Marketing for remodelers and general contractors

A kitchen or addition is one of the largest checks a homeowner ever writes. The sales cycle is long, the buyer is anxious, and the first thing they do after meeting you is search your name. What they find decides whether you get the second meeting.

A kitchen remodel in Wauwatosa

Take Megan's Remodeling, a small design-build remodeler in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin (a made-up business to show the flow). They are three months into a kitchen and mudroom remodel in a 1950s ranch, with a wall removed and a structural beam added.

At each stage, the project manager sends a job. At demo, two photos: the opened wall and the cleared room. At rough-in, a shot of the framing with the LVL beam and fresh wiring. At cabinets, the first run set. At handover, a before and after from the same doorway.

Each one gets a line: "Wall removed, LVL beam installed, kitchen opened to the dining room, Wauwatosa, week 3 of 11." The posts arrive about a minute later and the owner approves them. Over the project, the page tells a story that a single finished photo cannot.

When the final job goes in, the client receives a review text two days later on Local. By then the punch list is closed and the kitchen is in use. The review names the room and the beam, because the client saw them being built.

Long sales cycles and portfolios

Remodeling marketing is a portfolio problem. A prospect arrives from Google, a neighbor or a yard sign. They scroll your profile and your Facebook page, looking for projects like theirs: same house age, same room, same budget bracket. A page that shows ten different kitchens across three years answers that quickly. A page with two photos from 2022 does not.

Remodelers also sell trust. A homeowner is handing over their kitchen for two months. Reviews that mention communication, cleanup and staying on schedule carry more than reviews that say "great work." You cannot script those, but you can ask at the moment the client is happiest, and a text 24 to 72 hours after handover does that.

The year runs on a longer cycle than most trades. Spring and summer fill with exterior and addition work. Fall is the push to finish before holidays. Winter is the planning season, when people sign for spring starts. Posts from active jobs through winter show you are still working while competitors go dark.

Worth shooting: a before and after from the same doorway, framing before the drywall hides it, a clean tile layout, a finished built-in. Keep the photos free of family pictures, mail and documents on the counter.

For more on collecting reviews at handover, see the reviews guides.