Quick answer
hipages for air conditioning works on a monthly subscription that includes credits, which you spend to accept job leads. hipages caps most leads at three tradies and does not publish how many credits an aircon lead costs. It suits new businesses and filling gaps. For ducted and multi-head work, an owned pipeline gives you exclusive enquiries, your own data and a cost per booked quote you can see every week.
Plenty of air conditioning businesses got their first few hundred jobs through hipages. It is quick to join, the app is easy and the leads turn up without you needing to know anything about ads. So when an installer asks us whether hipages for air conditioning is worth keeping, we do not start by telling them to quit.
We start by asking what kind of jobs they want more of. For small split installs and filling a quiet week, a marketplace can do the job. For ducted and multi-head work worth five figures, the shared model starts to cost more than the credit price suggests. This post sets out how hipages actually works, using its own pages, then compares it with building a pipeline you own.
We have no hipages data of our own, and Scale Theory has no clients yet. Where we use numbers, they are either hipages' published figures, with links, or our planning assumptions, labelled as such.
How does hipages for air conditioning installers work?
hipages is a subscription marketplace. You pay a monthly plan that includes credits, set your trade category and area, and receive job leads from homeowners. You spend credits to accept a lead and get the customer's details. Most leads can be accepted by up to three tradies, so you are usually one of three quoting.
In hipages' own words, "No more than three tradies can accept a job lead, unless both the homeowner and tradie agree on waitlisting" (hipages FAQs). If more tradies are interested, they go on a waitlist, and the homeowner can connect with them if one of the first three drops out. Its comparison page is blunt about the design: "hipages is designed so three businesses quote on each job, giving you a one in three chance to win work" (hipages).
There is one exception. hipages describes "maximum 1 accept" leads, where "only one tradie gets the customer's contact details". It also says these are "limited to specific categories and go fast". We could not find a list of which categories, so do not assume aircon installs are one of them.
Two other points from hipages' pages are worth knowing:
- No commission. hipages says it does not charge commission on jobs you win. You pay the subscription and use credits, and that is it.
- Bad lead reports. You can report a lead within 7 days of accepting it. hipages aims to resolve the report within 5 business days and, if it is valid, puts the lead's value back on your credit balance.
How much does hipages cost for aircon leads?
hipages publishes its plans: from $139 plus GST a month for 155 credits up to $649 plus GST for 850 credits, on a 6 month introductory term that renews on a 12 month term. It does not publish how many credits an air conditioning lead uses, and says credit amounts change with demand.
Here are the plans as listed on the hipages membership costs page when we checked in September 2026:
- Starter: $139 plus GST a month, 155 credits
- Advanced: $249 plus GST a month, 310 credits
- Premium: $449 plus GST a month, 595 credits
- Platinum: $649 plus GST a month, 850 credits
There is also a Pro plan for businesses with more than 10 employees at $2,049 plus GST a month, and a 5% discount for paying yearly.
The missing number is the one that matters: credits per lead. hipages says its matching engine sets credit amounts using "job type, size, urgency, location, when it's posted, the number of similar jobs available, and the forecasted demand from tradies", and that the amount "can change anytime until the job is marked as hired" (hipages FAQs). So the honest answer to "what does a hipages aircon lead cost?" is: it depends on the day, and only your app history can tell you. We will not guess a figure. Our post on what HVAC leads cost in Australia covers the other channels the same way.
What is the real difference between a shared lead and an owned pipeline?
A shared lead is an enquiry that goes to several businesses at once, so the homeowner expects to compare quotes. An owned pipeline is a system you control end to end: your ads, your landing page, your CRM and your follow-up, with every enquiry exclusive to you and every record kept if you stop.
The difference shows up in three places.
Who the homeowner talks to. On a shared lead, the first tradie to call has the edge, and the next two are often compared on price. On an exclusive enquiry, you are the only conversation, at least until you have been to the house. That changes what you can charge and how long you can take to quote properly.
What you keep. When a marketplace subscription ends, the flow stops. The customer history lives partly on someone else's app, and nothing you spent built an audience or a list. When you own the pipeline, the ad account, the pixel history, the CRM and the past enquiries are yours. Everything we build for clients sits in their own accounts for exactly this reason.
What you can change. hipages sets the credit price and the rules. In an owned pipeline, you choose the offer, the suburbs, the budget and the questions a homeowner answers before they reach you. If you want fewer small split jobs and more ducted replacements in Castle Hill, you can say so in the ad and the qualifier.
How does hipages compare with your own pipeline?
hipages wins on speed to start and effort. An owned pipeline wins on exclusivity, control, data ownership and fit for ducted work. Cost predictability is mixed: hipages has a fixed plan price but variable credits per lead, while an owned pipeline has a fixed fee and ad spend but variable results.
The table is our judgment from how each model works, not measured data.
| Factor | hipages (standard lead) | Owned pipeline (ads, landing page, CRM) |
|---|---|---|
| Exclusivity | Shared with up to three tradies, plus a waitlist | Exclusive to you |
| Control of offer and area | Set category and area; hipages sets credit prices | You set offer, suburbs, budget and qualifier questions |
| Data ownership | Lead history in the hipages app; flow stops when you stop paying | Ad account, CRM and enquiry history stay yours |
| Cost predictability | Plan price is fixed; credits per lead change daily, weekly or monthly | Fee and ad spend are fixed; cost per booked quote moves with results |
| Speed to start | Days | Two to four weeks to build, then days |
| Effort to run | Low: accept and call | Needs someone to run ads, pages and follow-up |
| Fit for ducted and multi-head | Low to medium: price comparison is built in | High: room to sell zoning, brands and a proper site visit |
| Fit for small splits and quick jobs | Medium to high | Low: ad costs weigh too much on a small job, so we do not advertise them |
The pattern is simple. hipages is a good way to rent some work. An owned pipeline is a way to build an asset. Most installers who reach 3 to 12 vans end up needing both for a while, and then decide where the bulk of the money goes.
