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Marketing Resources
As interest and motivation to go all electric continue to expand the market for heat pumps, it is important for contractors to understand how to effectively advertise their services and communicate with potential customers about heat pump technology and incentives. The videos below offer valuable insights and strategies to help you promote your services, manage successful projects, and attract more customers.
The following resources were provided by PG&E’s Home Performance Contractor Academy Marketing Course. Included below are links to videos that may be useful for those involved in the Truckee Tahoe Contractor Electrification Program.
Heat Pump Nation
This video series is hosted by Jonathan Moscatello, who began selling heat pumps in 2005 and currently works as a business consultant for contractors. For this video series, he teamed up with Franklin Energy to produce videos about topics including marketing heat pump services and communicating with customers. This series is primarily geared towards HVAC systems, though the information could be useful for heat pump water heater-focused contractors as well. Videos we recommend in this series include:
This video provides background about the benefits of entering the heat pump industry as a contractor. For those of you that are already familiar with heat pump technology and are currently working in this sector, some of this may not be new information to you, but it could be a good refresher. Three primary reasons are given for why heat pumps are a good business opportunity today:
- Growing Market Trend – Though this video was produced in 2021, this trend is still accurate today. Heat pumps outsold traditional furnaces for two years straight nationwide. Many states, including California, are seeking to reduce carbon emissions through statewide targets and mandates. Building energy use makes up over a quarter of total emissions in California, which makes them a target for emissions reduction projects. If a modest 0.015 heat pumps per person are installed in California per year, this equates to 586,500 heat pumps or $4.4 billion in heat pump sales (average cost of $7,500) yearly
- Generate Leads Easily – The video series outlines multiple ways to find customers and market heat pumps to produce new leads, using case studies from the hosts own experience as a contractor
- Ease of Operations – recommends becoming an expert in heat pumps, which will lead to faster installs, satisfied customers, and more leads.
In this Video, Jonathan breaks down the ‘path to purchase’ concept, which outlines steps to help overcome a potential customer lack of awareness about heat pumps. Steps include:
- Awareness: help the customer reach a point where they know generally about how heat pumps work and their benefits.
- First hand experience: provide testimonials, educational materials, and other practical videos about heat pump installs.
- Align with a hurt, need, or want: find a motivation for the customer to consider a heat pump (ex. urgency to replace HVAC (hurt), necessary expenditure (need), or an enjoyable home investment (want)).
- Incentives/finance: use these as final carrots to close a deal, financing and incentive opportunities help remove barriers to immediate purchasing.
This video goes into detail about each of the steps above, as well as responses to potential customer objections against finalizing a heat pump purchase.
This video goes into greater detail about how to create leads, expand business opportunities, and close deals. Jonathan outlines how to target the correct customers through proven lead generation methods at low cost to you, the contractor.
This video is focused on the post-install phase, where the contractor should ensure that customers know what to expect from their heat pump. The tips in this video will help reduce customer complaints and phone calls by preempting common heat pump experiences that may be different from traditional HVAC systems (noise, maintenance, different modes and settings, etc.). As a result of these efforts, customers will be more satisfied with their experience and more likely to recommend your business.
Home Performance Marketing with Peter Troast
This 37-part video series from the Energy Circle includes detailed information about marketing strategies more generally. For those that are interested in starting or expanding your business, these videos would be very useful to get a baseline understanding of common modern marketing and advertising strategies in the building and energy sector.
If you have found successful methods of advertising in the Truckee Tahoe region that may be more specific than what is included in the videos, please email us at cta@sierrabusiness.org to share so that we can spread the word to other program participants.
Incentives, Rebates, & Training Resources
TECH Clean California is a statewide initiative to accelerate the adoption of clean space and water heating technology across California homes. By becoming TECH certified, contractors can take advantage of statewide incentives for heat pump HVAC systems and heat pump water heaters.
Switch Is On helps contractors navigate available incentives and applications, enrolls contractors in TECH Clean California, and also provides electrification training and marketing resources.
Heat Pump Water Heater Maintenance
This heat pump water heater maintenance video was hosted by SoCalREN for local government partners. The video is presented by a Bradford White employee, but the vast majority of tips and suggestions are general and transferable to all brands.
