Concreting leads: how to get more driveway, slab and decorative concreting work

People search for a concreter by naming the job and the finish, for example "exposed aggregate driveway" or "shed slab", usually followed by their suburb. Google says local results depend on relevance, distance and prominence, and a profile that only says "concreting" is not relevant to most of those searches.

The fastest concreting quote often wins because homeowners book whoever measures up and sends a number while the job is still front of mind. A 2011 Harvard Business Review study of 1.25 million US sales leads found businesses that tried to contact a web lead within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify it as those that waited longer, and the first concreter on site sets the standard every other quote is judged against.

Faster quotes fill the next fortnight of pours, so your crew is not standing around, so you keep your best workers and have steady work all year.

• Reply to every enquiry the same day, even just to book a time to measure.
• Ask for photos of the area and access first, so you can price faster.
• Keep a quote template with your usual inclusions, such as excavation, base, reinforcement and sealing, and chase it using the quote follow up guide.

Concreters sell finishes with photos, because most people cannot picture exposed aggregate or a honed finish from a description. Photograph the same finish wet and dry, since sealed aggregate looks very different after rain, and pair a close up of the stone with a wide shot from the street.

Name the mix or colour and the suburb in each caption, because a buyer who recognises a driveway from their own area trusts it more than any sales line. Keep a phone album sorted by finish, so you can text a homeowner three examples while you are still measuring.

Suburb pages only help when each one describes real work in that area, because Google's spam policies treat near identical location pages as doorway abuse. Google defines doorways as pages "created to rank for specific, similar search queries", including pages aimed at specific cities that funnel visitors to one page, and it counts blocks of text listing suburbs as keyword stuffing.

When I build concreting sites, each finish gets its own page with a real gallery, plus job write ups that mention the suburb naturally. Your Google Business Profile can list up to 20 service areas within about two hours' drive of your base. The guide to ranking on Google Maps covers the rest, and the free Google Maps rank checker shows where you stand.

Builders and landscapers send repeat work to concreters who arrive ready on pour day, finish on time and speak up early when weather changes the plan. A landscaper might need paths and pads on every second job, and a builder's frame, brickies and roofer all hang off your slab date.

• Book the pump and truck early, and confirm both the day before.
• When rain is forecast, text a new plan the night before, not at 6am.
• Send photos of set out and reinforcement before the pour so the supervisor can check remotely.
• Leave the site clean, with washout handled properly.

In NSW, general concreting is a licensed class, so you need a contractor licence to do, advertise or contract for residential concreting over $5,000 in labour and materials. In Queensland, the QBCC requires a licence for building work valued over $3,300. Other states set their own rules, so check with your regulator before you pour across a border.

NSW building ads must also show the licensee name, licence number and a business phone, so put them on the ute, quotes and website footer. Jobs and Skills Australia counts 44,600 concreters employed in 2025, 87% full time, with about 3,200 more each year, so small trust signals help you stand apart.

This week, a concreter should name every finish online, speed up quoting and check in with regular referrers.

1. 1List each finish and job type as a separate service on your Google Business Profile.
2. 2Upload your best ten photos, captioned with the suburb and mix.
3. 3Reply to every new enquiry the same day and book a measure on the call.
4. 4Ring two builders or landscapers you have not heard from lately.
5. 5Replace thin suburb pages with real job write ups, or see web design for concreters if the site needs a rebuild.
6. 6Take the free 15 second lead score quiz to see which fix matters most.