A Melbourne appliance repairer cut cost per lead by 42% and went full time.
The owner was running his own Google Ads while working for another company. We rebuilt the account, and within four weeks he had enough work to leave his job.
Steady, high quality jobs from Google Ads let the owner leave his job by the end of August.
A good tradie, a broken ad account and not enough jobs to make the leap.
A family-owned appliance repair business in Melbourne, fixing washing machines, dishwashers, fridges, freezers, ovens and cooktops, with a $170 flat call-out fee that includes labour on the first visit.
The owner was working for another company while getting his own business off the ground. He needed enough steady work to go full time.
He had been running Google Ads himself: about $500 a month for 25 tracked calls in two months, at $40.26 each. It wasn't enough to make the leap.
Three problems were holding the account back.
The previous campaign had most of its ads rejected by Google and was eventually paused.
Low for a local trade where people need help urgently.
Only calls made straight from the ad were tracked. Website calls and enquiry forms weren't, so Google had little to learn from.
We rebuilt the account on 2 August around how people search when an appliance breaks.
Dishwasher, washing machine, fridge and freezer, oven and cooktop, plus a general group. Every search lands on an ad that names the exact problem.
Exact and phrase match only, including brand searches like Bosch, Miele and Fisher & Paykel dishwasher repairs.
Blocking DIY, parts, retail, job and out-of-area searches, and routing each search to the right ad.
Every ad leads with the $170 flat call-out, same-day service and family ownership, backed by callouts and service links.
Website calls and enquiry forms now count alongside ad calls, so Google bids toward real enquiries.
Weekdays during business hours, with a higher bid on mobile, where most calls start.
Spend tripled. Each lead still cost 42% less.
3 June to 2 August 2026 (before) vs 3 August to 2 October 2026 (after).
| METRIC | BEFORE | AFTER | CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ad spend | $1,006 | $3,266 | +225% |
| Impressions | 2,540 | 6,200 | +144% |
| Clicks | 140 | 652 | +366% |
| Click-through rate | 5.5% | 10.5% | +91% |
| Cost per click | $7.19 | $5.01 | −30% |
| Leads | 25 | 140 | +460% |
| Cost per lead | $40.26 | $23.33 | −42% |
Before the rebuild, only calls from the ad were tracked. After it, website calls and enquiry forms were tracked too, so part of the lead increase reflects better tracking. After the rebuild, leads were 71 phone calls and 69 enquiry forms. Phone calls alone grew from 25 to 71.
From rebuild to full time in four weeks.
- 2 AUGUSTAccount rebuilt
New structure, keywords, ads and tracking go live.
- FIRST 3 WEEKS41 calls
A steady flow of real job enquiries from day one of call tracking.
- END OF AUGUSTOwner goes full time
Enough steady work to leave his job and run the business.
- WEEK OF 28 SEPTEMBERBest week yet
28 tracked calls in a single week.
Real job enquiries, not tyre kickers.
The average answered call ran just over three minutes. 10 August to 2 October 2026.
Every call came from someone who clicked or saw an ad, including missed calls and repeat callers. A call counts as a lead when it lasts over 20 seconds, counting each caller once. Google Ads' call tracking wasn't fully working in the first days after the rebuild and recorded 59, so these figures come from the full call log.
The account now spends its full daily budget. Next, we scale.
Raise spend gradually while cost per lead holds.
Dedicated landing pages to lift the conversion rate further.
Expand the best-performing dishwasher keywords across more brands.
Want results like this?
Talk to Dylan about your Google Ads. Fill in the form and he'll take a look at your account.