Lead Generation Program · Build Plan
Program Build Plan · Eleven Contractor Accounts · Three Verticals

The volume targets and the service areas do not agree.

Eleven contractor programs across arboriculture, roofing, remodeling and exteriors, spanning ten metros from the San Francisco Bay to Hartford. Together they ask for 106 leads a day. Measured against the actual housing stock inside the ZIP codes currently being targeted, those footprints support roughly 41 a day.

That gap is not a creative problem or a bidding problem. It is arithmetic, and it is fixable — but it has to be fixed before a dollar is spent, not discovered in month two. This plan sizes every market from census data, prices every lead against what the job is actually worth, and sets out the channel architecture, measurement spine and ninety-day sequence to launch against.

Prepared August 20, 2026 · Pre-engagement · Household data: US Census ACS 2024 5-year
Program demand106 /day3,207 leads a month across eleven accounts
Footprint supports41 /day39% of the ask · 1,260 a month
Owner-occupied homes421,682Total addressable base across all targeted ZIPs
Phase-one media$140,180 /mo10% of the revenue it generates at close
01

Four things decide whether this program works

Everything below follows from these. None of them are creative or media-buying problems, which is why they have to be settled first.

FINDING 0139%

The service areas are too small for the targets

Ten of eleven accounts are asking their ZIP footprint for more leads than the homes inside it can produce. Four roofers are oversubscribed between five and eleven times over. One account — a Boise roofer — would need roughly eleven times its current footprint to hit its number. The fix is geographic expansion, not a better ad.

FINDING 022.5x

Appointments and leads are being used interchangeably

Five accounts are configured for appointments, not leads. At a realistic 40% set rate on an exclusive, fast-followed lead, six appointments a day means fifteen leads a day. Read as leads, those five targets understate the real media requirement by roughly two and a half times.

FINDING 034 of 4

Tree service does not clear its own economics

Every arborist account in the roster has an allowable cost per lead below the benchmark cost of buying one. A $1,200 removal at a 25% close supports about $36 a lead; the market charges $50 to $90. Tree is the biggest volume ask in the program and the thinnest margin. It only works on the cheapest channel and a deliberately higher-ticket job mix.

FINDING 044 accounts

Four accounts cannot learn on their own signal

Meta needs roughly fifty conversions per ad set per week to leave the learning phase. Four accounts sit below that even at their full target. Run standalone, they stay permanently learning-limited and their cost per lead never settles. They have to be pooled into shared vertical campaigns so one pixel learns instead of four starving.

Before anything launches

Verification turned up four issues that are go/no-go rather than optimization items. Renovate Ease shows an inactive Utah contractor license. Energy Busters shows a Connecticut home improvement license expired March 31, 2026 — and is a windows and doors company, not the insulation contractor the brief assumed. Olive Roofing could not be verified to exist at all under that name, principal and location. Limb Walkerz is based in Dayton, roughly seventy-five miles from the Columbus suburbs it is being targeted into.

Sending paid leads to an unlicensed contractor is a liability question before it is a marketing one, and Google's Local Services program will not verify an inactive license regardless.

02

The roster, measured

Every account against the housing stock it is actually targeting. Homes counts owner-occupied one-unit dwellings — the real serviceable base, since a renter in an apartment is not a roofing or tree customer. Per 1,000 is the monthly lead volume each account needs from every thousand of those homes. Band is what a well-run program with full channel coverage can realistically pull from a market of that size.

AccountVerticalStated targetLeads/dayHomesPer 1,000BandFeasibility
California Tree Solutions
Paul Sousa · SF Bay Area, CA
Arborist 25/day leads 25.0 96,513 7.9 1.5–3.5 2.2x · Severe gap
Limb Walkerz Tree Specialists
Scott Holland · Columbus suburbs, OH
Arborist 10/day leads 10.0 46,358 6.6 1.5–3.5 1.9x · Severe gap
Caldwell Tree Care
Wendy Coplen · North metro Atlanta, GA
Arborist 10/day leads 10.0 62,336 4.9 1.5–3.5 1.4x · Stretch
Renovate Ease
Thomas Wright · Northern Utah
Remodeler 7/day leads 7.0 38,921 5.5 0.8–2.0 2.7x · Severe gap
Energy Busters LTD
Mark Herbst · Hartford County, CT
Exteriors 3/day leads 3.0 18,482 4.9 1.0–2.5 2.0x · Severe gap
Ready Roofer
Mark Strodtman · Greeley, CO
Roofer 8/day leads 8.0 17,068 14.2 1.0–2.5 5.7x · Not achievable
Advocate Construction
Kurt Zitzner · Chicago exurbs, IL
Roofer 6/day appt 15.0 33,313 13.7 1.0–2.5 5.5x · Not achievable
Olive Roofing
Mike Jiang · Boise / Garden City, ID
Roofer 5/day appt 12.5 14,029 27.1 1.0–2.5 10.8x · Not achievable
Maze Roofing
Gal Shapira · Broward County, FL
Roofer 3/day appt 7.5 18,800 12.1 1.0–2.5 4.9x · Not achievable
Joe's Expert Tree & Stump
Joseph Richardson · Pinellas County, FL
Arborist 2/day appt 5.0 19,717 7.7 1.5–3.5 2.2x · Severe gap
Frost Roofing & Construction
Brad Frost · Plano / Frisco, TX
Roofer 1/day appt 2.5 56,145 1.4 1.0–2.5 0.5x · Feasible

