Case study · DMV trades · Operator-built

I run an HVAC business.
Here's the lead engine I built for it.

And what we'd build for yours — HVAC, plumbing, electrical, or roofing in the DMV.

By Carlos Aguilar — owner, Atlas General Contractors LLC · founder, Evolvus Automat

18.7% CTR — Maryland heat pump rebates campaign

The HVAC search industry average is 4–6%. Verified, last 30 days.

Book your $500 Skills Audit →

30 min · No sales theater

Atlas General Contractors — the business behind this page.

Atlas General Contractors is my HVAC business. I started it before Evolvus, and I still run it. Three service lines, NoVA + Maryland + DC, one phone number that has to ring on weekends. Same job every contractor reading this knows: phones don't always get answered, leads slip, missed estimates cost real money.

Atlas General Contractors LLC
Service area: NoVA · Maryland · DC
Phone: 571-530-9471 · Web: atlasgeneralcontractorsllc.com
Service lines: Maryland heat pump rebates · emergency repair · replacement & install

We tested every pattern on a real HVAC P&L before selling it.

Most agencies pitch you a system they've never run themselves. I built ours on the business I'd lose money on if it broke.

Every keyword we test, every landing page we ship, every tracking change — that's my ad budget. If a campaign tanks, my phone stops ringing. So we test patterns on Atlas first. The ones that work become services. The ones that don't get killed quietly. You only see what survived contact with a real HVAC P&L.

The engine running on Atlas.

Atlas runs on a stack we built piece by piece — paid traffic, landing pages, tracking, ad copy, and a weekly cycle that watches what's working and shifts spend. Here's the shape of it.

Conversion-attributed lead funnel

Every call and every form lands tied to the keyword that paid for it.

Service-line landing surfaces

One page per service, not one page for everything.

Defensive keyword strategy

Buying intent, not curiosity.

Optimization cadence

Winners get fed, losers get cut, weekly.

Operator-built design system

The same one runs on Evolvus and Atlas.

The specific configurations are how we deliver value to clients. The audit walks you through what we'd build for your business specifically.

Last 30 days. Real, not cherry-picked.

18.7%

CTR — Maryland heat pump rebates campaign

HVAC search industry average: 4–6%

108 clicks

across enabled campaigns

$6.20 CPC

average · industry typical $8–15

Honest part: we're in the middle of a conversion-rate optimization phase right now. The engine and the tracking are sound — that's why the click numbers look the way they do. The landing-page funnel is the active iteration. We'd rather show you the agency mid-iteration than hand-pick a case study from a year ago.

Book your $500 Skills Audit →

30 min · No sales theater · Credited 100% to your build

Four stages. Then month-to-month.

01

Kickoff

30-min call where we map your service lines, current ad spend, and where calls are dropping.

02

Build

2-week sprint to ship the funnel: campaigns, pages, tracking, copy.

03

Retainer

3-month minimum so optimization actually has time to work.

04

Monthly review call

30 minutes, what changed, what's next, what's still broken.

After the 3-month minimum you're month-to-month with no penalty.

Pick the smallest tier that covers what you actually need.

Three tiers. Audit first — $500, credited 100% to your build if you sign on. That way you don't gamble on the build before knowing what's in it for you.

Starter

Test before scaling

$2,500 setup

+ $500/mo retainer

3-month minimum

One service line, one campaign, one landing surface. Tracking wired end-to-end, monthly report on what spent and what converted. Right tier if you want to test before scaling.

Book your $500 Skills Audit

Enterprise

Operator Partner

$15,000+ setup

+ $2,500/mo retainer

3-month minimum

Multi-location, custom CRM integration, dedicated build team. Priority SLA, unlimited automation scope. Right tier when one shop has outgrown itself or you're running multiple locations.

Book your $500 Skills Audit
Every tier starts with a $500 paid Skills Audit. We map your service lines, your current spend, and what's broken. If you sign on, the $500 credits 100% to your build.

Five questions, straight answers.

I built it for my own HVAC shop in NoVA. Same market, same kind of phone calls, same service-line spread you probably run. The patterns transfer to plumbing, electrical, and roofing — the trade-contractor buyer journey is structurally similar. The audit confirms the fit before you commit.
You can try. The audit shows you what would need building — if you'd rather build it yourself with the roadmap, that's fine and we'll tell you so on the call. Most owners decide their time is worth more than the spread between $500 and $2,500.
Setup is one-time. Then $500–2,500/mo to keep the engine running and shift spend toward what's working. Compare it to a part-time admin or a marketing manager. Most contractors I talk to have spent more than this on stuff that didn't work.
Optimization needs data, and data needs time. Less than 3 months and we're guessing. After 3 months you're month-to-month — no penalty, no lock-in, leave whenever.
Honest answer: we don't promise leads in 30 days because nobody honest can. The audit walks through what's realistic in your market and service mix. We're transparent about our own iteration — the 18.7% CTR is real, our landing-page funnel is the active optimization, and we'd rather you see that than hide it behind cherry-picked numbers.

You've read enough. The audit is $500. If you sign on, it credits 100% to your build. 30 minutes, no sales theater.

Book your $500 Skills Audit →
Book your $500 Skills Audit →