How should a South African construction company budget for Google Ads?

Choose one type of project before choosing a budget

Then set a test budget you can fund even if it produces no contracts. An affordability calculation helps you set boundaries. It does not prove that Google Ads can generate enquiries within them.

This guide is for construction businesses seeking private residential or commercial enquiries. Public tender opportunities need a separate procurement approach.

A bathroom renovation, an office refurbishment and a major building contract have different values, delivery requirements and buying processes. Combining them under one average project value can produce an unhelpful spending limit.

Choose one service and record:

• The locations you can serve economically.
• The project scope you want to quote.
• The approximate start dates you can accommodate.
• The information needed before arranging a site visit.
• The evidence you can show for that type of work.

Be precise about credentials. The cidb register distinguishes contractors by grading and class of works, and grading affects public-sector tender eligibility. Do not present a particular registration as evidence of unrestricted capability across every project type. Check the applicable requirements separately when pursuing public work.

Sources: cidb: Overview of the Register of Contractors (accessed 13 October 2026)

Calculate a commercial ceiling for acquisition

Start with expected project contribution, rather than the full contract price.

For this planning exercise, contribution means project revenue minus the direct costs of delivering that work. The amount remaining still needs to cover overheads, acquisition costs and profit. Have whoever manages your accounts check which costs belong in the calculation.

Next, choose an acquisition allowance per won project. This is a business decision, not a recommended industry percentage.

Include the costs of attracting and pursuing the work: advertising, management fees and an appropriate allowance for qualification and quoting. Avoid treating the entire allowance as money available for Google Ads.

Hypothetical example: working backwards from one project

All figures below are invented planning assumptions. They are not South African benchmarks, client results or forecasts.

Under these assumptions:

Allowable total cost per qualified enquiry = R4,000 × 25% = R1,000.

Because only half of initial enquiries qualify:

Allowable total cost per initial enquiry = R1,000 × 50% = R500.

That R500 is an all-in planning ceiling. The amount available for advertising alone is lower once the other acquisition costs are accounted for.

Now change one assumption. If only 25% of initial enquiries qualify, the ceiling falls to R250 per initial enquiry, even though project contribution and the qualified-enquiry win rate remain unchanged.

That is why a cheap form submission can be misleading. Its commercial value depends partly on what happens after someone contacts you.

These calculations describe expected averages across multiple opportunities. They do not mean that four qualified enquiries will reliably produce one contract.

Define “qualified” before the campaign starts

Agree a short definition that your office team can apply consistently.

For example, a suitable enquiry might concern work you offer, within your service area, with a plausible scope and a start window you can accommodate.

Record missing information separately from confirmed unsuitability. Someone who has not yet supplied dimensions is different from someone asking for a service you do not provide.

A useful enquiry record includes:

Your quoting capacity sets a second budget limit

Suppose your team can prepare only a limited number of detailed estimates each week. More enquiries could increase delays rather than awarded work.

Before increasing spend, establish who handles the initial conversation, who decides whether a site visit is appropriate and how much quoting capacity is genuinely available.

There is a trade-off. More qualification questions can help your team assess fit, but they also ask prospective customers to do more work. Start with the information needed for the next decision. Detailed specifications can follow once suitability is established.

If existing enquiries are waiting for a response, resolve that backlog before paying to add more.

Turn the test allowance into campaign settings

Keep your advertising allowance separate from management, website and quoting costs.

Google uses an average daily budget for campaigns using that budget type. For most campaigns, its daily spending limit can reach twice that amount, while the monthly limit is generally 30.4 times the average daily budget. It is therefore not a fixed daily spend.

For example, an unchanged R200 average daily budget corresponds to a R6,080 monthly limit for most campaigns. This illustrates Google’s calculation; it is not a recommended starting budget.

If you change budgets during the month, review the budget report and resulting limits rather than assuming the original calculation still applies.

Sources: Google Ads: About average daily budgets (accessed 13 October 2026)

Decide what would justify spending more

Set a financial limit and review points before launching. Use different checks for different decisions:

• Early operational check: Are enquiries reaching the right person and receiving a response?
• Suitability check: Are contacts asking for the project types and locations you selected?
• Commercial check: Once opportunities have had a reasonable chance to progress, what did suitable enquiries and won work cost?

Do not spend a project’s expected profit before you know whether the enquiry fits.

Equally, avoid judging a longer buying process solely by contracts signed during the campaign’s first week. Keep open opportunities visible and agree when their outcomes will be reviewed.

Increase the budget only when the available evidence, cash position and delivery capacity support it. If enquiries are unsuitable, investigate the offer, search intent and qualification process before buying more of the same traffic.