Household figures are US Census ACS 2024 5-year estimates (tables B25003, B25032). Leads/day converts appointment targets at a 40% set rate. The achievable band is a modeled planning range derived from annual service incidence, the share of that demand that is shopped online, and the share of voice a dominant local advertiser can hold — it is a judgment, not a measurement, and it is deliberately set at the optimistic end.

03

Where the arithmetic breaks: geography

The single largest constraint in the program. To hit the stated numbers, most of these accounts need materially more territory than they are currently pointed at — and four of the targeted ZIP codes contain no housing at all.

AccountHomes heldHomes neededMultipleImplication
Olive Roofing
14,029152,000 10.8xcounty-level coverage required
Ready Roofer
17,06897,280 5.7xcounty-level coverage required
Advocate Construction
33,313182,400 5.5xcounty-level coverage required
Maze Roofing
18,80091,200 4.9xcounty-level coverage required
Renovate Ease
38,921106,400 2.7xadjacent-ZIP expansion required
California Tree Solutions
96,513217,143 2.2xadjacent-ZIP expansion required
Joe's Expert Tree & Stump
19,71743,429 2.2xadjacent-ZIP expansion required
Energy Busters LTD
18,48236,480 2.0xadjacent-ZIP expansion required
Limb Walkerz Tree Specialists
46,35886,857 1.9xadjacent-ZIP expansion required
Caldwell Tree Care
62,33686,857 1.4xadjacent-ZIP expansion required
Frost Roofing & Construction
56,14530,400 0.5xfootprint already sufficient
Four ZIPs with no housing stock

83719 (Olive Roofing), 95001 and 94543 (California Tree Solutions) and 06020 (Energy Busters) have no census-recognised residential population. They are post-office-box or non-residential ZIPs. Targeting them adds zero addressable homes and, on Google's Local Services program, any lead that arrives from outside a properly defined service area is billed and cannot be disputed. They should come out of the targeting before launch.

The counter-case: Frost Roofing

One account runs the other way. Frost Roofing holds 56,145 owner-occupied homes against a one-appointment-a-day target — its footprint supports roughly four and a half leads a day against an ask of two and a half. It is the only account in the roster with genuine headroom, and the obvious place to prove the model quickly before asking anyone to expand a territory.

04

What a lead is allowed to cost

A lead is only worth buying if the job behind it pays for it. Allowable CPL is average ticket × close rate × the share of revenue that trade can spend on marketing. Set against benchmark media cost, it sorts the roster into accounts with real headroom and accounts that lose money on every lead at market rates.

AccountAvg ticketCloseRevenue/leadAllowable CPLBenchmark CPLHeadroom
Renovate Ease
Remodeler
$28,000 20% $5,600 $448 $95–$170 3.38x · Strong
Ready Roofer
Roofer
$11,000 15% $1,650 $165 $70–$140 1.57x · Workable
Olive Roofing
Roofer
$11,000 15% $1,650 $165 $80–$160 1.38x · Workable
Maze Roofing
Roofer
$13,000 15% $1,950 $195 $100–$200 1.30x · Workable
Frost Roofing & Construction
Roofer
$12,000 15% $1,800 $180 $100–$190 1.24x · Tight
Advocate Construction
Roofer
$14,000 15% $2,100 $210 $115–$235 1.20x · Tight
Energy Busters LTD
Exteriors
$9,500 18% $1,710 $154 $110–$200 0.99x · Negative
Caldwell Tree Care
Arborist
$2,200 25% $550 $66 $60–$110 0.78x · Negative
California Tree Solutions
Arborist
$2,800 25% $700 $84 $95–$175 0.62x · Negative
Limb Walkerz Tree Specialists
Arborist
$1,200 25% $300 $36 $50–$90 0.51x · Negative
Joe's Expert Tree & Stump
Arborist
$1,300 25% $325 $39 $60–$110 0.46x · Negative

Marketing allowance: 12% of revenue for tree, 10% roofing, 9% exteriors, 8% remodeling. Benchmark CPL is a blended Local Services / Search / Meta range built from LocaliQ 2025 home-services benchmarks, Camp Digital's LSA spend analysis and WordStream's 2025 Meta benchmarks, then adjusted for regional media cost. Tickets are regionalised rather than national — Bay Area tree work carries a very different ticket to Ohio tree work.

