Buildertrend shows your sold jobs. Your ads still can't see them.
You pay for clicks, the website form drops leads into Buildertrend, and months later a client e-signs a proposal in the Client Portal. Google Ads and Meta never hear about that signature, so they keep buying cheap form fills instead of the remodels you sold. We save the ad click with each inquiry, tie it to its Lead Opportunity, and send sold work back, so bidding learns from projects.
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Buildertrend · what breaks
What goes wrong when ads feed Buildertrend
- 01
Google says we got leads, Buildertrend shows something else
The Lead Contact Form is code Buildertrend gives your web designer, and only Buildertrend's Web Services team can restyle it. If it never hands a confirmed submit back to your page, your tags count page loads or nothing at all, and your budget gets steered by numbers that don't match the leads in Buildertrend.
- 02
Every ad lead just says "website"
Buildertrend groups leads by origin, like website, referral or social media, not by campaign. Google Search, Meta and organic visits all look like website leads, so you can't tell which ad dollars produce remodels and which just burn budget.
- 03
Bidding learns from tire-kickers
The ad platforms see a form fill and stop. A small repair inquiry and a custom home build look identical, so smart bidding spends more on whatever fills forms cheapest, not on the jobs worth driving out to bid.
- 04
The sale lands long after the click is gone
Builders often sell weeks or months after the first visit, through a proposal the client e-signs in the Client Portal. If the click ID wasn't saved when the lead was created, nothing links that signature to an ad.
Buildertrend · the fix
What changes once your ads can see Buildertrend
Each Buildertrend lead carries its ad click
Saved the moment the inquiry arrives, on the lead itself where a custom field allows or in a first-party record matched to it, so it survives proposals and the move to a job.
Google and Meta bid on sold projects
Approved proposals and sold leads return as valued conversions, so campaigns chase the bathrooms, additions and pools you close.
Your source report finally means something
Paid Google, paid Meta, Houzz, referrals and organic each get their own source in Lead Status by Source.
Buildertrend · architecture
What Buildertrend actually lets you hook into
This comes from Buildertrend's own help center. Where the docs are silent, it's something we test on your account, not a promise.
- 1
Lead Contact Form
Built under Sales, Lead Opportunities, from standard and custom lead fields, and installed with Buildertrend's Installation Instructions. Each submit creates a lead and alerts sales. We confirm whether a custom field can hold the click ID.
- 2
HubSpot, Salesforce and Pipedrive sync
Marketplace pulls leads from Salesforce and HubSpot by lead status and from Pipedrive by deal stage; HubSpot and Pipedrive then show up as the Lead Source. HubSpot works on its free plan, a cheap place to capture ad data first.
- 3
Custom fields and the source report
Lead custom fields can copy to the job or the customer contact, and the Lead Status by Source report groups leads by origin.
- 4
Proposals and Buildertrend Payments
Clients approve and e-sign proposals in the Client Portal, and a proposal can request a deposit on approval, logged in the Online Payment Report.
- 5
No ad platform connection documented
No Google Ads, GA4, Meta Pixel, Zapier, webhook or public API documentation turned up, so sold work goes back through an upload we set up.
Buildertrend · diagnose
Where Buildertrend tracking breaks, in diagnostic order
Start at the form, because a lead that never registers can't be matched to anything later.
- 01
Count conversions on one test inquiry
One submit should mean one conversion in Google Ads and one in Meta, not zero or three.
- 02
Open the new Lead Opportunity
Check whether the click ID, UTMs and a paid source actually arrived.
- 03
Check how sources get set
Typed by sales staff, picked from a list or set by the sync. Hand-typed sources drift fast.
- 04
Line up sold leads against what the ads claim
Opportunity by opportunity, across a closed quarter, so a slow remodel sale still gets counted.
- 05
Separate new clients from repeat work
Change orders and second projects for existing clients shouldn't count as ad wins.
Buildertrend · prove
How we prove it on your Buildertrend account
Run on a real inquiry through the live form on your website, followed into Buildertrend.
Source of truth
Buildertrend Lead Opportunities (source, sold or lost), approved proposals in Approvals, and the Online Payment Report
- One inquiry from an ad-tagged URL, with the click ID confirmed on the Lead Opportunity.
- Each inquiry shows up once in Meta Events Manager, with browser and server events merged on one event ID.
- One Google Ads conversion per inquiry, with the sold value added later by upload.
- An approved proposal and a deposit traced from the Client Portal to the ad platform.
- Imported and hand-entered leads confirmed absent from acquisition conversions.
- Sold Lead Opportunities matched one by one across a closed quarter.
- Rechecked a month on, and again whenever the contact form or CRM sync changes.
Buildertrend · free audit
What we check in the free audit
- Count conversions on one test inquiry
- Open the new Lead Opportunity
- Check how sources get set
- Line up sold leads against what the ads claim
- Separate new clients from repeat work
Checked against
Buildertrend Lead Opportunities (source, sold or lost), approved proposals in Approvals, and the Online Payment Report
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Buildertrend · when not to buy
When you don't need this on Buildertrend
Plenty of builders using Buildertrend don't need us, and we'll say so on the call.
- If nearly all your work comes from referrals and repeat clients and you don't run paid ads, Buildertrend's own source report is enough.
- If you take a handful of big projects a year and ask every client how they found you, a spreadsheet beats a tracking build.
- If HubSpot already captures your click IDs and you upload sold jobs to Google Ads yourself, you may only need a one-time check.
- If most leads reach you through Houzz or Angi rather than your own website, fix that channel's reporting first.
Buildertrend · what we deliver
The event map on Buildertrend
Website inquiry submitted
Fired once from a confirmed submit, browser and server sharing one event ID, with the click ID and UTMs captured.
Lead Opportunity created
The click ID and paid source written to the Buildertrend lead where the contact form or a documented CRM sync allows, and otherwise kept in a first-party record matched to it.
Qualified: meeting or site visit
Taken from a logged Lead Activity, so ad platforms see who was worth a trip.
Proposal approved and signed
The client's e-signature in the portal, valued at the proposal amount.
Deposit paid or lead sold
A proposal payment through Buildertrend Payments, or the sold status, sent as the money conversion.
Excluded on purpose
Excel imports, hand-entered leads, lost or dead opportunities and add-on work for current clients stay out of acquisition.
FAQ
Buildertrend questions, answered
Not that its help center documents. Its Marketplace covers HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Gusto and The Home Depot, so ad tracking is built around your website form and a conversion upload.
The form comes from Buildertrend's code, not your site editor, so your Google tag may never see a confirmed submit. We test it with a tagged inquiry, then fire from a real submit or put a first-party form in front.
Yes, if the click ID was saved on the lead when it came in. Google Ads offline conversion import matches the sale to the original click, and we set that upload up on a schedule.
Often, yes. Buildertrend documents a HubSpot sync that works on HubSpot's free plan, so a HubSpot form in front gives you a place to capture ad data before the lead reaches Buildertrend. We confirm which fields carry over on your account.
Inquiry tracking is checkable the day it goes live. Sold-job data takes one full sales cycle to fill in, so we judge it on a closed quarter.
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