About The Heating Guide

The Heating Guide (theheatingguide.ca) is an independent Canadian resource helping homeowners make heating decisions — heat pump vs. furnace comparisons, replacement costs, rebate navigation, and quote evaluation. Not a contractor. No sponsored rankings.

Who runs this site

The Heating Guide is written and maintained by Matt, a Canadian researcher and builder who started this site after noticing how little independent, plainly-written guidance existed for one of the most expensive decisions a homeowner makes — whether to replace a furnace with another furnace, switch to a heat pump, or run a hybrid of both. [VERIFY: expand with real bio detail]

How research is done

Every guide on this site starts from manufacturer specification sheets, government sources (Natural Resources Canada, provincial energy regulators, utility rate pages), and publicly available performance data. Claims drawn from those sources are cited directly in each guide's Sources section. Where a claim is a placeholder awaiting the site owner's verification against current, primary-source numbers, it's marked [VERIFY] inline — visibly, not buried in a disclaimer — until it's been checked.

Researched vs. Hands-on

Every guide on this site carries one of two labels:

• Researched — compiled from manufacturer specs, government sources, and cited data, but not based on a hands-on installation or field test by us.
• Hands-on — based on equipment we've actually installed, lived with, or field-tested ourselves.

All guides published in this site's first version are labeledResearched, and say so plainly at the top of the page. We're not going to attach a Hands-on badge, or review/rating schema implying one, to content we haven't actually tested — that's a deliberate line, not an oversight.

How this site makes money

As of this version, The Heating Guide doesn't run ads, affiliate links, or sponsored placements. The current plan is an email list (see the checklist signup on every guide) that may eventually lead to a paid product or lead-generation partnership with vetted contractors — but nothing on this site is sponsored or pay-for-placement today, and if that changes, this page will say so first. Transparency here is the whole trust proposition: a site that hides how it makes money has a reason to hide it.

What we cover — and what we don't

We cover buying decisions, not DIY repair. Gas and electrical work needs licensed professionals.

This site covers buying decisions: costs, quotes, contractor vetting, rebates, and system comparisons. It does not cover DIY repair, gas line work, or electrical instructions — those require a licensed professional, and content that pretended otherwise would be both a liability risk and a trust problem for a site whose whole premise is buying guidance done honestly.

Questions or corrections

Found something inaccurate, outdated, or worth a second look?[VERIFY: add a real contact method — email address or form]