Case Study: Melbourne House Painters

House painting is one of those trades where timing and targeting can make or break your calendar. The weather plays a huge part, and no one wants their exterior halfway painted during a rainy week. We recently worked with a residential painting company in Melbourne to help them take control of their busy season — using Google Ads to generate high-quality leads and fill up their schedule with profitable jobs.

Here’s how we did it.

The Business at a Glance

• Type: Residential and Commercial Painting

• Location: East Melbourne, Victoria (Doncaster)

• Team: 3 painters + 1 admin (bookings, finance & marketing)

• Jobs: 2–5 day projects across Melbourne per week (Monday to Friday)

• Seasonality: Peaks from October to April, slows down in the winter month

Like many painting businesses, they were already relying on word-of-mouth, local Facebook groups, and the odd Google organic search. But their existing campaigns lacked direction — too many small gigs, calls from suburbs they didn’t want to travel to, and ad spend wasted during rainy weeks.

The Challenges

1. Seasonal Demand
   Business slowed significantly during the winter months, and ads were still running when painters couldn’t work due to weather.

2. Wide Service Area
   They were happy to travel up to 30km, but not every suburb was worth the drive — especially for low-budget or one-wall paint jobs.

3. Unqualified Leads
   Past campaigns brought in a lot of inquiries, but only a handful were full-house painting jobs.

4. Limited Budget
   They couldn’t afford to waste ad spend on the wrong audience or during slow months.

Our Google Ads Strategy

1. Geo-Targeting by Job Value

We segmented Melbourne by suburb, focusing on areas with higher-income households and recent renovation activity. That’s where the exterior repaint and full-interior jobs were hiding.

2. Seasonal Budgets & Weather-Aware Ads

• Increased ad spend from October to March — their peak booking period.

• Paused ads entirely during heavy winter months.

• Integrated weather scripts to automatically pause campaigns during rainy days.

3. Call-Only Ads for Fast Conversions

I ran Call-Only ads targeting people ready to book quotes. These ran during business hours (9 am to 5 pm) and only in specific suburbs (5km radius of Doncaster).

4. Landing Page Optimisation

• Updated pages with seasonal urgency ("Only 2 spots left this month!")

• Before/after project galleries

• Customer testimonials and reviews

• FAQs about prep time, insurance, and job duration

5. Keyword Focus

We focused on:

• “House painters near me”

• “Exterior house painting [Suburb]”

• “Interior painter Melbourne”

And we excluded low-value searches like:

• “DIY painting”

• “Paint color ideas”

• “Paint stores near me”

Final Thoughts

For trade businesses like house painters, Google Ads can be a game-changer — if it’s done with precision. Here’s what made the difference:

• Targeting the right areas, not just a wide radius.

• Aligning ad spending with actual working conditions

• Writing ads for action (not research)

• Tracking and refining based on real lead quality

If you run a seasonal service business or you’re just not sure whether your Google Ads are bringing in the right kind of work, it might be time for a strategy check.

Want to know if your ads are helping your business grow?

💡 Book a free ad audit with us at AuditFlow — no fluff, no lock-in, just honest insights.