The headroom

Remodeling is the most profitable lead in the program

A $28,000 kitchen at a 20% close returns $5,600 of revenue per lead and supports an allowable cost of $448 against a benchmark near $130. That is 3.4x headroom — the widest in the roster by some distance, and it belongs to the account asking for only seven leads a day.

If there is spare budget anywhere in this program, it earns more here than in any other account. The binding constraint on Renovate Ease is not economics; it is three employees and an inactive license.

The squeeze

Tree service is the volume ask and the thinnest margin

All four arborist accounts show negative headroom at benchmark media cost. This is structural: tree tickets sit between $1,200 and $2,800 while roofing sits at $11,000 and remodeling at $28,000, yet the cost of a click is broadly comparable across all three.

Three levers change this, in order of effect. Push the job mix toward large removals, crane work and permit-driven arborist reports rather than $350 trims. Concentrate on Local Services Ads, the only channel priced anywhere near the allowable figure. And measure on booked jobs rather than form fills so the algorithm stops buying cheap enquiries for work nobody wants.

05

Two operating models, sorted by signal

Conversion-optimized campaigns need roughly fifty conversions per ad set per week to leave the learning phase and settle. Below that threshold the algorithm never gets a stable read and cost per lead stays volatile. That single number decides which accounts can run under their own brand and which have to share.

AccountConversions/week at targetStructureReading
Frost Roofing & Construction
17.5 Pool required Starved as a standalone optimized campaign
Energy Busters LTD
21.0 Pool required Starved as a standalone optimized campaign
Joe's Expert Tree & Stump
35.0 Pool required Starved as a standalone optimized campaign
Renovate Ease
49.0 Pool required Starved as a standalone optimized campaign
Maze Roofing
52.5 Direct-brand Clears the threshold on its own signal
Ready Roofer
56.0 Direct-brand Clears the threshold on its own signal
Limb Walkerz Tree Specialists
70.0 Direct-brand Clears the threshold on its own signal
Caldwell Tree Care
70.0 Direct-brand Clears the threshold on its own signal
Olive Roofing
87.5 Direct-brand Clears the threshold on its own signal
Advocate Construction
105.0 Direct-brand Clears the threshold on its own signal
California Tree Solutions
175.0 Direct-brand Clears the threshold on its own signal
Model A

Direct-brand

The campaign runs under the contractor's own brand, domain, pixel and Local Services account. Leads are exclusive by construction and the contractor owns the asset outright.

Requires enough volume to clear the learning threshold, an active license, and a website that converts rather than merely describes.

  • California Tree Solutions
  • Caldwell Tree Care
  • Advocate Construction
  • Maze Roofing
  • Ready Roofer — once territory is corrected
  • Limb Walkerz — once geography is resolved
Model B

Pooled vertical

One branded intake per vertical per metro, geo-routed, with leads distributed to the contractor covering that area. Signal aggregates into a single pixel so the campaign actually learns, and small accounts get volume they could never buy alone.

The trade-off is real and worth stating plainly: leads are matched rather than exclusive, and that has to be agreed with each contractor up front.

  • Frost Roofing — 17.5 conversions/week
  • Energy Busters — 21/week
  • Joe's Expert Tree — 35/week
  • Renovate Ease — 49/week
06

Channel architecture by vertical

Local Services Ads carry the load wherever a category is eligible — they are the cheapest qualifying channel and they are priced per lead rather than per click. Search buys intent at a premium. Meta buys volume and demand that has not started searching yet. The mix shifts by vertical because intent behaves differently in each.

Arborists

Tightest economics · LSA-led

Tree work splits into emergency and considered. Emergency is search-led and converts on the phone within the hour. Considered work — pruning, defensible space, plant health care — responds to Meta and to seasonal timing. Because allowable cost per lead is low, channel discipline matters more here than anywhere else in the roster.

Local Services Ads

Primary. Eligible nationally under Tree Services. Pay-per-lead, exclusive, and the only channel priced near the allowable figure. Verification runs three to four weeks, so start it first.

$55–95 / lead
Google Search

Emergency and removal intent only. Cap it — at benchmark cost it sits above allowable for every tree account, so it is an overflow channel rather than a base load.

$64–188 / lead
Meta

Storm response, defensible space, and permit assistance. Cheapest raw cost, lowest intent. Only run it with booked-job feedback wired in, or it will buy enquiries nobody wants.

$25–80 / lead

Seasonal shape. Bay Area demand spikes November through March on atmospheric-river storms and again August through October on preventive pruning and wildfire defensible-space work ahead of the rains. Atlanta and Ohio are storm-driven. In California specifically, Palo Alto, Oakland and San Jose all require permits and a written arborist report to remove a protected tree — selling that report is a differentiated, high-margin front door that almost nobody advertises against.

Roofers

Storm-triggered · highest ticket volatility

Roofing has the sharpest demand curve of the three verticals. Baseline replacement demand is modest; a confirmed hail or high-wind event can multiply enquiry volume in a footprint for six to eight weeks. Budgeting a roofer on a flat monthly number wastes money in quiet months and misses the window in loud ones.

