A marketing stack audit is a short, fixed-scope project that checks who owns each of your marketing accounts, whether your tracking actually works, and what you're paying for. For most HVAC companies it is the right first step, because every plan, vendor review and scorecard depends on those answers. HVAC.Management runs the audit and gives you a written list of findings and fixes in plain language.
We're a marketing service, not an HVAC contractor. The audit covers marketing accounts and data, never equipment or technical systems.
Why owners need this first
Account ownership problems stay invisible until a vendor leaves, an employee quits or a profile gets suspended, and by then they are expensive.
Common findings in HVAC companies:
- The domain is registered in a former web developer's name, with renewal notices going to an address nobody checks.
- The Google Business Profile's primary owner is a past employee's personal Google account.
- Google Ads runs under an agency's account rather than one the company owns.
- Call tracking numbers forward to a line that no longer exists, or to a dispatcher's cell phone.
- Three tools that overlap: two review platforms and a CRM feature that does the same job.
Who the audit is for
The audit suits almost any HVAC company that has been marketing for more than a couple of years, because that's long enough for staff, vendors and logins to change hands. It is especially useful before three moments: hiring a new agency, hiring a marketing person, and selling or restructuring the business, when buyers and partners will ask who owns the digital assets.
It's less useful if you set everything up yourself recently, under a company email, and nothing has changed since. In that case, our vendor management guide has a checklist you can run in an afternoon.
What we check
The audit covers four groups of accounts and settings.
Ownership and access
- Domain registrar, DNS and website hosting
- Website admin and any page builder licences
- Google Business Profile, Google Ads, Google Analytics and Search Console
- Meta Business assets and any other ad platforms
- Review platforms and directory listings
Tracking
- Call tracking numbers, forwarding and recording settings
- Source fields in your field-service or CRM software
- Whether website calls, texts and emails are counted correctly
- Whether conversions in ad platforms match real booked jobs
Costs
- Every recurring marketing charge on your card and invoices
- Renewal dates and notice periods
Consistency
- Business name, phone and service areas across profiles
- Claims in ads and on the website that need checking, such as rebate or financing language
What you receive
You get a written findings document organised by urgency: fix this week, fix this quarter, and good to know. Each finding includes what's wrong, why it matters and the exact steps to fix it, plus an account custody sheet listing every account, its owner and who has access. If you want us to carry out the fixes, that's part of the fractional manager role or can be scoped separately.
Timeline
| Step | Timing |
|---|---|
| Kick-off call and access requests | Days 1–3 |
| Account and tracking checks | Week 1–2 |
| Cost review and findings draft | Week 2–3 |
| Walk-through call | End of week 3 |
How results are measured
The audit has done its job when your company is the owner or primary admin on every marketing account, call tracking reaches the right phones, every recurring charge has a name and an owner, and you can see where last month's calls came from. That is the baseline the monthly reviews build on.
Mistakes to avoid
- Sharing one login among staff and vendors. Give each person their own user and remove them when they leave.
- Using a personal email as the account owner. Use a company address that outlives any employee.
- Cancelling tools before exporting data. Export call logs, review history and reports first.
- Fixing tracking without telling vendors. Changes to numbers or conversions affect their data, so coordinate.
Read our vendor management guide for the full account custody checklist, see pricing, or call, text or email to book the audit by phone.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the audit take?
Usually two to three weeks. The time depends mostly on how quickly old vendors and staff respond to access requests, which is also one of the things the audit reveals.
Do you need our passwords?
No. We ask you to add us as a user on each account, and we never ask you to share a password by text or email. Where your company doesn't have owner access, we help you recover it through the platform's own process.
What if a former agency owns our Google Ads account?
It happens often. We help you request ownership or admin transfer through the proper channel. If transfer isn't possible, we help you set up a company-owned account and move forward cleanly, keeping whatever history can be exported.
Will the audit tell us which vendor to fire?
Not on its own. It tells you what you own, what you pay for and whether your data is reliable. Judging vendors fairly needs a few months of clean data, which is what the monthly reviews provide.