How Paid Advertising for Contractors Helps Generate Home Improvement Leads

Important: This article complements our home improvement lead generation guide, which covers effective methods for obtaining high-intent home service leads at scale. Check it out for unique marketing and leadgen insights.

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Have you ever wondered why prospective customers hire your competition? Imagine a couple purchasing their dream house in your neighbourhood and instantly needing to renovate the outdated kitchen. They call up a remodelling company, but not yours. You’ve just lost high-intent home improvement leads, and you don’t even know why.

This happens more often than you might think. Perhaps your home remodelling campaigns didn’t reach these prospects at the right moment, or you haven’t incorporated paid home improvement advertising into your marketing strategy. Your competition, however, actively captures these opportunities, which helps them consistently grow their customer base and market share.

Fortunately, you can still improve your paid advertising approach. With an effective plan, you can acquire more home improvement leads without breaking your budget. Let’s explore how to optimise your home improvement ads for lead generation, attracting high-quality home service leads regularly that turn into profitable projects.

What Is Lead Generation in Home Improvement Ads?

Home improvement lead generation by advertising involves planned marketing strategies that target prospective customers who can potentially become your clients in the long run. At its core, home improvement lead generation focuses on building a database of homeowners actively seeking contractors. In this competitive landscape, numerous local renovation companies fiercely compete to capture valuable customer information, such as email addresses and phone numbers, all while hoping to convert prospects into paying clients before their competitors do.

Your effective home improvement lead generation strategy needs to extend far beyond traditional marketing techniques, such as email marketing and social media ads. Additionally, you need to stay on top of lead conversion trends and make smart decisions about resource allocation. This strategic approach enables companies to target high-quality leads for home improvement projects while minimising spending on prospects with low purchase intent.

Understanding how your conversion rates compare to other industries helps optimise your marketing strategy:

Build your plan and elevate your home improvement lead generation and lead routing with Phonexa, or book a demo to see the platform in further detail.

Types of Home Improvement Leads

Indoor Services	Outdoor Services	Mixed
Bathroom renovation	Deck repair or construction	Wall renovation and painting
Basement renovation or finishing	HVAC system installation or repair	Home security system installation
Plumbing services	Waterproofing services	Siding repair or installation
Flooring repair or installation	Solar panel installation	Lighting
Home theatre installation	Roofing replacement or repair	Fixture installation and electrical wiring
Kitchen remodeling	Outdoor improvement and landscaping	Door and window replacement
Insulation installation	Fence repair or installation	Garage or attic conversion

Note: Use the categories mentioned above to find the correct keywords for advanced targeting parameters in your home improvement advertising campaign.

However, creating a comprehensive list of services that fall under home improvements is challenging. This sector encompasses nearly any upgrade that requires the physical presence of the contractor on-site, from complete house rebuilds to setting up call routing.

Understanding the Target Audience to Succeed at Home Improvement Advertising

You cannot succeed without an understanding of who your target audience is. Even a narrowly targeted lead group, such as kitchen remodel leads, can represent very different needs. Some will want simple remodelling, while others might wish to have all the bells and whistles you can offer.

No matter what home renovation business you represent, you should analyse your audience’s motivation thoroughly. Home improvement is not generally something one pursues because they are bored; nine times out of ten, it’s a need. If you want your contractor marketing to bring you a plethora of home improvement leads, in-depth customer analysis is crucial.

The following are the basic factors that determine a homeowner’s motivation to improve their home. These can be broadly categorised into:

Practical Necessities	Lifestyle Enhancements	Investment Value
Urgent repairs (roofing, plumbing)	Creating visually appealing spaces	Boosting property value before selling
Functional improvements (kitchen layout)	Expanding space for growing families	Securing long-term financial benefits
Energy efficiency upgrades	Adding luxury features (smart homes)

Here are some home improvement advertising strategies based on these motivations:

• Most homeowners delay repairs until they are an emergency. Your contractor ads need to feature reliability and quick response. Stress how you complete the job efficiently with a minimum of household disruption.
• Families often bemoan not having space. Your home renovation business should showcase creative expansion solutions. Direct your home improvement marketing at how attic, basement, or garage conversions provide affordable alternatives to not relocating.
• Investment-minded homeowners renovate to increase property value. Emphasise tangible ROI facts in your marketing. Ensure your home improvement ads showcase how high-quality materials and craftsmanship provide both short-term enjoyment and long-term value protection.

