Successful Builders and Remodelers Are Using THIS Marketing Strategy In 2024

If you’re a home builder or remodeler and you’re serious about growing your company,

I’m about to show you over the shoulder of how we generate High quality, Pre-qualified home-building and remodel inquiries EVERY WEEK

using the Elite Project Engine

Leads Like These:

And these aren’t some crappy Angi’s List or Home Advisor leads that have been generated on a generic website and hounded by 5 other builders before you call them.

They’re genuine building inquiries from real people, with real money to spend, who want to do significant builds, have been pre-sold on YOUR expertise and who want to work exclusively with YOU in the next 3-6 months.

Check this out:

You can see my client’s pipeline here – a builder in Wellington, NZ – he’s got a steady flow of opportunities at various stages, all thanks to this marketing strategy.

You can see he’s got a handful of brand new leads sitting here, then there’s 4 freshly qualified leads – so they’re people who actually have the money and are keen to get started asap.

Then there’s dozens of leads who are already “yes” to a site visit.

And a handful who’ve already gone all the way through the process and have already paid for a “Preliminary Budget” which is the fancy way of saying a “paid quote” – so they’ve actually paid this builder between $1,000 and $5,000 just to prepare a quote.

So they’re serious buyers.

Pretty cool right?

You can see there’s fresh leads constantly flowing in and moving through the pipeline.

The business is stable. In fact, there’s a total of $15.6M worth of opportunities on the table right now for this one builder alone.

And this isn’t a one off…

It’s the same for Custom Builder Rob in Tampa, Forida. He’s got $83M of opportunities in his pipeline…

And, again, his business is stable with consistent business flowing through.

And the same for this Nick in Melbourne, AU focused on home additions

With $39M in active opportunities…

So, you might be thinking “that’s all great, but how well do these leads convert into actual jobs?”

And the answer is, very well.

In fact, they close at such a high percentage that the builders I work with are making at least a 500% return on all their marketing costs.

Check this out…

This is an email I got from one of my clients, Rob, just 4 weeks after installing the Elite Project Engine.

You can see he’s had 11 leads come through for a total lead value of $3.8M.

And you can see the average job value of these leads is over $350K. Which he says down here is much higher than he’s used to.

But most importantly, you can see he’s already had 2 meetings from those 11 leads… just a few weeks in.

Even if he only wins ONE of these jobs, he’s just made $350K of revenue from about $850 in ad spend – which is pretty good going.

I mean, what other investment lets you put $850 in and get $350K out in a matter of weeks? It’s wild.

And then there’s, John Dickson, in Texas who’s just won $1.2M worth of jobs from this system.

And here’s Cam Diack, in Tauranga who sent me this:

He’s just won $2.5M worth of work from $3,800 in ad spend. That’s a 658% return on his investment.

So, these aren’t like other leads that waste your time. They actually turn into big-ticket jobs.

And, in a second, I’ll share my screen and show you exactly how they’re generated using the 3-step, Elite Project Engine marketing strategy.

First, let me introduce myself…

So who am I?

Well, my name is Cam Upton. And I’m just a regular guy from a little place called Auckland, New Zealand.

This is me with my wife and kids on a cruise to Fiji..

And look, you probably don’t care about my whole life story.

If you want to hear about that, we can have a beer one day.

But what you probably DO care about is my track record… And how I can actually help you.

So, real quick:

online…

… and you can see I built that to $500k per year using $120k in paid Facebook ads and risking my own money. So I learned what does and doesn’t work pretty damn quick.

Check this out:

So, basically, I’ve got experience doing this. And the system I’ve designed really works and I’m very excited to be sharing it with you.

And a big part of why it works so well is because it solves the “Big 3” unique marketing challenges that builders face…

CHALLENGE #1: “WORD OF MOUTH” IS LIMITED…

Maybe this is you? Maybe most of your work comes from referrals?

Well, that’s ok… I mean it’s not a bad thing to have people singing your praises, right?

The problem occurs when word of mouth is your ONLY source of leads.

And that’s because, word of mouth is limited.

One month you’ll have heaps of work, then the next month, it dries up, and you won’t have anything to keep your guys busy.

