Case study · Landscape design-build · Green Bay, WI
Four crews busy. Cole off the follow-up.
How a Green Bay design-build contractor stopped chasing web leads. Homeowners' texts get answered in seconds, the AI books nearly half the consultations, and Cole spends his phone time on sales calls instead of callbacks.
consultations the AI booked by itself, nearly half of all bookings
GoHighLevel · 48 of 102 · Jun 1 to Nov 10, 2026
median AI reply when a homeowner texts in, day or night
GoHighLevel · 419 replies · Aug 12 to Nov 9, 2026
design-build job sold from one Facebook ad lead
Lead in GoHighLevel, Jun 2025 · sale value per Cole
crews running by May 2026, after planning for two and a half to three
Per Cole, May 2026
Client snapshot
- Client
- CJS Landscape, family-owned and fully insured.
- Owner
- Cole sells the jobs and runs the crews.
- Trade
- Landscape design-build: paver patios, retaining walls, fire features, pools, full-yard rebuilds.
- Market
- Green Bay and De Pere, Wisconsin.
- Best-fit job
- $30K to $70K full-yard projects.
- Crews
- Four in 2026.
- With WorkHorse since
- [Start date]
- What we run
- Meta ads · AI text and phone follow-up · GoHighLevel CRM and pipeline · online consultation booking and reminders · database reactivation · SEO and Google Business Profile · weekly strategy call.
The challenge
The owner was the follow-up system.
CJS sells big outdoor projects, and Cole sells every one of them himself, between job sites and crews. The ads and the website brought in plenty of inquiries. Any lead that didn't book itself landed on Cole to call back, and in peak season he couldn't keep up. The calls that did happen were cold. Cole would catch a homeowner in the middle of their day about a form they'd filled out days before. And about one in four texts CJS gets comes in after 5 p.m. or on a weekend.
“I've been failing miserably the last two or three weeks to keep up with the AI and web submissions.”
Cole, July 2025
“If they have a call booked with me, I get in the mode. I give them the twenty minutes of my time, and I prepare myself. It's nice when we're both kind of expecting it.”
Cole, July 2025
What we built
One path from ad to booked call.
Every lead follows the same steps. Cole only steps in at the one he's best at: the sales call.
- 1
Ads that show the work
Meta ads built from CJS's own jobs, 3D design renderings that cut to the finished build, fire pits, before-and-after footage.
- 2
A text back in seconds
New web and Facebook leads get a text within seconds and the team gets an alert. When the homeowner replies, an AI assistant asks what they want built, the address, timeline and budget, and asks for yard photos.
- 3
Booked on Cole's calendar
Every conversation steers toward a free design consultation, and the AI books it without anyone touching it. Reminders go out before every call.
- 4
An AI on the phone line
Calls Cole can't take get answered, screened for robocalls, and turned into a callback or a booked consultation.
- 5
Win back the leads that stalled
Leads who went quiet after a consultation, site visit or no-show get a check-in text in Cole's name, and the AI handles the replies.
- 6
A pipeline the team can work
GoHighLevel pipelines for design-build and website leads.
Ground rules for the AI
- It goes quiet once a lead is booked.
- Anyone who asks for a person gets a person.
- It never quotes a price.
Campaign by campaign
Five things running right now.
Meta ads: design-to-build
A 3D design consultation offer with creative that cuts from the rendering to the finished build, plus a fire-pit campaign. When the 2025 season sold out, the message switched to plan your 2026 project now. One Facebook lead from June 2025 booked their own consultation online and became a $280K patio and retaining wall build.
Speed to lead
25 of 26 daytime leads got a text back within 30 seconds. When a homeowner texts back, the AI's median reply is 12 seconds, and 415 of 466 incoming texts got an answer inside a minute.
AI booking (since June 2026)
48 consultations booked by the AI with no one touching them. 16 were booked in the evening or on a weekend. 22 came in September 2026 alone.
AI phone line (since August 2026)
Answers calls Cole can't take, ends the robocalls, and books callbacks and consultations. The Google Business Profile number now rings this line.
Database reactivation (Aug to Sep 2026)
137 leads stuck for 30+ days got a plain check-in text in Cole's name. No pitch, no link. 83 wrote back (61%) and 7 booked a new consultation.
Results
Fewer leads. The same number of booked calls. Less of Cole's day spent chasing.
consultations booked by the AI, nearly half of the 102 booked.
