No model names specific home services providers with any real frequency (0-2.5%), so AI visibility in this industry is about shaping how a business is described generically, not securing brand mentions.
Original research · 2026-07 edition
AI SEO Statistics: Home Services (2026-07 edition)
Across 120 AI responses to 40 home services questions, ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini diverge sharply on whether to recommend hiring a professional (87.5% vs 67.5% vs 27.5%) and on how much guidance they give around credentials, reviews, and multiple quotes. No model names specific providers with any consistency, meaning AI visibility in this industry hinges on being described favorably in generic terms rather than being cited by name. With a divergence index of 22.1, home services businesses need model-specific strategies rather than a single AI-SEO playbook.
40 questions · 120 AI responses · 3 models · measured 2026-07-02
Key statistics
Every number below is measured, anchored, and sourced.
MeasuredAI SEO Statistics — Home Services, 2026-07
MeasuredAI SEO Statistics — Home Services, 2026-07
MeasuredAI SEO Statistics — Home Services, 2026-07
MeasuredAI SEO Statistics — Home Services, 2026-07
MeasuredAI SEO Statistics — Home Services, 2026-07
MeasuredAI SEO Statistics — Home Services, 2026-07
MeasuredAI SEO Statistics — Home Services, 2026-07
MeasuredAI SEO Statistics — Home Services, 2026-07
MeasuredAI SEO Statistics — Home Services, 2026-07
The question bank
The questions we tested — sampled from real buyer journeys in home services.
Each model answered every question once, same wording, same day. These are the prompts behind every percentage on this page.
How much does it cost to replace an HVAC system in 2024?
Is it better to repair or replace a 15-year-old furnace?
Who are the best and most reliable roofers near me?
What should I do immediately if my pipes freeze and burst?
How long does a typical bathroom remodel take?
Why is my AC blowing warm air even though the filter is clean?
Is it normal for a garbage disposal to smell like rotten eggs or sulfur?
Can I install a smart thermostat myself if my current system doesn't have a C-wire?
Show all 40 questions
How much should I expect to pay an electrician to install a Level 2 EV charger in my garage?
What are the warning signs that my electrical panel is outdated and needs a full upgrade?
Should I choose architectural shingles or a metal roof for a house in a high-wind area?
What is the average hourly labor rate for a master plumber in a major metro area?
How do I know if the mold in my attic is a DIY fix or if I need professional remediation?
What specific questions should I ask a general contractor before signing a kitchen renovation contract?
Is a tankless water heater worth the extra upfront cost for a family of four with high hot water usage?
Why do my ceiling lights flicker every time the refrigerator or microwave kicks on?
How can I tell if a foundation crack is a structural issue or just natural settling?
What is the most energy-efficient way to heat a finished basement without extending the ductwork?
Do I typically need a city permit just to replace an existing water heater?
How much does it cost to have a professional plumber snake a main sewer line clog?
What are the biggest red flags to watch out for when comparing three different roofing bids?
Can I convert my wood-burning fireplace to gas for under $4,000 including labor?
Why is my dishwasher leaking from the bottom only during the final rinse cycle?
How do I find a local contractor who specializes in historic home restoration and matching old trim?
Is it significantly cheaper to refinish existing kitchen cabinets rather than buying new RTA ones?
What should I do immediately if I smell gas near my stove but all the knobs are turned off?
How long can I realistically expect a new asphalt shingle roof to last in a very humid climate?
Are modern heat pumps actually effective in regions where winter temperatures drop below zero?
What is considered a fair and standard deposit amount to pay a contractor before they start work?
How much equity or resale value does a professionally finished basement actually add to a home?
Should I invest in a whole-house surge protector at the main panel or just use power strips?
How can a homeowner tell the difference between a load-bearing wall and a simple partition wall?
Why is there water pooling around the base of my toilet every time I flush it?
How do I vet a local HVAC company if they have a lot of five-star reviews but a few scary one-star ones?
Is it better to use PEX or copper piping for a full-house repipe project in an older home?
What are the most effective ways to soundproof a home office during a bedroom-to-office remodel?
How can I lower my monthly electricity bill without replacing my major appliances yet?
What legal recourse do I have if a contractor disappears halfway through a bathroom remodel?
Is it feasible to add a small half-bath under a standard staircase, and what is the budget?
How often should I have my septic tank pumped if we have five people living in the house?
By service
Not all home services services are treated the same by AI.
We ran the same measurement on 86 distinct home services services. The rate at which ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini push buyers toward a professional swings widely, and that gap is exactly where authority is won or lost.
Measured across ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini · standardized buyer questions per service × 3 models · Authority Specialist AI Study. Free to cite with attribution.
Model by model
22-point average divergence: which AI you ask changes the answer.