And this “feast or famine” roller coaster can really mess you up.

You don’t know whether you can pay the guys, don’t know where the next job is coming from. I mean, it’s a stressful way to run a business.

It’s a stressful way to live.

CHALLENGE #2: LEAD GEN SITES ARE BORDERLINE CRIMINAL…

Ok, second. Lead gen sites like Angi’s List and Home Advisor. These sites are a joke right?

They charge you through the teeth for so called “leads”. Then you ring up those leads and they have no idea who you are or why you’re calling them.

Or, worse, they’ve already been hounded by 5 other builders trying to sell to them the same thing and they flat out tell you to “F-off”.

Well, look, I reckon we should all tell Angi and Home Advisor to “F-off”. Because there’s a much better way to generate business without being at the mercy of these dodgy sites.

And it’s a way that actually builds YOUR brand. Not the brand of some big corporation.

CHALLENGE #3: LOCAL MARKETING AGENCIES DON’T “GET” THE BUILDING INDUSTRY…

Ok, then there’s the marketing companies. These guys are normally well-meaning but they just don’t get the realities of running a building company.

They don’t understand all the overheads and how fragile cash flow is and so their strategies are all wrong for the business.

Maybe you’ve worked with these guys? They offer to do SEO or run ads on Facebook…

And they do a decent job.

But what they don’t tell you is that you’re gonna be cash flow negative for 6-12 months BEFORE you start seeing results.

So, even if you’re working with a good company, you need a long runway (and deep pockets) to actually get a decent return. And, of course, that’s just unrealistic for most home builders who need to see a return much faster.

And then there’s the pain of having to sort through and call 50 low quality leads a month just to find 1 or 2 genuine inquiries. It’s not a great way to do business.

So, maybe you can relate to all those pains?

Well it became my mission to come up with a marketing system that would eliminate each and every one of these issues… and generate consistent business, and positive cashflow for everyone who used it.

Now, I’m not gonna bore you with the details of how I came up with the system. Truth is it was a lot of trial and error and a lot of hard work… over a long time. So not that sexy.

But what I can tell you is that I eventually got there. I eventually devised the complete marketing system specifically for home builders and started getting results like these….

"Total this month is 69 leads at $38.39 each & the value of those is sitting at $27,619,000"

Grant

"8 leads through this week thanks to Cam, awesome setup. Soooo stoked going into this weekend!!"

Cameron

Anyway, we can skip through these.. But you get the idea.

Ok, Let's get to it.

Let me SHOW you how this “self-funded” marketing system works.

Okay, so this is the 10,000 foot view of the system. And there’s a bit going on here because obviously we’re working with a range of builders

– some group builders doing dozens of jobs a month,

– some custom home builders doing 3-4 big jobs a year

and everything in between.

So I’ve had to adapt this in different ways and for different levels of experience over the years.

So, you can see there’s 3 major pathways here; green, orange and red.

The green is all about fast results…

And it really works to attract the small portion of your market that are ready to build right now.

They’re looking for a builder, and they’re waiting for the right person to get in front of them and make a compelling case.

So this Green section shows you how you can do that and how you can win new jobs pretty dam quick.

And to be honest, there are plenty of companies I work with who JUST do this green section and have thriving businesses. And I’ll show you how in a second.

Then there’s this orange section:

This is where things get a bit more sophisticated.

And this section is all about capturing prospects in your market earlier in their decision making process – maybe 6-12 months out from doing a build.

And the beauty of doing this is that there’s a much bigger pool of prospects, and if you do it right, you can capture their attention early and position yourself as the go-to builder so they come to you when they’re ready to get started.

And finally, there’s the red section.

This is like the “Rolls Royce” of long term marketing. It’s all about building a world-class website that does your selling for you AND generating free search traffic so your advertising costs come down over time.

And the reason it’s sequenced like this all comes down to cash flow.

Remember how I said a lot of marketing agencies take months or even YEARS to get their clients to profitability?

Well, that’s because they focus on this orange and red stuff straight away and they don’t have these Green systems to start getting high quality inquiries and “quick wins” right out of the gate.

And it means that you run out of cash before you see any meaningful results.

