Every builder knows the feeling. The current job is six weeks from handover, the next one hasn’t signed, and the phone that used to ring on its own has gone quiet. Most builders respond in one of two ways: sharpen the pencil on price, or sign up for another lead site. Neither fixes the real problem.
This guide is for owners of residential building and construction businesses who need the next contract. (If you’re a builder looking for a job on someone else’s crew, Seek and Trade Me Jobs are where NZ building companies hire. This one’s about filling your own calendar.)
Our bias, up front: we’re a marketing agency that builds lead generation for trade businesses, including builders. Everything below is checkable, and plenty of it costs nothing but time.
Start with the work you actually want
“More work” is the wrong target. More of the right work is the target: the job type, size, area and client that make you money. Write it down before you touch any marketing:
- Job type: new builds, renovations, extensions, decks, bathrooms, light commercial?
- Size: the smallest job worth your crew’s time, and the biggest you can carry.
- Area: how far you’ll travel before the margin disappears.
- Client: homeowners direct, architects and designers, developers, or main contractors.
Every channel below gets aimed at that list. A builder who wants $400,000 renovations on the North Shore markets differently from one who wants deck and bathroom work across Hawke’s Bay, and a lead that doesn’t fit the list is a cost, not a win.
1. Make referrals and repeat work deliberate
Word of mouth is the best channel in the business and the one builders leave to luck. Three habits turn it into something you can rely on:
- Ask at handover, every time. The day a client walks through a finished job is the happiest they’ll ever be with you. Ask for a Google review on the spot and ask who else they know who’s planning work. Our copy-paste review templates make the first ask painless.
- Use the 12-month check-in. Under the Building Act, a builder must fix defects a homeowner notifies within 12 months of completion. Most builders treat that year as a liability. Treat it as a reason to call: a check-in at 11 months shows care, catches small issues early and is the perfect moment to ask for a referral.
- Keep a past-clients list and use it. Clients who loved their bathroom will do the kitchen next. A short email every few months with a recent project keeps you top of mind for the next job and the next referral.
2. Build relationships with the people who hear about projects first
Homeowners rarely start with a builder. They start with an architect, a designer, a kitchen company or a quantity surveyor, and those people get asked “who would you use?” every week. A builder who’s easy to work with, prices fairly and finishes on time becomes the name they give out.
Practical moves: take a designer through a finished job, send a short project write-up when you complete work on their plans, and make sure your merchant’s trade desk knows what work you’re chasing. Other trades count too: the plumbers, sparkies and roofers on your sites hear about upcoming jobs constantly.
3. Show the credentials clients check
Clients doing a big job research hard, and in New Zealand they have real tools to check you. Make it easy for them:
- Your LBP licence. Restricted building work needs a Licensed Building Practitioner, and homeowners can search the public LBP register to confirm your licence class. Put your LBP number on your website, quotes and Google profile.
- Guarantees. If you’re a member, the Master Build 10-Year Guarantee or the Certified Builders Halo 10-Year Residential Guarantee is a selling point. Say so plainly, and explain what it covers.
- Proper paperwork. For residential work of $30,000 or more (including GST), the law requires a written contract, plus a disclosure statement and checklist before the client signs. Builders who hand these over without being asked look like the professionals they are. Use the same care on your quotes (free template here).
4. Get found on Google, where people look for builders
When someone searches “builder near me” or “renovation builder” plus their suburb, the map pack (the three businesses under the map) takes a big share of the attention. Your Google Business Profile is that listing, and it’s free.
Fill in every field, pick the right categories, add your service areas and upload project photos regularly. Then work on the things that decide the order: reviews, relevance and distance. Our guide to ranking in the map pack covers how to diagnose where you stand in 20 minutes. For builders, steady reviews that mention the type of job (“our extension”, “the new deck”) help both ranking and trust.
5. A website that sells the work for you
For a builder, the project gallery is the sales pitch. Clients spending six figures want to see work like theirs before they ever call. The strongest builder websites have:
- A page for each service you want more of: new builds, renovations, extensions, decks. One page per service gives Google something to rank for each search.
- Project pages, not just a photo grid: suburb, scope, timeframe, a few lines on the challenge, and before and after photos. These pages rank for local searches and answer the “have they done a job like mine?” question.
- Your credentials and guarantee near the top, with your LBP number and memberships.
- An enquiry form that qualifies: ask about the type of job, rough budget, timing and whether plans exist. You’ll spend less time quoting jobs you were never going to win.
- A tap-to-call number and a fast mobile page. Plenty of first visits happen on a phone.
What a site like that should cost is in our website price guide.
6. Google Ads for builders: catch the people searching now
Google Ads puts you at the top of the page for searches like “renovation builder” plus a suburb within days. It suits builders well because the jobs are big: one won job pays for a lot of clicks. Our Google Ads cost guide covers what clicks cost in NZ and how to set a budget.
