Win more of your leads · Every business
How to Get Leads for a Construction or Remodeling Business
With national remodeling spending expected to stay nearly flat into 2027, a remodeler's growth depends less on finding new homeowners and more on winning a larger share of the estimates already on the calendar, then turning each finished job into the next lead.
At a glance
- Remodeling leads are fewer and larger than in most service trades, so a single lost estimate can cost as much as a month of smaller jobs, and the follow-up after an estimate matters as much as the lead itself.
- The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies estimates that owners spent $517 billion a year on improvements and repairs as of mid-2026 and projects $519 billion through mid-2027, with growth slowing to 0.5%.
- In the 2026 Houzz & Home study of more than 20,000 registered Houzz users, 54% of homeowners renovated in 2025, the median spend held at $20,000 and 91% hired professionals.
- In the illustrative example below, raising the share of estimates signed from 25% to 30% is worth about $60,000 a year to a remodeler receiving ten leads a month.
Part 1 | A flat market rewards the contractor who wins more of the leads already coming in
When the Harvard Joint Center's remodeling indicator projects spending of $519 billion through mid-2027 against $517 billion in mid-2026, it is describing a market that is holding steady rather than expanding, so a contractor who grows in that period is mostly taking work that would have gone to someone else. The owner's first instinct in a slow quarter is to look for new homeowners: We need to get our name out there. The numbers point first to the leads already in hand, since each one in this trade can be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
The homeowners are there. In the 2026 Houzz & Home study, 54% of homeowners who use Houzz renovated in 2025, half spent $20,000 or more, and 91% of them hired at least one professional.
The survey draws on Houzz users, who are likely more renovation-minded than the average homeowner, so the shares describe active renovators rather than all households.
Part 2 | The estimate is where a remodeling lead is often won or lost
A remodeling lead passes through more steps than a service call, from first contact to site visit to written estimate to signed contract, and the step after the estimate is the easiest to lose quietly, since nothing on the calendar prompts a call once the paperwork is sent. The research on first contact shows how much timing matters: in a Harvard Business Review audit of 2,241 U.S. companies, 23% never answered a new web inquiry, and firms that followed up within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead as firms that waited an hour longer.
| New leads per month (Assumption) | 10 |
|---|---|
| Share that reach a written estimate (Assumption) | 50% |
| Share of estimates signed today (Assumption) | 25% |
| Average project (Benchmark: median homeowner renovation spend, Houzz 2025) | $20,000 |
| Jobs per year today (Calculated (10 × 50% × 25% × 12)) | 15 |
| Revenue per year today (Calculated (15 × $20,000)) | $300,000 |
| Share of estimates signed with a follow-up routine (Assumption) | 30% |
| Jobs per year with follow-up (Calculated (10 × 50% × 30% × 12)) | 18 |
| Added revenue (Calculated ((18 − 15) × $20,000)) | $60,000 |
Illustrative example; replace every assumption with your own numbers. Profit depends on your margin, which is not modeled here.
An estimate follow-up routine to copy
- Same day: send the written estimate with a short note naming the two or three choices the homeowner has to make, such as materials, start date and scope.
- Day 2: call to walk through the estimate and answer questions, rather than asking whether they have decided.
- Day 7: send photos of a similar finished project and one line from a past client's review.
- Day 14: ask directly whether the timeline, the price or the scope is the sticking point, and offer a phased version if price is the issue.
- Day 30: send a short note with your next open start date, then mark the lead closed or move it to a quarterly check-in list.
Part 3 | Every finished job is a source for the next lead
Some of the steadiest remodeling leads come from work already done: past clients, the neighbors who watched the dumpster come and go, and the trades and professionals who send work to contractors they trust. A study in the Journal of Marketing of about 10,000 bank customers found that customers who arrived through referrals were worth at least 16% more over six years than similar customers who arrived another way, and in a trade where homeowners rely on trust before handing over their house keys, that pattern deserves a written step in every project closeout.
Three sources are worth building on purpose. Past clients and their neighbors can be reached with a yard sign during the job, a short letter to the surrounding homes when it starts and a check-in call a year after completion. Partners, such as real estate agents, interior designers, architects and the electricians, plumbers and HVAC shops who see homeowners first (Exhibit 1), can each send a few projects a year. Public building permit records, available in many cities, show who is pulling permits for additions and major renovations, which is useful for finding partners and for understanding where work is happening.
How you compare
- Market growth: the Harvard Joint Center projects growth in owner remodeling spending of 0.5% by mid-2027, so a contractor whose revenue grows faster than that is winning share.
- Response time: in the HBR audit, 37% of companies answered a new inquiry within an hour. A remodeler who calls back within the hour is ahead of most.
- Your own baseline: from last quarter's leads, count how many reached an estimate and how many estimates were signed; those two rates are the numbers to raise first.
Questions to ask this week
What share of our estimates did we sign last quarter? Divide signed contracts by estimates sent.
How many open estimates have had no contact in two weeks? Each one is a call to make this week.
Which past clients finished a project 12 months ago? A check-in call is a natural moment to ask for a referral.
Which trades and designers sent us work last year? Thank them, and ask what kind of project they would like to send next.
Pull every open estimate from the last 60 days into one list this week and start the follow-up routine on each, then compare your signed share next quarter with this one.
About this research: This article draws on the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies' Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (July 2026 release), the 2026 U.S. Houzz & Home Study as reported in the trade press, a Harvard Business Review audit of 2,241 U.S. companies and a Journal of Marketing study of referral programs. The Houzz survey samples registered Houzz users and may overstate renovation activity relative to all homeowners. The worked example is illustrative.
Sources
- Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Remodeling Spending Poised for Further Slowdown. Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity, July 2026.
- Houzz. 2026 U.S. Houzz & Home Study, as reported in Renovation Activity Holds Steady, Houzz Study Finds. Kitchen & Bath Business, 2026. More than 20,000 U.S. respondents.
- Oldroyd, J. B., McElheran, K. and Elkington, D. The Short Life of Online Sales Leads. Harvard Business Review, March 2011. Audit of 2,241 U.S. companies.
- Schmitt, P., Skiera, B. and Van den Bulte, C. Referral Programs and Customer Value. Journal of Marketing 75(1), 2011. About 10,000 bank customers.
Related reading: How to Find More Leads for a Small Service Business, and Stop Losing the Ones You Already Get · Angi, Thumbtack and Google Leads: What Home Service Pros Should Know Before Paying Per Lead · What a Lead Is Worth: From Inquiry to Booked Job, Step by Step
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