Painting in Sacramento, CA
A slow start and a week lost to smoke. Still 11 to 14 leads a month.
A slower start than most, and a smoke week that wiped out a run of exteriors. He still went from almost no leads from the groups to 12 or 13 a month.
Owner-operated painting company, owner and 2 painters. Told by Ryan, owner-operator.
- Leads from the groups
- 66
- over 7 months
- Leads a month, once running
- 12.5
- Cost per lead
- $106
- was $95 from ads
- Close rate
- 30%
- 20 jobs closed
- Closed revenue
- $70k
- $6,979 spent
- Return on spend
- 10x
- revenue ÷ fees
The business
Ryan paints with two employees, mostly interiors, fences and single-story exteriors. He does all the estimates himself after work.
- In business
- 5 years
- Average ticket
- $3,600
- Tracked
- Mar 2025 to Sep 2025
- Service area
- Elk Grove, Roseville, Folsom, Land Park and Natomas
Before
Yelp charged for every lead, including the ones that never answered. Referrals were steady but couldn’t keep three painters busy.
- Where leads came from
- Referrals
- Yelp ads
- Yelp ads
- $1,000 a month
- Typical cost per lead
- $95
What we did
We got Ryan into 142 local groups and posted about 10 times a week across them: tips, offers and finished jobs, with every comment and message answered the same day. A few of the groups:
- Elk Grove Neighbors
- Roseville Community Page
- Folsom Moms
- Land Park Neighbors
What worked for painting
- Tips on stucco and trim paint that hold up in Valley heat.
- Fence staining before-and-afters in early summer, with a quote form in the first comment.
- An intro post from Ryan about doing every estimate himself after work, which got a lot of “finally, a real person” comments.
Results
Leads per month from group threads, Mar 2025 to Sep 2025
| Month | Leads |
|---|---|
| Mar | 2 |
| Apr | 5 |
| May | 9 |
| Jun | 12 |
| Jul | 13 |
| Aug | 11 |
| Sep | 14 |
Below where most companies land by month four. Wildfire smoke in August shut down exterior work for a week and month six dropped to 11.
| Measure | Before | With the groups |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly spend | $1,000 | $997 |
| Cost per lead | $95 | $106 |
| Leads that became jobs | 17% | 30% |
| Cost per closed job | $559 | $349 |
Along the way
- Week 6
First lead: a fence stain in Elk Grove, through the quote form.
- Month 4
Dropped Yelp ads.
- Month 6
Lost a week of exteriors to wildfire smoke.
“Slower start than I hoped, and the smoke week in August killed a whole run of exteriors. Still, I went from zero to twelve or thirteen leads a month without buying a single Yelp click.”
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From the fourth call on a shared lead to the first call.
One company per trade per city
Is your trade still open where you work?
We take one painting company per city, with a 25-mile territory. $997 a month flat, no ad spend, and 15 leads a month by month four, or we work free until you get there.