The Complete Guide to Neighbor Marketing for Home Services

You just wrapped a $12,000 HVAC install. Your van has been parked in the driveway since 7 AM. The compressor is humming, the homeowner is happy, and every neighbor on the block watched your crew work all day.

Most contractors pack up the tools, drive to the next job, and never think about that street again. Your next best customer almost certainly lives within a few hundred feet of the job you just finished. The only question is whether you’re going to do something about it or let a competitor get there first.

Why neighbors convert better than strangers

According to ServiceTitan data, neighborhoods where you’ve already completed a job convert at 2-3x the rate of cold neighborhoods. That gap makes sense when you think about what’s happening psychologically.

Your truck was visible for hours. The neighbors heard the work. They probably asked the homeowner about it later that evening.

BrightLocal’s local trust research found that 72% of consumers say they trust a local business more when they see them actively working in their neighborhood. You’ve already earned credibility on that street before you ever knock on a door.

Proximity also triggers the “me too” response. When a homeowner sees their neighbor get a new roof, a rewired panel, or a tankless water heater, they start running their own mental math.

“Our system is the same age. Maybe we should get a quote before ours fails.” You don’t have to manufacture urgency. The neighbor’s project already created it.

The door hanger play

Door hangers are the simplest, cheapest way to market to neighbors, and they work better than most contractors expect.

Printing costs run $0.15-0.30 per hanger depending on quantity and finish. Your techs can drop 10-20 of them at surrounding houses in under five minutes while packing up the job. That’s $3-6 worth of marketing per job site, delivered while the work is still fresh in everyone’s mind.

Contractors on ContractorTalk consistently report real results from door hangers. In the thread “Marketing to neighbors of your job site,” an excavation contractor described using door hangers with an Uncle Sam “We Want YOU to Know” design, distributing them within a 2-block radius of every active jobsite. He reported getting “a few leads every week” and said the creative design is key - most people throw away generic hangers, but the Uncle Sam image gets people to actually read the message.

In the “Door Hanger Success?” thread, the numbers get even more specific. One contractor did 1,000 door hangers and generated 5 jobs. Another did a 10,000 hanger drop and got about 100 phone calls resulting in 12 jobs. A flooring contractor called door hangers his “best ROI” and broke down the math: at $0.18 per hanger, 1,000 costs $180, and if your average gross margin per job is $1,100, you only need ONE job to see a 6:1 return.

What to put on your door hanger

Skip the generic “Call us for all your HVAC needs” approach. Nobody keeps that.

Lead with proximity: “We just completed a project for your neighbor on [street name].” Then add relevance. If you replaced a 15-year-old furnace, mention that homes built in the same era often have similar equipment nearing end of life. Include a specific offer with a deadline, like a free inspection or $50 off service this month.

Put your tracking phone number in large text. Add your website and a photo of completed work if your design allows it. Hang them on the front door at the 15-20 closest houses, not in mailboxes (USPS rules prohibit non-mail items in mailboxes). Skip rentals and houses that clearly aren’t a fit.

The postcard play

Postcards reach more homes and feel more professional than door hangers. They also have significantly better response rates than digital outreach. DMA data shows direct mail response rates for home services run 2.9-5%, compared to just 0.6% for email. Physical mail gets opened, read, and stuck on counters.

The best option for contractors is USPS Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM). EDDM lets you send postcards to every address on a mail carrier route without buying a mailing list. You pick the routes on the USPS EDDM tool, upload your design, and the post office delivers to every residential address on those routes. Cost is $0.20-0.23 per piece, which includes postage.

How one contractor runs a 3-postcard neighbor system

A window/siding contractor on ContractorTalk described his exact 3-postcard neighbor marketing system. For every job, he identifies about 50 nearby homes that need windows or siding, then does reverse address lookups on whitepages.com to get the homeowner’s name. He sends three postcards timed around each project:

Postcard 1 (before the job starts): “In the near future, your neighbors at [address] will be showcasing a home improvement project…”

Postcard 2 (during the job): “If you haven’t noticed already, we’re currently doing a new project in your neighborhood…”

Postcard 3 (after completion): “Your neighbors returned a favorable review about their new [project]… As a special neighbor, you’ll receive 15% savings…”

After all three postcards are sent, he canvasses the neighborhood in person. The system works because each touchpoint builds on the last - by the time he knocks on a door, the homeowner has already seen his company name three times and watched the work happen.

