What Does It Take to Rank in the Metro Vancouver HVAC Map Pack in 2026?

Rankwise Lab — Market Study

The short answer: to hold a Map Pack position for HVAC searches in Metro Vancouver in 2026, a contractor needs a Google rating of at least 4.7 and enough review depth to look established. In this snapshot, 50+ reviews was the common range, while 21 was only the lowest count observed.

In early May 2026, Rankwise Lab tracked 12 local HVAC searches across Metro Vancouver and recorded the 36 Map Pack positions they returned. Three patterns held across every contractor that appeared in a top-3 position:

• Rating: every contractor in a Map Pack position had a Google rating of 4.7 or higher (range 4.7–5.0). No contractor below 4.7 appeared in any tracked search.
• Reviews: review counts ran from 21 to 4,400, median 275. 25 of the 36 positions were held by contractors with 50 or more reviews.
• Concentration: 19 contractors split the 36 positions — but the 5 most-visible held 19 of them, more than half.

The rest of this study shows how the data was collected, the city-by-city picture, and what it means for a contractor deciding where to focus.

What this study tracked

12 local HVAC searches, run from a Metro Vancouver search location in early May 2026:

• AC installation Vancouver
• air conditioning repair Vancouver
• furnace repair Vancouver
• emergency furnace repair Vancouver
• emergency HVAC Vancouver
• heat pump installation Vancouver
• HVAC contractor Burnaby
• furnace installation Burnaby
• HVAC service Coquitlam
• heat pump repair Surrey
• furnace replacement Richmond
• boiler repair North Vancouver

Data source: public Google Maps results, collected via SerpAPI — the same Map Pack any homeowner sees searching from the Lower Mainland. No private or client data was used.

How it was measured

For each of the 12 searches, we recorded the three businesses holding Map Pack positions at the snapshot, plus each business's public Google rating and review count from Google Maps. That produced 36 Map Pack positions held across 19 unique contractors.

Findings — May 2026 snapshot

The field is concentrated. Of the 36 tracked Map Pack positions, the single most-visible contractor held a spot in 6 of the 12 searches. The 5 most-visible contractors together held 19 of the 36 positions between them. For a newer or smaller contractor, that concentration is the real competition: a handful of established businesses hold most of the first screen, and a position gained is a position another business loses.

Every contractor that ranked cleared the same two bars:

• A rating of 4.7 or higher. Ratings ran from 4.7 to 5.0. Not one contractor below 4.7 appeared in any of the 12 searches.
• A review count that looks established. Counts ran from 21 to 4,400, with a median of 275. 25 of the 36 positions were held by contractors with 50 or more reviews.

In this May 2026 snapshot, 50+ reviews was the practical benchmark: 25 of 36 Map Pack positions were held by contractors at or above that mark. The lowest review count we saw was 21, but that was the exception, not the target.

That does not mean reviews alone decide Map Pack placement — Google Maps ranking also weighs how close the business is to the person searching and how well its profile matches what they typed. Reviews are one input. But if a contractor is still below 50 reviews, this dataset gives them a clear place to start.

Some cities are far more contested than others. Of the 36 tracked positions, 20 went to Vancouver-area businesses, 6 to Burnaby, and 3 each to Coquitlam, Surrey, and Richmond. Six of the 12 searches were Vancouver-specific — so Vancouver is both the most-searched and the most-crowded field in the Lower Mainland. The surrounding cities returned noticeably fewer competing contractors.

Where Rankwise sits in this

Rankwise has no HVAC contractor clients yet. This study is a baseline — a measure of the field before Rankwise works in it. When Rankwise takes on a contractor in a city, this is the dataset behind the monthly targets we set: real local numbers, not a national average.

Limits

• A point-in-time snapshot (early May 2026). Map Pack positions shift as businesses gain reviews, update their profiles, and Google adjusts how it ranks.
• 12 searches is not everything. A contractor ranking for terms outside this set would not appear here.
• Review counts from public Google Maps listings can lag real time by a few days.
• The Map Pack depends partly on where the searcher is standing — someone in Burnaby sees a different top 3 than someone in Vancouver for the same words. The review counts and ratings here are real and current; the rankings are an accurate picture of the field, not an exact order.

What this means for a contractor deciding where to focus

Two things this data tells an HVAC contractor in Metro Vancouver:

The city changes the size of the climb. Vancouver returned 20 of the 36 tracked positions and six of the 12 searches — the most-crowded field in the Lower Mainland. Coquitlam, Surrey, Burnaby, and Richmond returned smaller fields, which typically means local-search work shows up as visible movement sooner. A contractor outside the Vancouver core is competing against fewer established businesses for that first screen.

Reviews are the most checkable signal you have. The median winner sat at 275 reviews, and most visible positions belonged to contractors with 50 or more. A contractor already past 50 reviews has cleared the first obvious benchmark — the work then lives in the other ranking factors. A contractor below it has a clear, visible place to start, and review count is the signal that moves fastest.

This study is the field average. A 15-minute call is where you find out where your own business sits against it. Book one at rankwise.ca/audit. We'll look at three things together: how your business shows up on Google Maps in your city today, where there's call volume in your city you haven't captured yet, and whether Rankwise is the right team to help you get it. If we're not, we'll say so. We work with one HVAC contractor per city — so we take a close look before taking anyone on, and the call is as much us checking the fit as you checking us.

Data source: public Google Maps results, collected via SerpAPI, early May 2026. All competitor data reflects publicly visible information. No private or client data was used.