What it fixes
An ad account can spend all month and never tell you what a booked estimate costs. Money goes to clicks that never call, to the wrong towns, or to a goal the platform cannot tie to your CRM. We check the goal, the tracking and the budget first, then fix what costs you the most per booked estimate. We judge the account on cost per CRM-confirmed lead, held appointment and sold job. A person approves every budget change.
What the research says
- $90.92
Median search cost per lead for Home and Home Improvement is $90.92, against $66.69 across all industries. Know your own number first.
LocaliQ, Search Advertising Benchmarks for Your Industry (2026) - 55%
55% of home services businesses never ask the lead to buy or book the job. Paid leads end without a request.
Invoca, Home Services Lead Conversion Benchmarks Report (2026) - 28%
On average, 28% of calls to businesses go unanswered. Each one is an ad click you already paid for.
CallRail, Missed calls are costing your business (2025)
What's inside
- 01
Set what a booked estimate is worth to you
- 02
Check that conversion goals and tracking land in your CRM
- 03
Review structure, towns, services and blocked search terms
- 04
Run the launch gate before any ad can spend
- 05
Rank fixes by cost per booked estimate
- 06
Set the next review date and the stop rule
Deep-dives inside the playbook
- Google Ads and Microsoft Ads (search)
- Launch checklist (blocking gate)
- Meta ads (Facebook and Instagram)
See it in action
We spend about $3,000 a month on Google Ads for our Phoenix HVAC company and the forms go nowhere. Is it working?
Status: spend to date, CRM-confirmed leads, cost per lead and a verdict. Launch gate: calls and forms pass, UTMs are missing on one campaign, so that campaign stays paused. Findings ranked by cost per booked estimate: broad search terms that bring in people looking for DIY repair, and no blocked-terms list. Each change lists the campaign, old value, new value and 'needs your approval' where spend changes. Next review in two weeks, with one metric to judge.
At $10M and up
How it runs in a larger operation
At scale, budget is set by location against capacity, margin and CRM-confirmed leads. Nothing runs without tracking checked. Sold jobs return to the ad platforms, and a named person approves every budget change. Leadership sees cost per sold job per location.
- Budget set by location, capacity and margin
- Spend gated on verified tracking
- Sold jobs uploaded back to the platforms
