Lead Generation for Contractors: 12 Proven Methods That Actually Work
By Charwin Vanryck deGroot
Most lead generation advice for contractors is written by marketers who have never given an estimate, never dealt with a no-show, and never lost a job to a lowballer.
You can tell because they recommend "leveraging social media synergies" instead of telling you which platforms actually produce phone calls.
I build marketing systems for home service companies. I see the data. I know which lead sources produce $15,000 jobs and which ones produce price shoppers who ghost after the first call.
The average difference in job value between leads from owned sources (SEO, referrals) versus rented lead platforms. Owned lead sources also close at 2-3x the rate.
The Lead Gen Landscape: Owned vs. Rented
Before diving into tactics, understand the fundamental split in lead generation.
Owned lead sources are assets you control. Your website. Your Google Business Profile. Your email list. Your reputation. These compound over time. The work you do today pays dividends for years.
Rented lead sources are platforms where you pay for access. Angi. Thumbtack. Facebook ads. You stop paying, the leads stop coming. No equity built.
The contractors who struggle are 100% dependent on rented leads. The ones who thrive use rented sources strategically while building owned assets.
Your goal: shift the ratio toward owned sources over time. Use paid channels to generate cash flow while investing in assets that reduce your cost per lead every year.
12 Proven Lead Generation Methods
1. Google Business Profile Optimization
This is the highest-ROI lead generation activity for most local contractors. Free to set up. Free to maintain. Generates calls directly.
What actually moves the needle:
Complete every single field. Google rewards completeness. Business description, services, service areas, hours, attributes. All of it.
Businesses with 100+ photos get 520% more calls than businesses with fewer than 10. Post job photos weekly. Before and after shots. Team photos. Equipment.
The technical detail most miss: Your primary category selection affects which searches you appear for. A "Roofing Contractor" ranks differently than a "Roofer." Test both. See which produces more impressions in your market.
Post weekly updates. Google rewards active profiles. Takes 5 minutes. Share a recent project, a tip, or a seasonal reminder.
For a deeper dive on local search optimization, see our complete SEO strategy guide.
2. Local SEO (Your Website Ranking)
Your website should rank for "[service] + [city]" searches. "Plumber in Austin." "HVAC repair Dallas." These searches indicate someone ready to hire.
The pages you need:
One dedicated page per service per major city you serve. Not a generic services page. A specific page for "Water Heater Installation in [City]" with relevant content, local signals, and clear calls to action.
These pages should include your service area, pricing context, process explanation, and social proof. They should load fast, work on mobile, and have your phone number prominent.
The technical foundation:
Schema markup tells Google exactly what your business does and where. LocalBusiness schema, Service schema, Review schema. Most contractor websites have none of this.
Internal linking connects your pages in ways that help Google understand your site structure. Your homepage should link to service pages. Service pages should link to location pages. Everything should connect logically.
Page speed affects rankings. If your site takes 5 seconds to load on mobile, you are losing rankings and losing visitors. Compress images. Minimize code. Use proper hosting.
3. Google Ads (Pay-Per-Click)
Google Ads puts you at the top of search results immediately. You pay per click. Works fast but requires ongoing management.
Where contractors waste money:
Broad keywords. Bidding on "plumber" when you mean "emergency plumber [city]" burns budget on irrelevant searches.
Poor landing pages. Sending ad traffic to your homepage instead of a dedicated landing page matching the search intent.
No negative keywords. Showing ads for "plumber jobs" or "plumber salary" or "DIY plumbing" wastes clicks.
What works:
Start narrow. Exact match keywords for your highest-margin services in your most profitable areas. Expand only after you are profitable.
Dedicated landing pages for each ad group. Someone searching "water heater replacement" should land on a page about water heater replacement, not your homepage.
Call tracking so you know which keywords produce actual phone calls, not just clicks.
For contractors, we typically see cost per lead between $50-200 depending on service type and market competition. High-ticket services like roofing or HVAC replacement justify higher costs. Commodity services need tighter management.
4. Local Service Ads (Google Guaranteed)
Local Service Ads appear above regular Google Ads. You pay per lead, not per click. The "Google Guaranteed" badge builds trust.
The reality check:
Lead quality varies wildly by market and service type. Some contractors get great leads. Others get tire-kickers who submitted requests to five companies.
You cannot control when you appear. Google decides based on proximity, reviews, responsiveness, and budget. Less control than regular Google Ads.
Disputes for bad leads are hit or miss. Google will refund some, reject others. Budget for a percentage of leads being worthless.
Making it work:
Fast response time is everything. Contractors who respond within 5 minutes book more jobs. Google tracks this and rewards it with more visibility.