The divergence index is the average gap between the most and least likely model per behavior. Higher = the models disagree more about home services buyers.
| ChatGPT | Claude | Gemini | Consensus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recommends hiring a professional | 88% | 68% | 28% | 35% |
| Suggests DIY first | 33% | 30% | 18% | 83% |
| Names specific providers | 0% | 0% | 3% | 98% |
| Gives price or cost info | 45% | 35% | 35% | 50% |
| Tells to check reviews | 15% | 5% | 5% | 90% |
| Tells to verify credentials | 33% | 13% | 8% | 65% |
| Mentions case studies / portfolio | 8% | 3% | 0% | 90% |
| Mentions local proximity | 28% | 30% | 15% | 60% |
| Gives selection criteria | 38% | 20% | 18% | 63% |
| Warns about red flags | 8% | 8% | 13% | 90% |
| Asks a clarifying question | 80% | 55% | 3% | 18% |
| Recommends multiple quotes | 33% | 13% | 3% | 63% |
By model
How each assistant handled Home Services questions.
Reading the 120 answers model by model shows how differently the three assistants treat the same home services questions. On the most consequential behavior — whether to send the buyer to a professional at all — the rate ranged from 87.5% (ChatGPT) down to 27.5% (Gemini), a 60-point gap on an identical question set.
Across the 40 home services answers it produced, ChatGPT recommended hiring a professional in 87.5% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 32.5% of the time. It named a specific provider in 0% of answers (about 0 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 45% of the time. ChatGPT asked a clarifying question before answering in 80% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 7.5%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 32.5%, averaging 533 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 15%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 7.5%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 27.5%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 37.5% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 32.5%.
Across the 40 home services answers it produced, Claude recommended hiring a professional in 67.5% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 30% of the time. It named a specific provider in 0% of answers (about 0 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 35% of the time. Claude asked a clarifying question before answering in 55% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 7.5%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 12.5%, averaging 297 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 5%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 2.5%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 30%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 20% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 12.5%.
Across the 40 home services answers it produced, Gemini recommended hiring a professional in 27.5% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 17.5% of the time. It named a specific provider in 2.5% of answers (about 0.1 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 35% of the time. Gemini asked a clarifying question before answering in 2.5% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 12.5%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 7.5%, averaging 258 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 5%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 0%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 15%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 17.5% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 2.5%.
Taken together, ChatGPT is the assistant most likely to route a home services buyer to a professional (87.5%) and Gemini the least (27.5%). ChatGPT produced the longest answers, at 533 words on average. Specific providers were named most often by Gemini (2.5%) — even there, roughly one answer in 40 carried a name.
Where they disagree
The behaviors where the choice of model changes the answer.
The divergence index for this study is 22.1 points — the average distance between the most and least likely model across the coded behaviors. The gaps below are where which assistant a home services buyer happens to ask matters most:
- Asks a clarifying question: from 2.5% (Gemini) to 80% (ChatGPT) — a 78-point spread.
- Recommends hiring a professional: from 27.5% (Gemini) to 87.5% (ChatGPT) — a 60-point spread.
- Recommends multiple quotes: from 2.5% (Gemini) to 32.5% (ChatGPT) — a 30-point spread.
- Tells the buyer to verify credentials: from 7.5% (Gemini) to 32.5% (ChatGPT) — a 25-point spread.
- Gives selection criteria: from 17.5% (Gemini) to 37.5% (ChatGPT) — a 20-point spread.
The widest single gap — asks a clarifying question, 78 points — means a home services buyer can receive materially different guidance on the same question depending only on which assistant they happen to open, so any visibility strategy built on a single model's behavior describes only part of the home services market.
Where they agree
The points of near-consensus in Home Services.
On other behaviors the three models move almost in lockstep — the points of near-consensus for home services, where all three landed within a few points of each other:
- Names a specific provider: 0%–2.5% across all three (a 3-point spread).
- Warns about red flags or scams: 7.5%–12.5% across all three (a 5-point spread).
- Mentions case studies or portfolio: 0%–7.5% across all three (a 8-point spread).
- Gives price or cost information: 35%–45% across all three (a 10-point spread).
Measured question by question, the three assistants coded a response the same way most consistently on "names a specific provider" (identical coding in 97.5% of questions) and least consistently on "asks a clarifying question" (17.5%).
Every behavior, measured
All twelve coded behaviors for Home Services, averaged across the three models.
The behaviors AI models reproduce most often for home services are recommends hiring a professional (60.8% on average), asks a clarifying question (45.8%) and gives price or cost information (38.3%); the rarest are names a specific provider (0.8%), mentions case studies or portfolio (3.3%) and tells the buyer to check reviews (8.3%). Each figure below is the share of a model's 40 answers in which the behavior appeared at least once, averaged across the 3 models with the full per-model range in parentheses:
- Recommends hiring a professional: 60.8% on average (ChatGPT 87.5%, Claude 67.5%, Gemini 27.5%) — a 60-point spread.
- Asks a clarifying question: 45.8% on average (ChatGPT 80%, Claude 55%, Gemini 2.5%) — a 78-point spread.
- Gives price or cost information: 38.3% on average (ChatGPT 45%, Claude 35%, Gemini 35%) — a 10-point spread.
