Conversations That Convert

Rick Storlie breaks down the website maintenance services checklist most builders skip after launch.

THE PROBLEM:
→ Builders launch a beautiful site, then walk away→ Nobody tells you maintenance doesn’t stop at launch→ The site quietly loses visibility while you’re busy running jobs

THE SPEED CHECKLIST:

1. Sub-three-second mobile load time
2. Page caching for near-instant loads
3. CDN setup (Cloudflare) for geographic speed
4. Compressed images, not raw camera files
5. Alt text on every project photo

KEY INSIGHTS:

• Mobile traffic can make up the majority of builder site visits
• Google and AI search both skip slow, clunky sites
• WordPress plugins can break your site without warning
• Cheap hosting is cheap for a reason
• Zero-click and generative search results both favor faster sites

WHAT WORKS:
✓ Monthly performance reviews✓ Active monitoring + CDN + premium hosting together✓ Catching issues in seconds, not weeks

WHAT DOESN’T:
✗ “Set it and forget it” after launch✗ Uncompressed project photos✗ Unlabeled images with no alt text

FINAL MESSAGE:
You wouldn’t tell a client to ignore their new home for ten years.
Don’t do that to your website either.
Maintain it like it’s still bringing you business, because it is.

Learn more: builderleadconverter.com

Rick Storlie explains why most builder websites are built for the wrong buyer.

THE PROBLEM:
→ Websites are built for buyers ready to talk→ Only 3 in 10 visitors are at that stage→ The other 7 are still researching — and bouncing

THE PARADE OF HOMES LESSON:

1. Model homes drew dozens of visitors who weren’t ready to buy
2. A plan book and plat book gave them a reason to engage
3. Leads jumped from 2-3 a weekend to 10-30

THE RIGHT ORDER:

• Design (where every buyer starts)
• Location (land and lots)
• Pricing (a range is enough)

WHAT WORKS:
✓ Controlled release of information✓ Permission-based opt-ins✓ Automated follow-up by interest

WHAT DOESN’T:
✗ Commercial-intent-only websites✗ No pricing information at all✗ Hoping referrals carry the business

KEY INSIGHT:
For every 10 leads your site should capture, you’re probably getting 3. That’s construction lead generation left on the table.

FINAL MESSAGE:
Design, then location, then price.
Capture the 7 you’re losing.
Build a pipeline you can choose from.

Learn more: builderleadconverter.com

SCALE YOUR CONTRACTING BUSINESS & DOMINATE SALES

Brandon Fuchs of the Elite Builder Society breaks down his system for business coaching for contractors.

WHO HE COACHES:→ Home service business owners→ Remodeling contractors (general-contractor style)→ One-on-one, not group programs

THE DATA-DRIVEN SYSTEM:

1. Record every single coaching call
2. Mine problems, questions, and solutions
3. Feed solutions back into every client’s plan
4. 17 calls in one day = a full day of new data

SIGNS A CLIENT WILL GET RESULTS:
✓ Fearless, shows up every time✓ Humble enough to take direction✓ Asks questions instead of staying quiet✓ Financially and mentally ready to invest

SIGNS A CLIENT WILL FIZZLE OUT:
✗ Finds out they’re the real problem and quits✗ Gets intimidated comparing themselves to others✗ Not ready to invest time or money

THE SALES FRAMEWORK:

• Information position vs. buying position
• Build trust and FOMO before the first call
• Militarize your clientele into referral machines
• 45% top-of-funnel, 45% middle, 10% proof

MARKETING EVOLUTION:
→ Phone book era: $20K-$30K for a four-page spread→ Brandon’s pivot: cut spend, went all-in on social→ Result: cheaper, more trackable, better clients

KEY INSIGHT:
Writing the check is the easy part.Working the follow-up is where the business changes.

FINAL MESSAGE:
Business is hard. Nobody does it alone.Find your coach. Build your system.

DM “COACH” on Instagram: @the_contractorcoach
Learn more: builderleadconverter.com

Three builders reveal exactly how to grow a construction business, with real margins, real numbers, and no fluff.

THE BUILDERS:→ Kelly Anderson, Ironwood Custom Builders (Salt Lake City)→ Jason Radford, Radford Building Company (Durham, NC)→ John Van Laeugen, Joe's Carpentry (Ontario, Canada)→ Russ Stephens, Association of Professional Builders

THE NUMBERS:

1. $67,000/year from paid pre-construction estimating
2. 3% to 9% net margin in 12 months
3. $1.7M to $2.95M in one year
4. 90% of builders miscalculate WIP accounting

KEY TOPICS:

• Charging for pre-construction estimates
• Fixing your Work-in-Progress accounting
• Marketing mix: referrals, PPC, home shows, Google
• Choosing a profitable niche
• Removing yourself as the bottleneck

WHAT WORKED:✓ Charging five figures for pre-construction phases✓ Monthly WIP calculations for real margin visibility✓ Niching down into complex renovations✓ Investing 3-4% of revenue into marketing before scaling

WHAT DIDN'T:✗ Free estimates that drained months of unpaid time✗ Managing the business by bank balance instead of WIP✗ Trying to be everything to every client

FINAL MESSAGE:Growth isn't a leads problem first.It's a pricing and systems problem.Fix those, and the leads convert.

