This interview is with Om Yadav, Co-Founder, Yavi Media.
As Co-Founder of Yavi Media, an AI-driven marketing agency for painting and remodeling contractors, how would you describe the expertise you bring to helping home-service businesses grow through paid advertising?
I co-founded Yavi Media to work exclusively with painting and remodeling contractors; we do not work with other trades or split our focus. That narrow specialization is the core of what I bring. I’m not applying a generic playbook borrowed from other industries; I’ve built our entire system—targeting, creative, offer structure, and follow-up—specifically around how homeowners actually search for and hire contractors.
The aspect I’d point to as genuinely differentiating is speed and qualification. Most agencies stop at generating leads. We built an AI system that responds to every inquiry within about one second, qualifies the homeowner conversationally, and books them directly onto the contractor’s calendar, 24 hours a day. In home services, that follow-up gap is where most agencies quietly lose their clients’ money. Closing it has been the single highest-leverage thing we’ve built.
We’ve also invested early in making our own business—and our clients’ visibility—work across AI search, not just traditional Google rankings. We’re independently recommended by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI, and Meta AI. We apply the same thinking to how contractors show up when homeowners start asking AI tools who to hire, rather than typing into a search bar.
Om Yadav, Co-Founder, Yavi Media yavi-media.com
What path led you to co-found Yavi Media and specialize in marketing for painting and remodeling contractors across markets such as the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia?
Yash and I started Yavi Media in 2024 out of Bhopal, India, with genuinely nothing to prove it would work—no clients, no case studies, no track record.
We chose to focus on painting and remodeling contractors because of the exclusivity model; we didn’t want to be another generic agency competing on price across every industry. We wanted to go deep in one niche and actually out-specialize everyone else in it, rather than outspend them.
So we built everything—our targeting, our AI booking system, and our whole approach—specifically around how homeowners hire painters and remodelers, not on a generic template borrowed from other industries. That focus is what let us compete with much bigger, more established agencies—not by doing more things, but by knowing this one thing better than anyone else.
When a remodeling contractor comes to you for leads, how do you decide what role Meta Ads should play versus Google Ads in the initial marketing plan?
The first thing I look at is where the contractor’s demand problem sits. If they’re already getting some inbound interest but it’s inconsistent, Google Ads usually play the bigger initial role because it captures homeowners who are actively searching right now, “kitchen remodeler near me,” people who’ve already decided to act and just need to find the right contractor.
Meta Ads play a different role, and for most new contractor clients it’s about creating demand rather than capturing it. Homeowners aren’t always searching yet. They might be scrolling and see a real transformation photo months before they’d ever type anything into Google. For a contractor with a limited monthly budget just starting out, I usually weigh the initial plan in favor of whichever channel matches their actual project type and price point. High-ticket, considered purchases like full kitchen or bathroom remodels do well on Meta because the sales cycle is long enough for demand-building to actually work. Urgent needs, such as storm damage repair or a leak, tend to favor Google, since the homeowner is already searching the moment the problem appears.
The honest rule I use: Google for capturing existing intent, Meta for building intent before it exists. Most contractors benefit from both eventually, but the initial plan is weighted toward whichever channel matches how urgently their specific service is usually needed.
Om Yadav, Co-Founder, Yavi Media yavi-media.com
What have you learned about matching a remodeling contractor’s offer and messaging to the intent of people searching on Google compared with people discovering the company on Meta?
One of the biggest things I have learned is that Google and Meta require two completely different approaches because the intent of the homeowner is different.
On Google, people are already searching for a solution. For example, someone searching for “kitchen remodeling contractor near me” or “bathroom renovation company in Tampa” already has a project in mind. They are actively looking for a contractor, so the messaging needs to match that intent.
I would use a specific offer, like a free in-home consultation or a free remodeling estimate, and send them to a dedicated landing page that matches exactly what they searched for. If they search for kitchen remodeling, they should see kitchen remodeling — not a generic remodeling company page. The goal is to make it easy for them to trust the contractor and book a consultation.
Meta is different because homeowners are not necessarily looking for a remodeling contractor when they see the ad. They might be scrolling Instagram or Facebook and discover a company for the first time.
So on Meta, I focus more on creating demand and stopping the scroll. The creative needs to show the transformation, highlight a problem the homeowner has, or make them imagine what their home could look like. For example, a before-and-after kitchen renovation, a beautiful finished bathroom, or a message like, “Thinking about remodeling your outdated kitchen?”
The offer and messaging need to be more attention-grabbing and educational, rather than assuming the homeowner is ready to hire someone immediately.
The biggest lesson is that I would not use the same offer, ad copy, or landing page for both platforms. Google captures existing demand, while Meta creates interest and turns that interest into a conversation or consultation.
For a remodeling contractor, the real goal is not just getting leads. It is getting qualified homeowners with a real project, a realistic budget, and a timeline — and ultimately turning those leads into booked consultations and signed jobs.
When launching a new Google Ads campaign for a remodeling business, what is one early setup decision that has had the greatest effect on lead quality?
One early setup decision that has had the greatest effect on lead quality is choosing the right campaign targeting and search keywords based on the remodeling service and a homeowner’s intent.
For example, instead of targeting broad keywords like ‘home improvement’ or ‘remodeling ideas,’ I would focus on high-intent searches such as ‘kitchen remodeling contractor near me’ or ‘bathroom renovation company in Tampa.’
I would also make sure the campaign is targeting the right service area and using negative keywords to filter out irrelevant searches, like DIY tutorials, jobs, or free plans.
The reason this matters is that even if you have a great landing page and a good offer, you can still get low-quality leads if you’re attracting the wrong people from the beginning.