Local Services Ads

Primary baseline. Best cost-to-intent ratio in the vertical. Rural and small-metro markets price materially below major metros.

$65–160 / lead
Google Search

Highest intent and highest cost. Non-brand replacement terms plus storm-specific terms released on trigger.

$184–323 / lead
Meta

Neighborhood-level targeting over confirmed damage footprints, layered on canvass routes. The cheapest way to buy a storm surge.

$40–120 / lead
Storm-trigger protocol — the highest-return mechanic in the vertical

Pre-approve a surge reserve per roofing account that releases within 48 hours of a confirmed National Weather Service report of one-inch-plus hail or 60mph-plus wind inside the footprint. Speed is the whole advantage; the contractors who book the neighborhood are the ones already running when the adjusters arrive.

Three roster markets have live windows right now. Columbus took an 82mph derecho on August 11 with confirmed roof damage and an EF-1 tornado. North metro Atlanta logged an event on August 17. Kendall and Will County, Illinois had a trained-spotter report of two-inch hail on July 27 with the warning area covering Plainfield, Oswego and Joliet — directly over Advocate Construction's footprint.

Remodelers and exteriors

Widest margin · longest cycle

A remodel is a considered purchase with a long deliberation window, which inverts the channel logic. Meta leads rather than supports, because the job is to create demand with before-and-after proof rather than intercept it. The wide cost headroom means these accounts can outbid everyone else in the auction and still clear.

Meta

Primary. Visual before-and-after, project-cost guides, financing angles. Expensive per lead and comfortably affordable against a $28,000 ticket.

$100–200 / lead
Google Search

High-intent kitchen, bath and basement terms. Lower click cost than roofing at $5.31 average.

$124–241 / lead
Local Services Ads

Eligible under General Contractor. Cheapest channel; run it as a baseline under the Meta program.

~$72 / lead

Seasonal shape. Northern Utah's exterior season effectively runs May to October; January and February are for interior kitchens, baths and basement finishes. Sell the season you are in. For Connecticut exteriors the hook is the Energize CT rebate, which rose to $2.00 per square foot capped at $10,000 in 2026 — and note the federal 25C credit was terminated for anything placed in service after December 31, 2025 and must not be advertised.

07

The measurement spine

These trades convert on the phone, and the money event happens days after the click. A stack that counts form fills will optimize toward the wrong thing with complete confidence. The point of this layer is to make the algorithm chase booked work rather than cheap enquiries.

Layer one

Capture everything, attributed

  • Dynamic number insertion across every landing surface, so calls carry campaign, ad set and ad
  • Form and call both landing in one CRM record with source stamped
  • Local Services leads reconciled against the same record — the platform bills per lead and disputes have a short window
  • One dashboard per contractor, one roll-up for the program
Layer two

Feed the money event back

  • Offline conversion upload to both Meta and Google on booked appointment and on closed job
  • Optimize on the booked appointment once volume supports it, never on raw form fill
  • Value-based bidding for roofing and remodeling, where ticket varies by an order of magnitude
  • Reconcile platform-reported conversions against the CRM weekly; platforms over-report
Speed to lead is the cheapest performance lever available

The Harvard Business Review and MIT study of 1.25 million leads found firms responding within an hour were seven times more likely to have a qualifying conversation than those waiting one hour longer, and sixty times more likely than those waiting a day. Nothing in the media plan produces a return of that size for that little money.

The standard: automated acknowledgement on receipt, human call and text inside five minutes during business hours, three attempts in the first hour, next-morning escalation for anything after hours. This has to be owned by someone specific — either each contractor or a shared intake desk — and it needs to be agreed before launch, not assumed.

What counts as a billable lead

Billable: inside the agreed footprint, requesting a service the contractor sells, reachable contact details, homeowner rather than renter, not a duplicate inside ninety days.

Not billable: out of area, wrong service, unreachable or false contact details, duplicate, solicitation or spam. Credits claimed within five business days with the call recording or form timestamp attached. Worth mirroring Google's own Local Services policy where possible so the two systems reconcile — noting that Google does not credit out-of-area leads, which is exactly why the footprint exclusions have to be surgical from day one.

08

Account build sheets

Each account against its measured market, its unit economics, its realistic phase-one volume and the specific things that need resolving before it launches.

California Tree Solutions

Paul Sousa · SF Bay Area, CA · Arborist · Named roster

Severe gap
Stated target25/day leads
Implied leads25.0/day
Owner-occupied homes96,513
Median home value$1,250,834
Required per 1,000 homes7.9/mo
Achievable band1.5–3.5/mo
Benchmark CPL$95–$175
Allowable CPL$84
Phase-1 plan11.1/day · 338/mo
Phase-1 media$45,602/mo
Business

Nine-truck fleet, nine drivers (FMCSA). CSLB license 984697 active. San Jose base, likely 10+ years trading.

