Quick answer
In Sydney, book ducted installs in spring (September to November), manage breakdowns and lead times in summer (December to February), sell replacements in autumn (March to May), and switch to reverse cycle heating and service in winter (June to August). Push spend in spring and autumn, hold the minimum from December to February and in July, weight Google Search in peak summer and Meta the rest of the year, and let your install lead time override the calendar.
Most HVAC marketing calendars are a list of holidays with a "summer sale" pencilled into December. That is the wrong way round for an air conditioning business. In December you are flat out and cannot install for weeks. In May your techs are wondering where the work went.
This is the calendar we plan Sydney campaigns around. It uses Bureau of Meteorology averages for two stations about 50 km apart, Penrith Lakes in the west and Observatory Hill at the harbour, because Sydney is two climates and one calendar does not fit both. Then it says what to run each month, and roughly where the money goes.
One rule sits over all of it: your install lead time beats the calendar. If the diary is full, spend comes down, whatever month it is.
When do Sydney homeowners buy air conditioning?
Sydney homeowners think about cooling from September, act in a rush when the first hot weeks land in November to January, replace systems that struggled in autumn, and buy reverse cycle heating in winter. The west runs hotter for longer, so its cooling season starts earlier and ends later than the coast's.
The BOM numbers show the gap. Penrith Lakes averages 71.2 days a year at 30°C or more. Observatory Hill, over its 1859 to 2020 record, averages 15.2. Penrith's July mean minimum is 5.4°C, with 3.8 mornings at 2°C or less on average. Observatory Hill's July mean minimum is 8.1°C and it records essentially none. So the west has a real summer and a real winter. The coast has milder versions of both.
For an installer, that means two things. Cooling installs in the west are a need, and the season is long. On the coast, more of the work is comfort, replacement and heating, and the ads do more of the persuading. Our Sydney HVAC marketing page breaks this down by region, and Western Sydney has its own page because it is the hottest territory we cover.
What does the Sydney HVAC marketing calendar look like month by month?
The year splits into four jobs: book installs in spring, protect the diary in summer, sell replacements in autumn and fill winter with heating and service. The table below gives each month's weather in the west, what homeowners want, what we would run, a spend level relative to the $4,000 combined minimum, and how that money splits between Meta and Google Search.
| Month | Penrith mean max, days at 30°C+ | What homeowners want | What to run | Spend level | Meta / Google weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30.8°C, 16.2 days | Broken systems fixed, installs now | Google Search on failed ducted systems and urgent replacement, repairs to the service line, Meta selling February and March slots | Floor | Google-heavy: Google $2,500, Meta $1,500 |
| February | 29.6°C, 12.3 days | Installs once the rush eases | Replacement installs, heat-load assessments, March slots | Floor, rising late if the diary clears | Google-heavy: Google $2,500, Meta $1,500 |
| March | 27.7°C, 8.0 days | Replace the system that struggled | Ducted replacement, ESS discount, "best install slots of the year" | Push | Meta-heavy |
| April | 24.7°C, 1.6 days | Not much, until the first cool nights | Off-Peak Fill on: reverse cycle heating, service | Standard | Meta-heavy |
| May | 21.2°C, 0.0 days | Heating that works | Reverse cycle heating, gas heater replacement, service | Standard | Meta-heavy |
| June | 18.2°C, 0.0 days | Warm house, low bills | Heating, gas heater replacement, maintenance | Standard | Meta-heavy |
| July | 18.0°C, 0.0 days | Heating, fixed fast | Heating, service, cold snap offers | Floor | Meta-heavy: Meta $2,500, Google $1,500 |
| August | 20.0°C, 0.0 days | Planning ahead, some heating | Pre-summer ducted install slots, service before summer | Standard, rising late | Meta-heavy |
| September | 23.5°C, 2.3 days | Cooling before summer | Ducted installs with real install-by dates, ESS discount | Push | Meta-heavy |
| October | 26.0°C, 6.9 days | Installed before the first hot week | Ducted and multi-head installs, heat-load assessments | Push | Meta-heavy |
| November | 27.6°C, 9.2 days | Installed before Christmas | Last install-by-Christmas slots, then taper | Push, then down when lead time passes three weeks | Meta-heavy |
| December | 29.8°C, 14.7 days | Cool now | Google Search on failed systems and replacement, "quote now, install January", repairs to the service line | Floor | Google-heavy: Google $2,500, Meta $1,500 |
Weather: Bureau of Meteorology, Penrith Lakes AWS, 1995 to 2026 averages. Averages hide the year-to-year swings, so treat each month as a starting point, not a forecast. The spend levels and weightings are our planning view, explained further down. By default we put $2,500 on Meta and $1,500 on Google. From December to February we flip it, because people search when systems break.