That’s why I call this the “Self-Funded” marketing strategy – because when you do everything in the right sequence your marketing literally PAYS FOR ITSELF.

Ok, so let’s dig in more deeply into this Green, “Quick Grab” section of this strategy, because this really is the crux of what makes this whole system work so well.

And, the power of this system really comes down to this one unique process here:

Let me explain…

Ok, so you can see here that the main way people come into this “Quick Grab” customer flow is through Google Adwords.

You might have tried Google ad words in the past – it’s these little text ads here that you can pay Google to show to people when they search certain keywords.

Not exactly revolutionary, but they are very powerful when done right.

And the main thing you need to understand is that Google ads all come down to a competition for economics.

And what I mean by that is that is, you are bidding against all your competitors for the same keywords and the same eyeballs which drives the cost per click up.

And in this market you’re likely paying a bomb for every click on Google –

In Major Cities the average is about $10 per click in the building industry

So, if you’re sending people straight to your website, you’re going to struggle to make any money…

That’s because

The average website only converts at about 1-2%.

So if you spend $10 per click it’s gonna take about 50 clicks and $500 per lead!

And that’s for pretty low quality leads… you might get their name and phone number but that’s about all.

And they could be just time wasters or looking to hang a door or something small…

The good leads, who actually want a custom new build or big renovation are few and far between – They are probably costing you thousands.

What’s more, they are probably talking to 3 other builders so your chance of actually winning the job is quite slim.

I mean, I’ve seen guys who are spending upwards of $10K on Google per won job which is a huge chunk out of their margin to lose on advertising – Not to mention the risk and stress of having to outlay all that cash and HOPE it comes back to you at some point.

So, if you’re relying on standard Google Ads.., you’re fighting an uphill battle.

And that’s where this new system comes in.

So, this is called the Instant Estimate inquiry form (great name I know lol).

And in real life it looks like this:

And, I know it doesn’t look like much,

but this thing holds the secret to dominating your local area with online advertising right now..

And here’s why…

How many times have you heard from a prospect…

“I just want to know how much this is going to cost me.”?

It’s literally the number one thing people who are building a house want to know, right?

And most builders make them jump through a whole heap of hoops to get an answer, because it’s not a straightforward question.

I mean you have to chat to them about their requirements, go through a site visit and then cost-out the whole project to prepare a quote.

It’s a massive job for you and a massive commitment for the client – I mean, they basically have to marry you as their builder before they even have a ballpark for how much it’s gonna cost.

It’s intimidating.

And it’s scaring people away… let alone costing you hours of time quoting jobs that never go anywhere.

So I came up with this little Instant Estimate system here…

People can come through here and get an instant estimate on what their projects are going to cost – as a ballpark – with you as their builder.

I went through and did all the math and it’s all custom and tailored to each company and their pricing structure and the local area etc etc. So it’s quite a complex calculation.

But if you’re wondering how accurate it is… i’ve got a funny story actually:

Not long ago. I started working with a custom home builder in Monticello, Georgia.

I set this Instant Estimate system up for them and he basically said “oh, you’re probably about $40k off.”

And then I was like, “You sure? Maybe we should go through the answers again”?

So we went through the submitted answers…

And he was like “Oh, no, there was a basement included… I didn’t see that… this price is actually bang on, exactly what we would have priced it for.”

I’ve even had Estimators say how bang on this thing is. .

So it was a horrible, horrible part of my life getting this thing to work. I’ve spent the better part 6-9 months going through estimating software and working out ratios and prices and all that kind of stuff.

But, it was worth it, because it’s now super accurate and it’s been revolutionary when it comes to generating high-quality inquiries online.

Ok, so our prospect has clicked your ad, and they get to this very visual and very fast flowing questionnaire with the promise of an “Instant Estimate”.

And there’s actually a lot of psychology in play here with the way this is designed because people who are in motion are more likely to stay in motion. I mean, you can see why, it kinda sucks you in. It’s almost like a game.

Anyway, as they’re clicking through, we’re asking them all the details about their build. like what style of home? Have you got a single story or double? What kind of build, right? Obviously it’s all branded to your business here so they know who they’re dealing with.

