> This is the markdown version of https://www.classet.ai/blog/state-of-home-services-hiring > Learn more at https://www.classet.ai # 2026 State of Home Services Hiring Report: When Techs Apply, and Why Employers Lose Them Data from 68,314 applications to HVAC, plumbing, electrical and handyman jobs: when techs apply, how fast they reply, which requirements they miss, and what employers can do about it. [![Nick Jones](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.basehub.com%2Fe0b5701f%2F29753b1cf7b1c958c9f362e396b5dcf2%2F2.png%3Fwidth%3D100%26height%3D100%26quality%3D100&w=96&q=75) Nick JonesCOO & Co-Founder at Classet ](/blog/authors/nick-jones) November 4, 2026 Skilled Trades, Guides & Insights ![Classet's 2026 Home Services Hiring Report: 68,314 applications across 839 jobs at 115 employers; 51% arrived on nights or weekends.](/_next/image?url=%2Fimages%2Fblog%2Fstate-of-home-services-hiring-report.png&w=3840&q=75) Home services companies say qualified labor, more than customer demand, limits their growth. We looked at 68,314 applications to HVAC, plumbing, electrical and handyman jobs to see where employers lose technicians between the application and the first conversation. Quick answer Half of home services tech applications (51%) arrive on nights or weekends, when most hiring offices are closed. Applicants who reply within an hour of first contact finish a phone interview about 79% of the time, against 60% for those who take more than a day. The median tech job drew 32 applicants, but HVAC installer jobs drew only 15. Pay at plumbing and HVAC contractors is up 13% since January 2024, per the BLS. ## Key findings 51% Applications that arrived on nights or weekends 79% vs 60% Phone interview finish rate: replied within an hour vs after a day 15 Median applicants per HVAC installer job (all tech jobs: 32) - **Half of applications arrive when the office is closed.** 51% of applications to home services tech jobs came in on nights or weekends, and 18% arrived between 9pm and 6am. - **How fast applicants reply predicts who finishes.** Applicants who replied within an hour of first contact finished a phone interview about 79% of the time, compared with 60% for those who replied after more than a day. - **Most applicants reply to fast outreach.** About 7 in 10 applicants replied after an employer contacted them, with a median reply 75 minutes after first contact. 79% were contacted within 5 minutes of applying. - **Licensed and installer roles draw the fewest applicants.** The median tech job drew 32 applicants. HVAC installer jobs drew 15. - **Tech pay keeps rising.** Plumbing and HVAC contractor pay is up 13% since January 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. ## Why hiring is the constraint in home services A recent [Capstone Partners report on residential services deal activity](https://www.capstonepartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Capstone-Partners_Residential-Services_MA-Coverage-Report_October-2026.pdf) put it directly: "In many Residential Services categories today, customer demand is not the limiting factor to growth – qualified labor is." Acquirers now pay more for companies that can recruit, train and keep technicians in large numbers. You can see the same pressure in pay. Average hourly earnings for non-supervisory workers at [plumbing and HVAC contractors](https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES2023822008) rose from $37.16 in January 2024 to $42.01 in August 2026, about 5% a year. Pay at [electrical contractors](https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES2023821008) rose 13.9% over the same period, to $42.69. ## How many people apply for home services tech jobs? The median tech job in our data drew 32 applicants. Entry-level jobs drew the most, and the pool shrank as the training a role needs went up. Role Median applicants per job Apprentice or helper 48 Service plumber 32.5 HVAC service tech 24 Journeyman 24 HVAC installer 15 Apprentice and helper jobs drew three times as many applicants as HVAC installer jobs. For the roles that take years of training, employers have the fewest people to choose from, which is why losing one qualified installer to a slow callback costs more than losing a helper applicant. ## When do HVAC, plumbing and electrical techs apply for jobs? Techs apply after their shift ends. 51.3% of applications came in on nights (6pm to 8am local time) or weekends, and 17.9% arrived between 9pm and 6am, hours when most hiring offices are closed. When the application arrived Share of applications Nights (6pm to 8am) or weekends 51.3% Between 9pm and 6am (part of the 51.3%) 17.9% Weekday business hours 48.7% Applicants also respond on their own schedule. 39.5% of first phone interviews were completed outside weekday business hours. If your process only moves between 8 and 5 on weekdays, half your applicants sit untouched until the next morning, and the weekend ones wait until Monday. ## How fast should you respond to tech applicants? Most applicants in our data heard from the employer fast: 79% were contacted within 5 minutes of applying. About 7 in 10 replied, and the median reply came 75 minutes after first contact. The clearest sign of whether an applicant would finish was how fast they replied. Time to reply after first contact Finished the phone interview Within an hour About 79% 1 to 24 hours 71% to 76% More than a day 60% Applicants who reply early are the ones most likely to finish, so the first few hours after an application are your best window to reach them. A tech who checks their phone after a long day should find your message already there. Even with fast outreach, nearly 3 in 10 applicants never replied, and the data doesn't show why. ## Which requirements do tech applicants most often miss? Among HVAC, plumbing and electrical applicants who finished an interview but didn't meet a job's posted requirements, the most common gaps were: Requirement missed