Electrification Funding, Financing, & Incentives
| Entity | Type | Building Type | Equipment/Technology | Amount | Layerable? | Who applies | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TECH Clean California - HEEHRA | Rebate - Now open! | Income qualified single-family & multifamily homes | Heat Pump HVAC (ducted and ductless), heat pump water heaters | Projects with reservations approved on or after October 15, 2025, must be installed and invoiced by December 31, 2025 Up to $8,000 for low-income households and $4,000 for moderate-income householdsupon household income | Yes | TECH-certified contractor and HEEHRA-trained | |
| TECH Clean California | Rebate - No Longer Taking Reservations as of Nov. 2025 | Single-family home | Heat Pump Water Heaters | $1,100 for heat pump water heaters less than 55 gallons. $3,500 equity rebate $700 for heat pump water heaters greater than or equal to 55 gallons $1,500 for heat pumps water heaters with a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of less than 150 | Yes | TECH-certified contractor | |
| TECH Clean California | Rebate | Single-family home | Air source heat pumps, Ducted (central air, HVAC), Heat Pumps, Ductless (mini-split), Air-to water heat pumps | Air source: $1,000 (No previous AC or w/ gas backup) $1,500 (Previous AC) Air source equity: $3,500 (No previous AC or w/ gas backup) $4,000 (Previous AC) Air-to-water: $3,500 (Standard) $5,000 (Low-GWP*) | Yes | TECH-certified contractor | |
| Liberty Utility | Incentive | Single-family & multifamily | Upgrading an electric heating system to a ground or air source heat pump or upgrading an electric water heating system to a heat pump. | up to $4,000 | Yes | Homeowner Renter | |
| Liberty Utility | Incentive | Single-family Home | Heat Pump Water Heater | $100 for a qualifying Rinnai product | Yes | Homeowner | |
| Truckee Donner Public Utility District | Incentive | Single-family home | Heat Pump Water Heaters | Replacing electric unit: $750 Replacing gas unit: $1,000 | Yes | Homeowner Renter | |
| Truckee Donner Public Utility District | Incentive | Single-family home | Heat Pumps for Space Heating & Air Conditioning | $200-$800 per ton | Yes | Homeowner Renter | |
| Truckee Donner Public Utility District | Incentive | Residential homes | Electric vehicle charging station | Residential Energy Star Listed EV Charger: $600 Residential EV Charger: SMART Charger: +$350 | Homeowner Renter | ||
| Truckee Donner Public Utility District | Incentive | Single-family home | Electrical Panel upgrade must be a minimum of 200 amps. Upgrade must include dedicated circuit for at least (2) of the following: EV Charger, Heat Pump Water Heater, Heat Pump (HVAC), or combined Solar PV and battery storage | Up to $1,000 | Yes | Homeowner Renter | |
| Truckee Donner Public Utility District | Incentive | Single-family home | Building envelop upgrades | Air Leak Test - Up to $300 ea. For before and after repairs Central System Duct Leakage Test - Up to $300 ea. For before and after repairs Building Envelope Mitigation - 75% up to $750; 100% up to $1,000 (with test in/out) | Yes | Homeowner Renter | |
| Truckee Donner Public Utility District | Incentive | Single-family home | Building insulation & windows | Attic Insulation (≥ R-44) - $0.75 / sq. ft. (up to $1,000 insulation per home) Wall Insulation (> Code) - $0.70 / sq. ft. (up to $1,000 insulation per home) Floor Insulation (≥ R-25) - $0.70 / sq. ft. (up to $1,000 insulation per home) Efficient Windows - $3.50 per sq. ft. | Yes | Homeowner Renter | |
| Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Financing Program | Financing | Single-family home | Solar panels, building insulation, windows, heat pump HVAC, heat pump water heater, energy efficiency upgrades | Finance as much as 20% of your property value, up to $250,000 | No | Homeowner | |
| NV Energy *As of 12/2024, NV Energy heat pump rebates have been paused | Incentive | Single-family home, multifamily building | Heat Pumps, Ducted (central air, HVAC), Heat Pumps, Ductless (mini-split) | Air source heat pump: $510 - $2,040 Ductless heat pump: $1,360 | Homeowner | ||
| NV Energy *As of 12/2024, NV Energy heat pump rebates have been paused | Income-qualified incentive | Single-family home, multifamily building | Heat Pumps, Ducted (central air, HVAC), Heat Pumps, Ductless (mini-split) | Air source heat pump: $1,700 - $3,400 Ductless heat pump: $2,720 | Homeowner |
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