Before you spend: track consultations, quotes and signed jobs
Google bids toward what it can count. In renovations that matters more than usual, because the gap between a form and a signed contract is wide.
A conversion is the action you want from a click. For a renovator, that is a call or a consultation request.
- In Google Ads, open Goals, then Conversions, and create a conversion action.
- Add calls from ads and from your website, with a minimum call length. A real renovation inquiry is not a 15-second call.
- Add your consultation form, counted when it is sent.
- Mark these primary. Brochure downloads and gallery views are secondary.
- Test with a call and a form.
Then keep a lead list and mark every lead through three stages: could you quote it, did you quote it and for how much, and did they sign. This is where the real picture is. Ten forms from people "just getting ideas" look the same to Google as ten owners ready to start. When you have steady volume, upload the quoted and signed leads to Google Ads, so bidding learns which searches bring projects.
Settings that stop a renovator wasting money
- Search only. In campaign settings, open Networks and untick Search Partners and the Display Network.
- Presence in your area. Under Locations, add the cities or zip codes where you take projects. Think about where the houses are that suit your work. Under Location options, choose "Presence: people in or regularly in your included locations". The default reaches people elsewhere who are only curious about your area.
- Auto-apply off. Under Recommendations, open Auto-apply and untick every box, so Google can't add keywords or change your bidding by itself.
People research renovations in the evening and on weekends. With a form on your page, the ads can run then. Call each one back the next morning.
Campaign structure: one type of remodel per ad group
An ad group is a set of keywords that share the same ads. Each kind of project is a different buyer with a different budget, so each gets its own ad group and its own landing page.
| Ad group | Example searches | Landing page |
|---|---|---|
| Whole-house remodels | whole house remodel, home renovation contractor | Your whole-house page |
| Additions | home addition contractor, room addition builders | Your additions page |
| Open-plan conversions | open floor plan remodel, wall removal contractor | Your open-plan page |
| Historic homes | historic home renovation, old house restoration contractor | Your historic homes page |
| Basements or attics | basement finishing contractor, attic conversion | A page for each, if you do them |
The mistake to avoid is one ad group holding "renovation" and every variation, sent to your home page gallery. A person searching for an addition wants to see additions.
Leave out project types you don't want. If you don't take small repairs or single-room paint jobs, don't build for them, and block them.
Keywords: what an owner ready to start types
A keyword is the phrase you ask Google to match. A search term is what the person typed.
In this trade the hiring words do the sorting. Searches from people ready to talk to a company:
- home renovation contractor
- home remodeling company near me
- whole house remodel contractor
- home addition contractor
- historic home renovation contractor
- design build remodeling
Notice "contractor", "company" and "near me". The bare word "renovation" pulls in every browser.
Match types:
- Exact match shows your ad for that search or one meaning the same.
- Phrase match shows it when the search includes your phrase's meaning with words around it.
- Broad match shows it for anything related. For renovations, that is ideas, TV shows and budget calculators. Leave it off.
Start with phrase and exact. Each month, look at which search terms became quotes and signed jobs, and add them as exact match keywords.
Searches to block from day one for home renovations
A negative keyword blocks a search. Add these at the account level before launch:
- Dreamers: ideas, inspiration, pictures, before and after, pinterest, design app.
- DIY: diy, how to, on a budget, yourself, tutorial.
- Planners with spreadsheets: template, checklist, calculator, budget template.
- Job seekers: jobs, hiring, salary, careers, supervisor.
- Students: course, classes, certification.
- Shoppers: second hand, used, salvage, for sale, home depot, lowes.
- Finance and TV: loan, grant, show, episode, cast.
- Other companies' names.
Add each as a phrase match negative, cut to the core word. "Ideas" alone will save more money than any other word on the list.
"Cost" is a judgment call. "Home addition cost" is often someone months away. It can also be an owner starting to budget. Watch what those searches turn into before you block the word.
Then check search terms, every day or two for two weeks and weekly after:
- Open the search terms report under Insights and reports.
- Sort by cost.
- Ask: does this person own a house and want a company?
- If not, block the core word.
Writing ads for a big decision
A responsive search ad takes up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions.
- Say the project: "Whole-House Remodeling", "Home Additions".
- Say the area: your city.
- Say what builds trust: licensed and insured, design and build under one roof, a fixed-price contract, years in business. Only what is true.
- Offer a first step that isn't a commitment: "Book a free in-home consultation."
One ad per ad group, each about its own project type. After a few weeks, add a second and let them compete.
Add the extras, called assets:
- Sitelinks: four or more, such as "Our Projects", "Our Process", "Reviews" and "Book a Consultation".
- Callouts: "Licensed and Insured", "Design and Build", "Fixed-Price Contracts".
- Call asset: your number on the ad.
- Image assets: if your account offers them, add photos of finished projects.
The landing page: one kind of remodel per page
Build one page for each ad group.
- The headline matches the search. "Historic home renovation" lands on a page about historic homes.
- Phone number at the top, tap to call.
- A consultation form without scrolling. Ask a few more questions than a small trade would: do you own the home, what is the project, when do you want to start, a rough budget range. Extra questions lose a few forms and save you many wasted visits.
- Before and after photos of your own projects of that type.
- Real reviews, with the kind of project named.
- Your process in three or four steps: consultation, design, quote, build.
- License and insurance details.
- No menu and no links away.
- Fast on a phone.
Google scores how closely keyword, ad and page match, and a close match lowers the cost of each click.
Budget and bidding when the sale takes months
Set the budget from consultations needed times what you can pay for one, and fund it for at least three months. This trade needs the longer runway.
- Maximize Conversions from the start. With tracking working, Google bids toward calls and forms. Leave it alone for two to three weeks.
- If a new account won't spend. Use Maximize Clicks with a cap on the bid per click, then go back when leads arrive.
- A target cost per lead. After about 30 conversions in 30 days, set a Target CPA 15 to 20 percent above your recent cost per lead. A target that is too tight makes Google stop spending. Lower it slowly, month by month, while leads hold.
Many renovators won't reach 30 leads in 30 days, because the leads are few and large. That is fine. Stay on Maximize Conversions and judge by quotes and signed jobs. Never bid by hand.
Week by week: how to run Google Ads for home renovations
Weekly:
- Check search terms and block the dreamers and DIY searches.
- Mark each new lead: quotable or not.
- Call every new lead within a day. Owners talk to two or three companies, and the first to visit often wins.
Monthly:
- Update the lead list with quotes sent and contracts signed.
- Add searches that became quotes as exact match keywords.
- Compare cost per quote and cost per signed job by project type.
- Pause a project type that spends and never quotes.
- Test tracking with a call and a form.
- Add new project photos to each page.
- Review bidding stage and budget.
Seasons and timing for home renovations
- January to March: planning season. People decide over the holidays that this is the year, and they search early so work can start in spring. Be funded and live in January.
- Spring and summer: building season. Leads now are for late-summer or fall starts.
- Early fall: a push to finish before the holidays, and additions planned for next year.
- November and December: quiet for new inquiries. Lower the budget, refresh photos and pages.
- After tax refunds and at the start of the year: budgets get set.
Because the decision takes weeks or months, the leads you pay for now are the work you start next season. Advertise ahead of when you want the work.
Or have software do all of this
That is how to run Google Ads for home renovations by hand: track leads through to signed jobs, lock the settings, split by type of remodel, block the idea-hunters, and let bidding tighten as the data builds. It is slow, careful work, done every week.
Local Service Ads AI does these checks every morning and asks you about every change, unless you tell it to go ahead. See Google Ads for home renovations.