Using Home Improvement Advertising to Pre-qualify Leads

Placing home improvement ads without considering lead quality is a poor strategy that could lead to financial problems. You’ll waste your marketing budget on non-converting clicks and frustrate your sales team with low-quality prospects. These negative experiences often result in negative customer reviews, requiring additional resources to repair your company’s reputation.

Here are the two effective practices for composing home improvement ads:

1. Pre-qualify your leads through strategic ad content. Keep call-to-action copy short, punchy, and to the point so leads will be clear about what you’re offering. Avoid vague messaging, such as ‘Home Improvements Available.’ Instead, try specific messages such as ‘Custom Kitchen Overhauls for Homes Built Before 1980.’ This precision appeals to homeowners with older kitchens needing remodelling while filtering out those seeking simple repairs or new home improvements.
2. Create segmented landing pages for home improvement ads. When leads land on your homepage, they waste time finding what they need. Direct your ads to send customers exactly where you want them to go. Homeowners who click on your “Bathroom Renovation” ad should be driven to bathroom project galleries, price levels, and a brief contact form immediately, not to your general services page that requires additional navigation.

 

How to Generate Leads With Home Improvement Ads on Google

With over 94% global search engine market share, Google is the ad playground that you simply can’t afford to ignore. As a contractor, you can use Google Ads to generate leads.

When you launch contractor Google ads, Google places them at the top of search results, giving them visibility among your target audience. This positioning helps smaller companies compete effectively against industry giants without requiring massive marketing investments.

Google ads for contractors follow a pay-per-click model, meaning you pay nothing upfront. You only pay when someone genuinely interested in your services clicks your ad and visits your website.

How to Step by Step Create a Google Ads Campaign

Step 1. Create a Campaign and Select a Goal

Log in to your Google Ads account and navigate to the ‘Campaigns’ page. Click on the blue ‘+’ button and then select ‘New Campaign.’ Identify the objective of your campaign – website traffic, sales, or lead generation. This allows you to define conversion actions, such as phone calls or website visits, that you’ll track throughout your campaign. Alternatively, if you prefer, you may also select to “Create a campaign without a goal’s guidance.”

Step 2. Select the Campaign Type

Choose how your contractor’s Google ads will appear across the web. Options range from general search pages, images, videos, or web feeds. While a “Video” or “Display” campaign might work for graphics-heavy content, most home improvement advertising performs most effectively with a “Search” campaign type.

Step 3. Start Configuring Your Campaign Settings

Name your campaign (this will not affect your potential to generate home improvement leads). Then, establish your timeline by entering a start date and end date. Determine whether your advertisements will run continuously or only during specific hours that align with your potential customers’ search habits.

Step 4. Specify Target Audience

Select your target audience by specifying their locations and preferred language. At this point, Google will tell you how many viewers are available for you to reach with your home improvement ads.

Step 5. Set Up a Bid Strategy and Daily Budget

Set your average daily budget for paid advertising. Keep in mind that Google will spend more than this on certain days and less on others to meet your overall budget goals.

Source: Google Ads Help

Next, choose whether to do manual bidding (where you define a maximum Cost Per Click) or automated bidding (where Google optimises CPC bids for you). Remember that the cost for home improvement ads will differ depending on keyword quality and your ad’s relevance – less relevant ads typically have higher CPC.

Step 6. Add Keywords for Targeting Home Improvement Leads of Relevance

Add words that the terms home improvement leads may employ to look for your business, and determine how closely the users’ search requirements must match your keywords to show your ad.

Your keywords will directly impact the cost per click (CPC) price. Broader keywords, such as ‘home improvement business,’ attract more competition from home renovation companies and command higher bids compared to long-tail keywords like ‘kitchen remodelling company in London.’

Step 7. Create an Audience

You can create a target audience for your home renovation ad and use it again in multiple Google ad campaigns by clicking on “Create an Audience” in the “Modules” tab and selecting the groups of people you want to target. Google gets information about someone who belongs to a specific group – age group, household income, etc., from user interaction history on Google SERP.

Step 8. Create Home Improvement Ads

Finally, construct your home improvement ads by entering your landing page URL, creating enticing headlines, setting up display paths, and writing compelling descriptions. In addition, personalise device targeting by adjusting bid amounts for different devices or excluding some entirely by entering their bid adjustments as zero.

