Industry Guide · 2 of 16 chapters published
Google Ads for Contractors: A Booked Estimate Isn't a Signed Contract. Count Both, and Bid on the One That Comes First.
A remodeler, design-build firm or custom builder shares the search page with national bath franchises, lead sites and commercial builders answering the same "general contractor" search. One kitchen can run tens of thousands of dollars, and Google stops accepting a signed contract 90 days after the click. These sixteen chapters build a Google Ads account for residential general contractors and construction companies in the order we build them, using real searches, websites, ads and homeowner reviews from one example market, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Your numbers will differ. The method works anywhere in the US.
Google Learns From the Jobs You Report. Report the Signed Contract, Not Just the Form.
Building from scratch? Chapter 1 comes first; later chapters lean on its tracking.
Measure
Count every call, form and booked estimate, then the contract and what it paid
Google Won't Import a Contract Signed More Than 90 Days After the Click. Bid on the Booked Estimate, Then Send the Contract Back.
Google's AI Overviews Now Quote Remodeling Prices on the Results Page. Pay First for the Searches Looking for a Contractor.
Price Clicks on Margin
Build
One ad group per project, bids set by hand, and ads that answer the homeowner's first worry
One Project per Ad Group
Sort Keywords by Project
The 108 Searches That Matter
Bid by Hand First
Answer Fast and Say So
Launch
The Google defaults to change before the first click
Presence From Day One
Scale
Wider campaigns once Search shows which projects sign
Project Photos for Performance Max
Homeowners About to Renovate
The Map Pack First
AI Max and Your Commercial Pages
Contractors
Bonus chapters: project minimums, paid design agreements and the rules behind your ad claims
Bonus: Project Minimums
Bonus: Paid Design Agreements
Bonus: Lead Paint and License Rules
The Rollout, Month by Month
The order matters as much as the campaigns. Each step waits until the one before it has taught Google something.
Isolation and brand
Exact match on the kitchen, bath, addition and remodeling searches you know book estimates, plus your company name in a campaign of its own.
Exploration
Broad match with a target CPA once the account logs about 30 quality conversions a month. Larger accounts get there sooner.
Performance Max
The usual pace, not the rule: it waits for about 30 quality conversions a month, held steady, so larger accounts get there faster. Your own project photos go in.
Demand Gen, Local Services Ads and AI Max
Video for homeowners planning a renovation, Local Services Ads tested alongside Search, and AI Max last.
How to Use This Guide
Starting a new account?
Read in order. Tracking the booked estimate and the signed contract comes before the first keyword.
Chapter 01 →Turning away small jobs?
Put your project minimum in the ad, so homeowners see it before they click.
Chapter 14 →One example market
Examples come from remodelers and builders in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, described as we found them. Run the same steps wherever you build.
Chapter 05 →Rather Have Us Build It
For Your Construction Company?
We build contractor accounts in this order. See our Google Ads management.
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