Construction Industry Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is one of the most effective ways to measure the ROI of your marketing campaigns. It shows how much your construction business needs to invest, on average, to acquire a new client.
Understanding your CAC helps you evaluate how efficient your marketing efforts are and which channels are performing better or worse. With a clear CAC analysis, you can make smarter decisions about where to invest, identify your strengths and weaknesses in the market, and determine whether your acquisition cost is too high or just right.
The goal is to keep your CAC as low as possible—while still attracting high-quality, long-term clients.
In This Report:
1. How To Calculate Your Customer Acquisition Cost
The simplest way to calculate your CAC:
For example, if you spend $10,000 on marketing in a month and acquire 50 new customers, your CAC is $200.
2. Average CAC in the construction industry
There are two main types of CAC to account for:
Organic CAC: Refers to customers acquired through non-paid channels such as SEO, local search (GEO), content marketing, and email marketing.
Inorganic CAC (or Paid CAC): Refers to customers acquired through paid marketing channels like social media ads or sponsored collaborations with influencers.
| Industry | Organic CAC | Inorganic CAC | Combined Average CAC | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | $212 | $486 | $281 |
For construction companies of any size, being discoverable online is key to attracting the right clients. From local ADU builders to regional contractors, those who invest in visibility—especially through search—consistently see lower acquisition costs and higher-quality leads. |
All amounts are in US dollars. Source: FirstPageSage, 2025.
3. Average CAC by Acquisition Channel
| Channel | CAC | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referral from Existing Clients | $150 | Organic | High-trust, low-cost channel |
| Search Engine Optimization (SEO) | $212 | Organic | Compounding visibility over time |
| Content Marketing | $350 | Organic | Requires upfront content effort. If working with an agency, it can be managed externally. |
| Google Ads & Local Services Ads | $450 | Inorganic | Fast lead gen, but not always the highest quality leads |
| Strategic Partnerships | $650 | Inorganic | High CLV, but slow to build |
| Social Media (Organic & Paid) | $550 | Inorganic | Blended channel; paid drives CAC up |
| Cold Outreach (Email or LinkedIn) | $750 | Inorganic | Low conversion, time-intensive |
We based our estimates on publicly available benchmarks—such as FirstPageSage’s CAC report—and construction industry insights. Each channel was classified as either organic or inorganic, depending on how leads are acquired. CAC values were scaled from reported averages to reflect the relative cost structure, effort, and conversion efficiency of each channel.
4. Next Steps
You’ve probably noticed that organic CAC tends to outperform inorganic CAC—and there are two main reasons for that.
First, while organic channels take longer to deliver results, they lead to more sustainable growth and don’t require constant ad spend to maintain.
Second, organic CAC relies more on skill and strategy than budget. If you work with the right team, your CAC can be significantly lower than competitors who depend heavily on paid channels.
If you’d like to know more about using organic marketing channels to lower your CAC, feel free to get in touch.
