You run a construction company in Greater Manchester. Your crews can turn round an extension in Didsbury, a commercial fit-out in Ancoats or a block of flats in Salford on schedule and to spec. Yet most of your work still comes from the same circle: a few loyal developers, architects who know you, repeat clients and their friends. Meanwhile a homeowner in Chorlton planning a loft conversion, a facilities manager looking for a contractor to refurbish an office floor, or a developer drawing up a tender list are all searching online. And they are finding someone else.
You have decided to fix that. The harder question is who to trust with it. Proposals look alike on paper, and so do the promises. Here is a grid for deciding without getting burned.
What your partner needs to understand about construction
Nobody buys building work on impulse. A project ties up serious money, runs for months, and a poor choice of contractor gets paid for in snagging lists, delays and disputes. Before calling, a buyer checks how long the firm has been trading, what it has built, whether it can handle a job of this size, what accreditations it holds and how quickly it responds.
A good visibility partner knows that. They should talk to you about types of enquiry (extensions, new builds, refurbishments, fit-outs, groundworks, subcontract packages), about areas (the city centre, south Manchester suburbs, Stockport, Trafford, Bolton) and about buyer profiles (homeowner, landlord, commercial client, developer). If they mostly talk about 'digital presence' in general and never about your projects, they will not sell your firm better than you do.
The criteria that actually matter
A commitment on what they control
A serious partner commits to its own work: what will go live, by when, and what happens if it misses the date. It does not commit to a position on Google or a number of signed contracts, because nobody controls those outcomes.
Measurement you own
Results should be visible in your own Search Console, Google's free tool, set up in your company's name. You should be able to check at any time how often your firm appears and how many people click through, without asking anyone.
A reporting rhythm agreed upfront
Dated reports at a frequency written into the contract, plus a measured review a few months in. Without that rhythm you will pay every month with no idea what is moving.
A cap on competing clients
If the same agency works for every builder in Manchester, it cannot honestly defend your place against the others. Ask how many construction firms it works with in your area and whether there is a written limit.
The red flags
Some lines should make you put the pen down:
- 'You'll be top of Google within a month.' Nobody can keep that promise, and whoever makes it is the least likely to.
- 'We handle everything, you don't need to look at anything.' In practice: you will see nothing.
- No specific deliverables in the contract. A monthly retainer with undefined content is a blank cheque.
- Accounts held in the agency's name. If your website, business profile or data sit under their login, you are locked in.
- No evidence from their own work. A partner who cannot show measured results for itself is asking you to take everything on trust.
What to get in writing
Before you sign, make sure the contract or a schedule covers:
- the list of deliverables and deadlines;
- the remedy if those deadlines are missed;
- reporting frequency and the date of the first review;
- access to your own Search Console from month one;
- the maximum number of construction firms served in your area;
- the length of the commitment and the exit terms.
A partner who will not put these points in writing has already answered you. For a version of this grid that applies to any small business, read how to choose a visibility partner. And if you want to size the problem first, our guide on what invisibility costs a construction company looks at the jobs that slip past you.
How Traffic Engine measures up
Traffic Engine is Kolonell's service for making your firm visible when buyers search for a contractor in Manchester, on Google and in the answers of AI assistants. Here is what it puts in writing:
- Everything your plan includes goes live on schedule; if it does not, the next month is free.
- Results are tracked in your own Search Console, with a dated report every week and a measured review at three months.
- Each sector has 3 standard seats per area, each with its own positioning. Momentum Exclusive and Flood Exclusive lock the sector as long as no standard seat has been signed.
- Kolonell ran the approach on its own website first, and its Search Console curves are published on the offer page.
The entry point is the Visibility Audit at £590: a review of how you appear on Google and in AI assistants, how you compare with other firms in your sector, the potential and an action plan, delivered within 48 business hours. It is deducted from the £1,300 setup if you start within 30 days. Plans run from Presence at £940 a month to Flood at £3,000, on a 12-month commitment. As a benchmark, a first year on Momentum comes to £20,500, which a single mid-sized job can cover. See the offer and check whether a construction seat is still open in Manchester.
Your next step
Gather two or three proposals and put them all through the same grid. To compare on solid ground, start with where you stand today: the free website score gives a first benchmark in seconds, and our guide on what a visibility audit should tell you explains what a proper diagnosis should cover.