What should you run in summer (December to February)?
Summer is capacity management and search. December and January bring the most enquiries and the longest install lead times. Hold spend at the $4,000 floor, flip it Google-heavy to catch failed systems and urgent replacements, pass repairs to your service line, and use Meta to sell dated install slots.
December
Penrith averages 14.7 days at 30°C or more in December, and the holidays shrink your working days. Every new install enquiry you cannot fit in before Christmas is a homeowner you disappoint. The ad that works here is honest: "quote now, installed in January", with a real date from the diary. Fast replies still matter; a booked quote in December is a January install if the follow-up holds. Our day 1, 3 and 7 quote follow-up exists for exactly this stretch.
January
The hottest month in the west: 30.8°C mean max and 16.2 days at 30°C or more. Breakdowns peak, and this is when Google Search earns its $2,500. A 15-year-old ducted system that dies in a heatwave is a replacement quote, and the homeowner is searching that afternoon. If you run a service line, repairs go there. For new installs, sell February and March slots on Meta. Do not let the phone ringing trick you into pushing spend you cannot turn into installs.
February
Heat continues, 12.3 days at 30°C or more, but the holiday backlog clears and lead times start to ease. Keep the Google-heavy split for the heat, move the Meta side back to installs, lead with a free in-home heat-load assessment, and fill March. The split returns to Meta-heavy in March.
What should you run in autumn (March to May)?
Autumn is the most underrated install window in Sydney. Homeowners whose system struggled in summer are ready to replace it, the weather is mild enough to work in roofs, and diaries have room. Push replacement ducted and multi-head, lead with the ESS discount, and switch on Off-Peak Fill as heating demand starts.
March is a push month. Penrith still averages 8.0 days at 30°C or more, so the summer is fresh in people's minds, and your techs are no longer running from breakdown to breakdown. This is where ducted replacement works best: a 15 to 20 year old system that barely coped in January, a family that does not want to go through that again. We cover how to sell those jobs in marketing ducted air conditioning.
The NSW Energy Savings Scheme discount is useful here. It is an upfront discount on the quote, indicatively up to $550 for a new 6kW system and up to $560 when replacing an old unit with a 6kW split, and it has no closing date, according to NSW Climate and Energy Action. It gives a replacement ad a reason to act that is not a price cut. How installers use the ESS in ads has the detail.
April and May are where installers usually go quiet. Do not. Off-Peak Fill is the module we switch on for winter and the shoulder months. It moves the ads to reverse cycle heating, gas heater replacement, and service and maintenance offers, so the diary has work in it when cooling demand drops away. It is part of the HVAC Profit Machine, not an extra.
What should you run in winter (June to August)?
Winter in Sydney is a heating season, and reverse cycle air conditioning is a heater. Run reverse cycle heating, gas heater replacement, service and maintenance through June and July, react to cold snaps in the west, then start selling pre-summer install slots from August while diaries are still open.
Penrith averages 18.2°C in June and 18.0°C in July, with mean minimums of 6.7°C and 5.4°C and a few frosty mornings each month. That is cold enough for a family in a big, poorly heated house to act. The message is simple: your aircon is also your heater, and one reverse cycle system heats in July and cools in January.
July is a floor month for most installers. It is the coldest, school holidays land in it, and heating jobs are smaller than ducted installs. Hold the $4,000 minimum on the default split, keep the heating and service ads on, and be ready to push when a cold snap arrives.
August is when the year turns. It is still cool, averaging 20.0°C in Penrith, but the people who got burned last summer start planning. Open pre-summer install slots with real dates, and sell a pre-summer service to existing customers. By late August, spend should be climbing towards spring.
What should you run in spring (September to November)?