Share of applicants who missed a requirement Under the minimum age of 18 (mostly electrical apprentice and helper jobs) 19.3% Missing a required trade license or certification 14.5% Less experience than the job required 13.4% Driver's license or driving record 9.3% Tools or a vehicle 7.4% One applicant can miss more than one requirement. These figures cover 977 applicants at 23 employers. You can see most of these gaps before anyone picks up the phone, so spelling them out in the posting saves you the call. ## Is pay the reason techs don't take jobs? Rarely, in our data. In a smaller sample of 621 HVAC, plumbing and electrical applicants who named a pay figure, mostly in plumbing, the median ask was $27 an hour, against posted ranges of roughly $26.50 to $41. Only 7% asked for more than the top of the posted range. When applicants asked questions of their own, pay came up most often, followed by schedule, training and licensing, and the company truck. That order is a decent checklist for what your posting should answer before a tech has to ask. ## What home services employers can do 1. **Cover the hours techs apply.** Half of applications arrive at night or on weekends. Plan to make first contact the same day, including evenings and weekends. 2. **Make the first step short and phone friendly.** A text and a quick call fit a tech's schedule better than a long form or a callback during office hours. We've written about [why phone calls beat texts in the trades](/blog/phone-calls-beat-texts-trades). 3. **Put the requirements in the posting.** Age minimums, license level and driver's license needs account for many of the missed requirements. Stating them up front saves both sides a step. Our guide to [writing an HVAC job posting for Indeed](/blog/hvac-job-posting-indeed) covers what to include. 4. **Post a pay range.** Only 7% of applicants who named a number asked for more than the top of the posted range. 5. **Build licensed techs from the apprentice pool.** Apprentice and helper jobs draw three times the applicants of installer jobs. Training and license sponsorship turn that pool into the senior techs that are hardest to hire. It's the long-term answer to the broader [skilled trades labor shortage](/blog/overcome-skilled-trades-labor-shortage). ## Frequently asked questions ### When do most HVAC and plumbing techs apply for jobs? About half apply on nights or weekends. Of 68,314 applications to home services jobs in 2025 and 2026, 51% arrived outside weekday business hours and 18% arrived between 9pm and 6am. ### How many applicants does a home services tech job get? The median job in our sample drew 32 applicants. HVAC installer jobs drew 15, and apprentice and helper jobs drew 48. ### How quickly should employers contact tech applicants? Applicants who replied within an hour of first contact finished a phone interview about 79% of the time, compared with 60% for those who took more than a day. Reaching applicants the same day, including evenings and weekends, keeps more of them in the process. ### Is there a shortage of HVAC technicians? Pay data points to a tight market: wages at plumbing and HVAC contractors are up 13% since January 2024, according to the BLS. Our data shows techs are still applying, but licensed and installer roles draw far fewer applicants than entry-level jobs. ## About this report - **Source:** Classet platform data, aggregated across employers. - **Sample:** 68,314 applications to 839 jobs at 115 US home services employers. HVAC: 18,223 applications at 45 employers. Plumbing: 8,768 at 36. Electrical: 8,381 at 40. Handyman: 31,723 at 12. Pest control, roofing, garage door and appliance repair are counted in the totals but are too small to report alone. - **Roles counted:** field and tech roles. Sales, customer service, dispatch, management, estimator and office roles are excluded, as are test accounts. Someone who applied to two jobs counts twice. - **Timing:** all times use each job's local time zone. Application time is when the application reached Classet, which can trail the actual click when an employer's applicant tracking system syncs in batches. - **Contact:** applicants were invited by text to a phone interview, 79% within 5 minutes of applying. "Replied" means the applicant texted back or connected to a call. - **Requirements missed** come from the written outcome of each interview and exclude handyman jobs. - **Thresholds:** any figure based on fewer than 5 employers or 200 applicants is left out. - **Limits:** the employers in this sample use automated applicant outreach, so the figures describe that group rather than every home services company. - **Pay data:** [BLS Current Employment Statistics](https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES2023822008), production and non-supervisory employees, seasonally adjusted, NAICS 23822, 23821 and 238. August 2026 is preliminary. You're welcome to cite or chart these figures with a link back to this page. ## See the first conversation in action Classet texts and calls applicants the moment they apply, at any hour. If you want to see what that looks like for your HVAC, plumbing or electrical openings, here's [how skilled trades employers use Classet](/use-cases/skilled-trades). [![Nick Jones](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.basehub.com%2Fe0b5701f%2F29753b1cf7b1c958c9f362e396b5dcf2%2F2.png%3Fwidth%3D100%26height%3D100%26quality%3D100&w=128&q=75) Nick Jones COO & Co-Founder at Classet Nick is an engineer-turned-operator who served as COO at BlueCrew before co-founding Classet. He leads the translation of big-picture vision into the day-to-day roadmap, driven by a passion for lifelong learning and building teams that tackle hard problems well. ](/blog/authors/nick-jones) Follow Classet in Google Add classet.ai as a preferred source and our hiring research is more likely to show up in your Top Stories and AI Overviews. 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