Google Ads for painters and decorators: a year-round plan for quotes that turn into jobs

How do painters and decorators get more paying work from Google Ads? Run exterior work in the dry months and interior work through autumn and winter, give wallpaper hanging, spraying and commercial repaints their own campaigns, block paint shop and DIY searches, and track which quote requests actually book. Unavoidable Marketing is a Leeds-based agency that runs Google Ads for UK painters and decorators, from single rooms to kitchen spraying and commercial repaints, and founder Andrew Heppinstall is on every strategy call.

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Last updated: 18 October 2026

Decorating is a quote business, so the ads have to be too

Hardly anyone books a decorator on the first phone call. They ask for a price, wait for two or three more, and pick. That means the real measure of a decorating campaign is not how many people call. It is how many quotes you go out for, and how many of those turn into a start date.

So the whole account is built around getting the right quote requests: people with a real job, in your area, with a rough idea of timing. An enquiry form that asks which rooms, inside or outside, rough size and when they want it done saves you driving across town to price a single box room for someone who is just curious.

The decorator’s year, campaign by campaign

Budget moves between these through the year. Exterior gets most of it from spring, interior takes over once the clocks go back, and spraying and commercial run underneath all year on their own budgets. You never pay to advertise outdoor work in January when you cannot do it.

Wallpaper hanging deserves its own ads

Lots of decorators can hang paper. Fewer are confident with wide-width papers, murals, grasscloth or pattern matching across a feature wall. People searching “wallpaper hanger near me” or “professional wallpaper hanging” have usually already bought the paper and do not want to waste it. They are ready to book, and they care about skill more than price.

A separate wallpaper campaign lets you write ads that speak to that worry: careful pattern matching, lining paper where it is needed, neat joins and corners. Send it to a page with close-up photos of your own paper work.

Spraying: the campaign that changes the average job

Kitchen cabinet spraying and uPVC spraying are a different sale from painting a lounge. The customer is choosing between a respray and replacing the whole kitchen or all the windows, so they are comparing you against a much bigger cost. They want proof the finish will last.

• Show before and after photos of real kitchens and doors you have sprayed
• Explain the prep: degreasing, sanding, masking, primer and topcoat
• Say how long the kitchen is out of action and whether doors come off site
• Talk about colour matching and what the finish is suitable for
• Answer the durability question plainly, without promising what you cannot stand behind

Commercial repaints: different buyers, different ads

A facilities manager or a letting agent is not searching the way a homeowner does. They want someone who can work out of hours, carries the right insurance, keeps the place tidy and can do several units on one schedule. Mixing that with homeowner ads muddles both. A separate commercial campaign with its own landing page, mentioning evening and weekend working, method statements and repeat work for landlords, brings in a different type of enquiry, often with repeat work behind it.

Negative keywords for painters and decorators

Decorating has a huge DIY audience and a lot of people shopping for paint. Without negatives a decent share of the budget goes to them.

• Paint shops and products: paint shop, buy paint, paint colours, paint brands, tester pots, paint prices, primer for sale, colour charts
• DIY and how-to: how to paint, how to wallpaper, how to spray, paint sprayer hire, best roller, painting tips, video
• Kit: spray gun, ladders, dust sheets, masking tape, wallpaper paste
• Jobs and training: decorator jobs, painter day rate, decorating course, apprenticeship
• Art and craft: painting classes, canvas, art painting, face painting

We read the search terms every week at the start and add to the list as new waste turns up. Paint brand names in particular attract shoppers, so we block them rather than bid on them.

What to put on the landing page

People judge a decorator on clean lines, sharp cutting in and a tidy house at the end of the day. Show that. Real photos of your own rooms, close shots of skirting and ceiling lines, reviews that mention being clean and on time, and a clear note on how you protect floors and furniture. Add your area by town, how far ahead you are booking, and a short quote form. On mobile, a tap-to-call button and a way to send photos of the room make it easy to price quickly.

Tracking quotes, not just clicks

We track calls and form enquiries from the ads, and set up a simple way for you to mark which quotes were won. That is fed back to Google so it learns which searches lead to booked work. Reports show cost per booked job by campaign, so you can see whether a kitchen spray job costs more to win than a hallway and whether it is worth it.

How we do it

Since 2012 we have worked on 390+ projects, and 92% of our clients come back.