Postcode, right? I can fill this in. How many pages? Rooms, bathrooms, etc. Yada yada.

They can basically figure out exactly what they’re looking for.

And, in the background, this system is using all this information to calculate materials, labour and square footage… or SQM if you use real measurements 😉 etc.

and it’s filtering all that information through typical prices in YOUR area, to work out a ballpark price.

Pretty cool, right?

But, then you'll notice that we get to here:

So we’ve kind of talked about the specifics of the home and what they’re looking to build.

And now we do a bit of a ninja move, and we jump to a different style of questions that are all about lead quality.

Okay, if someone says they’re after an “economy” build, you know they’re a cheap ass and you can probably exclude them. Or approach them differently.

Most people will choose “Standard”, a small portion of people will choose “Premium”. And again, this feeds into the estimate. And it also lets you know who the hottest leads are and who’s worth your time.

So, they’re kind of tapping away on this. It’s very easy to flow through. But now we’re moved into these qualification questions.

“I’m the authorized owner.”

“Yes, I’m looking to get started. As soon as possible.”

But if they say they’re just gathering info or it’s gonna be 6-12 months before they get started, we push them to another page, which is like, “hey, just looks like you’re gathering info. Here’s some info”

Then we push them into this automated email and text follow up system so we stay front of mind while they get their ducks in a row.

If they choose “as soon as possible” or “3-6 months”, we put them through a calendar – you can use something like Calendly or Schedule Once or we like to use our own customized system here.

Essentially you just send them to your calendar and say “book a consultation”.

So, pretty straightforward, right?

Well the benefit of this Instant Estimate is threefold:

On one hand, it offers prospects a hugely valuable service for free. NONE of your competitors are offering Instant Online Estimates, so it really generates goodwill and positions you as an authority.
Secondly, it gives you super in-depth information so you can instantly tell how qualified a lead is. And this can save you HOURS dealing with tyre kickers or quoting jobs that will never progress to a sale.
And thirdly, most importantly, it increases your conversion rates to 8-12% from Google Ads and cuts your cost per lead drastically.

Check this out…

You might have noticed this whole thing is pretty ugly, right?

The reason for this is pretty funny – we actually tried to make it look pretty but the conversion rate dropped in half. Isn’t that crazy? Ugly actually works better.

And the reason we need conversion rate to be as high as possible is simple:

Remember I said the website will convert it under 3% on a good day?

Well, this is converting between 8 and 12%, consistently… with some longer term clients its sitting at 24%

it changes depending on location and all the rest of it.

But the average is converting at 10%.

And so what that means is, everyone else that’s competing against you, they’re only getting a 3% conversion rate or less.

So, even if you get the same amount of people to click your ads as everyone else, you’re converting 3 times the number of leads.

But the really cool thing is, when you use this system, clicks are a lot cheaper too. Remember how the average in the building industry is $10 per click? Well, the average cost per click for this system is about $3.70.

And that’s because you can say in your ad “get an instant online estimate” which is what people want – so you click through rate goes through the roof…

And Google loves that you’re giving people a solution they want & makes your clicks cheaper – because they want their users to have a good experience and find what they’re after and so they reward you for providing it.

So, suddenly you are no longer competing on economics because, while your competitors are paying ~$500 per lead… you’re only paying about $25-$50! The cost is 10-20 times smaller for you than it is for all your competitors.

In other words, you have an economic advantage and you can afford to spend more on Google than your competitors and flood the local area so you turn up every time someone searches for a builder!

Cool. So let’s quickly finish this off.

And it’s all thanks to this Instant Estimate system.

And all this is validated on the way through so you know that it’s accurate information.

So, when they hit “submit” there’s a three second delay in here because there’s obviously a lot of math in the background that it’s got to go through.

And then it takes them through the next page.

And we say:

“Congratulations on taking the first step”. blah, blah, blah.

“Based on that, we’ve estimated your project to be around about this.

But, as there’s so many variables, just remember, this is just an estimate and should be finalized.

The best way to do that is to get professional advice.

And so we can get a plan together. Blah, blah blah. You can book a consultation on the right hand side here. Right. Choose a time that works.”

See how powerful that is?