Jun 1 to Nov 10, 2026
median AI reply to a homeowner's text.
419 replies, Aug 12 to Nov 9, 2026
daytime leads texted back within 30 seconds.
Aug 12 to Nov 9, 2026
of follow-up texts, emails and calls sent by automation or AI, 1,398 of 1,730.
Aug 12 to Nov 9, 2026
people who booked a consultation, even though pipeline leads fell from 311 to 220.
Jan 1 to Nov 9, 2025 vs 2026
new consultations from 137 stalled leads.
Aug to Nov 2026
Leads dropped in 2026: 311 in the first ten months of 2025, 220 in the same stretch of 2026, almost all of it Facebook. Booked consultations didn't drop with them: 167 people booked in 2025's stretch, 172 in 2026's. The difference was follow-up. Starting in June 2026 the AI answered texts in seconds and booked 48 calls itself, 16 of them in the evening or on a weekend, when nobody at CJS was going to pick up. Cole's time moved to the work only he can do.
The report
Straight from the account.
Pulled from the client's own CRM. Every chart shows its date range and source.
New leads per month, by source
GoHighLevel · Design & Build + Website Leads pipelines, new opportunities by month · Jan 2025 to Oct 2026
Consultations booked per month: AI vs. a person
GoHighLevel · Project Consultation calendar, by booking date · Jun 1 to Nov 10, 2026 · 48 of 102 booked by the AI
Time to first reply, daytime new leads
GoHighLevel · new leads created 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central · Aug 12 to Nov 9, 2026 · median 12 sec
Win-back texts to stalled leads
GoHighLevel · Aug 13 to Sep 3, 2026 texts, replies counted through Nov 9, 2026
The work
What we actually shipped.
Ads
Drone before-and-after · 97,569 impressions in 90 days
Build grid: patio, fire pit, pergola, deck · 74,425 impressions in 90 days
Free fire pit with patio offer · 11,525 impressions in 90 days
Meta ads from CJS Landscape's ad account. Impressions per Meta, last 90 days as of Nov 2026.
Timeline
How it rolled out.
Early 2025
CRM, pipeline, consultation calendar and Facebook lead ads set up. New leads start getting an instant text.
Jun 2025
A Facebook ad lead books a consultation online.
Jul 2025
Crews sold out for 2025.
Aug 2025
The $280K patio and retaining wall build is sold; ads switch to plan your 2026 project now.
Sep 2025
WorkHorse takes over SEO and the Google Business Profile.
Start of 2026
The season opens with work booked into July to September.
Mar 2026
AI follow-up and the AI phone agent get set up.
May 2026
A fourth crew goes out.
Jun 2026
The AI books its first consultations on its own.
Aug 2026
The Google profile number moves to the AI phone line; win-back texts go out.
Sep 2026
The AI's busiest month, 22 consultations booked.
Oct 2026
AI tuned with the sales team.
“Everybody knows who we are. They see your ads. Everybody does. Even the guys in the back at the Bobcat dealership are like, 'Did you buy two more loaders? I saw your video the other day, your landscaping designs.' I love that about what you guys do, because it's just brought us to the community.”
Cole, Owner, CJS Landscape
“I like that it reaches out when we're not paying attention or after hours. I like that it asks for pictures.”
Cole, October 2026
What we learned
AI makes the first move. People close the job.
CJS's best customers are established homeowners spending real money on their yard. They like a fast reply and a reminder before the appointment. They don't want to negotiate a big project with a bot. So the AI does the part nobody has time for, answering at 9 p.m., asking for photos, booking the call, and gets out of the way once a person should take over.
What's next
Where this client goes from here.
- 1A year-over-year review of calls, leads, bookings and ad data to set the 2027 plan.
- 2More of the selling off Cole: Mike takes a bigger share of sales and the AI hands leads to him sooner.
- 3Aim at the right jobs: point the website and ads at $30K to $70K full-yard projects.
- 4Fill spring 2027 from the CRM with a fresh check-in for every lead who said not yet.
Leads coming in faster than you can call them back?
We'll look at your lead flow, your follow-up and your calendar, and tell you straight what we'd fix first.
Numbers are from CJS Landscape's GoHighLevel account, test and internal contacts removed, pulled November 2026. Quotes are from recorded weekly calls, July 2025 to October 2026, lightly edited for readability.