Outbound calling for an HVAC company means booking replacement estimates and working past customer, open quote and maintenance plan lists, where the established business relationship rules shape which numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry can be called, and for how long.
From official sources, checked September 26, 2026. General information, not legal advice.
An HVAC setter calls homeowners with older systems about replacement estimates, follows up on open quotes, works maintenance plan lists, and books estimates in the windows the techs can run. Past customer lists are often where an HVAC campaign starts. Under the Telemarketing Sales Rule, a number on the National Do Not Call Registry can be called with the customer's signed written agreement to calls from the company, or with an established business relationship, and each basis for that relationship has its own time limit. A customer's request not to be called ends that relationship.
On a live transfer, the setter confirms the homeowner wants a replacement estimate and connects the call to the client's comfort advisor or dispatcher while the homeowner is still on the line. The Telemarketing Sales Rule treats an outbound call as abandoned if the person answers and is not connected to a sales representative within two seconds of the completed greeting. Its safe harbor calls for abandoning no more than three percent of answered calls per campaign or 30 day period, ringing at least 15 seconds or four rings, and a recorded message with the seller's name and number when no representative is free.
When a customer calls the HVAC company on their own, and not because of a solicitation, the Telemarketing Sales Rule exempts the call, but not any upselling on it, which the rule treats as a separate telemarketing transaction. Under the Cooling Off Rule, a sale made on a home visit the buyer requested for repair or maintenance is excluded. If the technician sells additional goods or services on that visit, beyond replacement parts used in the repair, such as a replacement system, that additional sale is not excluded.
A seller may call a registered number if it can show an established business relationship and the person has not asked the seller to stop calling. The relationship rests on a purchase, rental, lease or financial transaction with the seller within the 540 days before the call, or an inquiry or application about the seller's goods or services within the 90 days before the call. For an HVAC company, the date of each customer's last job or quote request sets whether a registered number is still covered.
The FCC bases the relationship on a voluntary two way communication: a purchase or transaction within the 18 months before the call, or an inquiry or application within the three months before it. A call to someone with that relationship falls outside the FCC's definition of a telephone solicitation. A seller specific do not call request ends the relationship for telemarketing. It does not extend to an affiliated company unless the customer would reasonably expect it to, given the affiliate's goods or services and identity.
Before making telemarketing calls to residential customers, an HVAC company must have procedures for its own do not call list, including a written policy available on demand and personnel trained on the list. A request must be recorded when it is made, honored within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days, and honored for five years. The Telemarketing Sales Rule separately bars calling anyone who has told the seller they do not want its calls.
The FCC rule for autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing calls to cell phones, and for prerecorded telemarketing messages to residential lines, lists no established business relationship exception. Those calls need prior express written consent: a signed agreement that clearly authorizes the seller to deliver such calls to a stated number and discloses that signing is not a condition of purchase. The Telemarketing Sales Rule separately requires the seller's express written agreement before a prerecorded sales call.
An inquiry or application about the company's goods or services creates one, but for a shorter window than a purchase: 90 days under the Telemarketing Sales Rule and three months under the FCC rule. After that, a number on the National Do Not Call Registry needs another basis, such as the customer's signed written agreement to be called.
If the number is on the National Do Not Call Registry, a purchase that old is outside both windows, so the call needs the customer's signed written agreement. Numbers not on the Registry are still subject to your own do not call list and the consent rules for autodialed or prerecorded calls.
Without the person's prior consent, the Telemarketing Sales Rule allows outbound telemarketing calls to a residence only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. local time at the called person's location. The FCC applies the same window to telephone solicitations, a term that excludes calls to someone with an established business relationship, while the Telemarketing Sales Rule window has no such exclusion.
Checked September 26, 2026. Every fact on this page comes from these official sources. General information, not legal advice: rules change, so confirm with the cited statute or agency and with counsel.
Our setters dial homeowners and book in home and virtual appointments for solar, roofing and HVAC teams. Tell us your markets and how many your closers can run, and we size batches to that number.
Get appointments