TradeOps Consulting vs. Leadhub: An Honest Comparison for HVAC & Plumbing Companies

July 20, 2026 · Updated October 13, 2026 · Yash Singh

Honest Comparison · Updated 2026

Leadhub carries one of the best origin stories in trades marketing. Founder Ben Hubbert co-founded Champion AC in San Antonio, grew it, sold it, then built an agency on what he learned. That track record proves real operator credibility, not a marketing claim. TradeOps Consulting respects it, because one of our co-founders built and sold a home service business too.

This comparison is not a hit piece. This page lays out the real differences between Leadhub and TradeOps Consulting so you can decide which model fits your business. The honest framing is simple: both are digital marketing agencies for home service companies. Leadhub’s Build/Brand/Buy model serves home services broadly. TradeOps Consulting works only with HVAC and plumbing companies, includes Local Services Ads and AI search optimization, tracks every call to the job it booked, and publishes its prices.

The 30-Second Verdict

Choose Leadhub if…

Leadhub fits your business if you’re an established shop, likely on ServiceTitan, and you want an experienced, operator-founded digital agency for websites, SEO, content, and paid media.

Choose TradeOps if…

TradeOps Consulting is the fit if you run an HVAC or plumbing company and want Local Services Ads and AI search optimization in the program, CRM setup and automations so new leads get answered, reports that show booked jobs by channel, published pricing, cancel-anytime terms, and the conditional “Leave in the Green” guarantee.

Side-by-Side Comparison

	TradeOps Consulting	Leadhub
Industry focus	HVAC & plumbing exclusively	Home services. Founded in 2011 by Ben Hubbert, who co-founded and sold Champion AC
What they are	A marketing agency that works only with HVAC and plumbing companies	A digital marketing agency. The “Build/Brand/Buy” model covers web development, SEO, content, and paid media
Marketing services	Local SEO and Google Business Profile, Google Ads, Local Services Ads, Facebook/Instagram ads, AI search optimization (measured by mention and citation rates), websites, lead generation, and call tracking tied to booked jobs	WordPress development, SEO, content, PPC, OTT/streaming, Yelp Ads; Google Premier Partner. Local Service Ads don’t appear on the published service menu
Branding	Brand identity and social media setup are included in the one-time Full System Build ($25,000 + $497/mo)	“Brand” is part of their model, but a full identity practice (fleet wraps, uniforms, print) isn’t the published focus
Who owns your website & ad accounts?	You. Your website, Google Business Profile, ad accounts and lead flow are set up on your accounts	WordPress builds are portable by nature, but ownership terms aren’t stated publicly. Confirm them before you sign
Pricing transparency	Published plans: retainers from $2,000/mo, custom websites from $3,000, à la carte SEO $2,000/mo, Google Ads or Meta Ads $1,500/mo, LSA $500/mo; see all plans	No pricing published on their site; their Clutch profile lists a $5,000+ minimum project size, $100–149/hr, and typical annual budgets of $10K–$200K
Contracts & guarantee	Cancel any time with 30 days’ notice before your next billing date. “Leave in the Green” guarantee: work with us 6+ months and, if you’re unsatisfied, we continue at no cost until you reach break-even, provided you meet its conditions (terms)	Contract terms not stated publicly; no published performance guarantee
Team & scale	A specialist agency for HVAC and plumbing companies, from owner-led shops to multi-location groups	~30-person agency in San Antonio, TX; BBB A+; Clutch 4.8/5 (2 reviews, both from 2016)
Best fit	HVAC and plumbing companies that want marketing tied to booked jobs, published pricing, and cancel-anytime terms	$3M–$30M ServiceTitan shops wanting a full-funnel digital marketing partner

Claims about Leadhub above come from public sources: their own website, Clutch profile, and third-party listings, as of July 2026. Third-party pricing figures come from Clutch, not from Leadhub directly. Verify current offerings and terms with Leadhub before relying on this comparison.

What Leadhub Does Well

Leadhub does 4 things well: operator credibility, full-funnel breadth, serious credentials, and longevity.

