8.7% of the 380 contractor websites we inspected, across roofing, remodeling and HVAC. That is 33 brands of 380.

This is the cheapest risk reversal in the trades and the least used. A free inspection converts a stranger who is not sure they have a problem yet into somebody standing in their own driveway next to a person holding a ladder. And the per-trade spread on this one is the widest of any metric in the study, which means it is a positioning choice rather than a trade constraint.

The number by trade

Trade	Free inspection positioning	Brands	Scope
Roofing	21.5%	130	all captured pages
Remodeling	0%	146	all captured pages
HVAC	4.8%	104	all captured pages

So the spread runs from roofing at 21.5% to remodeling at 0%. Which trade you work in changes what "normal" looks like, so read your own trade's page rather than the combined number.

Roofing

Roofing carries almost the entire adoption in the study. Storm and insurance work makes the free inspection close to a category standard here, since the inspection is the step that establishes whether there is a claim at all.

Full roofing breakdown for this metric

Remodeling

No remodeling brand we inspected surfaced a free inspection frame on its captured pages. That is a genuine zero, not a missing measurement. The remodeling equivalent is the free design consultation, which is a different offer with a different name and was not counted here.

Full remodeling breakdown for this metric

HVAC

HVAC adoption is low. The free-inspection frame does not transfer cleanly, because an HVAC customer with no symptoms has no reason to book one, and an HVAC customer with symptoms is calling regardless. Maintenance plans occupy this slot in HVAC instead.

Full HVAC breakdown for this metric

Check your own site in ten minutes

Search your own homepage for the word free. If it appears only in the footer or not at all, and you do in fact inspect for free, you are running an offer you never told anyone about.

What was measured: Share of brands surfacing a free-inspection positioning frame. (Single measurement.)
How we measured it: We read the pages looking for a free inspection, free estimate or free assessment offer put somewhere a visitor would see it.
The technical version, for anyone checking our work: free-inspection positioning frame in HTML body copy
Sample: 380 contractor brands. Roofing 130, remodeling 146, HVAC 104.
Collection window: 2026-05-10 to 2026-05-16
Combined aggregation: weighted (sum of per-trade brand counts over sum of trade sample sizes)
Who ran it: Fervor Studio, first-party capture. Nobody paid to be included or excluded.

How the sites were picked, captured and scored: the methodology. Every metric we publish: the research index.

The full reports this measurement came out of: State of Roofing, State of Remodeling, and State of HVAC.