NAICS code for HVAC contractors: 238220, and the HVAC work coded elsewhere

This page is for HVAC owners and office managers who need a code for SAM.gov, a bank, an insurer, a utility rebate program or a tax return, and for sellers building lists of HVAC contractors. It covers the main code, the HVAC work that's coded elsewhere, SIC equivalents, Census counts, size standards and public companies.

The HVAC code: 238220

The Census Bureau defines 238220 as establishments "primarily engaged in installing and servicing plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning equipment," supplying parts and labor, on new work, additions, alterations, maintenance and repairs. Its illustrative examples name HVAC contractors, mechanical contractors, duct work installation, cooling tower installation, furnace installation and commercial, industrial or scientific refrigeration systems.

The index entries show how wide it runs: heat pump installation, central air-conditioning equipment, boilers and hydronic heating, chilled water systems, radiant floor heating, air system balancing and testing, kitchen and industrial exhaust systems, dust collection, and boiler chipping and cleaning. Residential service, commercial design-build and industrial process piping all share it, and so do plumbers; the plumbing code page covers their side of 238220.

HVAC work that belongs in another code

The controls, duct cleaning and refrigeration repair rows come straight from the Census cross-references for 238220. The test for refrigeration is installation: a contractor that installs a supermarket's refrigeration is 238220, and a shop that only fixes it afterward is 811310. Wholesale and manufacturing codes are measured in employees rather than receipts. If you install equipment you also sell, use 238220 when installation drives the revenue; a counter that sells to other contractors is 423730.

The SIC codes for HVAC

The 1987 SIC code for HVAC contractors is 1711, Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning. The Census concordance sends most of it to 238220, its environmental controls work to 238210, and its septic work to 238910. The other HVAC-related SIC codes:

SIC 7623 is the one that trips people up: it was a repair-shop code, and its pieces scatter across three NAICS industries. Going the other way, 238220 draws on four SIC codes (1711, 1791, 1796 and 7699), so a list pulled by SIC 1711 alone misses some firms. The SEC's own list has no 1711; listed contractors file under 1700 or 1731.

How many HVAC businesses there are

County Business Patterns counted 111,207 establishments in 238220 in 2023, employing 1,214,761 people with an annual payroll of $89.5 billion. Census can't separate HVAC from plumbing because both sit in the same code. The size split:

The top states are California (11,686), Florida (9,353), Texas (8,966), New York (7,061) and Pennsylvania (4,154). The supply chain around them is far smaller: 6,477 HVAC equipment wholesaler establishments (423730), 1,262 refrigeration equipment wholesalers (423740) and 852 HVAC equipment manufacturing plants (333415). CBP counts locations with paid employees, on a NAICS 2017 basis; none of these codes changed in 2022. A one-truck owner-operator with no employees isn't in it.

Where the code gets used, and what a wrong one costs

• Federal bids. A solicitation carries one NAICS code chosen for the largest share of contract value (13 CFR 121.402). A chiller replacement is 238220; a contract to keep a base's buildings running with its own staff may be facilities support (561210) instead. If the code on a solicitation is wrong, you can appeal it within 10 calendar days of issue (13 CFR 121.1103).
• Size. Receipts are averaged over your last five completed fiscal years, and equipment you bill counts (13 CFR 121.104). Equipment-heavy changeouts push HVAC firms toward the $19.0 million line faster than labor-only trades.
• Tax returns and insurers. The IRS business activity list uses 238220 for HVAC as it is. Insurers and lenders read it as "plumbing or HVAC," so say which in the business description.

Finding HVAC companies

State contractor licensing files are the best list of active private firms; Virginia's Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, for example, licenses HVAC tradesmen and publishes a license lookup. The guide to HVAC leads covers the sources by state. For public companies, EDGAR lists registrants by SEC code: 1731, 1700, 5070 and 3585. The largest by 2025 revenue, from their 10-K filings:

These are whole-company figures; EMCOR's include electrical and facilities services. Residential HVAC is mostly private, owner-run companies. Bebop can search for them by description, such as residential HVAC contractors in Phoenix with 20 to 99 employees and a maintenance plan program, and explain why each fits.

Worked example

Illustrative example. The company and figures are invented.

Summit Air (summitair.example) earned $14.1 million last year: residential replacements and service 55%, new commercial installs 15%, repair of supermarket refrigeration it didn't install 20%, and duct cleaning 10%.

Its codes are 238220 (primary), with 811310 and 561790 as secondary codes in SAM.gov. Its receipts over five years were $8.4 million, $9.6 million, $10.8 million, $12.1 million and $14.1 million: $55.0 million in total, an average of $11.0 million.

That's small under 238220 ($19.0 million) and 811310 ($12.5 million), but over the $9.0 million standard for 561790. A duct cleaning set-aside isn't open to Summit Air even though duct cleaning is its smallest line, so it should bid that work full and open or as a subcontractor.

Next step: see where to get licensed HVAC contractor lists by state and how to work them in the guide to HVAC leads.