Genuine operator credibility. Ben Hubbert did not study the trades from the outside. He co-founded Champion AC, ran it, and sold it, and an agency built by someone who has signed the front of a technician’s paycheck understands things generalists never will.
A real full-funnel digital stack. The Build/Brand/Buy model covers WordPress development, SEO, content, PPC, OTT, and even Yelp Ads, a broader stack than most trades agencies offer.
Serious credentials. Google Premier Partner, ServiceTitan Certified, and BBB A+ status stand as table stakes for some agencies, but Leadhub actually holds them.
Longevity. Leadhub was founded in 2011 and still operates today. Fourteen-plus years serving home services companies form a track record, not a pitch deck.

Leadhub works as a legitimate contender if you’re an established ServiceTitan shop that wants a seasoned digital marketing partner and is comfortable getting pricing on a call.

Where the Leadhub Model Has Limits

The Leadhub model carries limits in channel mix and focus, plus a couple of transparency gaps worth knowing before you call.

Home services broadly. Leadhub serves home service companies in general. TradeOps works only with HVAC and plumbing companies.
CRM integration is not CRM setup. ServiceTitan certification lets Leadhub plug into your existing system for tracking. That differs from setting up a CRM with automations that text back missed calls and reply to new form fills, which every TradeOps monthly plan includes so new leads get answered.
Local Service Ads don’t appear on the published menu. For HVAC and plumbing, LSAs often run as the cheapest booked-job channel available, so their absence from the program is a real gap to ask about.
Thin recent third-party proof marks the record. Leadhub’s Clutch rating holds a strong 4.8/5, but from just two reviews, both from 2016. Those decade-old reviews mention slow website builds and premium pricing. That information is stale and may not reflect the agency today, but the absence of recent independent reviews means you rely largely on the sales conversation.
No published pricing appears on the site. Third-party listings suggest a $5,000+ minimum and annual budgets up to $200K, but the number doesn’t appear on Leadhub’s site. TradeOps believes you deserve the number up front.

What TradeOps Does Differently

TradeOps Consulting is a marketing agency for HVAC and plumbing companies that want booked jobs, not just leads. It works only with HVAC and plumbing companies, so the campaigns, pages and reports are built around repair, replacement, install and emergency work in those two trades.

The Marketing Services

Local SEO and Google Business Profile. Business Profile work, service and city pages, reviews, citations and links, so you show up in the map pack and organic results for the jobs you want.
Google Ads. Search campaigns on high-intent repair, replacement and install keywords, with landing pages and call tracking.
Local Services Ads. Verification, job types, service area, budget, lead credits and reviews for Google’s pay-per-lead ads.
Facebook and Instagram ads. Replacement and install offers shown to homeowners in your service area.
AI search optimization. Clear, consistent information about your company across your site and listings, measured every month by mention rate and citation rate against a fixed set of prompts on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude.
Websites. Custom, mobile-first sites built for calls and form fills, with call tracking and CRM forms connected.
Lead generation. Your own lead flow from SEO, ads, LSA and direct mail, so leads come to you alone instead of being shared with other contractors.

Plans can also include a referral system, EDDM direct mail and social media management. The full list by plan is on our plans page.

Every Call Tracked to a Booked Job

Call tracking and a CRM are set up on your account before any ad spend starts, so every lead is counted from day one. Every monthly plan includes CRM setup and automations to make sure new leads get answered: missed calls get a text back and new form fills get an instant reply.

The monthly report goes past clicks and impressions. It shows calls and form fills by source, booked jobs and revenue by channel from the closed sales in your CRM, and cost per lead and cost per booked job for each paid channel.

Your marketing stays yours. Your Google Business Profile, website, ad accounts and lead flow are set up on your accounts, so they stay with you if you stop working with us.

The Results Our Clients See

These numbers are read from clients’ own Google Business Profile and Search Console dashboards. Screenshots are in the results section of our homepage.

A/C Man Heating and Air: 94 calls from its Google Business Profile in August 2026, up 40.3% on August 2025.
One HVAC client’s Business Profile: 521 calls from May to September 2026, up 20.0% on the same months of 2025.
One client site: Search Console clicks rose from 45 to 1.47K over three months against the same three months a year earlier, and average position moved from 59.8 to 10.8.