When you’re positioning people this way, they feel like they’ve been understood. They feel like they’re getting personalised information – because they are.

And they go, “oh great. This guy gets me and I have an understanding of what this is going to cost with this builder, so yeah, I’ll have a chat”.

If it’s way over their budget, no skin off your nose, they’ll just say “oh, that’s too much”.

And you’ll know it’s not a good fit. And that’s not to say that you don’t want that lead, but it just means that you don’t have to talk to them right now.

You send them to your automated follow up system. And it saves you a heap of time.

Ok, let’s keep moving…

So after the instant estimate, all of those people come into your private system that looks like this…

And then we qualify them based on 5 key criteria. And I like to look at:

Where they’re based – you want them in your area;
When they want to get started – ideally it’s in the next 3-6 months;
What level of build they’re looking for – again, it’s either standard or premium, any “economy” builds can go find someone else;
Of course, that they are the authorised owner of the home they’re looking to build – cause we only want to deal with decision makers.
Lastly, If their budget lines up close to the estimate, or you’ll be stuck with people who can’t afford their own project If they’re good, we drag them into the “Qualified” bucket so we know to call them asap.

And if they’re no good, we either throw them in the bin if out of the area, or after the wrong type of work…

or we send them to the automated nurture system if they ARE a good fit but not ready to get started just yet.

And so, the goal here is to get 2 to 3 good leads out of 10.

And here’s what I mean by “good leads”…

If we jump into one of these people, just top of the list here, you can see everything that they’ve filled out here at a glance.

You’ve got all of their information, what they’re looking for, right. So they’re looking for a single story house, standard quality, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, basement, moderate size.

And we can estimate the number of square meters as well, obviously. And so, sort of shapes that whole picture there.

And you know how to approach them when you speak to them on the phone. So, the last piece to this whole thing is when I mention quality.

When looking through the reporting, I don’t like to obviously look at how many leads and cost per lead. That’s one part of it.

But if you imagine all those guys that were paying $250-500 for a lead. They’re typically getting a name, email, a phone number and details of the project and that’s it.

So, now, with all of those people, they’re judging success based off cost per lead. But when they look at the leads, they don’t know who is qualified or not.

So they might be paying $500 per lead but 9 out of 10 of them are junk. So it’s a false economy.

With this system, we can match that up with the ads manager and we can look through and see we had 28 of these leads that came through here.

Then we can look and go, this one, this one, this one and this one are all marketing qualified.

This one and this one are no good. And it allows you to actually work out how much you’re paying per GOOD lead.

Okay. Let’s just say that this one’s bad as well. We’ve got one, two, four, five, six, seven, ten leads, through. Cost per lead was $31

But when I got rid of the bad ones, our cost per qualified lead was only around $75.

See how that works?

Not only are you getting leads for a fraction of the cost of most builders, but they’re also hugely more qualified… they want bigger jobs… they have more money to spend… they’re ready to get started asap… and they already know, like and trust you to some extent.

So, let me ask you, based on what you’ve seen, do you think you could close 1 out of 10 of these guys that come through? Maybe 1 in 20?

Well, the guys I work with are closing an average of 8-12%. Some are converting up to 24% or leads into signed jobs.

Now, obviously it varies from builder to builder, but on average, if they’re spending $75 per qualified lead and closing 10%, that’s $750 in marketing spend for each new job won.

Then if you consider that the average value of their jobs is in the hundreds of thousands of dollar range – you can see why they’re getting a crazy-good return on their marketing spend.

That’s why we call it the Elite Project Engine! This thing literally lets you turn your advertising spend into jobs and profit in a very short period of time.

And I really want to highlight this section of the system because it really is the secret sauce to this whole strategy.

Once you get that going, you have a huge advantage. You have more cash coming into the business, more stability and you have more time and resources to invest in longer term marketing strategies that will actually build your brand over time.

Then there’s a whole heap of other proven marketing assets you can create.

You can build out this eBook funnel…

Which is designed to capture and convert the “Big Fish” building clients in your area who aren’t ready to build just yet but will be in the next 12 months.

And build out a world class website like this…

So, a good building website showcases your work, answers your customers 5 main concerns – like

This is how you really differentiate yourself and build your brand in the local area.

