Painting contractors
What a painting click is worth: Painting clicks commonly run $10.
The numbers that matter
Painting clicks commonly run $10.00 to $35.00, with commercial and multi-unit searches running higher. The job value justifies the spend: a full exterior repaint on a large home can run $5,000.00 to $15,000.00, and even interior projects regularly hit $2,000.00 to $6,000.00. The longer decision cycle is the strategic challenge: a homeowner who searches in March may not book until May, which means the campaign has to hold the attribution window open long enough to credit the right keywords. The proving period is set with that booking lag in mind, not judged at 30 days when most paint jobs take 60 to 90 days from search to signed estimate. Figures illustrative; your market sets the real number.
Commercial and residential painting are kept in separate campaigns because the buyer, the timeline, and the ticket are entirely different.
Around $800.00 a month is usually the working minimum, with $1,000.00 to $3,000.00 typical depending on whether the account targets residential, commercial, or both. The proving period runs longer in this vertical: 90 days is more honest than 30 given the booking lag. Typical, not a quote: the cap is set in writing before launch.
Stop the bleed
Painting spend leaks into DIY and supply searches that never book a contractor: how-to queries, paint color searches, and brand queries for paint products. Those are high volume, high cost, and convert to booked jobs at near-zero rates. The second leak is judging the campaign too early. A homeowner who requests an estimate in April may not sign until June, so a 30-day verdict understates the real return. Negatives are cut before launch and the verdict date is set at 90 days.
The first weeks cut the DIY, color, and supply searches, and separate residential from commercial and interior from exterior. Because painting books slowly, the first 30 days are measured on estimates booked, not jobs signed, and the verdict date is set out at 90 days where the signed work actually shows up. The Ledger says so plainly, so nobody mistakes early quiet for failure.
Questions owners ask
Because the booking cycle is longer. A homeowner who requests an estimate in April may not sign until June. Judging the campaign at 30 days produces a number that understates actual returns. The verdict date is set at 90 days minimum to let the booking lag show up in the data.
No. Exterior painting is spring-and-fall seasonal. Interior work runs more evenly year-round but spikes in winter in cold climates. Sharing a budget means one season silently eats the other. They run with separate seasonal schedules.
Negatives built before launch around the three main waste groups: how-to and DIY searches, color and brand product queries, and paint store or supply searches. Those clicks are high volume, high cost, and convert to booked painting jobs at near-zero rates.
Yes. The commercial buyer, the decision timeline, and the ticket are entirely different from residential. A separate campaign keeps the acquisition math clean and lets each side earn its verdict on its own numbers.
Which enquiries became estimates and which estimates became signed jobs, and what each was worth. Because painting closes slowly, that confirmation over the full window is what lets the Ledger credit the right keywords.
Measurement stays honest
The Profit Ledger
The case studies on this site preserve the level of proof present in their source record. If a record stops at a platform lead, this site says so.
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