Atlas  /  Property & Construction

Industry profile

Building & Construction marketing benchmarks

Strongest on Brand & Positioning, weakest on Data & Tracking. Building & Construction sits below the national average, and that tension shapes how the whole industry markets.

59
Marketing Score, six dimensions
11th
national percentile
Lower half
of its sector
-5
vs national average

Score signature

Digital62
Acquisition60
Conversion59
Retention56
Brand64
Data51

Bars are this industry. Ticks are the national average.

Biggest strength

Brand & Positioning

64 out of 100. The engine carrying the whole score.

Biggest gap

Data & Tracking

51 out of 100. The dimension dragging the industry down.

Where to start

Retention & Loyalty

The most upside per point of effort: 20% of the score and 6 points below the field.

The map

Where this industry sits

Every dot is an industry we measure. Choose any two dimensions for the axes. Building & Construction is the red mark.

Retention & Loyalty
High Retention / low Acquisition
High Retention / high Acquisition
Low Retention / low Acquisition
Low Retention / high Acquisition
Building & Construction

Acquisition Performance

DevelopingAverageAbove averageHighThis industry

Building & Construction sits below average on Retention & Loyalty and below average on Acquisition Performance. That tension defines the industry.

The spread inside the industry

Weakest · 52Midpoint · 59Strongest · 72

Every number is a Marketing Score out of 100. It rolls six dimensions into one figure, so 52 is a business doing the basics and 72 is one that markets like a business twice its size.

Developing, under 50Average, 50 to 59Above average, 60 to 69High, 70 plus

The distance between the strongest and weakest performer here is wide. A small cluster is genuinely good. A long tail sits well behind. The bar to lead this industry is lower than the reputation suggests. So where would you land?

The breakdown

How far above or below the field

Each row plots this industry against the whole field. The dot is where Building & Construction sits, the line is the national average and the faint marks are every other industry. Tap a row for what the dimension means.

Field lowNational avg 66Field high
74% of the field scores higherTap for what it means
Field lowNational avg 63Field high
76% of the field scores higherTap for what it means
Field lowNational avg 63Field high
79% of the field scores higherTap for what it means
Field lowNational avg 62Field high
81% of the field scores higherTap for what it means
Field lowNational avg 64Field high
50% of the field scores higherTap for what it means
Field lowNational avg 58Field high
83% of the field scores higherTap for what it means

The read

What the numbers say about Building & Construction

On the whole, Building & Construction is one of the weaker industries we measure. It leads on brand & positioning and trails on data & tracking, and the fastest gains sit in retention & loyalty.

What is strong

Brand & Positioning

Sits around the middle of the pack of every industry we measure. This is the engine carrying the score.

What holds it back

Data & Tracking

Sits near the back of the field. The soft spot that drags the whole number down.

Where the upside is

Retention & Loyalty

Carries the most weight in the score and sits below the field. Move this and the whole number moves with it.

A brand & positioning-led industry with a data & tracking problem. The reputation says one thing. The pipeline says another.

81%of industries score higher on Retention & Loyalty, the dimension carrying the most weight in this score. That gap is where the money is, and where most operators are not looking.

Go deeper

Construction marketing is a trust problem disguised as a lead problem+

Most builders think they have a lead generation problem. The data suggests otherwise. The industry scores 59.7 on acquisition, which is not great but not the real bottleneck. The bigger issue is what happens after the lead arrives. Conversion efficiency and retention tell a story about an industry that generates interest but struggles to turn it into committed clients.

Brand and positioning is the highest dimension in the mix, which is unusual for a trades-adjacent category. The explanation: in construction, your brand is your portfolio. Builders with professional websites showcasing completed projects, client testimonials and transparent processes score significantly above the mean. Those relying on word of mouth alone are leaving money on the table.

The data and tracking score of 51.4 explains why so many builders feel like marketing does not work for them. Without attribution, every dollar spent on Google Ads, directory listings or social media feels like a gamble. The builders who install proper tracking discover that their marketing was working all along. They just could not see it.

Digital maturity shows a sector in transition. The larger commercial builders have caught up to professional services standards. The volume residential builders still operate like it is 2015: a Facebook page, a HiPages listing and hope. The gap between these two groups is widening every year.

For builders looking to move the needle, the playbook is not complicated. Fix the plumbing: CRM, call tracking, automated follow-ups on quotes. Then invest in the portfolio: professional photography of completed projects, video walkthroughs, structured case studies. The data shows these two moves separate the top performers from the middle of the pack.

A sector built on winning the quote+

Acquisition and conversion efficiency each carry 25% of the composite. In construction, this makes sense. The sales cycle is long, the average project value is high and the competition for each job is fierce. Marketing exists to get on the shortlist and then convert the site visit into a signed contract.

Retention carries 20%, which is meaningful but secondary. Residential builders get some repeat business through referrals and extensions, but most projects are one-off. Commercial builders rely more on tender relationships than marketing-driven retention.

Brand and positioning at 15% matters more than you might expect. In a category where trust is everything, the builders with strong brand presence on Google, Houzz and industry directories win disproportionate share of enquiries.

The levers that move construction marketing+

Data and tracking is the clearest gap. Most builders cannot tell you which channel generated their last three leads. Installing call tracking, form attribution and a basic CRM would transform visibility into what is actually working.

Conversion efficiency reflects the reality that many builders lose leads between first contact and the quote. Speed matters enormously. Builders who respond to enquiries within two hours close at 3-4x the rate of those who take 48 hours.

Brand and positioning is already the strongest dimension, and the top performers are pulling away through project portfolio websites, video walkthroughs and case studies. In construction, seeing is believing. The builders investing in visual proof of work are winning more quotes at higher margins.

Highlighted terms link through to the marketing dictionary.

Frequently asked

Common questions about Building & Construction

What is a good marketing score for a builder in Australia?+
The industry average composite is 59. A score above 65 would place a building company in the top tier. Brand and positioning is the strongest dimension, while data and tracking is the biggest opportunity area.
How much should a construction company spend on marketing?+
Australian builders typically spend 1-3% of revenue on marketing. For a builder turning over $5M, that is $50,000-$150,000 per year. The benchmark data suggests the highest ROI comes from conversion infrastructure (CRM, call tracking, quote follow-up systems) rather than increasing ad spend.
What marketing works best for builders?+
The data shows brand and positioning is the strongest dimension, driven by project portfolios, testimonials and visual proof of work. For lead generation, Google Ads on location-specific build terms and directory listings on Houzz and HiPages deliver the most consistent returns.
Why do builders struggle with marketing measurement?+
Data and tracking scores just 51, below the all-industry average. The main challenge is attribution: phone calls from Google Ads, referrals from past clients and directory enquiries all look the same without proper tracking. Installing call tracking and a CRM is the single biggest improvement most builders can make.

Keep exploring

Where to go from here

Pull any thread.

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Property & Construction

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