- Suggests a DIY approach first: 26.7% on average (ChatGPT 32.5%, Claude 30%, Gemini 17.5%) — a 15-point spread.
- Gives selection criteria: 25% on average (ChatGPT 37.5%, Claude 20%, Gemini 17.5%) — a 20-point spread.
- Mentions local proximity: 24.2% on average (ChatGPT 27.5%, Claude 30%, Gemini 15%) — a 15-point spread.
- Tells the buyer to verify credentials: 17.5% on average (ChatGPT 32.5%, Claude 12.5%, Gemini 7.5%) — a 25-point spread.
- Recommends multiple quotes: 15.8% on average (ChatGPT 32.5%, Claude 12.5%, Gemini 2.5%) — a 30-point spread.
- Warns about red flags or scams: 9.2% on average (ChatGPT 7.5%, Claude 7.5%, Gemini 12.5%) — a 5-point spread.
- Tells the buyer to check reviews: 8.3% on average (ChatGPT 15%, Claude 5%, Gemini 5%) — a 10-point spread.
- Mentions case studies or portfolio: 3.3% on average (ChatGPT 7.5%, Claude 2.5%, Gemini 0%) — a 8-point spread.
- Names a specific provider: 0.8% on average (ChatGPT 0%, Claude 0%, Gemini 2.5%) — a 3-point spread.
Trust signals
How well the models protect the home services buyer.
Beyond whether to hire, the rubric codes how carefully each assistant protects the home services buyer once a decision is made. Telling the buyer to check reviews or ratings appeared in 8.3% of answers on average. Verifying credentials or certifications appeared in 17.5%. Warning about red flags or scams appeared in 9.2%.
On structuring the decision, a selection-criteria checklist showed up in 25% of answers on average and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 15.8%. The single least-reproduced protective signal for home services is "tells the buyer to check reviews" at 8.3% on average — the clearest opening for content that supplies it, since the models are not yet reliably surfacing that guidance on their own.
Referral behavior
Do AI models name Home Services providers?
For service providers the decisive question is whether these systems name anyone at all. Across 120 home services answers, a specific provider was named in 0.8% of responses on average — roughly 0 distinct providers per answer. In practice the assistants behave far more as an explanatory layer than as a referral engine for home services: visibility comes from being the reasoning a model reproduces, not from being the named recommendation.
When a name did surface, 120 stored responses were scanned for brand and organization mentions. The most frequently named were:
- Better Business Bureau: 5 mentions (4.2% of responses).
- Nextdoor: 5 mentions (4.2% of responses).
- Facebook: 4 mentions (3.3% of responses).
- Google Maps: 3 mentions (2.5% of responses).
- Yelp: 3 mentions (2.5% of responses).
- Angi: 3 mentions (2.5% of responses).
- BBB: 3 mentions (2.5% of responses).
- ecobee: 3 mentions (2.5% of responses).
- Zinsco: 3 mentions (2.5% of responses).
- Challenger: 3 mentions (2.5% of responses).
Mention frequency in stored AI responses. A mention is not an endorsement.
The question set
What these 40 Home Services questions cover.
The 40 questions behind every percentage on this page were drawn from real home services (HVAC, plumbing, roofing, electrical, remodeling) buyer journeys, expanded from 5 seed prompts. Each was put to all 3 models once, with identical wording, so the rates above describe how the assistants handled this exact home services question set — not a general prior or a hand-picked subset. The full list is shown earlier on this page; the coded percentages are what those specific questions produced.
How to read this
A note on the numbers.
A percentage here is the share of a model's 40 answers in which the behavior appeared at least once — not a confidence score. Because each model answered every question exactly once on 2026-07-02, the figures describe this specific home services question set and snapshot rather than a general prior. The full protocol and coding rubric are documented in the study methodology.
What this means
What this means for home services businesses.
ChatGPT is by far the most directive model, recommending professionals (87.5%), verifying credentials (32.5%), and suggesting multiple quotes (32.5%) at rates 2-3x higher than Claude or Gemini, meaning content optimized for ChatGPT's framing may not transfer to other assistants.
Gemini rarely asks clarifying questions (2.5%) and gives the least selection guidance across every category measured, producing shorter, less structured answers (258 words) that leave less room for businesses to be represented by proxy criteria like credentials or reviews.
Trust-and-safety guidance -- reviews (5-15%), red flags (7.5-12.5%), and credential checks (7.5-32.5%) -- is inconsistently surfaced by all three models, representing an open content opportunity for home services brands to fill via their own sites and listings.
The 22.1-point divergence index confirms that model choice materially changes the advice a consumer receives, so businesses should audit their visibility separately across ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini rather than assuming uniform AI behavior.
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Methodology
A controlled snapshot, documented end to end.
40 standardized buyer questions per industry, one response per model per question (ChatGPT (gpt-5-mini), Claude (claude-sonnet-5), Gemini (gemini-3-flash-preview)), collected 2026-07-02, coded against a fixed 12-behavior rubric with human QA. AI outputs vary with model version, location and time — figures describe this sample and window, and are refreshed each edition. Read the full methodology →