Spring is the main booking window for installs. Homeowners want cooling in before summer, and you still have diary space to deliver it. Push ducted and multi-head installs with real install-by dates and heat-load assessments, and raise spend if you have the capacity. Taper in November once lead times pass three weeks.
September averages 23.5°C in Penrith and only 2.3 days at 30°C or more, which is why it is easy to under-spend. It is the best month to book installs, because every booked quote has room in the diary behind it. October adds heat, 6.9 days at 30°C or more, and urgency. November adds more, 9.2 days, and the "before Christmas" deadline.
The offer that carries spring is a dated install promise. "Installed before the first hot week" only works if the date is real and comes from your diary, not the calendar. Once your install lead time passes about three weeks, stop pushing install ads harder. More enquiries you cannot install are just more people to let down.
How should the budget move across the year?
Budget should follow install capacity. In our planning illustration, spring and March run about 50% above the $4,000 minimum, December to February and July sit on the minimum, and the other months sit between. The weighting follows the buyer: Meta-heavy most of the year, Google-heavy in peak summer.
Worked example: a seasonal Meta and Google budget for one Sydney region (planning illustration, not a recommendation for every installer)
Spend levels: Floor $4,000, Standard $5,000, Push $6,000 a month, combined across Meta and Google.
Push months (March, September, October, November): 4 × $6,000 = $24,000 (Meta $3,750, Google $2,250 each month)
Standard months (April, May, June, August): 4 × $5,000 = $20,000 (Meta $3,000, Google $2,000 each month)
Floor months, Google-heavy (December, January, February): 3 × $4,000 = $12,000 (Google $2,500, Meta $1,500 each month)
Floor month, default split (July): 1 × $4,000 = $4,000 (Meta $2,500, Google $1,500)
Seasonal year: $24,000 + $20,000 + $12,000 + $4,000 = $60,000 of ad spend: $34,000 on Meta and $26,000 on Google
Flat year at the floor: 12 × $4,000 = $48,000
At our planning assumption of about $320 ad cost per booked quote, a push month would book about $6,000 ÷ $320 = about 19 quotes, against about 12 to 13 at the floor. Costs usually rise as spend rises, so treat 19 as a ceiling, not a promise.
These are planning assumptions: a blended $100 to $130 cost per enquiry across Meta and Google, 60% passing the qualifier, 60% of those booking, about 12 to 13 booked quotes from $4,000. We have no client data yet, and a client's first month replaces all of it. The bigger question of how much to spend overall is in how much an air conditioning business should spend on marketing.
What should trigger a change mid-month?
Two things: the weather forecast and the diary. A forecast run of hot days in the west is the moment to push install ads if you have capacity, or to shift to repairs if you do not. The first cold mornings are the moment to switch heating ads on. The diary overrides both.
The rules we plan around, and they are our rules of thumb, not official definitions:
- Heatwave forecast, diary has room. Raise install spend for the week, lead with the heat-load assessment and the earliest real install date. Homeowners who were thinking about it start acting.
- Heatwave forecast, diary full. Lean on Google Search for failed systems and replacement, pass repair calls to the service line, pause Meta install ads with long lead times, and change the offer to "quote now, installed on a set date".
- First cold snap of the year. Turn on reverse cycle heating ads in the west first, where mornings drop to low single figures. The coast follows later, if at all.
- Install lead time passes three weeks. Turn install spend down, whatever the month.
- Diary gaps two weeks out. Push Off-Peak Fill offers and dated slots to fill them.
Why does the diary matter more than the calendar?
Because the calendar tells you when homeowners want aircon, and the diary tells you whether you can deliver it. Spend that books quotes you cannot install for six weeks wastes money and reputation. Spend held back when the diary has gaps wastes techs. The calendar is the plan. The diary is the switch.
That is why our weekly report shows booked quotes, cost per booked quote and jobs won next to your install lead time. A booked quote is a qualified homeowner booked in for an in-home quote, in your diary, with a time. How many of those you want next month depends on how many installs you can do the month after. Seasonal messaging is set out on our air conditioning marketing page, and the calendar above is how we would put it into a real year.
Sources
Alan
Alan runs onboarding and the day-to-day of every account: the CRM, the booking flow, the follow-up and the Friday report.
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