Results depend on your market, where you start and how quickly your team answers new leads.

The “Leave in the Green” guarantee. You can cancel any time with 30 days’ notice before your next billing date, and every month you get a report of the work done and the results it produced. If you work with us for at least six months and are unsatisfied with the results, we continue our service at no cost until you reach a break-even result. That applies when you complete our onboarding course, follow the advice and warnings we give about our services, and keep your CRM updated with lead value and closed sales data, verified by third-party software and accounting data. Read the full guarantee terms.

Choose TradeOps Consulting or Leadhub

Choose Leadhub if

Leadhub fits a $3M–$30M ServiceTitan shop that wants a seasoned, operator-founded agency for websites, SEO, content, and paid media, and is comfortable getting pricing on the sales call.

Choose TradeOps if

TradeOps Consulting fits an HVAC or plumbing company, from an owner-led shop to a multi-location group, that wants AI search and LSA in the program from day one, every call tracked to the job it booked, its accounts in its own name, and published pricing and the conditional “Leave in the Green” guarantee before committing.

FAQ

Is Leadhub good?

Leadhub is an experienced, operator-founded agency with real credentials, including Google Premier Partner, ServiceTitan Certified, and BBB A+ status, and 14+ years in home services, and by every public signal, Leadhub does that job well. The recent third-party review footprint runs thin, so run your own reference checks. The bigger question is fit: whether you want Local Services Ads, AI search and published pricing in the same engagement, and an agency that works only with HVAC and plumbing.

What’s the actual difference between Leadhub and TradeOps?

Focus, channel mix, and transparency mark the actual difference between Leadhub and TradeOps Consulting. Both are marketing agencies. Leadhub serves home services broadly with websites, SEO, content, PPC, and OTT. TradeOps Consulting works only with HVAC and plumbing companies and runs SEO, Google Ads, Meta ads and websites plus AI search optimization and Local Services Ads, with call tracking that ties each call to a booked job. TradeOps Consulting publishes its pricing; Leadhub does not.

Does ServiceTitan certification mean Leadhub sets up lead follow-up?

Not on its own. ServiceTitan certification means Leadhub can integrate with the ServiceTitan system you already run, which helps with attribution and tracking. TradeOps includes CRM setup and automations in every monthly plan as part of the marketing service: leads from every channel land in one place, missed calls get a text back, and new form fills get an instant reply. The point is that the calls the marketing produces get answered, and that the report can show booked jobs by channel.

Will I own my website and data with TradeOps?

Yes. TradeOps Consulting sets up your website, Google Business Profile, ad accounts, call tracking and CRM on your accounts from day one, so they stay with you if you ever part ways. Get ownership terms in writing before signing with any partner you choose.

What does TradeOps cost?

TradeOps Consulting publishes its pricing, unlike most of this market. Retainer plans start at $2,000/month (Minimum), $4,000/month (Growth), and $6,500/month (Hyper Scaling). Custom websites start at $3,000 one-time, and a complete Full System Build is $25,000 + $497/month. À la carte: SEO $2,000/mo, Google Ads $1,500/mo, Meta Ads $1,500/mo, LSA $500/mo. See our plans. Every engagement starts with a free 15-minute Call Audit, so you see the roadmap and the math before you spend anything.

Am I locked into a contract with TradeOps?

No. You can cancel your TradeOps Consulting engagement anytime with 30 days’ notice before your next billing date, and you receive a monthly report of the work done and the results generated. If you have worked with TradeOps 6+ months and remain unsatisfied, the “Leave in the Green” guarantee keeps TradeOps working at no cost until you reach break-even (conditions apply).

Get Your Free Call Audit

TradeOps Consulting offers a free 15-minute Call Audit. We look at your website, Google Business Profile, call tracking and follow-up, and you leave with a written roadmap of where calls are leaking, whether you hire us or not.

Get My Free Call Audit

Takes 15 minutes. No pressure.