Between Thanksgiving and New Year, searches for home projects change shape. Some services slow down, others spike, and competitors who pause their ads leave room for those who stay smart.
In this article
What changes in the holidays
From late November to early January, homeowners are busy with family, travel and gifts. Planned projects like kitchen remodels and new decks often get pushed to January. At the same time, some needs get more urgent: the furnace that dies before guests arrive, the frozen pipe, the bathroom that has to be presentable, the lights that need hanging. Your ads should follow that shift instead of running the same way all year.
Which services still sell
- **Emergency and repair:** heating, plumbing, water heaters, electrical, roof leaks.
- **Holiday prep:** cleaning, carpet, painting a room, handyman, light installation.
- **Winter-specific:** snow removal, ice dams, frozen pipes, insulation.
- **Planned projects:** fewer bookings now, but many homeowners research in December and book in January.
Put most of your holiday budget behind the first three. Keep a smaller, steady presence on planned projects so you collect leads for January.
Keep reading — free
The rest of this article is worth the 20 seconds
Tell us where to send it and the full piece unlocks right here, along with everything else on this blog.
Rather just talk? Message us on WhatsApp.
Budget by week
Treat the season as four parts, not one month:
- **Week before Thanksgiving:** high demand for prep and repair. Keep full budget.
- **Thanksgiving to mid-December:** steady. Shift budget from planned projects to urgent services.
- **December 20 to 26:** volume drops for most planned work; keep emergency campaigns on.
- **December 27 to January 2:** research season. Many homeowners plan the year; a modest budget on remodel terms can bring cheap leads before competitors return.
Check results every week. Holiday patterns vary by market and trade.
Holiday keywords
Add ad groups with the words people use this time of year: "before thanksgiving", "before christmas", "holiday", "emergency", "open today", "same day", plus your service and city. Write ads that answer the real concern: "Furnace repair today - no extra holiday fee" or "Bathroom refresh finished before Dec 20".
Ad schedule and staffing
Your ads should only run when someone can answer. If the office closes December 24 and 25, schedule only emergency campaigns those days, routed to the on-call number. A click that reaches voicemail is money spent for a competitor.
Answer every call
Holiday leads are urgent and call two or three companies. Answer live, quote a time window and book on the first call. If you can't staff the phones, use an answering service or AI receptionist for after-hours and overflow, and call missed numbers back within 15 minutes.
Plan January now
Use the last two weeks of December to set up January: new ad copy for remodel and project services, a landing page for 2027 bookings, and a list of December leads who said "after the holidays". January is when planned projects come back strong.
An example
A heating and plumbing company in Columbus, Ohio, used to pause ads from Thanksgiving to New Year. Last season it kept emergency heating and water heater campaigns running, cut remodel campaigns by 70%, and added "before the holidays" ad groups. December brought 61 booked jobs from ads, mostly same-day repairs, and the remodel campaigns restarted on December 27 with lower costs per lead than in October.
Numbers to watch
- cost per booked job by campaign;
- answered vs. missed calls from ads;
- leads by week of the season;
- January bookings from December leads.
Common mistakes
Pausing everything in December, running remodel ads at full budget when homeowners are postponing, sending ad calls to voicemail on holidays, using the same ad copy all year and forgetting to prepare January.
Turn your work into your best advertising.
We help home service contractors turn real projects, videos and events into a steady flow of local leads and booked estimates.
Frequently asked questions
Should I pause Google Ads in December?
Usually not completely. Cut the campaigns for planned projects that homeowners postpone, but keep emergency and seasonal services running, and keep a smaller budget on your best-converting keywords. Pausing everything also means starting January with no recent data and fewer calls in the pipeline.