So my approach is to make sure the campaign is reaching homeowners who are actively looking to hire a remodeling contractor, not just people researching ideas.
Based on your experience managing Meta campaigns, how do you recognize creative fatigue before it materially raises a contractor’s cost per lead?
Based on my experience managing Meta campaigns, I assess creative fatigue through a combination of performance metrics and changes in lead quality.
One of the first signs is when frequency starts increasing — the same people are seeing the ad repeatedly — while the click-through rate begins to decline. I also watch cost per click and cost per lead (CPL). If the CPL is gradually increasing and the creative is getting less engagement, that can be a sign that the audience is becoming less responsive.
In addition to those metrics, for remodeling contractors I also monitor whether the leads remain qualified and whether they are booking consultations.
For example, if an ad was generating qualified leads at a good cost but, over time, the CTR drops, frequency increases, and the number of booked consultations declines, I would investigate creative fatigue before the CPL becomes a major problem.
To prevent it, I rotate fresh creatives, test new hooks and before-and-after remodeling visuals, and monitor performance at the ad level. I prefer to refresh creative early rather than wait until the campaign is producing expensive, low-quality leads.
Can you share how you build fresh Meta ad creative around a winning contractor message without disrupting the performance of the existing ad?
Yes. When I have a winning Meta ad for a remodeling contractor, I don’t change the existing ad immediately because it is already generating results. Instead, I treat it as a proven message and build new creative variations around it.
First, I look at what is working in the existing ad. Is it the before-and-after transformation, the offer, the hook, or the way we’re presenting the contractor? I want to understand what is actually driving the results.
Then I create new variations while keeping the core winning message. For example, if the winning message is “Transform your outdated kitchen into a space you’ll love,” I might test a new video showing a different kitchen transformation, a different opening hook, or a more homeowner-focused angle.
I launch these new creatives separately from the existing winning ad so I can compare their performance without unnecessarily disrupting the original campaign.
I also monitor the new creatives based on:
- CTR
- CPL
- lead quality
- booked consultations
If a new creative performs well, I gradually introduce more variations around that message.
The main principle is to protect what is working, test new ideas separately, and scale the winners based on qualified lead and appointment performance — not just cheap leads.
When a remodeling campaign produces leads but the booked-job quality is inconsistent, what do you investigate first to determine whether the issue is targeting, the offer, or lead follow-up?
When a remodeling campaign is generating leads but the booked-job quality is inconsistent, I first look at the entire funnel instead of immediately changing the targeting or increasing the budget.
The first thing I investigate is the quality of the leads coming in. I look at where they are located, what type of remodeling project they need, their budget, and their timeline. If the leads are coming from the wrong locations or don’t have realistic project budgets, the issue may be targeting or the offer.
Next, I look at the offer and messaging. Is the ad attracting homeowners who are actually ready to hire a contractor, or is it attracting people who are just looking for ideas or the cheapest price? Sometimes the offer is too broad and brings in many low-intent leads.
Then I investigate the follow-up process. How quickly are we responding to new leads? Are we asking the right qualification questions? Are we following up consistently? Are qualified homeowners actually getting booked into the contractor’s calendar?
For example, if the campaign generates 50 leads but only 5 book consultations, I would check:
- Whether the leads are qualified
- Whether the contractor contacted them quickly
- Whether the booking process is creating friction
I would also compare lead quality by:
- Ad
- Audience
- Source
My main goal is to find the bottleneck before making changes. Sometimes the campaign is generating good leads, but the contractor is losing opportunities during follow-up. Other times the targeting or offer is bringing in the wrong homeowners from the beginning.
Looking ahead, how do you think remodeling marketers should adapt their Meta and Google campaign strategies as AI-driven search and discovery increasingly influence how homeowners choose contractors?
I think remodeling marketers will need to stop thinking of Meta and Google as completely separate from AI-driven discovery. AI is becoming another layer in the homeowner’s decision-making process.
On Google, I would focus not only on traditional keyword rankings and paid search, but also on making the contractor’s business information extremely clear and consistent across the web. That means strong service pages, detailed project content, reviews, testimonials, and third-party mentions that clearly establish what the contractor does, where they work, and what types of projects they specialize in.
For Meta, I think the opportunity is to build the brand and create the kind of content that gives homeowners a reason to remember and trust the contractor. AI may help someone discover a contractor, but strong visual proof, project transformations, reviews, and consistent messaging can influence whether that homeowner actually chooses them.
I also think the data loop becomes more important. Instead of optimizing campaigns only for leads, marketers should track what happens after the lead — qualified conversations, booked consultations, estimates, and ultimately signed jobs. That first-party conversion data can help us understand which messages and audiences are actually producing revenue.
So my approach would be:
- Use Google to capture high-intent demand.
- Use Meta to create demand and build trust.
- Make the contractor’s overall online presence strong enough that AI systems have clear, credible information to understand and recommend the business.
The biggest shift is that we’re moving from simply optimizing for clicks and leads to optimizing for visibility, trust, and qualified customer acquisition across the entire journey.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Yes. I would just add that I believe the biggest difference between average and great remodeling marketing is what happens beyond the ad.
Getting leads is only the first step. The real goal is to consistently generate qualified homeowners, get them into conversations, book consultations, and ultimately help the contractor turn those opportunities into revenue.
I also believe in testing and learning rather than assuming one strategy will work forever. What works for one remodeling company, market, or service may not work for another, so I like to look at the data, understand the customer, and continuously improve the entire funnel.
Ultimately, I want the contractor to be able to look at the marketing and clearly understand, “This is producing real business for me,” not just, “We’re getting leads.”
That’s the standard I try to work toward.