Cost per enquiry, Google AdsReal client result
After the search-term cleanup. Lower is better. One month against one week, both from Google Ads.
Pro-Build PlusGoogle Ads cost per conversion
Case study result. Outcomes vary.
New project leads · Win the work
Construction lead generation for the jobs you actually want.
Google Search and Meta campaigns for builders and trades. Every click lands on a page built for one type of job, calls are tracked, and each enquiry gets a reply before it has time to ring the next builder on the list.
Cost per enquiry
A$106.95
Week of 11 Sep 2026, down from A$486 in Aug
Pro-Build Plus. Google Ads, facade remediation, Victoria.
Cost per result
A$34.80
Per lead (form), 130 leads
A Brisbane plastering and painting company. Meta, 16 Feb to 17 Jul 2026.
Case study results. Outcomes vary.
Pro-Build Plus. A landing page behind their Google Ads, written for one problem: a building's facade.
Why most builder ads disappoint
Where the ad budget leaks.
Most builders who've tried Google or Facebook ads tell us the same story. They paid for clicks, got a trickle of enquiries, and most of those were tyre kickers or jobs they'd never quote.
Usually the money leaks out in a few predictable spots between the search and the signed job. Fixing those is most of our work.
- The wrong searches
- Broad keywords pull in DIY shoppers and people pricing materials. Pro-Build's early search data showed part of the budget reaching people shopping for cladding products who were never going to hire a contractor.
- The home page
- Paid clicks sent to a home page that tries to talk to everyone, so the person who searched for one specific problem can't find it.
- The slow reply
- An enquiry that waits until you're back from site has often called someone else by then.
- No tracking
- Without call and form tracking, nobody can say which search or ad brought in the good jobs, so the budget never moves to what works.
What we build and run
Everything between the search and the quote.
Scoped from the audit. Most builders need most of this, in roughly this order.
Google Search campaigns
Built around the jobs you want, with a long list of searches we block, and the search terms checked every week so the budget stops leaking into materials and DIY.
Meta lead ads
For the buyers who haven't started searching yet. Filmed with your crew on your jobs where we can, with an instant form or a landing page behind them.
A landing page per job type
Each page covers a single problem. The headline matches the search, the proof matches the job, and the form asks what you need to quote.
Call tracking
A tracking number on the paid pages, with recordings, so you know which calls came from the ads and what they were about.
Instant follow-up
An enquiry system (a CRM) that texts every new lead straight away, texts back missed calls, and flags any enquiry nobody has touched.
Reporting on real enquiries
We report on qualified enquiries and the pipeline they build. Clicks and impressions are in there too, further down.
Google or Meta?
Two channels for two kinds of buyer.
The question isn't which platform is better. It's where your buyer is when they need you.
Google Search: people already looking
A strata manager with a building notice, a school with cracked concrete, a homeowner who needs a builder for a knockdown rebuild. They type the problem into Google and pick from what shows up. Search catches them at the moment they're ready to talk.
Best for commercial, strata and specialist work, where the job is big and the search is specific.
Meta: people who haven't searched yet
Plenty of residential work starts before anyone searches. A homeowner planning a paint job or a renovation sees your crew on a real job in their feed and fills in a short form.
Best for trades and residential work with a clear local offer, where good video of your team does the selling.
Landing pages
One page for each job you want more of.
When someone searches for concrete spalling repairs, the page they land on should talk about concrete spalling repairs. Sounds obvious, but most builder ads still send everyone to the home page.
For Pro-Build Plus we built 4 landing pages, one per problem: facade remediation, cladding replacement, concrete spalling and building notices. Each one opens with the problem the searcher typed, shows the kind of project that fixes it, and asks for what Pro-Build needs to review the job.
Follow-up
The first builder to reply usually gets the quote.
You can't answer a form from the top of a scaffold. So the first reply shouldn't depend on you. Every lead gets a text the moment it comes in, written in your voice, asking the one or two things you'd ask anyway. When they reply, your team books the quote.
Missed calls get a text back too. And any enquiry nobody has touched gets flagged, so nothing sits in an inbox over a busy week.
A Brisbane plastering and painting company
Meta instant-form leads, each one texted the moment it lands. Instant SMS follow-up on 149 leads so far.
Case study result. Outcomes vary.
The lead
A form comes in
From a Meta instant form, a landing page or a missed call on the tracked number.
Straight away
A text goes out
Written in your voice, asking about the job and the best time to talk.
They reply
Your team books the quote
The conversation sits in the CRM, so anyone in the office can pick it up.
No reply
It gets flagged
Nothing goes quiet without someone knowing about it.
Getting cheaper over time
Cheaper enquiries, and no invented wins.
Search campaigns improve with work. Every week we go through the terms people actually searched, cut the ones that bring in the wrong buyer, and move budget to the ones that bring enquiries. For Pro-Build Plus, the ads stopped competing against cladding and materials brands and started showing against other remediation contractors.
What we're not claiming. Pro-Build hasn't won a project from these enquiries yet. Commercial facade jobs take months to scope, quote and award, and one enquiry isn't a signed contract. When a job is won, it goes on the case study with the date. Until then we report the pipeline as it is.
How leads fit with the website and the hiring.
Straight answers
Lead generation questions.
Anything else, call Jed on 0400 463 257.
Should a builder use Google Ads or Facebook ads?
It depends on your buyer. Commercial, strata and specialist work usually starts with a Google search, so Search comes first. Residential and trade work with a clear local offer often does well on Facebook and Instagram. Many builders end up running both, and the audit tells you where to start.
Have you won big projects for builders with this?
Not one we can show you yet, so we don't claim one. What we can show is enquiries getting cheaper and coming from the right kind of buyer. Big commercial jobs take months to award, and when one lands from our campaigns, it'll go on the site with the date.
What's a good cost per lead for a builder?
There's no single number. A lead for a small repaint and a lead for a facade remediation job are worth very different amounts. We work it back from your average job value and how many quotes you win, then judge the campaign on that.
Do I need a new website before running ads?
Not always. If your site is slow or thin, landing pages built for the ads can go live first and the main site can follow. If it's in reasonable shape, we add landing pages to it. The audit shows which way makes sense.
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.
Referred by a client? Skip the queue