Home builders
A new home is a big decision for any family, and buyers rarely choose a builder quickly. They look at homes, compare builders, visit models, read reviews and talk to people who have built before. Marketing for home builders has to support that whole stretch, from the first search to the day they sign, and it has to be careful about what it promises.
Marketing For Construction is an independent referral service, not a marketing agency. When you send the form, your details go to an independent marketing agency that prepares any proposal and does any work for your building company.
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Custom builders and production builders
A custom home builder sells a process and a relationship: designing a house for one family on their land. A production or semi-custom builder sells homes and plans in particular communities. Both need strong websites, but the pages differ. Custom home builder marketing leans on a portfolio of finished homes, a clear explanation of how a build runs from design to move-in, and evidence that you are good to work with for many months. A production builder needs pages for each community, available homes and floor plans, kept accurate as homes sell.
What a home builder website needs
- Finished homes. Your own photos, inside and out, with a short description of each.
- Your process. The steps from first meeting to keys, written honestly, with who does what.
- Plans and communities. Floor plans, available lots or homes and where you build, kept up to date.
- Where you build. The areas you work in, named plainly.
- A simple way to ask. A short form and your contact details on every page.
Each community or plan page should carry real, specific content. Google’s spam policies treat pages targeted at specific cities or regions that funnel users to one page as doorway abuse, so a page for each town with nothing but the name changed does more harm than good. The page on contractor website design covers structure in more detail.
Keep buyers informed while they decide
Because buyers take a long time to choose, a builder’s marketing has to stay useful between the first visit and the contract. Offer a simple way to follow your progress: a list of new plans or homes as they become available, short updates on communities, and photos of homes as they rise. If you send marketing emails, the FTC’s CAN-SPAM guide applies: no misleading subject lines or headers, a clear way to opt out, opt-outs honored within 10 business days, and your valid physical postal address in each message.
After the sale, the same care pays off. A buyer who had a good experience is your best source of the next referral and the most believable review. Stay in touch through the build and after move-in, and ask for an honest review once they have settled.
Fair Housing rules apply to your ads
When you advertise homes for sale, the federal Fair Housing Act advertising rule applies. HUD’s regulation at 24 CFR 100.75 makes it unlawful to make, print or publish any notice, statement or advertisement about the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin. Describe the home and the community, not the people you imagine living there. State and local rules may apply too; for legal questions, ask a lawyer.
Google, reviews and ads
Your Google Business Profile should carry your real business name, your real address and the areas you build in, with your own photos. Google says there is no way to pay for a better local ranking; a complete profile and genuine reviews are what you control. Ask every buyer for an honest review once they have moved in, and offer nothing for it: Google’s Maps policy bans incentives for reviews, and the FTC’s rule bans fake reviews.
Search ads can target the places you build, by city or radius, on a daily budget you set. Send each ad to the matching community or plan page, since Google’s Quality Score includes landing page experience. Read Google Ads for contractors for the details.
Choosing a home builder marketing agency
Ask any home builder marketing agency for examples of previous work, its experience with builders and in your area, how it measures success and whether it shares every change it makes, the questions Google suggests asking. Keep your website, profile and ad accounts in your name. Our guide to choosing a contractor marketing agency has the rest.
Send the form for a home builder marketing proposal from an independent agency.
Questions owners ask
How do home builders market their homes?
With a website built around finished homes, the build process, plans and communities; a complete Google Business Profile; honest reviews from buyers; and search ads aimed at the places they build.
Do Fair Housing rules apply to home builder ads?
Yes. HUD’s rule at 24 CFR 100.75 bans advertisements for the sale of a dwelling that indicate a preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.
Should I make a page for every town I build in?
Only with real, specific content for each. Near-identical city pages are doorway abuse under Google’s spam policies.
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