Review volume and quality affect your rankings. Push for Google reviews specifically, not just Yelp or Facebook.
Set your budget based on how many leads you can actually handle. Turning off LSA during busy periods protects your responsiveness score.
5. Referral Programs (Systematic, Not Hopeful)
Referrals close at 50-70% versus 10-20% for cold leads. They spend more. They complain less. Every contractor knows this. Yet most contractors have no system for generating referrals.
A system that works:
Ask at the right moment. Right after completing a job while satisfaction is high. Not two weeks later via email.
Make it easy. Provide business cards, a referral link, or a text they can forward. Remove friction.
Incentivize both sides. Offer the referrer something meaningful. A gift card, a discount on future work, a cash bonus. Offer the new customer something too.
Track religiously. Know which customers refer. Know which incentives work. Double down on what produces results.
The math:
### 6. Strategic Partnerships
Other businesses serve your customers before they need you. Partner with them.
High-value partnerships for contractors:
Real estate agents send you clients who just bought homes and need inspections, repairs, or upgrades.
Insurance adjusters work with homeowners who have claims for storm damage, water damage, or fire restoration.
Property managers need reliable contractors for tenant turnover, maintenance, and emergencies.
Interior designers partner on renovation projects where they handle design and you handle execution.
Making partnerships work:
Provide value first. Send them referrals before expecting any in return.
Make it easy to refer you. Give them materials. Return their calls immediately. Make them look good.
Stay top of mind. Check in quarterly. Send updates. Do not let them forget you exist.
Formal agreements help. A referral fee structure creates accountability on both sides.
7. Direct Mail (Targeted, Not Batch-and-Blast)
Yes, direct mail still works. But not the way most contractors use it.
What does not work:
EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) to random neighborhoods. You are paying to reach renters, new homeowners, and people who will never need your services.
Generic postcards with no specific offer or urgency.
What works:
Targeted lists based on home value, home age, homeownership status, and time in residence. Reach homeowners with 20-year-old roofs, not everyone in a zip code.
Specific offers with deadlines. "15% off AC tune-up, book by March 15" beats "Call us for all your HVAC needs."
Repetition. People need to see your mailer 3-7 times before they act. One mailing does almost nothing.
Cost reality:
Targeted mail costs $0.75-$1.50 per piece when done right. Response rates of 1-2% are realistic. Run the math on your average job value to see if it makes sense for your business.
8. Door Hangers After Jobs
You just completed a job at 123 Main Street. The neighbors watched your truck, heard the work, saw the result.
Capitalize on this.
The simple system:
Carry door hangers in your truck. After every job, hang them on 20-50 neighboring doors.
The message: "We just completed a [service] for your neighbor at [address]. Here is a special offer for the neighborhood."
Include a limited-time discount or priority scheduling. Make it feel exclusive.
Why it works:
Carry door hangers in every work truck. After every job, have your team hang them on 20-50 neighboring doors. This costs almost nothing and produces some of the highest-quality leads you will get.
Social proof. The neighbors saw you working. They know someone on their street chose you.
Relevance. If one home on the street needs a new roof, others probably do too. Same age homes, same weather exposure.
Trust transfer. You are not a random company from the internet. You are "the contractor who did the Johnson's roof."
This costs almost nothing and produces some of the highest-quality leads you will get.
9. Nextdoor
Nextdoor is a social network organized by neighborhood. Homeowners ask for contractor recommendations constantly.
The free approach:
Claim your business page. Keep it updated. Respond when someone mentions your company.
Monitor your service area for posts asking for recommendations. You cannot self-promote in response, but happy customers can recommend you.
The paid approach:
Nextdoor offers local advertising. Target by neighborhood. Reach verified homeowners in specific areas.
Results vary by market. Some contractors see great ROI. Others find the audience too small to scale.
The reputation reality:
Nextdoor users are vocal. One bad experience gets shared with the entire neighborhood. This makes quality and follow-through non-negotiable. But if you do good work, recommendations spread organically.
10. Facebook Ads for Retargeting
Facebook ads for cold audiences rarely work for contractors. The targeting is broad. The intent is low. People scrolling Facebook are not thinking about their HVAC system.
But Facebook retargeting is different.
The strategy:
Install the Facebook pixel on your website. It tracks visitors.
Create an ad that shows only to people who already visited your site. They searched for you, clicked on your link, looked at your services. They know you exist.
Retargeting ads remind them to take action. "Still need that AC repair? Schedule today and get $50 off."
Why this works:
Website visitors who do not convert are not lost forever. They got distracted, decided to get other quotes, or just forgot. Retargeting brings them back at a fraction of the cost of acquiring a new visitor.
