Job-site video for HVAC crews: a practical shot list

The kit: small, cheap and always in the van

The right kit is the kit that actually gets used. Anything that needs setting up for more than a minute will stay in the box.

• Phone. Any recent model shoots good enough video. Clean the lens every time; a greasy lens is the single most common reason footage looks amateur.
• Clip-on wireless microphone. The most important item on the list. Basements echo, compressors hum and wind ruins outdoor audio.
• Small LED light. Mechanical rooms are dark. A light the size of a phone makes equipment readable.
• Phone tripod or clamp. For anything where someone talks to camera.
• Lens cloth and a spare battery pack.

Keep it in one pouch in each van, so nobody has to remember to bring it.

Consent first, every time

Before anyone films, ask. A homeowner's home is personal information in practice, even when no face appears. For footage shot in commercial work, the federal privacy law to know is PIPEDA; in Alberta, BC and Quebec, a provincial private-sector law with similar rules applies instead. This is not legal advice; check your own obligations with a professional. The practical habit is simple.

A consent script that works:

"We sometimes film short clips of the equipment to explain our work on our website. We never show your face, house number or anything personal unless you're happy with it. Is it OK if we film the furnace and the work area today?"

Then:

1. Note the answer in the job file, with the date.
2. If they say no, don't film. Take no footage "just in case".
3. If they'd like to appear, get that in writing, such as a reply to a text, before publishing.

The shot list by job type

Shot lists turn "film something" into a five-minute routine. Each list below is designed so the crew films at natural pauses.

Furnace or air handler replacement

1. Wide shot of the old unit and space, before anything moves (10 seconds).
2. Close-up of the old unit's rating plate.
3. Floor protection going down, a quick pan.
4. The venting or flue work, mid-job.
5. The new unit, straight on, with a slow push in.
6. The lead installer explaining one thing the homeowner will notice, such as quieter operation or a new filter location (30 seconds).
7. The clean space, wide, at the end.

Heat-pump installation

1. The outdoor location before work, showing clearances.
2. The pad, stand or wall bracket going in.
3. Line set routing, a short clip.
4. The indoor head or air handler, finished.
5. The outdoor unit running, with sound captured.
6. The installer explaining defrost mode in plain language, a question every new owner asks (30–45 seconds).

Boiler or combi replacement

1. The old boiler and near-boiler piping, wide.
2. Close-up of any corrosion or leaks the homeowner already knew about.
3. The new boiler mounted, piping in progress.
4. The finished install, straight on.
5. The installer showing where the pressure gauge is and what normal looks like.

If boilers are your speciality, Boiler.Media, our sister studio, covers model-specific boiler explainers in more depth.

Maintenance visit

1. The technician's checklist, briefly on screen.
2. A dirty filter beside a clean one.
3. One specific finding, explained in 20 seconds.

Sound and light: the two things that make footage usable

Viewers forgive soft focus. They don't forgive bad audio.

• Sound. Clip the microphone to the speaker's collar, not their pocket. Turn off the radio. Outdoors, put your back to the wind. Record ten seconds of room tone at the end of each clip; editors use it to smooth cuts.
• Light. Put the light source behind the camera, never behind the subject. In a basement, bounce the LED off a white wall or ceiling for softer light.
• Framing. Hold the phone at chest height, steady, with both hands. Count to three before and after each clip so editors have room to cut.

What never to film

This list matters more than any shot list:

• house numbers, street signs, licence plates and anything showing the address
• faces of homeowners, children or visitors without explicit consent
• documents, mail, screens and family photos in the background
• unsafe practices, or anything that could look like one out of context
• gas, refrigerant or electrical work presented as a how-to for homeowners

Our explainers always end with "call a licensed professional", never "here's how to do it yourself" for anything involving gas, refrigerant or electricity.

From footage to finished video

Raw clips become useful only when edited and given a home. A single heat-pump job, filmed with the list above, usually yields:

• a 60–90 second install walkthrough for the heat-pump service page
• a 30-second "what is defrost mode" clip for an article and social channels
• three or four stills from the footage for your photo library

Uploading by the end of the day is the habit that separates crews whose footage becomes video from crews whose footage dies on a phone. Our photo library service uses the same shared-folder routine for stills.

Common mistakes

• Filming everything and planning nothing. Two hours of footage with no story is harder to edit than five planned minutes.
• Forgetting the start and end. Before-and-after pairs are the most persuasive shots in HVAC.
• Talking over a running compressor. Move away or wait.
• Over-scripting. A technician reading lines sounds like a hostage. Give them three bullet points and let them talk.
• No captions. Most viewers start with the sound off.

For how video fits into a full content plan, see the editorial planning service and the other guides. Call, text or email if you'd like help setting up your crews.