Channel mix

LSA primary (cheapest qualifying channel) · Search on emergency and removal intent · Meta for defensible-space and post-storm surge

Where the edge is

Palo Alto, Oakland and San Jose all require permits and a written arborist report to remove a protected tree. Selling the report as the front door is a high-margin, low-competition wedge that almost no competitor advertises.

Flags
  • Two targeted ZIPs (95001, 94543) have no housing stock at all
  • Owner-occupancy is 50%, the lowest in the roster — half the household base is renters and out of scope
  • Footprint spans four counties non-contiguously
  • $22,100 OSHA serious violation, 2018
Footprint94303, 94304, 94305, 94306, 94601, 94602, 94603, 95020, 95001, 95003, 95112, 95116, 95117, 95118, 94541, 94542, 94543, 95075, 95127, 95128 no housing stock: 95001, 94543

Limb Walkerz Tree Specialists

Scott Holland · Columbus suburbs, OH · Arborist · Named roster

Severe gap
Stated target10/day leads
Implied leads10.0/day
Owner-occupied homes46,358
Median home value$359,225
Required per 1,000 homes6.6/mo
Achievable band1.5–3.5/mo
Benchmark CPL$50–$90
Allowable CPL$36
Phase-1 plan5.3/day · 162/mo
Phase-1 media$11,358/mo
Business

Sole proprietorship, trading since 2023. BBB A-rated, accredited 2024. Cash and cheque only. Crew of roughly two to four.

Channel mix

Pool into a shared Ohio tree campaign · Search on removal intent · LSA only once license and insurance are evidenced

Where the edge is

Columbus took an 82mph derecho on August 11 with trees and limbs down across the metro. That demand is live right now — but only if this business genuinely services Columbus.

Flags
  • Confirmed base is Dayton/Englewood, roughly 75 miles from the Columbus-suburb ZIPs being targeted
  • A two-to-four person crew cannot service 304 leads a month
  • Cash and cheque only caps average ticket and rules out financed large removals
Footprint43068, 43081, 43082, 43085

Caldwell Tree Care

Wendy Coplen · North metro Atlanta, GA · Arborist · Named roster

Stretch
Stated target10/day leads
Implied leads10.0/day
Owner-occupied homes62,336
Median home value$554,583
Required per 1,000 homes4.9/mo
Achievable band1.5–3.5/mo
Benchmark CPL$60–$110
Allowable CPL$66
Phase-1 plan7.2/day · 218/mo
Phase-1 media$18,545/mo
Business

Founded 1993. Eight employees, roughly $5.3M revenue, TCIA accredited, crane-equipped, with a plant health care line.

Channel mix

LSA primary · Search on removal and storm intent · Meta for storm response and plant-health-care recurring revenue

Where the edge is

The strongest tree fundamentals in the roster and the only tree account within touching distance of its target. Mature hardwood canopy, 60% owner-occupancy, and a recurring plant-health-care line that lifts customer value well beyond a single removal.

Flags
  • Still 1.4x oversubscribed against its ZIP footprint
  • No phone number surfaced on the website — the site is form-first, which will suppress call volume in a phone-led trade
Footprint30097, 30319, 30005, 30096, 30076, 30082

Renovate Ease

Thomas Wright · Northern Utah · Remodeler · Named roster

Severe gap
Stated target7/day leads
Implied leads7.0/day
Owner-occupied homes38,921
Median home value$466,500
Required per 1,000 homes5.5/mo
Achievable band0.8–2.0/mo
Benchmark CPL$95–$170
Allowable CPL$448
Phase-1 plan2.6/day · 78/mo
Phase-1 media$10,314/mo
Business

Founded 2020, three employees, Ogden base. Stated service area is Davis, Weber and Salt Lake counties.

Channel mix

Meta lead ads primary (visual before-and-after, considered purchase) · Search on kitchen and bath intent · LSA under general contractor

Where the edge is

By a wide margin the most profitable lead in the roster. A $28,000 average ticket at a 20% close supports an allowable cost per lead of $448 against a benchmark near $130 — 3.4x headroom. Every incremental dollar earns more here than anywhere else in the program.

Flags
  • Utah license 12505033-5501 listed inactive as of May 2025 — must be resolved before any spend
  • Logan and Tooele are outside the stated service area
  • Three employees against a 213-lead monthly ask is a capacity mismatch regardless of what the market yields
Footprint84041, 84074, 84341, 84321, 84339, 84328

Energy Busters LTD

Mark Herbst · Hartford County, CT · Exteriors · Named roster

Severe gap
Stated target3/day leads
Implied leads3.0/day
Owner-occupied homes18,482
Median home value$336,567
Required per 1,000 homes4.9/mo
Achievable band1.0–2.5/mo
Benchmark CPL$110–$200
Allowable CPL$154
Phase-1 plan1.5/day · 46/mo
Phase-1 media$7,162/mo
Business

Small veteran-owned crew, roughly nine years trading. Alside windows, ProVia doors, CertainTeed roofing and siding.

