Plan your lead targets and allocate your marketing budget across channels.
Set your annual goal and average job price to estimate monthly revenue, jobs, and leads needed.
Monthly Revenue Target
£126,250
Monthly Jobs / Service Calls Needed
195
(e.g., out of 10 incoming leads you win 1, that would be 10%)
Leads needed per month to hit target
432
Annual Goal
£1,515,000
Sold Jobs Needed
2,331
Leads Needed
5,180
Book a free marketing audit to see exactly how we'd generate these leads and manage your budget.
Book Free Audit →The Construction Marketing Calculator has two functions: it calculates how many leads you need to achieve your revenue target (Lead Target Calculator), and it helps you plan how to allocate your marketing budget across channels (Budget Planner). Together they let you set realistic lead targets, understand how many enquiries different marketing activities need to produce, and decide where to invest your marketing spend for maximum pipeline impact.
Input your annual revenue target, average contract value, and estimated close rate (the percentage of qualified leads that convert to projects). The calculator divides your revenue target by average contract value to get the number of projects needed, then divides by your close rate to give the lead volume required. This helps you understand whether your marketing activity is generating enough enquiries to hit your revenue goals — and by how much you'd need to scale if you're currently under-generating.
Close rates in construction marketing vary significantly by lead quality and procurement route. Direct referrals and repeat client enquiries close at 60–80%. Qualified inbound enquiries from SEO and Google Ads close at 20–40% for specialist trades. Framework tender invitations close at 10–25% depending on competition level. Cold LinkedIn outreach that converts to a conversation closes at 5–15% for first-time framework appointments. Use the actual close rate for your best lead source to set realistic targets.
For most construction firms starting with a monthly budget of £1,000–£3,000, a balanced allocation is: 40% Google Ads (fast lead generation, immediate feedback), 30% LinkedIn (framework relationship building, procurement authority), 20% SEO/content (long-term organic visibility), 10% website and technical improvements (conversion rate and PQQ credibility). As SEO begins generating organic leads, reallocate the Google Ads proportion toward LinkedIn or additional content investment.
Industry benchmarks suggest 1–5% of target revenue as a marketing budget. For a specialist subcontractor targeting £2M annual turnover, this implies a £20,000–£100,000 annual marketing budget — or £1,700–£8,300 per month. In practice, most construction firms under £5M turnover spend far less than this benchmark, which creates disproportionate opportunity for those willing to invest at the lower end of the range. A £2,000/month budget managed intelligently outperforms £5,000/month managed poorly.
Construction procurement is seasonal: Q1 (Jan–Mar) sees high tender activity as annual budgets are released; Q3 (Jul–Sep) sees reduced procurement activity in public sector due to summer schedules; Q4 (Oct–Dec) has concentrated year-end budget spend and tender decisions. Marketing effort should be front-loaded to Q1 and Q3 to build pipeline before the active procurement windows. Google Ads budgets can be scaled up in high-conversion months and reduced in slower periods.
In construction marketing: a lead is an initial enquiry or conversation with a procurement contact; an opportunity is a qualified lead where a specific project scope and decision timeline has been established; a tender is a formal invitation to submit pricing. Not all leads become opportunities, and not all opportunities result in tender invitations. Tracking conversion rates at each stage (lead to opportunity, opportunity to tender, tender to award) shows where your pipeline is leaking and where marketing investment will have most impact.
Recalculate your marketing targets quarterly — or whenever your average contract value changes significantly, your close rate improves or declines, or you add new service lines or geographies. Marketing lead targets should be reviewed alongside your business pipeline review. If you are consistently winning more work than targeted, you can either reduce marketing spend or raise your revenue target. If you are under-target, the calculator will show exactly how many more leads you need and at what cost.