One warning from our own account. We run ads for builder marketing, and over the six months to October 2026 the keyword “find building work” cost us about $140 for 18 clicks and not one enquiry. The search terms across our trade keywords told the story: “builders wanted”, “building job near me”, “plumber job”. People searching for work are mostly looking for a job, not customers.
Your own ads have the same trap in reverse. Searches for “builder jobs”, “building apprenticeship” or “builders wanted” will happily eat your budget. Add negative keywords from day one (jobs, “builder job”, hiring, wanted, apprentice, apprenticeship, salary, course) and check the search terms report every week for the first month.
7. Facebook and Instagram for renovation demand
People planning a renovation spend months scrolling before they call anyone. That makes Facebook and Instagram a strong second channel for builders: before and after photos, short progress videos from site and finished-job walk-throughs build familiarity long before the client is ready. Paid Meta ads push that content to homeowners in your area. Budget matters here: anything under $20 a day rarely reaches enough people often enough to work.
8. Platforms, tenders and subcontract work
These fill gaps. They shouldn’t be the foundation:
- Job marketplaces. Builderscrack is the biggest in NZ. It’s fast, but you pay to compete with other builders for the same job. We’ve done the real maths on Builderscrack and on NoCowboys.
- Government tenders. GETS (the Government Electronic Tenders Service) is free. Register, set notifications for building categories in your region, and you’ll see council and government work as it’s advertised.
- Main contractors. Subcontracting to larger builders and construction firms evens out quiet patches. Margins are thinner, but the work is steady and the relationships pay off. If you run a construction company chasing bigger commercial projects, we cover that separately on our construction lead generation page.
Which channels work, and how fast
| Channel | How fast | Cost | You own it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals and past clients | Weeks to months | Time only | Yes |
| Architects, designers, other trades | Months | Time only | Yes |
| Google Business Profile and reviews | 1 to 3 months | Free | Yes |
| Website with project pages | 3 to 6 months for search | Build plus hosting | Yes |
| Google Ads | Days | Clicks plus management | Yes, if the account is in your name |
| Facebook and Instagram | Weeks | $20 a day or more | Yes |
| Builderscrack and similar | Days | Pay per connection | No |
| GETS tenders and subcontracting | Varies | Time to tender | Partly |
The multiplier: follow-up
Building leads take time. A client might get three quotes, sit on them for a month and then ask for changes. The builder who stays in touch through that stretch wins far more of those jobs than the one who sends a quote and waits.
Three habits make the difference:
- Reply to every enquiry fast, even if it’s only to book a site visit. Whoever answers first usually gets the first meeting.
- Chase every quote until it’s a yes or a no. A quote that’s gone quiet isn’t a no. Clients get busy, banks take time, partners disagree.
- Don’t do it by memory. On a busy week, follow-up is the first thing to slip.
That last point is why we build automatic follow-up into the systems we set up for builders: an instant email reply to every website enquiry, then a sequence that keeps chasing until the client books or says no (or, if you prefer, chases for about a week and then sends a polite final email). The quotes you’ve already sent are the cheapest work you’ll ever win.
How to get more building work: FAQ
How do I get clients for my construction company?
Start with what’s free: referrals, past clients and your Google Business Profile. Build relationships with architects and designers, and put your credentials (LBP licence, guarantee, memberships) where clients can see them. Then add Google Ads to catch people searching now, and follow up every quote until you get an answer.
How do I get more building work without paying for leads?
Referrals, repeat clients, your Google Business Profile, reviews and relationships with designers and other trades. None of them cost money, all of them cost consistency. A builder with 40 strong reviews and quick replies can out-earn one with an ad budget.
Is Builderscrack worth it for builders?
It can fill gaps, especially when you’re starting out, but you pay to compete for shared jobs. Work out your cost per won job after a fair sample and compare it with what the same money would do in your own ads. Our Builderscrack breakdown has the full maths.
How much should a builder spend on marketing?
Work backwards from the work you want. Decide how many jobs you need a month, how many enquiries it takes to win one, and what you can afford to pay for each enquiry given your margin on a typical job. That gives you a budget that’s tied to results, not a guess. For reference, our managed Google Ads are a monthly package that covers our management and your ad budget in one price, sized to your area, with a one-off $497 +GST setup.
Why am I getting enquiries but not winning jobs?
Usually it’s one of three things: the enquiries don’t fit the work you want (fix the targeting and the form), the client can’t see enough proof (fix the website and reviews), or the quote went out and nobody followed up (fix the follow-up).
Want this mapped onto your business, your area and the work you want more of? Get a free leads audit: 20 minutes with Ryan or Matt, your actual numbers, no obligation. For more on how we work with builders, see builder lead generation.