Typical retargeting costs: $0.50-$2.00 per click, often 10-20% of cold audience costs.
Combine with a limited-time offer to create urgency and you have an efficient conversion machine.
11. Email to Past Customers
Your past customer list is a gold mine most contractors ignore completely.
These people already hired you. They trust you. They just need a reason to hire you again.
Automated sequences that work:
Maintenance reminders. "It has been 12 months since your AC tune-up. Time to schedule."
Seasonal preparation. "Winter is coming. Here is how to prepare your home" plus a relevant service offer.
Referral requests. Periodic reminders that you appreciate referrals and reward them.
Anniversary follow-ups. "We installed your water heater 5 years ago. Here is what to watch for and when to consider replacement."
Tools:
Simple email platforms like Mailchimp handle basic automation. More sophisticated options like Go High Level offer text, email, and voice automation combined.
The key: set it up once, let it run forever. The ROI compounds as your customer list grows.
For more on marketing automation, check out our marketing automation guide for service businesses.
12. Review Generation (Leads You Do Not Have to Pay For)
Reviews are not just reputation management. They are lead generation.
More reviews means higher Google rankings. Higher rankings means more calls. Better reviews means higher conversion rates when people do call.
The review generation system:
Ask every customer. Make it part of your job completion process.
Make it easy. Send a direct link to your Google review page via text. Do not make them search for you.
Time it right. Ask within 24 hours of job completion while satisfaction is fresh.
Follow up once. If they did not leave a review, one polite reminder is appropriate. More than that is annoying.
Responding to reviews:
Reply to every review. Positive ones get a thank you. Negative ones get a professional, solution-oriented response.
Google confirms that responding to reviews influences rankings. It also shows potential customers that you care about feedback.
Lead Sources to Approach Carefully
Not every lead source deserves your time and money. Some are traps.
Angi and HomeAdvisor
These platforms can work, but understand the model.
You are paying for shared leads. Multiple contractors get the same lead. You are competing on price and response speed with companies who might be desperate for work.
Lead quality varies wildly. Some are ready to hire. Many are price shopping or just "exploring options" with no urgency.
The cost per lead on Angi/HomeAdvisor has increased steadily while quality has declined. Many contractors report paying $50-100 per lead with close rates under 10%. Run the math: at $75/lead and 8% close rate, you are paying $937 per acquired customer.
Respond within minutes, not hours. Speed is your only advantage on a shared lead.
Track your close rate religiously. If you are below 15%, the math probably does not work.
Treat it as supplementary, not primary. Do not build your business on a platform that can change terms anytime.
Thumbtack
Similar dynamics to Angi. Pay-per-lead model, shared leads, price-focused customers.
Thumbtack tends to attract more price-sensitive customers. Good for filling slow periods. Bad for building a premium brand.
Generic Lead Generation Services
Cold call sellers promising "exclusive leads in your area" are usually aggregating form fills from random websites and selling them to multiple contractors despite calling them "exclusive."
Before signing any contract:
Ask where the leads come from. Vague answers are a red flag.
Demand a trial period with no long-term commitment.
Track results independently. Do not trust their reporting.
Not All Leads Are Equal: Qualification Matters
A lead is not a lead is not a lead.
The contractor who generates 50 leads and closes 10 jobs outperforms the one who generates 100 leads and closes 8. Volume without quality is expensive and exhausting.
Qualifying questions that matter:
Timeline. When do they want the work done? "Someday" is not a lead. "This month" is.
Budget awareness. Have they researched costs? Are they prepared for realistic pricing?
Decision-making authority. Are you talking to the homeowner or a renter asking for their landlord?
Property ownership. For large jobs, confirm they own the property.
Other quotes. How many other contractors are they talking to? If it is five, they are price shopping.
Pre-qualifying on your website:
Your contact forms can gather qualifying information before you spend time on a call. Ask about project timeline, property type, approximate budget range.
This filters out some tire-kickers before they waste your time.
Lead Follow-Up That Actually Converts
Getting leads is half the battle. Converting them is the other half.
And most contractors are terrible at follow-up.
Speed to Lead Matters
Research from multiple sources shows the same thing: responding within 5 minutes dramatically increases conversion.
After 30 minutes, your chances of qualifying a lead drop by 21x compared to immediate response.
Your chances of qualifying a lead drop by 21x after 30 minutes compared to immediate response. Yet most contractors respond in hours, sometimes days. If that is you, you are losing jobs before you even compete on quality or price.
The fix:
Automated immediate response. The second a lead comes in, they get a text and an email acknowledging receipt and setting expectations.