Tips to Consider Before Starting a Home Improvement Ads Campaign

Before jumping into Google home improvement ads, complete these foundational steps to maximise your investment and attract the best home improvement leads to your business.

First, create several campaigns with various settings as a testing strategy. Your home improvement advertisements will perform differently depending on your location and target audience. Having numerous campaigns running simultaneously allows you to determine swiftly which methods provide quality leads without incurring significant costs.

Consistently use proven marketing strategies in the creation of your home improvement advertisement. Thoroughly research your audience’s specific requirements, create professional material showcasing your skills, and maintain open communication through all customer touchpoints.

The following are some main tips to maximise your home improvement marketing with Google advertisements:

• Target interest, not location: In creating home improvement ads, target those interested in renovation work, not every resident of your target area. Google enables you to target those who have indicated an interest through search activity. Targeting a narrower focus saves you money while delivering leads that truly require your expertise.
• Use ultra-specific keywords: Use free tools like Google Keyword Planner to get the keywords related to your business. Long-tail keywords will help you achieve leads via Google Ads at less expense. These keywords tend to face fewer competitors and have better conversion rates, significantly improving your home improvement ad performance.
• Eliminate wasted clicks: Put words like “DIY” or “guide” into a “Negative keyword list” to prevent them from being included in your campaign. For example, in the case of kitchen remodelling marketing, you don’t want to rank for DIY queries. This strategy prevents wasting your budget on clicks from people who are unlikely to hire a contractor.
• Leverage Google ad extensions: These useful functionalities add your location, phone number, and direct links to specific services to your ads automatically. Extensions increase visibility and make it incredibly simple for potential customers to reach out to you at a moment’s notice.

Source: Google search

• Reconnect through remarketing: Set up campaigns to re-engage visitors who showed interest but didn’t contact you. Since these people already know your company, they’re much more likely to convert than cold leads. Create specialised home improvement ads addressing common concerns, such as financing options or project timelines, to bring these potential clients back to your site and generate leads more efficiently through Google Ads.

How to Advertise Your Business on Facebook

Although social media marketing is incredibly effective at attracting potential home improvement customers, not all social media platforms are created equal in this sector. For example, LinkedIn is likely to be ineffective in attracting B2C traffic, and TikTok is unlikely to reach older age groups.

The following are some general statistics on marketing media channels:

As you can see, Facebook is taking the lead. The platform has been in operation for approximately 20 years, serving over 2 billion users and 200 million business accounts. Home improvement advertising on Facebook can be highly profitable if you know who you’re targeting and how to target them.

Creating successful Facebook campaigns involves leveraging the platform’s unique targeting capabilities. Facebook allows you to target homeowners based on life events, interests, and demographics relevant to their renovation needs. You can market your work with strong visual content. You can also specify exact neighbourhoods where you want to generate leads.

Creating Home Improvement Ads on Facebook: A Step-By-Step Tutorial

Ready to launch effective home improvement ads on Facebook? Follow these seven simple steps to create campaigns that generate quality leads without hiring a Facebook ad manager.

Step 1. Set Up a Business Page on Facebook

Set up a Facebook Business page featuring your renovation services and previous projects. This unlocks Ad Manager, Facebook’s tool for creating targeted ad campaigns to reach potential customers.

Step 2. Choose a Marketing Objective

Select your marketing objective: brand awareness, traffic, video views, etc. Choose “Lead Generation” to improve Facebook ads for collecting prospect information.

Step 3. Define Your Audience

Target your market with Facebook’s targeting options. Narrow your audience by criteria like place (your service area), age, relationships, behaviours, and interests.

Step 4. Choose Ad Placement

Facebook allows you to decide where to show ads: News Feed, Facebook Messenger, or Instagram. Alternatively, you can enable Facebook to choose where your home improvement ads should be placed.

Step 5. Set a Budget and Bidding Cost for Home Improvement Ads

Establish a daily budget for consistent lead generation or a lifetime budget for specific promotions. Then select your preferred bidding model: CPC (cost-per-click) works well for driving website traffic, while CPL (cost-per-lead) optimises for form submissions.

