New Website and Google Ads: 31 Enquiries in Month One

Nine years in. Invisible to anyone who was not already referred to him

Ryan had been building in South London for nine years. Extensions, loft conversions, structural work, garden rooms. Well regarded by the people who had used him, and almost all of his work came through personal recommendations.

He had no website. His Facebook page existed but served more as a personal account than a business one. When we searched for builders in Croydon, Thornton Heath and Norbury — his core working areas — his name appeared nowhere. He had been invisible to the 70 to 80 percent of people who look online before hiring a builder.

He was also entirely dependent on referral chains — he would get three or four jobs through one customer's network and then nothing until another chain started. Feast and famine with no way to smooth it out.

Website first. Ads second. Both live in ten days

Running Google Ads without a credible website is one of the most common mistakes trades businesses make. The ad gets a click but if the landing page does not hold up, you have just paid for someone to leave. We built Ryan's site before spending a penny on ads.

The site was structured around his three main services — extensions, loft conversions and garden rooms — with a section for general building work. Each service page was written to reflect how homeowners actually search and what they need to see to feel confident enough to make contact. Photos of his work throughout, clear service area, testimonials from previous customers, contact form and a prominent phone number.

We kept the geographic targeting tight for the first month — concentrated on the postcodes where Ryan had the most experience. Tighter targeting means higher relevance scores, better ad positions and a lower cost per click. Spreading budget wide early wastes money. We expand once the core area is proven.

The campaign prioritised extension and loft conversion searches because these represent the highest job values and the clearest commercial intent. General building searches were included but at lower bids.

31 enquiries and a fully booked diary within six weeks

Month one produced 31 enquiries at an average cost of £29 each — better than projected. Competition in his specific postcodes was lower than expected and several local competitors had either no website or one that had not been updated in years.

Roughly a third of enquiries were for loft conversions or extensions — the high-value work Ryan most wanted. The rest were smaller building jobs he was happy to take on to fill the gaps.

By week eight Ryan had a full diary for the following six weeks. He told us he had turned down two jobs in month two because he did not have the capacity. That had never happened to him before. He was used to chasing work. Now he was choosing it.

His revenue in month two was £9,400 against a previous average of just under £5,000. The uplift came entirely from volume and quality of incoming enquiries — not from changing his pricing or how he worked.

More selective. Higher average job value. Growing.

Ryan is now in his fourth month. We have expanded the geographic targeting to include Mitcham and Streatham where he had done some work through referrals but had never actively marketed.

He is being more selective — quoting more aggressively on extension and loft conversion work and referring smaller jobs to a contact who does general maintenance. His average job value has risen as a result.

We are now beginning to test Meta Ads to capture homeowners who are thinking about an extension but have not started searching yet. A longer game but the potential is significant given the area he covers and the job values involved.