Most paving companies get their first years of work from people who already know them: past customers, neighbors who saw the trucks, property managers who got a straight answer once. That keeps working. What changes as you grow is how much of the work comes from people who've never heard of you, and those people start on Google.
Your Google Business Profile
For local work, the Google Business Profile is the listing that shows up on the map when someone searches "sealcoating near me". It's free, and it's often the first thing a customer sees.
Fill in all of it:
- Business name exactly as it's on your trucks and invoices. Don't stuff keywords into the name. Google treats that as spam.
- Service area instead of a street address if customers don't come to you.
- Phone and hours, and answer the phone during those hours.
- Categories: pick the primary one that fits best, like paving contractor, and add the others you do.
- Services, with a sentence on each.
- Photos of your real work. Before and after pairs of the same lot are the best thing you can post.
Keep your name, phone and address the same everywhere they appear online. Your website, Facebook page, the Better Business Bureau and industry directories should all match your Google profile.
Reviews
Reviews are what a stranger reads before they call. Ask every customer who's happy, every time, while the lot still looks new.
- Ask in person at the walk-through: "If you're happy with it, a Google review would really help us."
- Follow up the same day with a text or email that has the direct review link. Your profile gives you a short link to share.
- Reply to every review, good and bad, like a person. On a bad one, don't argue. Say what you'll do, and take the rest offline.
Don't pay for reviews or offer discounts for them. It's against Google's rules and the FTC's.
Referrals
The customer who just had their driveway done is standing in a neighborhood full of driveways. Make it easy for them:
- Leave door hangers on the neighbors' doors while the crew is there, with the address you just paved.
- Offer past customers something for a referral that becomes a job, like a discount on their next sealcoat.
- Put a yard sign up while the work is fresh, where the homeowner agrees.
Property managers are worth more than any single homeowner, because one of them may handle a dozen lots. After a commercial job goes well, ask directly: "Do you manage other properties that need work?" Then do what you said, when you said, and send a clean invoice. That's most of what property managers want.
A plain website
Your website needs to answer four questions fast, on a phone:
- What do you do? (Paving, sealcoating, striping, concrete)
- Where do you work? (List the towns)
- What does your work look like? (Real photos)
- How do I get a price? (A phone number and a short request form)
A page for each main service and the area you work in helps you show up for "parking lot sealcoating in [town]" searches. It takes months, not weeks, and it keeps working after you stop thinking about it.
Social media for a paving contractor is mostly proof you're real and busy. Post finished jobs regularly. The customer who looks you up before calling back wants to see recent work.
Know what's working
Ask every new caller how they heard about you, and write it down. After a season you'll know whether the door hangers, the Google profile or the property manager referrals are bringing in the jobs, and where to spend next year.
Related articles
- Pricing paving work for profit: start from the margin you need
- Hiring and keeping a paving crew
- Building a paving estimating team: from the owner's estimates to someone else's
Pavr is estimating and job software for paving, sealcoating, striping and concrete contractors. A request form on your own website lands as a request in Pavr. Try it free →