Channel mix

Search on window replacement intent · Meta with the state rebate as the hook · LSA category availability to be confirmed

Where the edge is

Connecticut's Energize CT rebate rose to $2.00 per square foot in 2026, capped at $10,000. That is a real, current, dollar-denominated hook — and it is the one that should carry the creative.

Flags
  • This is a windows and doors company, not insulation as the brief assumed — the offer and the rebate hook both change
  • Connecticut HIC license HIC.0656456 shows expired March 31, 2026
  • The federal 25C credit was terminated for anything placed in service after 31 December 2025 and must not be advertised
  • ZIP 06020 has no housing stock
  • No confirmed standalone website — currently reliant on directory listings
Footprint06020, 06032, 06095, 06096 no housing stock: 06020

Ready Roofer

Mark Strodtman · Greeley, CO · Roofer · Named roster

Not achievable
Stated target8/day leads
Implied leads8.0/day
Owner-occupied homes17,068
Median home value$432,700
Required per 1,000 homes14.2/mo
Achievable band1.0–2.5/mo
Benchmark CPL$70–$140
Allowable CPL$165
Phase-1 plan1.4/day · 43/mo
Phase-1 media$4,480/mo
Business

Six-state regional company founded 2007, A+ with the BBB. The Strodtman family runs the Colorado territory; Mark is a territory representative rather than an independent owner.

Channel mix

LSA and Search as baseline · storm-triggered Meta and Search surge, May through August

Where the edge is

Weld County is genuinely elite hail territory — 957 recorded hail events since 1996, and 17 hail days in 2025 alone. The surge is the business here; baseline search volume is not.

Flags
  • Targeting a single ZIP. 17,068 owner-occupied homes cannot produce eight leads a day on any sustained basis
  • The company's own site claims Denver, Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, Greeley and Fort Collins — the targeting should match the real territory
  • 2026 hail activity is running well below 2025
Footprint80634

Advocate Construction

Kurt Zitzner · Chicago exurbs, IL · Roofer · Named roster

Not achievable
Stated target6/day appointments
Implied leads15.0/day
Owner-occupied homes33,313
Median home value$313,167
Required per 1,000 homes13.7/mo
Achievable band1.0–2.5/mo
Benchmark CPL$115–$235
Allowable CPL$210
Phase-1 plan2.7/day · 83/mo
Phase-1 media$14,574/mo
Business

$100M+ revenue, 126 employees, founded 2012, ranked #21 in Top 100 Roofing Contractors, operating across seven-plus states. Kurt Zitzner is Chief Operating Officer.

Channel mix

LSA and Search baseline · storm-triggered surge · neighborhood-level Meta layered over canvass routes

Where the edge is

Comfortably the highest delivery capacity in the roster — over 3,000 jobs a year. Whatever volume the market yields, this operation can absorb it. And a trained spotter confirmed two-inch hail near Minooka on July 27, with the warning area covering Plainfield, Oswego and Joliet.

Flags
  • Six appointments a day is fifteen leads a day at a 40% set rate — 5.5x what three ZIPs can support
  • Tightest cost headroom of any roofer here at 1.2x, because Chicago exurb media is expensive; the economics depend on holding the insurance-claim ticket
Footprint60538, 60543, 60586

Olive Roofing

Mike Jiang · Boise / Garden City, ID · Roofer · Named roster

Not achievable
Stated target5/day appointments
Implied leads12.5/day
Owner-occupied homes14,029
Median home value$554,050
Required per 1,000 homes27.1/mo
Achievable band1.0–2.5/mo
Benchmark CPL$80–$160
Allowable CPL$165
Phase-1 plan1.2/day · 35/mo
Phase-1 media$4,209/mo
Business

Could not be verified. No business matching this name, principal and location was found in any public directory, licensing record or web presence.

Channel mix

Hold. No channel plan until the entity is confirmed.

Where the edge is

None until the business is verified. The only Olive Roofing Inc in public records is registered in Washington State under a different principal.

Flags
  • Entity could not be verified — this is a hard stop before any spend
  • ZIP 83719 has no housing stock
  • The remaining two ZIPs hold 14,029 owner-occupied homes, the smallest base in the roster, against the largest relative ask
  • Boise is wind and mixed-storm driven rather than a hail-claim market
Footprint83714, 83716, 83719 no housing stock: 83719

Maze Roofing

Gal Shapira · Broward County, FL · Roofer · Appointment roster

Not achievable
Stated target3/day appointments
Implied leads7.5/day
Owner-occupied homes18,800
Median home value$391,367
Required per 1,000 homes12.1/mo
Achievable band1.0–2.5/mo
Benchmark CPL$100–$200
Allowable CPL$195
Phase-1 plan1.5/day · 47/mo
Phase-1 media$7,050/mo
Business

Broward County roofer. Not independently profiled in this pass.

