Should I focus my budget on new customers or getting more from past ones?

Both, but most contractors badly underinvest in the customers they already have. It costs far less to bring back a past customer than to win a stranger, and your database is full of people who already trust you. If all your budget chases new leads while old customers forget your name, you're refilling a leaky bucket.

The high-return retention moves are cheap: a review-request funnel, maintenance-plan and reminder campaigns (AC tune-ups before summer, seasonal service), win-back offers to customers you haven't seen in a year or two, and simple email or text newsletters that keep you top of mind for the next job and the referral. New-customer acquisition — SEO, ads, local visibility — still matters for growth, especially against PE-backed competitors. The right split depends on your database size, but for most established Tampa Bay contractors, turning on retention is the fastest untapped revenue.