This buyer reads everything
A facilities manager evaluating mechanical contractors is not in a hurry and is not choosing on proximity. They are assembling a shortlist over several weeks, often before an RFP is written, and they are checking whether you can handle a building like theirs. Nothing that wins residential search works here.
A procurement process, not a purchase
The search happens long before anyone contacts you.
Commercial buyers research quietly. By the time you receive an inquiry, you have usually already been evaluated against several competitors on the basis of what your website said, and the inquiry itself is a formality confirming a decision that was largely made. That inverts the usual assumption that the website generates the lead. Here it qualifies you for one.
That also means the useful measure is not inquiry volume. A commercial program producing four serious inquiries a year can be worth more than a residential program producing four hundred calls, because the contract values are not comparable and neither is the retention.
What the buyer is checking
Capability evidence, not adjectives.
A facilities manager is looking for signals that you have done work like theirs. Building types, system scale, whether you handle planned maintenance as well as reactive callouts, and whether you can respond to a failure in a building that cannot simply be closed for the day.
Generic capability claims fail this test. A services page saying you handle commercial HVAC tells them nothing, because every contractor says that. Naming building types and describing how planned maintenance is scheduled and reported reads as evidence, and evidence is the entire currency of this decision.
- Building types and system scale stated specifically rather than implied
- Planned maintenance described as a program with reporting, not as a service line
- Response expectations for a building that cannot close
- Anything that helps a manager justify you to whoever signs the contract
- Whether you carry the insurance and compliance documentation a procurement process will ask for, stated before someone has to request it
Why this cannot share a site with residential
Two audiences, and the residential one is louder.
Most contractors doing both run one website weighted heavily toward residential, because that is where the call volume is. A facilities manager landing on a site full of homeowner language and emergency offers concludes, reasonably, that commercial work is a sideline. That conclusion is difficult to reverse later in the evaluation.
The fix is not usually a second website. It is a properly built commercial section with its own language, its own entry points from search, and its own proof, so that a commercial visitor arriving from a commercial query never has to read residential material to work out whether you are relevant.
How the program differs
Less local, more content, and a longer measurement window.
Local signals matter far less here. A facilities manager for a portfolio of buildings is not choosing the nearest contractor, so the map pack carries much less weight than it does on residential terms. What carries weight is depth of relevant content and the authority of the domain publishing it.
The measurement window is also longer. Residential programs show movement in booked calls within a few months of ranking. Commercial programs show movement in inquiry quality first and contract volume considerably later, which means judging a commercial program on ninety day call volume will always make it look like a failure.
- Content depth rather than map pack position
- Terms that match how facilities managers describe their problem
- Authority building, because trust signals do more work in a long evaluation
- Measurement on inquiry quality first, contract volume later
Questions from commercial contractors
How do we measure whether commercial SEO is working?
On inquiry quality before inquiry volume. A commercial program that produces four serious conversations a year with buildings you can actually service is performing well. Judging it on call volume against a residential benchmark will always make it look like a failure.
Do we need a separate website for commercial work?
Usually not. A properly built commercial section with its own entry points from search and its own language does the job. The failure mode is not having one site, it is having a site so weighted toward homeowners that a facilities manager concludes commercial is a sideline.
Does local SEO matter for commercial mechanical work?
Much less than for residential. A facilities manager responsible for several buildings is not choosing on proximity, so the map pack carries far less weight. Content depth and domain authority do most of the work on these terms.
How long is the sales cycle?
Weeks to months in most cases, and the search portion of it happens before you hear anything. By the time an inquiry arrives you have usually already been shortlisted, which means the website did its work long before the phone rang.
Should we publish pricing for commercial work?
Rarely, because commercial scopes vary too much for a range to be meaningful. What does help is explaining how you price: what a planned maintenance agreement is based on, and what changes a reactive callout rate. Process transparency substitutes for price transparency here.
What content actually persuades a facilities manager?
Specifics about buildings like theirs. System scale, how planned maintenance is scheduled and reported, and what happens when a failure occurs in a building that cannot close. Generic quality and service claims do nothing, because every contractor makes them and none of them address the risk the manager is carrying.
Do reviews matter for commercial work?
Less than for residential, but not zero. A facilities manager will look at them, and a thin or unanswered review profile raises a question at exactly the point you want none raised. The volume required is far lower than on the residential side, which makes it a cheap problem to close.
We do commercial and residential. Should the site lead with one?
Lead with whichever carries your revenue, but never let the other become invisible. The common failure is a site so weighted toward homeowners that a facilities manager concludes commercial is a sideline, which is a conclusion that is very hard to reverse later in an evaluation.
How far ahead of a contract renewal should we be visible?
Several months, because that is when the incumbent gets quietly reassessed. Facilities managers rarely go to market the week a contract expires. They start looking at alternatives well before, which means the visibility has to already exist when that reassessment begins rather than arriving after a tender is published.
Where to go next
Be on the shortlist before the RFP
Send us your domain and the kinds of buildings you service. We will come back with the terms facilities managers actually use, where you currently sit on them, and what it would take to be found during the evaluation rather than after it.