Case study · Trade lead generation
A Brisbane plastering and painting company: Meta leads, texted back in minutes
A plastering and painting company that wanted more house jobs every month. We ran the Meta lead ads, then made sure no enquiry sat waiting for someone to get off the tools.
A$34.80
Per lead · 130 Meta instant-form leads · 16 Feb to 17 Jul 2026
Case study result. Outcomes vary.
- Client
- A Brisbane plastering and painting company (name withheld until the owner signs off)
- Industry
- Residential and commercial plastering and painting
- Location
- Brisbane, working across South East Queensland
- What we did
- New Project Leads
- Websites for Builders
- Filming day
- SMS follow-up
- Working together
- Since December 2025, still running
The starting point
The people who answer the phone are on the tools
A working trade business doing residential and commercial plastering and painting. The owner wanted more house jobs every month, without living on the phone to get them.
The catch in most trade businesses is the same one. The people who answer enquiries are the same people holding a trowel or a roller. An enquiry that lands mid-morning might not get a reply until knock-off, and a homeowner who asked a few companies for a quote won't always wait that long.
So we treated it as two jobs. Bring in the enquiries at a cost that makes sense for a paint or plaster job, and make sure every one of them hears back straight away, whether or not anyone is free to ring.
Why this one is anonymous
The owner hasn't signed off on being named yet, so we describe the business and keep the numbers. We don't show their website here either.
What we built and ran
Ads with the real crew, and a text that goes out on its own
A website and SEO upgrade
The first job, in December 2025: the site tidied up and set up properly for search before a dollar went into ads.
A filming day
A day on real jobs with the real crew. Homeowners want to see who'll be in their house, so the ads show them.
Meta lead ads
Two batches of ads running to an instant form, so someone scrolling at night can ask for a quote in a few taps without leaving Facebook or Instagram.
Instant SMS follow-up
Built in GoHighLevel in January 2026. Every new lead gets a text within minutes, day or night, and the replies land in one inbox the office and the crew can both see.
How a lead moves
From the ad to a booked quote
This is the path every enquiry takes now. The first three steps run whether or not anyone is at a desk.
01
The ad
A homeowner sees the crew on a real job and taps to ask for a quote. The form is short, and Facebook fills most of it in for them.
02
The text
Within minutes they get a text from the business that starts the conversation, even if everyone is on a job.
03
The reply
Their answer lands in the CRM with the lead's details, so whoever picks it up knows exactly what they're walking into.
04
The quote
The crew books a time to measure up and quote. This is the step we'd tighten next.
What we learned
The leak is the follow-up
Getting a trade lead from Meta at a sensible price is the easier half. The money leaks out after the form is filled in.
A homeowner who fills in a form is warm for a short window. If a competitor rings first, the job is often theirs, however good your work is. That's why the text went in straight after the ads, and why 149 leads have now been through it.
The next leak sits further down, at the quote. A quote that gets sent and never chased is a job handed to whoever does chase theirs. It's the fix we've recommended next: a short follow-up on every open quote, so nothing goes cold on the desk.
If your ads "don't work", look at the hours between the enquiry and the first reply before you touch the ads. That's usually where the jobs are going.
Cost per result
A$34.80
Per lead (form), 130 leads
Meta instant-form leads. 16 Feb to 17 Jul 2026.
Texted in minutes
149
Leads through the instant text
CRM automation count. Jan to Sep 2026.
Case study results. Outcomes vary.
| Metric | Value | Window | Metric type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leads | 130 | 16 Feb to 17 Jul 2026 | Meta instant-form leads |
| Cost per lead | A$34.80 | 16 Feb to 17 Jul 2026 | Meta instant-form leads |
| Leads through the instant text | 149 | Jan to Sep 2026 | CRM automation count |
Questions trades ask about this
Meta leads for trades, answered
Anything else, ring Jed on 0400 463 257.
Are Facebook lead form enquiries any good for a trade business?
They can be, if you get to them fast. An instant form is quick to fill in, so some people are only half serious. The serious ones want to hear back quickly, and a text within minutes sorts the two apart before anyone spends time on a call.
Why have more leads had the text than the ads brought in?
They cover different windows. The lead count is the Meta campaign from February to July. The text follow-up started in January and is still running, so it has handled more leads than the one campaign window shows.
Do I need a CRM for instant follow-up?
You need something that sends the first text on its own and keeps every reply in one place. We build it in GoHighLevel, in your name, so the leads and the history stay yours if you ever leave us.
Keep reading
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Other service businessesNot a builder?The same lead and follow-up system works for clinics and local services.
Free audit, then your Scaling Roadmap
It's time to get Scaled.
Fill in a few details and I'll go through your ads, your website or store, and how you follow up enquiries, then show you what's leaking and what we'd fix first. If we're not a fit, no worries at all. You'll still leave with something you didn't know before.
Jed Lynham
Jed calls you personally, usually the same business day.
We take on 2 to 3 new long-term partners at a time.
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