Homeowner lead generation means putting your company in front of Alberta homeowners at the moment they search for your work, then making it easy for them to call. For a residential contractor in the Calgary or Edmonton region, that is mostly Google: the map results, the ads above them, and the website a homeowner opens before picking up the phone.
What's included
The service has four working parts, and we tune the weight of each to your trade.
- Google Business Profile. Primary and secondary categories, a services list that matches what you sell, a service area drawn around the communities you actually want, photos from real jobs, and a habit of answering questions on the profile.
- Service and community pages. A page for each service you want more of (furnace replacement, hot water tank swaps, panel upgrades, basement development) and pages for the communities and towns you serve, each with genuine local content: housing age, common problems, jobs you've done there.
- Paid search. Google Ads, and where it fits Local Services Ads, aimed at high-intent searches. We exclude postal areas you don't serve, set ad schedules around when you can answer, and cut search terms that bring tire-kickers.
- Reviews. A simple, honest request sent by text after a finished job, and replies to every review, good or bad.
Calls are tracked with numbers that forward to your existing line, so you can see which channel produced which job.
Who it's for
It suits residential contractors in the two big metros and their satellite communities: heating and cooling, plumbing, electrical, roofing, windows, renovation and similar trades with two or more trucks. It works best when someone answers the phone during business hours and calls back promptly after hours.
It is a poor fit if you can't take on more work this season, or if your best customers come almost entirely from builder or commercial relationships. In that case, look at commercial and ICI marketing instead.
Timeline
| Weeks | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1–2 | Audit of profile, site, current ads and call handling; agreement on target communities and services |
| 3–5 | Profile rebuilt, tracking installed, first paid campaigns live |
| 6–12 | Service and community pages published, review routine running, weekly search-term clean-up |
| 3–6 months | Organic and map visibility starts to carry more of the load; ad budget shifts to the services that book most profitably |
How we measure results
We report on four numbers each month: calls and texts by source, booked jobs by source, cost per booked job, and revenue from tracked jobs where your system can share it. Clicks and impressions appear in the appendix, not on the first page.
Here is the check we run with every owner. If your average residential job is $2,900, your margin is 38%, and paid search produces leads at $85 with 30% of them booked, your marketing cost per job is about $283 against about $1,100 of gross profit. If booking drops to 18%, the cost per job jumps to $472. The fix in that case is usually phone handling, not ads, and we'll tell you so.
Mistakes we see in Alberta residential marketing
- Drawing the service area too wide. A profile covering everything from Okotoks to Crossfield looks ambitious and ranks poorly in the places that matter.
- One page for every service. A single "Services" page can't rank for furnace repair, boiler service and water softeners at once.
- Ignoring winter call spikes. When a cold snap hits, calls double and unanswered calls go to the next company. A missed-call text-back tool such as the one described on CallText.chat can save some of them.
- Paying for searches you can't serve. Without negative keywords, DIY searches and job seekers eat the budget.
- Asking for reviews in batches. Fifteen reviews in one week, then nothing for three months, looks odd to customers and to Google.
See how homeowner marketing differs by region on the Calgary and Edmonton pages, or check pricing for plan costs.
Frequently asked questions
Should a Calgary contractor advertise in Airdrie and Chestermere too?
Only if you are happy to drive there and can answer those calls quickly. If you do, give each town its own page with work you've done there, because people often search by town name rather than by city.
Are Local Services Ads worth it for Alberta trades?
For many home-service trades they are worth testing, because you pay per lead rather than per click and the badge sits above normal ads. Whether they pay back depends on your close rate, which is why we track it from day one.
How quickly will we see calls?
Paid search can produce calls within days of launch. Map rankings and service-area pages usually take three to six months to move in a competitive metro, and sooner in smaller centres.
Do we need a new website for this?
Not always. If your current site loads fast on a phone, has a page per service and shows a clickable phone number, we can often work with it and fix the gaps.