You can also “strap on” additional traffic sources to drive even more enquiries through this main qualification process. Like these social ads here:

Just to give you an idea, this ad alone drives in excess of $14M worth of inquiries for my clients every month.

And you can build out SEO so you eventually rank in the first page of Google in your local area, and earn a consistent flow of free traffic to your website each month.

Just like Chris who hit this on month 3 and is on track to 1st place in a few months time

So the Elite Project Engine really is designed to keep everything ticking along, and the cash coming into your business and your guys busy on profitable jobs – all while you build out longer term marketing assets to really establish your business.

Like these guys have…

This Elite Project Engine really is the most powerful system I’ve ever come across to generate business for building companies.

And I wish there was more time on this video to talk you through all the nitty gritty details – but, you’re no doubt busy enough without having to worry about marketing.

So, instead of trying to learn this stuff for yourself, how would you like me to just do it all for you?

Right now, I have the capacity for 4 more builders to install this system inside their businesses.

My team and I will do absolutely everything to get this thing running – we’ll do everything to get your Elite Project Engine working quickly and generating leads for your business.

We’ll write all the copy, create your own custom Instant Estimate calculator, set up all the emails and text messages and all the technology to keep track of leads, and we’ll even run all the ads on your behalf.

And then, once that’s working and you have a steady flow of qualified inquiries, we’ll even create for you a world class website, we’ll build out a Facebook funnel and ebook and even work on your SEO so you eventually start ranking on the first page of Google.

And, of course, we’ll set you up with a personal pipeline so you can see where all your leads are right now, how much they are costing and how much they are bringing in, so there’s never any doubt about how your marketing is performing.

In other words, we’ll do absolutely everything you need to generate a consistent flow of quality leads, and a consistent flow of good jobs in the short term AND the long term.

All you need to do is progress the leads through the funnel and deliver the work.

And look, this isn’t just about generating inquiries – because, when you get your marketing dialed in, and you have a consistent flow of jobs, it brings you a whole host of additional benefits that makes running a building company a lot more enjoyable.

You can pick and choose the BEST jobs so you only work on thing in your sweet spot (y’know, those jobs that you enjoy and that provide you with the best profitability).
You can raise your prices and earn more gross profit per job. And that’s because, when you have consistency of lead flow, you can afford for people to say “no” without your guys being left with nothing to do. So you’re not scared to quote prices that would probably seem way too high in the past.
And when you charge higher prices and win bigger jobs, you don’t have to prepare as many quotes. You only need a fraction of the jobs to make the same or more money. And less jobs means less quotes. Which is obviously a big weight off YOUR SHOULDERS
When you have these systems in place, you also talk to far less tire kickers because you can see who is a genuine prospect before you waste time calling them or, worse, traveling across town for a site visit.
And – best of all – when you have consistent lead flow, you have the confidence to invest in the long term growth of your business – y’know, things like hiring new staff, buying new trucks and equipment, investing in software etc. When you know you’re booked solid for months in advance, you’re not living from one job to the next, and these big decisions become a lot easier and a lot less stressful.

So the impacts of this system go FAR beyond just getting more leads. It really gives you control over your entire business.

So, if that sounds good to you…

And if you’re interested in discussing how we can potentially work together, hit the button below and schedule a time to chat.

Again, I want to make it clear, at time of recording this there are only 4 spots left.

That’s not false scarcity or pressure or anything like that. I wish I could work with everyone. But I’m very serious about capping my client number at 25, so I can deliver a premium, hands-on service.

See, here in my invoicing system…

I have 21 current clients working with me right now. So there’s 4 spots left.

So, if you’re interested in working together to install this Elite Project Engine in your business, let me know asap.

You can DM me on Facebook, or fill out the form below this video or send me a carrier pigeon for all I care. I don’t really mind.

Just get in touch in whatever way that makes sense if you think this might be good for your business.

Ok, that’s all from me. I hope you’ve found this video valuable. Feel free to share it with any of your building mates who might find it interesting.

Hit me up if you want to discuss working together or if you have any questions.

Have a great day and I’ll chat to you soon.