperature air-water heat pump to be verified
- The home's insulation and energy rating — a poorly rated house with cast-iron radiators cannot accommodate an air-water heat pump without prior renovation
- The year of construction — before or after 2000, decisive for estimating thermal losses
- The available outdoor space — for split air-water heat pumps, the position of the outdoor unit and distances to the hydraulic network
- Owner/tenant status — a tenant cannot claim renovation subsidies for this type of work
Trying to qualify a heat pump prospect by phone without structure means either wasting 20 minutes on an unqualified lead, or missing crucial information that will waste time during the quote. Most overwhelmed tradespeople give up on qualification and produce quotes blind — generating useless trips and contracts signed at undervalued rates.
The gulf between cold lead and qualified lead
In energy renovation marketing, two types of heat pump leads are distinguished:
- The cold lead: someone who clicked on an advert or filled in a generic form. They have no defined project yet, are still comparing options (heat pump vs gas condensing boiler vs pellet stove), and sometimes are not even owners. Conversion rate cold lead → signed quote is below 8 % on average.
- The qualified lead: someone who directly called a certified tradesperson, knows their potential subsidies, is an owner-occupier, has an end-of-life heating system and wants a quote within two weeks. Conversion rate is above 40 %.
The challenge, therefore, is not to generate more leads — it is to correctly qualify those who already come forward spontaneously, and to extract the signals that differentiate hot prospects from the curious. This is exactly what the AI voice agent does, in 5 minutes, 24/7.
What the AI voice agent does in 5 minutes
The AI voice agent is not an IVR (interactive voice response) with touch tones. It is a conversational assistant that speaks naturally, adapts its questions to each answer, builds on the information given and guides the prospect towards a qualified technical appointment — or gently informs them that they are not yet eligible (rented home, top-rated energy class with no interest for a heat pump, etc.).
The 8-step heat pump qualification script
Here is the qualification flow the agent runs, in order, with intelligent handling of edge cases:
- Type of housing: detached house, flat, semi-detached — immediately determines feasibility and applicable heat pump type
- Living area: in m² (used to estimate the required heat pump power)
- Current heating system: oil, gas, electric, wood — assesses urgency and compatibility
- Current energy rating: if the prospect does not know it, the agent collects the year of construction and the nature of the walls (insulated or not) to estimate the probable class
- Indicative budget: no mention of firm prices, but the agent validates that the prospect is aware that a complete installation represents a significant investment and that subsidies can cover a substantial portion
- Project timeframe: immediate (breakdown in progress), within 3 months, within 6 months — prioritises urgent interventions
- Owner / tenant status: immediate discriminator for subsidy eligibility
- Estimated subsidy eligibility: by cross-referencing the previous information (home built at least 2 years ago, owner-occupier, mid-to-lower energy class), the agent informs the prospect of their likely eligibility and indicative subsidy amounts without quoting a precise figure — the tradesperson will confirm during the technical appointment
At the end of these 8 steps — which last on average 4 minutes and 38 seconds in real conditions — the agent has a complete prospect file. It offers a technical appointment directly in your Google Calendar, sends a confirmation by SMS to the customer and transmits the file to you by SMS and email.
What the tradesperson receives after each qualified call
The transmitted file contains: prospect name and number, job address, type of housing and area, current heating system, declared or estimated energy rating, project timeframe, subsidy eligibility (yes/probable/no), confirmed appointment slot, and a qualification score note (1 to 5). A prospect scored 4 or 5 is a hot lead to call back as a priority even if the appointment is already confirmed — often, a quick follow-up before the meeting allows a verbal agreement to be secured at the first contact.
From heat pump lead to signed contract: the full flow
The voice agent is only the first building block of an integrated system that turns an inbound call into a signed contract. Here is how the flow works end to end, without human intervention until you choose to take over.
Step 1 — Immediate pick-up (D+0, H+0)
The call rings, the agent answers in less than 2 seconds. The prospect is greeted by a natural, professional voice that introduces itself in the name of your company. There is no "your call is important to us", no hold music, no IVR. The prospect does not know they are speaking to an AI — and statistically, they don't ask, absorbed in the useful conversation taking place.
Step 2 — Structured qualification (D+0, H+0 to H+5 min)
The agent runs the heat pump qualification script while adapting to the answers. If the prospect owns a flat in a shared building, the agent informs them that works in common areas require the building's agreement and guides them through specific questions. If the home is rented, the agent gracefully redirects to the options available for landlords. If the project is urgent (boiler breakdown), the agent prioritises and sends you an immediate SMS alert.
Step 3 — Appointment booking (D+0, H+5 min)
For qualified leads (minimum 3/5 score), the agent automatically offers a technical visit slot in your Google Calendar. It knows your availability in real time — never a duplicate, never slots offered during interventions already planned. The appointment is confirmed by SMS to the customer and appears directly in your calendar with all the file information.
Step 4 — CRM transfer (D+0, H+5 min)
If you use a CRM (HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, or even a simple shared Google Sheet), the prospect file is created automatically via webhook. All fields are pre-filled. You have nothing to enter. If you do not have a CRM, the summary SMS is enough — you can pin it in your message manager as a reminder.
