A heat-pump launch is a sequence, not an event. Owners who succeed tend to move through four phases in order (decide, prepare, soft launch, public launch) and refuse to skip ahead when one phase is behind. This guide sets out that sequence week by week, with the checkpoint that ends each phase and the mistakes we see most often along the way.
The weeks below assume a company with an existing crew and customer base. A brand-new start-up should add time to the prepare phase and replace the soft launch with a small, local first-jobs push. Either way, the logic holds.
Phase 1: Decide (weeks 1–3)
The decide phase settles whether to launch and who the first customer is. You should leave it with a number, not a feeling.
Week 1: pull your own data. Export 12 months of jobs by type and month. Mark the weeks where crews were under-booked. Note your average job value and gross margin for furnace, boiler or AC replacements, because those are what a heat-pump job will be compared with.
Week 2: read your market. Look up how homes in your province are heated and which programs are open. Statistics Canada publishes primary heating fuel shares by province, and each of our region pages summarises them with the date. A province where most homes burn natural gas is a different launch from one where oil or electric baseboard is common.
Week 3: choose the first customer and run the break-even. Pick one homeowner type to target first. Then estimate launch costs, margin per job and jobs per month, and find the payback month. The break-even guide walks through the arithmetic.
Checkpoint: a written go, wait or no-go, with the first customer named and a payback month you believe.
Phase 2: Prepare (weeks 4–10)
The prepare phase makes the company able to deliver what it will soon advertise. It is the longest phase and the one most often rushed.
Crew and certification (weeks 4–10)
List every person who will touch a heat-pump job and the tickets they hold. Then check with your provincial apprenticeship and certification body which trades apply to the work you plan to offer. The Red Seal Program sets the interprovincial standard, but provinces administer it and designate trades differently. Ask each supplier you are considering what product training they offer and how soon. The training and certification map lists the bodies by province.
Suppliers (weeks 4–6)
Talk to at least two distributors. Beyond price, ask about stock and lead times in your region, training access, warranty support, and what they expect from a new dealer. Equipment choice is your licensed team's decision; the business questions are yours.
Offer and quote (weeks 6–9)
Build a short package menu and a price structure with defined adders for the things that vary job to job. Rebuild the quote template so it answers homeowner questions first. Our offer design service covers this in depth.
Office (weeks 9–10)
Write a one-page script for whoever answers the phone. A heat-pump enquiry needs different first questions from a furnace no-heat call: how the home is heated now, whether it has ducts, the age of the system, and whether the caller is waiting on a program.
Checkpoint: a crew-ready date confirmed in writing, a priced menu and a working quote template.
Phase 3: Soft launch (weeks 11–14)
The soft launch sells to people who already trust you, so your first installs happen with friendly customers rather than strangers.
Week 11: segment your customer list. Separate customers with ageing heating equipment, newer equipment without cooling, AC-only customers and maintenance-plan members. Check consent before any email or text. Canada's anti-spam law requires consent, identification and a working opt-out for commercial messages; the CRTC's FAQ is the official reference.
Week 12: send the first wave. Short, plain messages saying what you now offer and inviting a conversation. Calls from the office for contacts without clear consent.
Weeks 13–14: install, photograph, ask. Do the first jobs carefully. Photograph each stage with the customer's permission. Ask for an honest review once the system has run for a few weeks.
Checkpoint: at least a handful of completed installs, real photos, and the first reviews in progress. Existing-customer conversion is the service that runs this phase.
Phase 4: Public launch (weeks 15–17 and beyond)
The public launch puts the new line in front of strangers, now that you have proof to show them.
Week 15: publish. Heat-pump service pages, one per system type, with your own photos. Update your Google Business Profile services and post about the new line.
Week 16: switch on paid search, small. Target high-intent heat-pump searches in your core service area. Add negative keywords to filter out job seekers, DIY questions and areas you don't serve.
Week 17 onward: adjust by closing rate. Raise the budget only when quotes from paid search are closing at a rate that pays. Keep adding content for the questions your office hears most.
Checkpoint: enquiries arriving from at least two channels, with cost per install tracked. Launch marketing covers this phase.
Timing your launch around programs
Program news can move demand quickly, in both directions. On October 8, 2026, the federal government announced a national heat pump rebate for eligible cold-climate air-source heat pumps, expected to launch in 2027. A company launching in late 2026 or early 2027 can use the waiting period to finish training, build pages and earn reviews. The same announcement may also lead some homeowners to delay, so don't plan your first months' cash flow on peak demand. As of October 2026, check status with the official administrator before you mention any program to a customer.
The five mistakes that sink launches
- Ads before the crew. The most expensive leads you will ever buy are the ones you can't serve.
- One flat price. Heat-pump jobs vary too much for it.
- Skipping the soft launch. Strangers want proof; friendly customers help you create it.
- Rebate-first headlines. A program that closes next month makes last month's ad misleading.
- No checkpoint discipline. If a phase is behind, move the next phase back. Don't run them in parallel and hope.
Where to go from here
If you want this sequence built around your own numbers, the launch plan does exactly that. Call, text or email and you'll talk to a senior strategist about where your company is starting from.
Frequently asked questions
Can a launch be done faster than 120 days?
Yes, if your crew already holds the right tickets and has had product training. In that case the prepare phase shrinks to a few weeks. What shouldn't shrink is the soft launch to existing customers.
What is the single most important checkpoint?
The crew-ready date. Every public marketing step depends on having people who can install what you advertise within a reasonable wait.
Should we launch in spring or fall?
Many owners find late winter or early spring a good time to prepare, so the soft launch lands before cooling season and the public launch builds into fall. Your own calendar of quiet weeks matters more than any rule of thumb.
What if a rebate program changes mid-launch?
Update your pages the same week, date the change, and tell any customer with an open quote. Programs in Canada open, change and close often, so build that check into your weekly routine.