Channel mix

LSA and Search baseline · Meta on code-compliance and insurance angles

Where the edge is

South Florida replacement demand is code-driven and insurance-driven rather than purely storm-driven, which makes it steadier month to month than a hail market.

Flags
  • Three appointments a day is 7.5 leads a day — 4.9x what three ZIPs support
  • Owner-occupancy is 60%, so a meaningful slice of the household base is out of scope
  • Competitive, high-cost media market
Footprint33068, 33069, 33071

Joe's Expert Tree & Stump

Joseph Richardson · Pinellas County, FL · Arborist · Appointment roster

Severe gap
Stated target2/day appointments
Implied leads5.0/day
Owner-occupied homes19,717
Median home value$352,767
Required per 1,000 homes7.7/mo
Achievable band1.5–3.5/mo
Benchmark CPL$60–$110
Allowable CPL$39
Phase-1 plan2.3/day · 69/mo
Phase-1 media$5,866/mo
Business

Pinellas County tree and stump service. Not independently profiled in this pass.

Channel mix

Pool into a shared Florida tree campaign · Search on removal intent

Where the edge is

Highest owner-occupancy in the roster at 79%, meaning almost the entire household base is addressable. The constraint is ticket, not audience.

Flags
  • The weakest unit economics in the roster — a $1,300 ticket against a $60–110 cost per lead leaves no margin
  • Only viable if the job mix shifts toward removals and away from trims
  • Below the signal threshold; must be pooled
Footprint33708, 33709, 33710

Frost Roofing & Construction

Brad Frost · Plano / Frisco, TX · Roofer · Appointment roster

Feasible
Stated target1/day appointments
Implied leads2.5/day
Owner-occupied homes56,145
Median home value$545,575
Required per 1,000 homes1.4/mo
Achievable band1.0–2.5/mo
Benchmark CPL$100–$190
Allowable CPL$180
Phase-1 plan2.5/day · 76/mo
Phase-1 media$11,020/mo
Business

Plano and Frisco roofer. Not independently profiled in this pass.

Channel mix

Pool into a shared DFW roofing campaign · Search on storm and replacement intent

Where the edge is

The one account in the roster whose footprint comfortably exceeds its ask. 56,145 owner-occupied homes supporting a one-appointment-a-day target — this is the easy win and it has room to grow.

Flags
  • At 17.5 conversions a week it sits well below the learning threshold and cannot run a standalone optimized campaign
  • Ask could be raised materially without touching the footprint
Footprint75024, 75025, 75028, 75035
09

Phase-one budget

Volume capped at what each footprint can genuinely yield rather than what was asked for, priced at the midpoint of the benchmark range. This is the honest version of month one — the larger number only becomes available once territories expand.

AccountAsk/dayPlan/dayLeads/moMedia/moRevenue/moMedia as % rev
California Tree Solutions
Arborist
25.011.1 338$45,602 $236,45719%
Caldwell Tree Care
Arborist
10.07.2 218$18,545 $119,99715%
Advocate Construction
Roofer
15.02.7 83$14,574 $174,8938%
Limb Walkerz Tree Specialists
Arborist
10.05.3 162$11,358 $48,67623%
Frost Roofing & Construction
Roofer
2.52.5 76$11,020 $136,8008%
Renovate Ease
Remodeler
7.02.6 78$10,314 $435,9152%
Energy Busters LTD
Exteriors
3.01.5 46$7,162 $79,0119%
Maze Roofing
Roofer
7.51.5 47$7,050 $91,6508%
Joe's Expert Tree & Stump
Arborist
5.02.3 69$5,866 $22,42826%
Ready Roofer
Roofer
8.01.4 43$4,480 $70,4066%
Olive Roofing
Roofer
12.51.2 35$4,209 $57,8707%
Program total
105.539.3 1,195$140,180 $1,474,10210%

Revenue is modeled as leads × average ticket × close rate, and represents gross revenue generated rather than margin. Media excludes management fees, call tracking, landing page build and Local Services platform onboarding.

Reading the total

At program level, media runs at 10% of the revenue it generates — a healthy number for home services, where 10 to 15% is the normal band. But that average is carried by remodeling at 2% and roofing at 6 to 8%. The tree accounts run 15 to 26%, which is why the vertical needs its ticket mix addressed rather than simply more budget.

Expanding the footprints toward the stated targets roughly triples both the media requirement and the revenue behind it. That decision should be made per account on the strength of the phase-one read, not committed up front.

10

Ninety days

Sequenced so that the long-lead items start immediately and the first launches land where demand already exists rather than where it has to be manufactured.

Days 1–14 · Foundation

Diligence and plumbing

Nothing launches in this window and it is the most important fortnight in the plan.

