About HVAC Registrar
HVAC Registrar is an independent registry of residential HVAC contractors, built on one idea: a homeowner deciding who to trust with a $10,000 system should be able to see, in one place, whether a contractor actually holds a current state license — and be able to check it themselves.
Why this exists
Most contractor directories list whoever pays or whoever they can scrape, with no verification and no way to tell a licensed professional from anyone with a truck and a magnet sign. We do the opposite: we start from public North Carolina license records, show the license number, class, and status we found, and stamp the date we checked it so you can verify it yourself with the state board. Nothing about a listing is for sale that would compromise that.
Who runs it
Chris Szetela — Founder & Editor. has spent over a decade in residential home services as the founder of Maid VIP, a home-cleaning company he has run since 2013. He started HVAC Registrar after seeing how hard it is for homeowners to tell a licensed, reputable contractor from anyone with a truck — and how much of the industry runs on lead-farms that verify nothing. He oversees license verification and the homeowner guides.
That background matters here for one reason: after more than a decade helping homeowners with residential services, the pattern was familiar. Homeowners facing a big, infrequent, expensive decision — and an industry where it's genuinely hard to tell a licensed professional from someone who isn't. HVAC is that problem at a larger dollar figure. HVAC Registrar applies the same principle a good local service business runs on — do what you say, verify what you claim, be straight about the price — to the problem of finding a contractor you can trust.
Our guides are researched from primary sources — the North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors, the U.S. Department of Energy, the EPA, the IRS, NC DEQ's Energy Saver program, and current contractor pricing — and each guide shows when it was published and last updated. Where a page relies on figures that change (rebate amounts, cost ranges, code editions), we date them and note what to verify. Where a guide has been reviewed by a licensed HVAC professional, we credit them by name.
How we verify contractors
Every listing goes through a documented process: we confirm the business is a real, operating, independent HVAC contractor; we look up its license in the state board's public records and record the number, class, status, and qualifier; and we show that result — good, expired, or not found — with the date. We don't publish a status we haven't checked, and "verified" is never something a contractor can buy. The full process is on our methodology and verification criteria pages.
How we make money — and how we don't
We're transparent about this because it's the whole point. Free listings and license verification are exactly that — free, and never pay-to-play. We earn revenue from optional paid placements (clearly labelled), from referral fees paid by contractors when we send them a customer (which never increases your price), and from an optional managed-quote service you can choose. What we never do: sell a "verified" badge, hide a markup in a contractor's price, or let payment change a license result. See our Terms for the full disclosure.
Corrections
If a listing is wrong or out of date, tell us — report a listing or email team@hvacregistrar.com. Contractors can claim their listing to correct details. We fix errors quickly and re-check license status on a regular cycle.
Contact
HVAC Registrar
team@hvacregistrar.com