For contractors and builders
Your next customer is asking AI who to hire.
When a homeowner asks ChatGPT for the best contractor in town, it names three companies. I built a system that got my own fence company into that list. Now I set it up for other contractors, and you own it outright.
Who's the best fence company near me? I need a 6 ft privacy fence.
Here are three well-reviewed options in your area:
- Summit Fence & Deck, strong reviews for cedar privacy fences
- Ridgeline Fencing Co., known for fast quotes
- Hometown Fence Pros, licensed and insured, free estimates
Your company: not mentioned.
Search changed. Most contractors haven't noticed.
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. You'll also hear it called AEO, Answer Engine Optimization. Same thing, two names. It's SEO for AI. It's the work of getting ChatGPT, Google's AI answers, Perplexity and Gemini to recommend your business when someone asks who to hire.
Homeowners used to scroll through ten blue links and a map pack. Now more of them just ask. AI gives them a short list of names, and they call those names. There's no page two.
Here's how you're already being left behind: AI builds its short list from what it finds about you across the web, including your Google profile, reviews, directories like Houzz and Angi, and your own website. If your competitors show up there and you don't, AI recommends them. It's happening right now, whether you're tracking it or not.
This week on AI · live estimate
While you read this, people are asking AI who to hire.
The ticking counters estimate activity since Monday at midnight your time, based on published usage numbers. Where a company doesn't publish question counts, we show how many people use it instead. These are estimates, not exact counts.
Nobody publishes how many of these questions are about hiring a contractor. Your free snapshot shows what AI says when someone in your area asks about your trade.
I'm a contractor, not a marketer.
I run a fence company, and I'm a new dad. When I saw AI was starting to decide who gets the call, I went looking for help and hit three walls.
No time to learn AI
I'm on job sites all day, running crews and writing estimates, and we just had a new baby. Every contractor I know is in the same spot. Nobody has spare hours to learn a new kind of marketing.
The tools cost a fortune
I got a quote from the largest GEO startup: $18,000 to track 4 AI engines, on an annual contract, paid all upfront. That's not doable for most small businesses.
Agencies own you
Monthly retainers, their logins, their reports. Stop paying and you're left with nothing. I was done renting my own marketing.
Get ahead of your competition in a few weeks, like I did.
It took me a lot of late nights after the baby was down, and plenty of trial and error, to figure this out. What came out of it is a GEO system for my fence company. It tracks the exact questions homeowners ask AI, shows who AI recommends instead of me, and shows which websites it trusts. Then I fixed what it found.
You don't need to learn any of it. I'll set up the same system for your company, so you can get the same head start without spending the time I did.
My site went from #26 to #4 in one week, passing Thumbtack and the BBB.
Measured with AI visibility tracking across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity. Competitor names are hidden.
Screenshot from my CRM. Names hidden for privacy.
What a lead costs me
I still pay for ads and an SEO agency. But this lead came from AI search, and the system that brought it in costs about $100 a month to run.
What GEO costs over 5 years
Rent it, or own it.
Here's what five years of GEO costs a contractor, depending on how you buy it.
See it year by year (running total)
| After | Your own system | Enterprise platform | GEO agency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $6,200 | $18,000 | $36,000 – $72,000 |
| Year 2 | $7,400 | $36,000 | $72,000 – $144,000 |
| Year 3 | $8,600 | $54,000 | $108,000 – $216,000 |
| Year 4 | $9,800 | $72,000 | $144,000 – $288,000 |
| Year 5 | $11,000 | $90,000 | $180,000 – $360,000 |
Your own system includes the $5,000 build and about $100 a month in AI running costs paid to the providers. Platform and agency figures are typical published and quoted prices, not including price increases.
The Custom GEO Package
I build yours. You own it.
The same system I use, set up for your company and your service area. It runs on your own accounts, so it stays yours. No annual contract, no agency, no monthly fee to me.
- Free AI snapshotI check what AI says about you and your top competitors for the jobs you want. Or skip straight to the deposit.
- Hold your spot with $500I take a limited number of builds at a time. The deposit counts toward your total.
- I build and set it upYour dashboard, your tracked questions, your competitors, on your accounts.
- 30 days of fixes, side by sideWe fix what's keeping AI from recommending you, together: Google profile, reviews, directories and your website. I show you how as we go.
- You own it, and you know how to run itYou keep the system, the data and the logins, and the activity board keeps telling you what to do next. Running costs are about $100 a month, paid straight to the AI providers. I'm still here if you need help.
Bonuses included
- Your own GEO dashboard
- Included
- Live activity board (what to fix next)
- Included
- AI questions tracked
- 25 to 50
- Competitors tracked
- Up to 5
- Hands-on fixes and training
- 30 days
- AI lead tracking
- Included
- Contract
- None
- Who owns it
- You
- Running cost (paid to AI providers)
- ~$100/mo
- Bonus: 3 custom GEO pages for your website
- Included
- Bonus: review request scripts
- Included
- Bonus: directory listing checklist
- Included
$500 non-refundable deposit holds your spot and counts toward the total. The $4,500 balance is due when your system is live.
Start with a free snapshot Or pay the $500 deposit nowThe 80/20 rule
The 20% of features that get 80% of the results.
This won't have every feature an $18,000 platform has. You don't need them to start winning jobs. You need to know where you stand, who's beating you, and what to fix next. That's what this gives you.
What you get
- A simple dashboard. How often AI mentions you, how you rank against your competitors, and which websites AI trusts in your area.
- A live activity board. A to-do list that tells you exactly what to fix next to start ranking, like "get listed on this directory" or "answer this question on your website."
