Google Ads for builders, started small and judged over months

Start narrow

A builder's first Google Ads campaign works best small. A modest daily budget, targeting limited to the places you work, one ad group and one landing page for each build type, and exact and phrase match keywords only.

That is how we set up the first campaign for a licensed builder in regional Australia, launched on 7 October 2026. It runs two Search campaigns, and it is early. We are not claiming results. We will report when there is something to report.

Two campaigns, two budgets

The first campaign targets service searches such as granny flats, extensions and renovations, within the councils and postcodes the builder actually works in. It started at about A$22 a day. The second targets searches that include a town name, with a wider location, at about A$8 a day. Splitting them lets each have its own cap.

Both run on Search only, with Search Partners and Display off. Those figures are one builder's starting point. Yours depends on your area, your capacity and what a signed job is worth to you.

Presence, not interest

Location settings matter more to a builder than to most. The default targets people who are in your area and people who show interest in it. For a builder who travels to a site, that includes someone in another city browsing holiday homes. We set it to people physically in the area.

Not every council is on offer as a target in the Ads picker. Where one is missing, we use its postcodes. We check what the picker lets us choose, not what we assume it does.

One ad group and one page per build

Someone searching granny flat builders should land on a page about granny flats. We build an ad group for each project type and send it to the matching page, with your own project photos, your licence and a short form asking for a name, a phone number or email, and a comment.

For Ovas Build, the ads landing pages carry no site menu, so the visitor sees the project, the proof and the form. The enquiries it has logged come from Google search and Google Ads together, so we do not attribute them to ads alone.

Count enquiries, judge over months

A signed contract can come months after the click. So the conversion we count is the enquiry: a form sent or a tap on the phone number. We add a line to each enquiry email saying where it came from. Then we ask you which enquiries turned into quotes and which into jobs. After a few months that tells us which ad groups bring the work you want.

Keep out the searches that waste money

Builders attract searches from people who want plans, products, jobs or a do it yourself guide. We read the search terms report each week and add negatives, checking each one against the work you do. We also avoid ad copy that sounds like a website builder product, which is a different business altogether.

What you receive

You create the account and add your own card, and you pay Google directly. We are added as a manager and our fee is month to month. Each month you get spend, enquiries, cost per enquiry and a plain account of what we changed and why. We make no promise of a number of enquiries.

Before we start

We ask which builds you want, how many you can take on in a year and how far you will travel. A builder with room for two granny flats a year needs a different account from one who wants a steady run of extensions. If you are fully booked, we would tell you to wait.

Early signs to watch

In the first weeks there is not enough data to judge cost per enquiry. We watch other signs: which searches trigger the ads, whether the landing page holds attention, and whether the enquiries match the jobs you want. Those tell us whether to tighten or widen the account before the numbers settle.