Case study
Year one. Ads filled the pipeline while SEO built the engine.
JL Home Builders is a remodeling and custom home company in Pittsburgh's South Hills. They came to us with a website they had built themselves and a Google Ads account that was not producing real leads. We rebuilt both. This is the first year.
- 83% lower cost per leadGoogle Ads, launch month to September
- 10/10 months with leadsEvery month since launch
- 51% of leads from SEOSearch and the Business Profile, year one
- 5.1x search terms rankingSeptember 2025 to August 2026
What we did
Ads first. SEO right behind.
SEO takes a year to show what it can do. A remodeler cannot wait a year for the phone to ring, so the ads carried the leads while the site earned its rankings.
How we market contractorsWhere they started
A small website the owners had built themselves, with little on it for Google to rank, and a Google Ads account that reported conversions but was not producing real leads.
The website, rebuilt
A real remodeling site: the services they sell, the projects they have built, and a quote form on every page. The foundation everything else on this page stands on.
Google Ads, rebuilt from zero
A new account, with every call and every form tracked. Leads started the first full month and have not stopped.
SEO and the Business Profile
Articles that answer what Pittsburgh homeowners search before a remodel, and a profile that ranks at the showroom. The ads carried the first year while this caught up.
Google Ads, December 2025 to September 2026
Real leads every month, for a fraction of the launch cost.
The old account reported plenty of conversions. Fewer than one in a hundred was a real lead. The rebuilt account has produced real leads every month since launch. Each bar is that month's cost per lead against the first month: down 77% from April on, and 83% by September.
Phone calls and quote forms recorded by Google Ads. Spend is the client's business, so this shows the change, not the dollars. September runs through the 21st.
Year one vs September 2025 Search Console, Semrush
SEO, under a year in
From a site Google skipped to one it ranks.
A year ago the site ranked on page one for its own name and nothing else. Now it ranks for 5.1 times as many searches, from Pittsburgh remodeling questions to the services JL sells, and holds the top spot in the map at the showroom for kitchen and bathroom remodeling.
Clicks are the last thing to move in SEO. Rankings, links and map position move first, and every one of them has. The service pages are on page two and three today, which is where next year starts.
Where the leads come from
Half the leads already come from SEO.
Every contact form was read by hand. Vendor pitches, bots and tests were thrown out, and each real request was matched to the search or ad that brought it. Under a year in, organic search and the Business Profile bring in as many verified leads as the ads. The projects are the kind a remodeler wants:
- A custom brick and stone ranch build in South Park
- A full teardown and mid-century rebuild in Churchill
- A whole-home remodel in Mt. Lebanon, architect drawings in hand
- A garage turned into a primary suite in Coraopolis
- Two bathroom remodels in a Squirrel Hill Victorian
By the numbers
Numbers you can check, not claims.
Every figure on this page comes from Google Ads, Search Console, Analytics and the client's own website form log. JL Home Builders owns the ad account, the website and the data. We have access. They have the keys.
Why clients own everythingWhat we would tell another remodeler
Three things this account proves.
Three things a first year with us looks like, for any contractor starting from a self-built site.
Run ads while SEO grows
SEO takes a year to pay off. Ads pay off in the first month. Doing both means the business never waits on the slower one.
Count leads, not conversions
An ad account can report hundreds of conversions and produce almost no customers. Read the forms and listen to the calls, or the report is fiction.
Judge SEO by what moves first
Rankings, links and map position move months before clicks do. If those are climbing in year one, the traffic follows.