- Lead tracking. So you can see when AI search turns into real calls.
What you skip
- Enterprise extras built for big marketing teams, like multi-brand workspaces, buyer personas and shopping analytics.
- Dozens of charts you'd never have time to read.
- An $18,000 bill paid upfront.
Questions
Do I need to know anything about AI?
No. I set everything up and we make the first round of fixes together over 30 days. By the end you'll know how to read your dashboard and work through the activity board yourself, without an agency. If you get stuck after that, I'm a message away.
What does the $100 a month cover?
That's what the AI services charge to run your tracked questions. It's billed to your own card by the providers, not by me.
Is the deposit refundable?
No. The $500 deposit is non-refundable, and it counts toward your $5,000 total. The $4,500 balance is due when your system is live.
Will you work with my competitors?
I won't build for a direct competitor in your service area while you're a client.
Can you guarantee leads?
No one honestly can. What I guarantee is the work: if you're not showing up in more of your tracked AI answers by day 60 than on day one, I'll do another round of fixes with you at no charge.
Two ways to start
Find out what AI says about your company.
Book a free snapshot call
30 minutes, no obligation. Tell me your trade and service area, and I'll show you who AI recommends and whether you're on the list.
Book my free callReady now? Get the Custom GEO Package
Skip the call. Pay the $500 non-refundable deposit, which counts toward your $5,000 total, and I'll reach out to schedule your build.
Pay the $500 Custom GEO Package depositSecure checkout by Stripe.
AI search for contractors
Common questions about GEO and AEO
What is GEO (generative engine optimization), also called AEO?
GEO, also called AEO (answer engine optimization), is the work of getting AI tools like ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Grok to mention and recommend your business when people ask them questions. It's the AI version of SEO. Instead of ranking on a page of links, the goal is to be one of the few names the AI gives in its answer.
Is GEO the same as AEO?
Yes, for a contractor they mean the same thing. GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization) are two names for getting your business mentioned and recommended in AI answers from tools like ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity. Some marketers use AEO more for Google's AI answers and voice assistants, but the work is the same: be the business the AI names.
How do I get my contractor business recommended by ChatGPT?
ChatGPT recommends contractors it sees mentioned and trusted across the web. The biggest levers are a complete Google Business Profile, a steady flow of reviews that mention your service and city, listings on the directories AI cites most (such as Angi, HomeAdvisor, Expertise.com, Thumbtack and the BBB), and a website with a clear page for each service and area you cover. Then you track the questions homeowners ask and fix the gaps where competitors show up and you don't.
How can a roofer, remodeler or fence company show up in AI search?
Start by finding out which questions homeowners in your area ask AI, such as "best roofer in my city" or "who should I hire for a kitchen remodel". Check who AI recommends today and which websites it cites. Then get listed and reviewed on those sites, answer those exact questions on your own website, and keep your name, address and phone number identical everywhere. The trade changes, but the process is the same.
Is GEO different from SEO?
Yes, but they overlap. SEO aims to rank your website in Google's list of links. GEO aims to get your business named inside AI answers, which often pull from directories, reviews, Reddit and "best of" lists as much as from your own site. Good SEO helps GEO, but ranking well on Google doesn't guarantee AI will recommend you.
How do I know if ChatGPT mentions my business?
You can ask it yourself, but answers change from person to person and day to day, so one search tells you very little. A GEO tracker asks the same set of questions across several AI tools every day and records how often you're mentioned, where you rank against competitors, and which websites the AI cites. That's what the system I build for you does.
Where does AI get its contractor recommendations?
From what it can find and trust about you online: your Google Business Profile and reviews, home-service directories like Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack and the BBB, local "best contractors" lists, Reddit threads, and your own website. In my own tracking, directories and listicles were cited far more often than contractor websites, which is why getting listed on them matters so much.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Profound for a small business?
Yes. When I asked the largest GEO startup for a quote, it came back at $18,000 for one year of tracking 4 AI engines, on an annual contract paid upfront. Platforms like that are built for corporate marketing teams. The system I build tracks the same things for one business: your AI visibility, your competitors and your citations. It costs $5,000 once, and you own it. The only ongoing cost is about $100 a month in AI usage, paid straight to the AI providers.
Can I get done-for-you GEO without an agency or an annual contract?
Yes. I set up the system on your own accounts, work through 30 days of fixes with you so you learn how it's done, and hand it over. There's no contract and no monthly fee to me, and you keep the system, the data and the logins forever.
How much does GEO cost for a small business?
It depends on how you buy it. GEO agencies typically charge $3,000 to $6,000 a month, and enterprise platforms run around $18,000 a year. Owning your own system costs $5,000 once plus about $100 a month to run, which comes to about $11,000 over five years.
How long does GEO take to work?
Some changes show up within weeks. In my own fence company, my website went from the 26th to the 4th most-cited site in AI answers about fencing in my city within one week. Overall visibility builds over a few months as reviews, listings and content add up, so it's best treated as an ongoing advantage, not a one-week trick.
Do leads from AI search actually turn into jobs?
They can. My fence company's first AI lead came from a homeowner who found us through Grok and needed 75 feet of fence and 3 gates, a $3,500 job. For comparison, our paid ads cost about $150 per lead. AI search is still new, so it's smart to measure it: add "How did you hear about us?" with an AI option to your forms, and watch for visits from chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai in your analytics.
Which AI tools matter most for contractors?
ChatGPT and Google's AI answers reach the most people, but homeowners also use Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Grok. My first AI lead came from Grok. That's why the system tracks several AI tools, not just one.