Let's TalkLet's Talk'Contractor near me' is searched by people who want a shelf put up. Google Ads for a general contractor has to find the addition, the gut renovation and the fit-out - and pay for nothing else.
We go through the search terms you actually paid for, the enquiries they produced and what became of them, and show you how much went on handyman-sized searches, how much on project-sized ones, and which campaigns produced signed contracts. Recorded walkthrough, no call required.
Four failures we see repeatedly in this vertical, and what each one actually costs.
'Contractor', 'contractor near me' and 'home improvement' are searched mostly by people with small jobs - a door, a fence, a leak. Accounts built on those terms pay for clicks from people a general contractor would refer on, and the expensive project searches get whatever budget is left.
An addition, a kitchen-and-bath renovation, a custom home and a commercial fit-out have different searchers, different values and different costs per click. A single campaign mixing them lets the cheapest, smallest searches take the budget, and hides which project types the account actually wins.
Someone searching for a home addition contractor who lands on a generic homepage with a slider and a 'free estimate' button sees nothing about additions. Project searches need project pages - examples, process, permits, rough cost drivers - or the click is wasted however well the ad was written.
Google optimises toward whatever conversion it is given. If every form fill counts the same, it learns to find people who fill in forms, which in this trade are disproportionately small jobs. Without signed contracts fed back, the account drifts toward the enquiries you want least.
Business outcomes rather than dashboard metrics. None of these is a guaranteed number - where we do guarantee something, it is written into the offer above.
The real deliverables, not a list written to make a proposal look thicker.
Not the general agency pitch. The reasons that only apply to this kind of business.
The fastest improvement in most general contractor accounts is subtraction. We go through every search term you paid for, exclude the small-job and repair searches, and move that budget onto the project searches that were starved. It often changes the account more than any new campaign.
Additions, renovations, custom homes and fit-outs each get their own campaign, landing page and budget, so each is judged on what it costs to win. You see which project types the account actually produces - and can fund the ones that pay.
A form fill and a signed six-figure contract are not the same conversion. We import signed projects back into Google Ads, so bidding learns which searches turn into clients rather than which ones fill in forms - the single biggest lever in a trade with long, expensive sales.
Every term you paid for, sorted into project-sized and handyman-sized.
Negative lists for repairs, handyman work and small projects.
One per project type, each with its own page and budget.
Scope, budget band, timeline and plans asked in the form.
Signed contracts fed back to Google for bidding.
Monthly shifts toward the project types producing contracts.
The parts of this that come from having run it in this industry before rather than from running it well in general.
A landing page built for home additions - examples, how the process works, permits, what drives cost - matches the search, improves ad relevance and converts the serious searchers. A homepage cannot do that for every project type at once.
In this trade, the searches you exclude matter as much as the ones you target. A maintained negative list stops budget leaking to repairs and small jobs every month, and keeps the account focused as new search terms appear.
Commercial clients search during business hours and care about schedules and documentation. Separate commercial campaigns, scheduled and written for them, perform better than residential ads shown to a facilities manager.
A project signed three months after the click is invisible to an account that only counts form fills. Importing signed contracts closes that gap and lets Google optimise toward the searches that produce real projects.
None of our case studies is a general contractor. The nearest Google Ads engagement is an auto dealership, where tightly targeted campaigns produced 1.22M clicks at a 0.90% click-through rate and 627% ROAS on ad spend. The lesson that carries over is targeting discipline: spending only where high-value buyers search, and nowhere else.
Read the full case studyYes, when they are built around project types rather than broad terms like 'contractor near me'. Those broad searches attract small jobs. Campaigns for additions, major renovations, custom homes and fit-outs - with handyman searches excluded - find the projects general contractors are built for.
Usually broad keywords and match types, and no negative keyword list. Many people searching for 'contractor' want a small repair. Excluding repair and handyman terms, and targeting project-specific searches, changes who clicks.
Yes. Additions, renovations, custom homes and fit-outs have different searchers and costs. Separate campaigns and landing pages show what each costs to win and let you fund the ones that sign.
For each project type: real examples, how your process works, how permits are handled, what drives cost, and a qualifying form. A generic homepage cannot answer what a project searcher wants to know.
Import signed contracts back into Google Ads as offline conversions, so bidding learns which searches produce real projects. Counting every form fill equally teaches it to find form-fillers.
Enough to produce a meaningful number of qualified project enquiries in the areas you serve, judged on signed contracts over a few months. Start focused on one or two project types and expand what signs.
Better apart. Commercial clients search differently, at different hours, for different reassurances. Separate campaigns and pages serve each properly and keep the reporting honest.
Rarely as the main format. Large projects usually need a page the client can read first - examples, process, what drives cost - and a qualifying form. Calls are valuable, so keep call assets and track them, but a call-only ad sends people to the phone before they have seen anything that qualifies them, or you.
Exclude them with negative keywords - repair, handyman and small fix-it terms - and review the search terms report regularly, because new variations appear every month. When a small job still gets through, refer it on politely; a referral to a trusted handyman often comes back as goodwill, and sometimes as a larger project later.
Yes, with separate campaigns for commercial searches - tenant improvements, office fit-outs, retail build-outs - scheduled for business hours and pointed at a commercial page. Commercial work also comes through relationships and tenders, so search is one channel among several on that side of the business.
Written for owners weighing this up, whether or not they work with us.
This is one part of a bigger service. Here is the whole of it, and the closest neighbours.
No pitch deck, no discovery call you have to sit through. Tell us the situation and we will tell you whether we can help.