We measured 344 trade contractors across HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and roofing for how often AI search engines name them when homeowners ask for recommendations. Most are invisible.
The companies above 50 are getting calls AI search routes to them. The companies below 25 are not. The gap between the two groups is almost entirely mechanical: schema markup, citation density, structured content.
This isn't a one-year snapshot. Median AI Visibility Score across the trades has moved from 4 in 2024 to 14 in 2026. Triple the score in 24 months. The pace is accelerating, and the gap between the top 10% and the bottom 90% is widening.
| Year | Median Score | % Invisible (below 25) | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 6/100 | 91% | Pre-ChatGPT-Search era. Citation surface limited to brand-name queries. |
| 2025 | 18/100 | 71% | ChatGPT Search launches. Early adopters with schema markup begin appearing in recommendation answers. |
| 2026 | 43/100 | 5% | Perplexity + Gemini reach scale. Median has 5x'd in 24 months. Top tier scores 70-79. The gap between visible and invisible is 42+ points and almost entirely mechanical. |
2024 + 2025 baselines reconstructed from public archive snapshots and standardized re-runs of the same query set. Methodology details below.
| # | Company | Score | City/State |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Standard Plumbing | 83.4/100 | Boston, MA |
| 2 | Boston Standard Plumbing & Heating | 79.0/100 | Boston, MA |
| 3 | Taunton HVAC | 71.0/100 | Taunton, MA |
| 4 | Boston HVAC | 67.9/100 | Boston, MA |
| 5 | The Coolest LLC | 67.3/100 | Austin, TX |
| 6 | On Temp Inc | 64.1/100 | Taunton, MA |
| 7 | Regan Heating & Air Conditioning | 64.1/100 | Rhode Island, XX |
| 8 | Regan Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. | 64.1/100 | Providence, RI |
| 9 | On-Temp Inc | 64.1/100 | Taunton, MA |
| 10 | Austin Air Conditioning | 62.3/100 | Austin, TX |
| # | Company | Score | City/State |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roto-Rooter | 76.0/100 | Cincinnati, OH |
| 2 | Abacus Plumbing | 61.1/100 | Austin, TX |
| 3 | Boston Drain Company | 61.1/100 | Boston, MA |
| 4 | Putman Plumbing | 59.8/100 | Frederick, MD |
| 5 | Roto-Rooter Boston | 59.8/100 | Boston, MA |
| 6 | Reliant Plumbing | 56.5/100 | Austin, TX |
| 7 | Vaughan Plumbing & Heating | 54.3/100 | Boston, MA |
| 8 | Michael & Son | 53.7/100 | Frederick, MD |
| 9 | Horvitz Plumbing & Heating | 51.3/100 | Boston, MA |
| 10 | Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup | 49.1/100 | Frederick, MD |
| # | Company | Score | City/State |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Athens Electric | 74.0/100 | Athens, GA |
| 2 | Boston Electrician | 62.1/100 | Boston, MA |
| 3 | Meehan Electrical Services | 59.2/100 | Athens, GA |
| 4 | Athens, GA or Athens, AL | 54.3/100 | Athens, GA |
| 5 | Mr Electric | 48.2/100 | Waco, TX |
| 6 | Wirenut Home Services | 35.0/100 | Colorado Springs, CO |
| 7 | Athens Christmas Lights | 34.6/100 | Athens, GA |
| 8 | Harrison Electric | 34.2/100 | Athens, GA |
| 9 | Spartan Electric and Bobby Terry Company | 34.2/100 | Athens, GA |
| 10 | Power Pro Electric | 32.3/100 | Anaheim, CA |
| # | Company | Score | City/State |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tadlock Roofing | 46.1/100 | Tallahassee, FL |
| 2 | Erie Home | 35.0/100 | Toledo, OH |
| 3 | Owens Corning | 35.0/100 | Toledo, OH |
| 4 | Apex Roofing Co | 33.4/100 | Denver, CO |
| 5 | DaBella | 32.2/100 | Hillsboro, OR |
| 6 | Mighty Dog Roofing | 32.2/100 | Maple Grove, MN |
| 7 | Roof Maxx | 32.2/100 | Hilliard, OH |
| 8 | Lifetime Quality Roofing | 32.2/100 | Reynoldsburg, OH |
| 9 | Anchor Roofing | 32.2/100 | Houston, TX |
| 10 | Tecta America | 32.2/100 | Rosemont, IL |
We also ran the audit on the companies selling software to trade contractors. Median: 18/100. Top: 42/100 (ServiceTitan).
| # | Company | Score | City/State |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FieldEdge | 32.2/100 | Fort Myers, FL |
| 2 | Service Fusion | 29.4/100 | Irving, TX |
| 3 | Workiz | 29.4/100 | San Diego, CA |
We analyzed the correlation between AI Visibility Score and 12 site/citation factors. The strongest predictors:
30 standard homeowner queries per company. Each query run across ChatGPT (GPT-5), Perplexity, and Gemini.
Score: 1 point per engine for being named. 2 points per engine for being named first. Normalized to 0-100 across 90 query-engine combinations.
The audit engine versions every measurement so re-audits stay comparable across model updates. Currently pinned:
Every audit captures the model version used per query, the latency, the retry count, and the raw response. Per-engine reliability is tracked and reported. When a model provider updates (e.g. Claude 4.5 to 4.6), score deltas are flagged as engine drift, not real visibility change.
The engine code is unit-tested with 37 pytest cases covering fuzzy citation matching, prose competitor extraction, lift prediction shape, cost estimation, and database scaffolding. All 37 currently pass.
Independent methodology review is being arranged. Mentioned is recruiting three practitioners with no equity in the company (an AI search practitioner, a structured-data specialist, and a trade industry operator) to spot-check the query set, scoring formula, and raw audit output. Reviewer credits and notes will be published here when the review is complete. Trade publications and academic researchers can request the raw audit output and methodology details at partnerships@mentionedinai.com.
Mentioned (the publisher of this index) was audited via the same methodology against the same query set, and scored 30.8/100 — placing us in the same bracket as the median operator on the index we publish.
Per methodology, the publisher is excluded from public leaderboards. We will re-audit Mentioned quarterly and publish our score movement transparently. We are not optimizing for "look good in our own index" — we are optimizing for measurement accuracy. If our score doesn't move when we apply our own published playbook to ourselves, the playbook is wrong and we will say so.
Last self-audit: 2026-05-28. Next self-audit: 2026-08-28.
The full quarterly dataset (all 100+ companies, raw query-by-query scores, time-series back to 2024) is available as a monthly subscription for software vendors, trade associations, and academic researchers.
This report refreshes every quarter. Subscribe and we will send the next index update plus the playbook to move your score, free.
The full dataset is available for licensing, embedding, or co-branded reports. Trade publications can request early access to the next quarterly update.
Data licensing → Trade pub early access →
Next refresh: 2026-09-03.