Step 5 — Pre-filled quote (D+1 to D+2)
Some tradespeople go further: they use the qualification data to automatically generate an indicative quote even before the technical visit. Area + heat pump type + climate zone (postcode) = power estimate + equipment price range. This document is sent to the prospect before the appointment, which psychologically prepares them for the investment and reduces surprises when presenting the final quote. The conversion rate visit → signature rises from 38 % to 57 % with this pre-step.
"Before, I spent 2 hours a week calling back people who had already signed elsewhere. Now, the agent filters. I receive 4 to 6 qualified heat pump files per week, with the energy rating, area, current system and appointment already confirmed. I arrive at the technical visit with half the work already done."
— Didier R., certified heat pump tradesperson
Results over 6 months — panel of certified heat pump tradespeople
Between November 2025 and April 2026, we supported a panel of 31 certified tradespeople specialised in heat pumps (heating engineers, plumber-heating engineers, climate engineering companies of 1 to 8 employees) across 14 regions. Here are the consolidated results after 6 months of activating the AI voice agent on their main line.
Volume of qualified leads
The most telling metric is not the total number of calls received — it is the number of qualified heat pump leads (minimum 3/5 score, appointment booked or complete file transmitted). On our panel:
- Before activation: 4.2 qualified heat pump leads per week on average per tradesperson (out of 11.4 calls received related to heat pumps)
- After activation: 11.8 qualified heat pump leads per week on average per tradesperson (out of 13.1 calls received)
- Change: +180 % in qualified leads, with only +15 % more calls (the increase is linked to better local search ranking observed on tradespeople who gain in responsiveness)
Conversion rate and turnover
- 41 % conversion rate qualified lead → signed quote (vs 23 % before activation)
- -65 % time wasted on cold and unqualified leads — tradespeople report on average 3h30 recovered per week
- +2.4 heat pump contracts signed per month on average per tradesperson on the panel
- Significant additional monthly revenue per tradesperson on the panel
Customer satisfaction and operational impact
Beyond conversion figures, panel tradespeople report concrete operational benefits:
- Reduction of useless quote trips (unqualified prospects filtered upstream)
- Better preparation of technical visits (complete files available before travelling)
- Less time spent following up on prospects who had already signed elsewhere)
- Capture of inbound calls outside working hours (heat pump requests often arrive at weekends after subsidy communication or an energy bill received)
- Improved Google Business Profile rating: +0.4 point on average over 6 months, with customers rating the responsiveness of the first contact positively
An unexpected result was particularly commented on: the reduction of stress linked to missed calls. Knowing that every inbound call is handled — even during an intervention, lunch or a weekend — profoundly changes the tradesperson's relationship with their commercial activity. Several testified to having been able to take time off for the first time in years without fearing "missing customers".
To go deeper into managing seasonal peaks (particularly during intense cold spells), see our article on how heating engineers handle 4× more calls in winter thanks to voice AI.
Frequently asked questions — certified heat pump tradespeople
Can the agent verify subsidy eligibility live?
The agent collects all information required for eligibility verification: type of housing, year of construction, owner/tenant status, estimated income bracket (via postcode and housing type as proxy), and current energy rating. This data is transmitted in the prospect file with a probable eligibility indication (yes/partial/no). Formal verification on the official portal remains your responsibility or can be delegated to your energy advisor partner — but the agent sends you a pre-filled file that reduces this step to less than 5 minutes.
How do you handle clients who don't know their energy rating?
This is the most common case — and this is precisely where the agent stands out from an online form. When the prospect answers that they don't know their energy rating, the agent doesn't get stuck. It asks for the year of construction, the type of walls (block, brick, wood, insulated or not), and the current heating type. These three elements allow estimating a probable class — D or E for the vast majority of homes built before 1990 with oil or gas heating. The agent then informs the prospect that an energy audit can be included in the heat pump process (potentially eligible for specific subsidies) and sends you this signal as an additional sales opportunity.
Can the AI calculate an estimated heat pump power?
Yes, indicatively and transparently. The agent collects the living area, the number of floors, the type of insulation (before/after 2000 as proxy), the climate zone (deduced from the postcode according to the H1/H2/H3 mapping) and the type of heat pump considered (air-air, air-water, geothermal). These data points allow estimating a heat pump power within a reliable range — for example: 8 to 12 kW for a 120 m² house built before 1980, in zone H2, currently heated with oil and with insufficient insulation. This indicative estimate appears in the file transmitted and allows you to prepare a realistic quote and to order the right equipment even before the first on-site appointment.
What is the rollout time for a heat pump tradesperson?
The standard rollout is 48 to 72 working hours from signing. Onboarding includes: agent configuration on your business number (forwarding or dedicated DID), Google Calendar integration with your availability, setting heat pump qualification rules specific to your business (minimum areas, geographical intervention areas, types of heat pump offered), and real-condition testing with a quality control call. Most certified tradespeople receive their first qualified heat pump lead within 5 days of activation. To learn more about calendar integration, see our guide Google Calendar + AI for tradespeople.