What does a fractional CMO do for home services companies?

A fractional CMO handles your marketing strategy and execution without the full time cost. For home services, John Mueller's version is different from most: the goal is closed jobs and owner hours, not lead volume. He scores the chain from a buyer's first search to the signed contract, fixes the leak that costs most first, and uses closed job data to target the right buyer at the right time.

Why do I get leads that never book?

Most of the time it comes down to three things: your message attracts price shoppers instead of buyers, your speed to lead is too slow, or your follow up drops off after the first call. More leads makes all three worse, because more leads means more hours quoting and fewer hours serving. Fix the chain first and the same budget books more work.

What is the Leak Report?

The Leak Report is a free marketing diagnostic for home services companies. You get a Bucket Score from 0 to 100 across eight weighted categories, your band, and a fix plan ranked by revenue impact. It traces every step from the first click to the booked job and shows what to fix first, ranked by what pays you back fastest.

Local SEO · GEO · AEO

Be the name that comes up.

Your buyer checks the map, then asks ChatGPT. If you're not in both answers, you're not on the list. You never even knew the call happened.

See the proof

Search used to hand people a list. Now it hands them an answer.

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google's AI overviews pick a few names and skip the rest. Most home services and design-build brands are invisible in that answer. Not because they're worse. Because nobody fed the machines the right signals.

The Program

One program. Three fronts.

Local SEO

The map and the local pack.

GEO

AI answers. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini.

AEO

The direct answer, not a list.

Three fronts. One job. Be the name that comes up.

What You Get

The whole program.

A clear read on where you stand today. Across the map and the AI answers. Where you show up, where you don't, where the openings are.

Your site and listings rebuilt to get read and trusted by Google and the AI engines alike.

The right signals, in the right order. This is the part that's mine, refined across client work. The sequence is the edge.

Your name worked into the places buyers look and the places AI pulls from when it picks who to recommend.

Ongoing content and authority so you hold the position and take more ground every month.

A monthly scoreboard. Where you got named, what moved, and what's next. Track it or it didn't happen.

The Proof

Not theory. Not "trust me." Trackable results.

Two real clients. Real numbers verified in GA4 and Google Business Profile. No vanity metrics, no cherry-picked screenshots. This is what happens when you stop guessing and start tracking.

Kitchen and Bath · California

Vault Studio

Named by ChatGPT and Perplexity in under 60 days.

A luxury design house went from invisible in AI answers to recommended. Within 90 days, AI tools sent real, engaged traffic and cited Vault's blog and service pages, not just the homepage. One contact-form start came straight from a Perplexity referral.

Read the full case study

AI referral sessions

in first 90 days

20+ min

Avg. Perplexity session

deeply engaged

Multiple

Pages cited by AI

blog + service pages

Contact-form starts

from Perplexity referral

Roofing and Exteriors · Michigan

West Michigan Roofing & Exteriors

From unranked to top-3 local pack in 75 days.

A regional roofing company couldn't break past page two on Google and wasn't showing up in any AI answer. We rebuilt their Google Business Profile, launched location-specific service pages, and seeded structured FAQ content targeting the questions homeowners actually ask. Within 75 days, they held top-3 in the local pack for their primary keyword and appeared in ChatGPT recommendations for roofers in their market.

Top 3

Local pack ranking

primary keyword

60 days

AI visibility

named in ChatGPT

+340%

GBP profile views

vs. prior 90 days

+62%

Inbound calls

from local search

Who It's For

Kitchen and bath, remodeling, design-build, and home services brands that sell on trust and want to own the answer before a competitor does.

Pricing

Per location. The longer you commit, the lower the rate.

Month to month

$1,500/mo

Per location. No commitment.

Quarterly

$1,200/mo

Per location. Billed every 3 months.

Best rate

Semi-annual

$1,000/mo

Per location. Billed every 6 months.

Per location. Contact for multi-location pricing.

FAQ

Questions

What are GEO and AEO?

GEO is generative engine optimization, getting named in AI answers like ChatGPT and Perplexity. AEO is answer engine optimization, showing up in the direct answer instead of a list of links. Local SEO covers the map and the local pack. I run all three as one program.

How fast does this work?

I got Vault Studio named by ChatGPT and Perplexity in under 60 days. Timelines vary by market and starting point. You get a monthly scoreboard so you can see what's moving.

What am I paying for once I'm already named?

Holding the position and taking more ground. AI answers and local rankings move constantly. Ongoing content, fresh signals, and authority keep you in the answer while competitors try to catch up.

Do you work outside home services?

Home services and design-build is my lane. If you're close to it and sell on trust, book a call and we'll see if it fits.

What happens on the first call?

I show you where you stand across local and AI search today, and where the openings are. Bring your site. No pitch deck.

Get named first. Then make it hard to catch you.

Book a call. Bring your site. I'll show you exactly where you stand across local and AI search today.