Learn more: builderleadconverter.com

STOP CHASING LEADS

Rick Storlie and Eric Fortenberry (founder & CEO of JobTread) reveal how construction CRM software plus Render's LiDAR scanning tech turns a cold lead into a priced budget in under an hour.

THE PROBLEM:
→ 10 hours per lead to build a scope and budget→ Close 5 of 10 leads? That's 50 hours gone→ A full work week wasted before a contract is signed

THE ECOSYSTEM:

1. Project Qualifier Tool captures scope on your website
2. Homeowner runs a Render LiDAR scan (or skips it)
3. Scan data pushes into JobTread automatically
4. Cost groups auto-calculate a budget range
5. Call gets booked, AI summary texts you first

KEY STATS:

• Render accuracy: within half an inch
• Preliminary budget delivered in under 1 hour
• AI summary sent 3 hours before your call
• Bathroom remodels = #1 searched remodeling term

WHAT WORKED:
✓ Homeowner self-serves the scan, no site visit needed✓ Trade partners can run the scan too✓ Zero double data entry across website, Render, JobTread

WHAT DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE:
✗ Emailing budgets instead of presenting them live✗ Driving out for manual measurements on every lead✗ Competing on referrals alone in a tighter market

THE GUEST:→ Eric Fortenberry, Founder & CEO of JobTread

FINAL MESSAGE:Automate what doesn't need your judgment.Save your judgment for what does.

Learn more: builderleadconverter.com | jobtread.com

Russ Stephens of the Association of Professional Builders breaks down this year's construction industry statistics with Rick.

THE MARGIN NUMBERS:
→ Referral-heavy builders post lower margins, not because of the leads themselves→ Top performers reinvest 3-4% of revenue into marketing→ 25% gross margin needs roughly a 33.3% markup, with a 15% fixed expense ratio→ Owners should target 5% of revenue as market-rate salary

BACKLOG AND STATUS:

1. Healthy backlog = 1-2 years of signed, deposited work
2. A long queue signals status to prospective clients
3. Builders who shorten their queue often lose pricing power

THE VIDEO GAP:

• Half of all builders post zero video content
• Canada: 60% never post video
• New Zealand: under 30% never post
• Talking-head video builds trust faster than any other format

WHERE AI HELPS:✓ Rescheduling trades in real time✓ Catching vendor delivery delays before they cost a day✓ Filling admin gaps around estimating and PM✗ Mass-producing AI video (two-thirds of consumers push back on it)

KEY INSIGHTS:→ 100 cold leads per signed contract is a healthy paid-lead ratio→ The mates rates trap quietly erodes margins on family jobs→ Remodeling scales less predictably than new construction past $10M

FINAL MESSAGE:
The data behind stronger margins already exists.Most builders just aren't using it yet.

Get the free SORCI report: associationofprofessionalbuilders.com

Rick sits down with Muhammad Rohan, BLC's in-house search specialist, to break down generative engine optimization and why AI recommendations now matter as much as Google rankings.

THE BIG SHIFT:
→ Top-of-funnel searches dropped 25% in 4 years→ 75% of AI Overview citations still come from top-12 organic results→ AI now narrows a homeowner's shortlist before they pick up the phone

SEO vs AEO vs GEO vs AIO:

1. SEO → ranking in traditional blue links
2. AEO → winning short, direct-answer spots
3. GEO → getting recommended by name in AI-generated answers
4. AIO → shaping content for how AI processes it overall

KEY FRAMEWORK - E-E-A-T:

• Experience
• Expertise
• Authoritativeness
• Trustworthiness

WHAT HELPS:
✓ One-stop-shop content covering a full topic✓ Clean, consistent data across 65-70 directories✓ Schema markup for faster AI crawling✓ Fast page speed (2-3 seconds)

WHAT HURTS:
✗ Inconsistent business info across the web✗ Overly narrow "long-tail" keyword targeting✗ Slow-loading pages that burn crawl budget✗ Ignoring third-party review sites

TRY THIS - THE "MERE TEST":
Ask ChatGPT or Gemini what your company does. If it's wrong, ask where that answer came from, then go fix it at the source.