Real-time alerts to whoever handles sales. Push notifications, not just email that might sit unopened.
A commitment to fast outreach during business hours. Five minutes means five minutes.
Follow-Up Sequences Work
Most leads do not convert on the first contact. Life happens. They get busy. They get other quotes. They forget.
A structured follow-up sequence keeps you in consideration without being annoying.
A sequence that works:
Day 1: Immediate response plus first call attempt.
Day 1 (later): If no answer, text message.
Day 2: Second call attempt, follow-up email with helpful content.
Day 3: Text check-in.
Day 7: Final call attempt, email with offer or urgency.
After that, move them to a long-term nurture sequence with monthly touchpoints.
The mindset shift:
## Measuring Lead Generation ROI"This is not pestering. This is professional sales follow-up. Customers expect it. The contractors who do it win more business. The ones who give up after one attempt lose to competitors with better systems."
You cannot improve what you do not measure.
Yet most contractors have no idea which lead sources actually produce profitable jobs. They might know their total ad spend. They rarely know cost per booked job by source.
The metrics that matter:
Cost per lead by source. What does it actually cost to get a phone call or form fill from each channel?
Lead to appointment rate by source. What percentage of leads become estimates?
Appointment to close rate by source. What percentage of estimates become jobs?
Average job value by source. Do certain sources produce bigger jobs?
Calculating true cost per acquisition:
If Google Ads costs $2,000/month and produces 40 leads, your cost per lead is $50.
If 50% of those leads schedule estimates (20 estimates), your cost per estimate is $100.
If you close 40% of estimates (8 jobs), your cost per job is $250.
If your average job is $3,000, you are spending $250 to make $3,000. That math works.
Now do this for every lead source. You might discover that a source you thought was expensive is actually your best ROI channel, or vice versa.
We cover tracking and measurement in detail in our analytics guide and home services marketing guide.
Building a Lead Generation System
Individual tactics are not enough. You need a system.
A system means documented processes that run without your constant attention. Automated follow-up. Tracking in a CRM. Regular analysis of what is working.
The minimum viable system:
- CRM that captures every lead with source attribution.
- Automated immediate response to every lead.
- Follow-up sequences that run automatically.
- Monthly review of metrics by source.
- Quarterly reallocation of budget based on performance.
## What To Do Next
Do not try to implement all 12 methods at once.
Pick two or three that match your current situation. If you have zero Google reviews, start there. If your website is terrible, fix that first. If you have cash flow but no time, invest in paid advertising.
Build systems around what works before adding new tactics.
Start with just two lead sources: Google Business Profile optimization (free, high ROI) and one paid channel (Google Ads or LSAs). Master those before adding complexity. Most contractors spread too thin across too many tactics.
And remember: the goal is not more leads. The goal is more profitable jobs with customers who value your work and refer their friends.
That comes from being strategic about where your leads come from and ruthless about measuring what actually works.
Need help building lead generation systems that work? Let us talk. We build marketing infrastructure for contractors who want predictable, profitable growth.
For more contractor marketing strategies, see our complete contractor marketing ideas guide.
FAQ
What is the fastest way to get contractor leads?
Google Ads and Local Service Ads can generate leads within days. But fast is not always best. Fast leads from paid sources cost money and stop when you stop paying. The best long-term approach combines paid advertising for immediate cash flow with SEO and referral systems that compound over time.
How much should contractors spend on lead generation?
Most successful contractors invest 5-10% of revenue in marketing. For a company doing $1M in revenue, that is $50,000-$100,000 annually. Start smaller if needed, but track ROI carefully. The goal is to find channels where you spend $1 and get $3+ back in profit.
Are Angi and HomeAdvisor worth it for contractors?
They can be worth it if you have excellent response time, a competitive close rate, and you track ROI carefully. For many contractors, the cost per acquired job is too high compared to owned lead sources like SEO and referrals. Use them to supplement, not as your primary lead source.
How do I get more referrals as a contractor?
Ask systematically. Every completed job should include a referral ask at the moment of highest satisfaction. Offer incentives to both the referrer and the new customer. Track who refers and thank them meaningfully. Most contractors hope for referrals rather than creating a system to generate them.
What is the best CRM for contractor lead management?
For most contractors doing $500K-$5M, Jobber or Housecall Pro handle the basics well. For more sophisticated marketing automation, Go High Level offers email, SMS, and pipeline management in one platform. The best CRM is the one you actually use consistently.
How quickly should contractors respond to leads?
Within 5 minutes during business hours. Research shows that leads contacted within 5 minutes are 21x more likely to become customers than those contacted after 30 minutes. Set up automated immediate responses and real-time notifications to hit this benchmark.