When does hipages make sense for an aircon business?
hipages makes sense when you need work quickly and do not have the systems to create it yourself: a new business, a new area, a quiet fortnight or a job type you want more of cheaply. It also suits smaller jobs where a shared lead and a fast phone call are enough to win the work.
We think it is a fair choice in these cases:
- You are new. One or two vans, few reviews and no website worth sending traffic to. A marketplace gives you jobs while you build the rest.
- You are filling gaps. A quiet week in June or a crew between big jobs. Accepting a few split installs or service calls keeps vans moving.
- You are testing an area. Before you spend on ads in a new region, a few months of marketplace jobs shows you whether the work is there.
- You answer the phone fast. Shared leads reward the first call. hipages itself says calling straight after accepting makes you "far more likely" to turn the lead into a project. If your office can do that, you will get more from it than most.
A shared lead is not a bad lead. It is a lead where you should plan for a lower close rate and a tougher price conversation, because the homeowner is expecting up to three quotes.
When does an owned pipeline beat hipages for ducted work?
An owned pipeline wins when the jobs are big, considered and quoted in the home. Ducted and multi-head buyers take weeks to decide, compare brands and zoning, and want to trust the installer. An exclusive enquiry gives you the first proper conversation, and a qualifier stops you driving across Sydney for a renter.
The numbers show why. Our Sydney planning range for a 3 to 4 bedroom ducted install is $10,500 to $16,500, with roughly $2,300 to $4,800 gross profit per job. On a job that size, the difference between winning one in three and winning one in three of the jobs you actually wanted is large.
That is what the HVAC Profit Machine is built for. Meta ads and Google Search ads with a real ducted offer send homeowners to a suburb page. They answer six questions (property type, current system, install or repair, urgency, budget, ownership). Only qualified enquiries reach the CRM, they get an SMS and a call inside 60 seconds, and the site visit lands in your diary with their answers attached. We explain why the first minute matters in speed to lead for HVAC.
A booked quote is a qualified homeowner booked in for an in-home quote, in your diary, with a time. It is the unit we measure, because a lead that never books is not worth anything.
How do you compare hipages with your own pipeline on cost?
Compare on cost per won job, not cost per lead. Add up everything a source costs in a month, divide by the jobs it won you, and compare. For hipages, that means the plan price plus any top-ups, divided by jobs won. For an owned pipeline, it is the fee plus ad spend, divided by jobs won.
Because hipages does not publish credits per aircon lead, we cannot fill in its side for you. What we can do is show the owned pipeline side with our planning numbers, then work out the price a shared lead would have to beat.
Worked example: owned pipeline vs a shared lead, per won ducted job (planning assumptions, not results)
Owned pipeline, one area, $4,000 ad spend (Meta and Google Search) + $3,000 fee = $7,000 a month
$4,000 / $100 to $130 assumed blended cost per enquiry = about 35 enquiries
35 x 60% pass the qualifier = about 21 qualified, 21 x 60% book = about 12 to 13 booked quotes
$7,000 / about 12.5 = about $550 all-in per booked quote
At a 30% close rate (the low end of our 30 to 40% planning range, the one we plan with): $550 / 0.30 = about $1,830 per won job
Shared lead at hipages' own "one in three" framing: to match $1,830 per won job, each accepted lead would need to cost under $1,830 / 3 = about $610, including its share of the subscription
Read that carefully. It does not say hipages is dearer. If your hipages aircon leads cost well under that figure all-in and you really do win one in three, hipages may be the cheaper source per won job. The point is the comparison: work out your real cost per won job from your app history and your job records, and put it next to a channel you own.
Two things the maths leaves out. First, job size: a shared lead that wins a $2,000 split is not the same as an exclusive quote that wins a $14,000 ducted system. Second, what you keep: the owned pipeline builds an ad history, a list and a CRM that keep working after the month ends.
How do you move from hipages to your own pipeline without a gap?
Do not switch off hipages on the day your ads start. Run both for two or three months, track every enquiry by source to booked quote and won job, then shift money towards whichever channel wins the jobs you want. Keep hipages for the gap work it does well.
A sensible order:
- Before anything: pull the last six months of hipages jobs. Count accepted leads, quotes, wins and average job value by job type.
- Month one: launch your own pipeline in the area your vans already work, with a qualifier and a 60-second reply. Keep hipages as it is.
- Months two and three: compare cost per booked quote and close rate by source every week. Our ranking of HVAC lead sources sets out what else to put in the comparison.
- Decision: if your own pipeline books ducted quotes at a lower cost per won job, drop to a smaller hipages plan for splits and service, or leave at the end of your term.
Check your hipages contract before you plan the switch. New members join on a 6 month introductory term that automatically renews on a 12 month term, so know your renewal date.
If you work in Penrith, Blacktown or Parramatta, our page on HVAC marketing in Western Sydney shows what we would run there and whether the territory is open. For how we build the whole system, see HVAC lead generation.
Sources
Sam
Sam runs every audit and buys every ad. Before going HVAC-only, he ran Scale Theory as a performance marketing agency: SEO, Meta and Google ads, CRM automation.
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