Step 6. Choose a Home Improvement Ad Format

Select the format that best showcases your renovation work:

• Banner ads for simple before/after transformations
• Lead ads for direct contact information collection
• Carousel ads to display multiple projects or services
• Video and slideshow (Facebook automated ads) to demonstrate your craftsmanship in action

Step 7. Complete Ad Setup

Develop an ad headline and body text, and design the visual element. Monitor how your ad is performing after publishing it using Facebook’s Ads Manager.

Advanced Facebook Advertising Hacks for Home Improvement Businesses

Facebook continues to produce top-notch results for contractors seeking home improvement leads. Whether you are promoting general contracting services, roof services, or renovation services, these tested methods will optimise your advertising investment:

• Use video content to dramatically increase engagement. Facebook alone permits contractors to exhibit transformation in action—something that other platforms are unable to deliver. Imagine a brief video clip showcasing a kitchen remodel from start to finish, creating emotional connections that text alone cannot achieve. Always include subtitles in your home improvement ads since most viewers watch without sound.
• Create multiple ad variations to complement each other and generate brand recognition. Design three different contractor advertisement ideas providing the same service but employing different visuals and language. This approach prevents ad fatigue while effectively delivering your brand message to different audience segments.
• Implement A/B testing to discover what works. Test the same home improvement ads with varying headlines, images, or calls-to-action and determine which of them drive more leads from Facebook. This ongoing process of launching, measuring, and optimising ensures your Facebook advertising hacks become better and better.
• Develop inspiring content to attract quality prospects naturally. Rather than advertising services alone, offer helpful home improvement advice that solves common problems. For example, a roofer who demonstrates expertise through informative content will naturally attract homeowners who are searching for solutions. This positions you as the authority while driving qualified roofing ads on Facebook, resulting in increased conversion rates.

Expanding Your Reach to Target Home Improvement Leads on More Platforms

Global social media advertising continues to expand rapidly, creating additional opportunities to target home improvement leads beyond Facebook and Google.

Source: Statista 

Consider these additional platforms for your home improvement advertising strategy:

Platform	Key Benefits	Best For
Twitter	Real-time content distribution is perfect for time-sensitive promotions. Choose between follower-building or direct website click campaigns.	Flash sales, limited-time offers, and project updates
LinkedIn	Excels at B2B home improvement advertising with precision targeting based on job titles and professional roles. The Campaign Manager helps you connect with potential commercial clients and build referral networks.	Commercial renovation projects and professional connections
Instagram	Showcases your visual portfolio and brand story through highly engaging formats. Sponsored posts and Stories with embedded links drive traffic to your custom landing pages, boosting the visibility of your home renovation business.	Before/after transformations and design-focused projects
Pinterest	Attracts design-conscious homeowners actively seeking inspiration. Promoted pins increase brand awareness among users who are already planning improvements. Note: requires professional photography to create compelling home improvement ads.	Kitchen, bathroom, and other visually appealing renovations
YouTube	Delivers powerful video advertising through in-stream or discovery placements. Create DIY guides that demonstrate your expertise while building trust with potential customers. Advanced targeting enables your home improvement advertising to reach the exact audience you’re looking for.	Tutorial content, project showcases, and brand storytelling

Complete Home Improvement Lead Management With Phonexa

Acquiring home improvement leads is only half the fight – managing and converting those leads effectively seals your ultimate victory.

Phonexa offers LMS Sync, a lead-management system designed specifically to help contractors manage leads throughout the entire marketing funnel.

Phonexa’s tools also make a significant difference in optimising pre-conversion performance.

 

Get Phonexa’s eight proprietary solutions at a single price (online price calculator):

Ready to transform how your business handles home improvement leads? Book a demo today to see how these tools can address your unique operational challenges and growth objectives.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does time-of-day ad scheduling affect lead generation?

Scheduling your home improvement advertising campaign when prospective customers are most likely to notice it can potentially help expose your home improvement ads to the people who are actually interested.

What is a custom audience, and how can it be utilised in home improvement advertising?

A custom audience typically consists of people already familiar with your services or business. Google and Facebook offer the choice of making a custom audience from your company’s people list or the list of people who visited your website. Targeting these leads with home improvement ads significantly increases the conversion rate.

How does pre-qualifying leads through home improvement advertisements impact ROI?

Pre-qualifying leads through home improvement ads ensures that you invest in potential customers who are genuinely interested in your services, resulting in a higher ROI.