FINAL MESSAGE:
AI isn't replacing SEO. It's building on it.Show up in both, or risk disappearing.

Schedule a call: builderleadconverter.com

THE 25% UPSELL: HOW OFFERING HOME IMPROVEMENT FINANCING DRIVES LARGER PROJECTS

Larry Collins of HFS Home Improvement Loans joins Rick to explain why remodelers who offer financing to customers close bigger, more profitable jobs.

THE CORE INSIGHT:→ Homeowners spend about 25% more once they see an affordable monthly payment→ Almost no remodeler asks a lead if they're paying cash or financing→ That one missed question is costing contractors real project size

HOW THE LOAN WORKS:

1. Rates from 7.89% to 13.99%
2. Approval up to $450,000, terms up to 30 years
3. Approved for 20% more than requested
4. Funded in 5 to 7 business days
5. No prepayment penalty, ever

HELOC VS. PERSONAL LOAN:

• HELOC needs 20-30% home equity
• HELOC carries a variable rate
• HFS loans skip the appraisal and lock a fixed rate for 30 years

WHAT WORKED:✓ A financing link in the appointment confirmation email✓ A one-page flyer at the first meeting✓ Soft credit checks that never touch the customer's score

WHAT DOESN'T WORK:✗ Treating financing like a big-box retailer tactic✗ Waiting until the estimate to bring it up for the first time

KEY INSIGHTS:→ Nearly 25,000 contractors nationwide already use HFS→ Design-build clients use financing on purpose, not necessity

FINAL MESSAGE:Stop assuming every lead is paying cash.Offer financing to customers as a standard part of every pitch.Bigger jobs follow.

Learn more: hfsfin.com

YOUR WEBSITE ISN'T DONE JUST BECAUSE IT'S LIVE

Alexandre Godinho (A.G.), BLC's lead website developer for 3 years, walks through what actually goes into a construction website that keeps performing after launch, from first mockup to ongoing maintenance.

SECURITY & BACKUPS:

→ Wordfence firewall on every build

→ SiteGround server-side blocking

→ Daily cloud backups, stored off-host

→ Fast restore if anything ever gets hacked

WHAT GETS TRACKED:

1. Page views

2. Scroll depth (50% and 75%)

3. Form submissions

4. Booked appointments

SCHEMA & LOCAL SEO:

→ Rank Math schema markup

→ FAQ schema for direct Google answers

→ Google Business Profile matched across 70+ citations

WHAT WORKED:

✓ Dynamic linking (URLs can change without breaking buttons)

✓ Pre-launch crawls with Screaming Frog and SEMrush

✓ 90+ PageSpeed score, desktop and mobile

WHAT DIDN'T:

✗ Treating a website like a one-time brochure

✗ Skipping the privacy policy

✗ Letting broken links pile up unnoticed

THE AI LAYER:

→ llm.txt alongside robots.txt

→ E-E-A-T: Expertise, Experience, Authority, Trust

→ Reviewed every 90 days with Microsoft Clarity

FINAL MESSAGE:

A website is a system.

Build it right once. Review it forever.

Then let it keep working for you.

Book a call: builderleadconverter.com

THE AI ADVANTAGE: COLLEGE CITY VS. THE COMPETITION

Jeremy Hussey breaks down how AI in construction search is already sending remodelers real, high-intent leads.

THE WAKE-UP MOMENT:
→ Jeremy's first AI-referred lead: "Wait, what? That's crazy"
→ Rick's data: ~70% of remodeling leads now touch AI search
→ Why an AI recommendation feels like a referral, not an ad

HOW COLLEGE CITY TESTED IT:

1. Rebuilt the website
2. Started AI/SEO visibility work in January
3. Jeremy searched "kitchen remodeler in Lakeville" in Claude
4. Landed near the top, sometimes first

THE GROWTH NUMBERS:

• Best lead month ever: 19-20 website leads
• Over 50% booked a call directly
• ~9 out of 10 booked calls show up

KEY INSIGHTS:

• 1969 roots as P&M Construction in Northfield, MN
• 90-95% design-to-construction conversion rate
• $1,500-2,000 person database, reactivated on a rolling basis
• Six-person local roundtable shows the visibility gap in real time

WHAT'S WORKING:
✓ AI search visibility stacked on top of existing marketing
✓ Sending budget estimates ahead of meetings so homeowners can "marinate"
✓ No change order fees — just standard margin

WHAT DOESN'T:
✗ Relying only on referrals and yard signs as leads dry up
✗ Skipping qualifying calls and hoping site visits sort it out
✗ Letting a job site go unbudgeted past a 10% variance

FINAL MESSAGE:
AI isn't replacing the fundamentals.
It's just changing who gets found first.

Learn more: builderleadconverter.com