From 1 Van to 4:
How Google Ads Fueled Rapid Growth

See how a Gold Coast electrician built a steady pipeline of qualified leads and scaled their business with a results-driven Google Ads strategy.

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Reporting Period: May 2025 to December 2025
Google Ads

Leads Generated

Est Jobs Booked

.85%

Click-through Rate

Est Revenue

From inconsistent work to a four-van operation.

No pipeline. Good months and quiet ones.

Three years ago EIC Electrical was a one-van operation on the Gold Coast facing the challenge that quietly limits most trade businesses: no consistent pipeline. Good months followed by quiet ones, with no reliable way to predict what the next four weeks would look like.

The work was there. Homeowners and businesses on the Gold Coast were searching for a local electrician every day. But without a structured presence in search results, those searches were going to competitors.

The strategy: capture intent, not just traffic.

The campaign focused on capturing high-intent local queries at the exact moment someone needed an electrician, rather than broad traffic that rarely converts to a booked job.

A Search campaign handled demand capture while a Performance Max campaign, added in August 2025, extended reach across Google's full network at significantly lower cost. The outcome was a steady, predictable lead flow that gave EIC Electrical the confidence to hire, invest in vehicles, and grow.

What the numbers actually mean.

$62.13 CPL, below the $80 benchmark

The electrical and trades CPL benchmark sits at $80 to $200. EIC Electrical consistently acquired qualified leads below the lower end of that range across both campaigns.

74% phone call leads, trades' strongest signal

Nearly three in four enquiries came in as a direct phone call, the highest-intent conversion type for trades, where a customer calling is a customer ready to book.

237 estimated jobs booked

Based on 100% form submission conversion and 80% phone lead conversion, the campaign generated an estimated 237 booked jobs at $72.96 per job acquired.

$33.90 CPL on Performance Max

The PMAX campaign delivered leads at nearly half the Search campaign cost, expanding reach across Google's full network at just $1.08 per click.

11x estimated return on ad spend

Using a conservative $800 midpoint across EIC's $500 to $2,000 job range, the campaign returned an estimated $190,000 from $17,324 in ad spend.

From 1 van to 4 in 3 years

The most meaningful result is not a metric, it is the confidence to hire, invest, and grow. A consistent pipeline gave EIC Electrical the foundation to scale from sole operator to a four-van Gold Coast business.

Every metric benchmarked.

From CPL to CPC, every number sits well below what the trades industry typically pays for equivalent lead quality.

Cost per lead vs. industry benchmark

Industry benchmark (lower end)

$80–$200

EIC Electrical — Search campaign

$65.99

EIC Electrical — Performance Max

$33.90

Cost per click — Search vs. Performance Max

Search campaign CPC

$7.13

Performance Max CPC

$1.08

Lead type breakdown — 279 total leads

Total leads generated

279 leads

Direct phone calls (highest intent)

207 calls

Form submission leads

72 forms

Revenue vs. ad spend

Estimated revenue generated

~$190,000

Total ad spend invested

$17,324

A consistent pipeline changes everything.

The campaign was not dependent on aggressive spending. At $1,350 per month, it averaged 4 new jobs and $95,000 in revenue. Increasing budget is projected to produce proportionally higher results.

1 van

One-man operation

Good months. Quiet months. No way to predict or control what came next.

$30/day

Campaign launched

A Search campaign targeting high-intent Gold Coast electrical queries at exactly the right moment.

279 leads

Consistent pipeline

207 phone calls. 72 forms. A predictable, steady flow of qualified local enquiries every month.

4 vans

A growing business

New hires. New vehicles. A Gold Coast electrical business built on the confidence of a reliable lead pipeline.

Below the floor. Every month.

The Australian electrical and trades CPL benchmark sits at $80 to $200. EIC Electrical came in below the lower end across both campaigns — on a $30 daily budget.

Industry benchmark

$80–$200

Cost per lead — electrical and trades

The accepted range for qualified trades lead generation via Google Ads across Australia, including capital city and regional markets.

EIC Electrical — achieved

$62.13

Blended CPL across both campaigns

With Performance Max delivering leads at $33.90, there is a clear path to bringing the blended CPL even lower as the PMAX campaign scales.

From 1 Van to 4:
How Google Ads Fueled Rapid Growth