The ROI on EDDM postcards is backed by real case studies. Tonka Lawns & Landscape mailed 2,500 EDDM postcards at a total cost of $1,220 and landed 3 new clients worth $12,650 in revenue - one $8,000 landscaping job plus two monthly mowing contracts worth $4,650. That’s a 936% ROI from a single mailing.

What to include on your postcard

The most effective postcards include a real project photo (not stock), a proximity reference naming the neighborhood or street, and a time-limited offer. On the back, add your license number, years in business, review count, and tracking phone number.

Mail within 5-7 days of job completion. The work is still visible, neighbor conversations are still happening, and your customer’s enthusiasm is at its peak. Waiting a month kills most of the advantage.

Yard signs and leave-behinds

A yard sign in front of a completed job is passive marketing that works around the clock. Industry estimates from Signpost and others suggest active contractors generate 6-12 leads per month from yard signs across all their active job sites.

Ask for permission before the job starts. Most homeowners say yes, especially if you offer a small incentive like a gift card or discount on future service for keeping it up 2-4 weeks. Make the sign readable from the street with your company name, phone number, and website in large text.

Some contractors use different tracking numbers on yard signs versus door hangers versus postcards. That tells you exactly which tactic is producing calls. More on tracking below.

Your neighbor marketing system in one week

You can have a complete neighbor marketing system running within five business days. Here’s how.

Day 1: Design your door hanger and postcard. Door hanger: one side with your offer and proximity message, back with a seasonal tip. Postcard: front with a project photo template and neighborhood callout, back with your credentials and offer. Use Canva or hire a local designer for $100-200.

Day 2: Get tracking phone numbers. Sign up for CallRail, CallTrackingMetrics, or even Google Voice. Get three numbers: one for door hangers, one for postcards, one for yard signs. For the full attribution setup, see our guide on how to track where your leads come from.

Day 3: Print your first batch. Order 500 door hangers ($75-150) and 200 EDDM postcards. Postcards need to meet USPS size requirements (minimum 6.125” x 11”, maximum 12” x 15”). Most online printers offer EDDM-ready templates.

Day 4: Train your techs. At the end of every job, walk 15-20 houses and hang a door hanger on the front door. Five minutes, no exceptions. Make it part of the job closeout checklist.

Day 5: Set up your postcard mailing process. Go to eddm.usps.com, enter the address of a recent completed job, select the carrier routes covering the surrounding neighborhood, upload your design, and submit. Run this after every job over a certain dollar threshold, or batch mailings weekly.

Tracking what works

If you skip tracking, you’re guessing. And guessing means you’ll eventually stop doing the thing that works because you never proved it worked.

Put a different phone number on each marketing piece. One number for door hangers, one for postcards, one for yard signs. When a call comes in on the door hanger number, you know exactly what produced that lead.

Log every neighbor-sourced lead in your CRM with the channel tagged. After 90 days, you’ll have clear data on which channel converts best in your market, which neighborhoods respond most, and what your actual cost per booked job is from neighbor marketing. That data makes every dollar smarter. Tracking lead sources from click to closed job walks through the full attribution setup.

The math on neighbor marketing

Run the numbers on what consistent neighbor marketing can do for your business.

Say you complete 20 jobs per month. At each job site, your tech drops 15 door hangers (cost: about $3) and you mail 200 postcards to the surrounding area (cost: about $44). Your yard signs are already out at active sites.

If each completed job generates just 0.5 additional jobs from neighbor marketing, that’s 10 extra jobs per month. Your total monthly spend is roughly $60 on door hangers plus $880 on postcards across 20 mailings, so under $1,000 for 10 additional booked jobs. Compare that to paying $150-300 per lead on Google Ads or $200+ per lead from Angi, and the economics aren’t even close.

Even if your numbers are half that, 5 extra jobs per month at under $1,000 is a channel most paid platforms can’t match. And neighbor marketing compounds: every new job in a neighborhood creates another opportunity to market to surrounding homes.

Your van was parked in that driveway all day. The neighbors noticed. Give them a reason to call you before someone else does.

See how Pipeline On helps you identify and reach nearby homeowners