  • Resolve the two licensing flags and verify the unconfirmed entity — hard gates on those three accounts
  • Reconcile every footprint: strip the four dead ZIPs, correct Limb Walkerz' geography, align Renovate Ease with its real service counties, expand Ready Roofer to its actual Front Range territory
  • Begin Local Services verification for every eligible account — three to four weeks standard, six to eight if flagged, and it is the longest pole in the plan
  • Stand up call tracking, CRM ingest and offline conversion upload
  • Agree the billable-lead definition and the speed-to-lead owner per account
Days 15–45 · First launches

Launch where demand is already live

Five accounts, chosen on live storm demand and unit economics rather than on target size.

  • Advocate Construction — two-inch hail confirmed over the footprint on July 27; highest delivery capacity in the roster
  • Caldwell Tree Care — strongest tree fundamentals, closest tree account to feasible, and an August 17 metro event
  • Limb Walkerz — the August 11 Columbus derecho is live demand, conditional on the geography question resolving
  • Renovate Ease — widest cost headroom in the program, conditional on the license
  • Frost Roofing — the only footprint with genuine headroom; the fastest clean read available
Days 46–75 · Scale the structure

Local Services live, pools open, footprints widen

  • Local Services Ads switch on for verified accounts and take over baseline volume from Search
  • Pooled vertical campaigns launch for the four sub-threshold accounts
  • Agreed footprint expansions go live, sequenced by the expansion table
  • First offline conversion signal reaches both platforms; bidding moves from form fill to booked appointment
Days 76–90 · First real read

Judge on cost per booked appointment

Not on cost per lead, and not before the signal has matured. At this point every account has a defensible number.

  • Rebalance budget toward accounts clearing their allowable cost per lead
  • Set spring storm reserves for the Colorado, Illinois and Ohio roofing accounts
  • Decide, per account, whether to fund the footprint expansion toward the original target
  • Retire anything that has not cleared allowable cost on a matured read
11

What we need to settle

Ten items. The first four are gates; the rest shape the plan but do not block it.

01

Licensing. Current status for Renovate Ease in Utah and Energy Busters in Connecticut. Both currently read as inactive or expired in public records.

02

Olive Roofing. Legal entity name, license number and website. The business could not be verified as described.

03

Limb Walkerz geography. Do they service Columbus, or should the targeting move to the Dayton market where they are actually based?

04

Unit definition. Confirm per account whether the daily number means a lead or a booked appointment. It changes the media requirement by roughly 2.5x.

05

Footprint authority. Who can approve expanding a service area, and are there contractual territory limits we should know about?

06

Real ticket and close rates. This model runs on benchmarks. Actual figures per contractor would sharpen every allowable-cost number in it.

07

Speed-to-lead ownership. Does each contractor answer their own leads, or is there a shared intake desk? This is the largest single performance variable.

08

Exclusivity policy. Pooled campaigns deliver matched rather than exclusive leads. Is that acceptable for the four accounts that need it?

09

Access. Ad accounts, pixels, Google Business Profiles, domains and CRM per contractor — and who owns each asset at the end of the engagement.

10

Capacity ceilings. Several accounts asked for volume their crew size cannot service. What is the real weekly job capacity per contractor?

12

Method and sources

Measured figures and modeled figures are kept separate throughout. Where something is a judgment it is labeled as one.

Measured

  • US Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year — tables B25003 (tenure), B25032 (tenure by units in structure), B25077 (median value), at ZCTA level for all 57 targeted ZIP codes
  • Business verification — company websites, BBB records, state contractor licensing databases, FMCSA fleet records, OSHA enforcement records, LinkedIn
  • Google Local Services Ads policy — Google support documentation, current as of 2026, on category eligibility, verification, service-area targeting, budgeting and lead credits
  • Storm events — National Weather Service event summaries and local reporting for Weld County CO, Kendall and Will County IL, Franklin County OH, north Fulton County GA, Ada County ID, Cache and Davis County UT
  • Energize Connecticut / Eversource — 2026 Home Energy Solutions rebate schedule
  • IRS guidance — Section 25C termination under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, July 2025

Modeled — judgment, not measurement

  • Achievable capture bands — derived from annual service incidence, the share shopped online, and attainable share of voice. Set at the optimistic end deliberately, so the feasibility gaps shown are conservative
  • Average tickets and close rates — regionalised from Remodeling Magazine / JLC Cost vs. Value 2024–2025 and trade benchmarks. Contractor actuals would replace these
  • Blended CPL bands — built from LocaliQ 2025 home-services benchmarks (3,211 campaigns), WordStream 2025 Meta benchmarks (1,180 campaigns), Camp Digital's $44M Local Services spend analysis, and vendor-published per-trade tables. Vendor figures are directional only; they are published by companies selling lead generation
  • 40% lead-to-appointment set rate — mid-range for an exclusive, fast-followed paid lead. Marketplace and shared leads run materially lower
  • Marketing as share of revenue — 12% tree, 10% roofing, 9% exteriors, 8% remodeling