Union Square Media Group's Home Repair Funnels, Walked Step by Step

Summary

Union Square Media Group is a lead-gen publisher, not a contractor. Its "program" sites pre-sell a ZIP-code check, then hand the visitor to a lead buyer's multi-step form. We walked three live funnels and stopped at the first contact-details screen in each.

• National Bath Program (Meta ads) hands off to bathandshowerpros.com: ZIP, then 9 questions, then name.
• National Window Program (Meta ads) hands off to homewindowprices.org: ZIP, then 8 questions, then name and address.
• Home Repair Nightmares (YouTube and Google) is a fake-news advertorial that sends readers to Union Square's own findmywindowpro.com: ZIP, then 5 questions including credit score and military service, then address.

Both Meta funnels end on forms carrying QuinStreet's parameter scheme (CCID, QTR, CLK, AFFID); the bath form's footer reads "© 2026 QuinStreet, Inc." Only the YouTube funnel keeps the lead on a Union Square domain.

How we walked it

Each funnel was walked on an iPhone 16 Pro browser profile from the entry URL the ads use, one screenshot per step. We entered ZIP 93001 and picked the first answer on each question.

• Droplet first. The droplet's Chrome runs through the same US SOCKS tunnel as the web2app capture lanes (Santa Clara, CA). That reaches Union Square's own pages, but the lead buyers' CloudFront firewalls return 403 to DigitalOcean IPs.
• Buyer forms from a residential IP. The forms were walked from a home connection in Ventura, CA, which is also why the window page greeted us as "SERVING Ventura, California RESIDENTS".
• No lead submitted. Every walk stops at the first screen asking for name, address, email or phone. Submitting would sell a fake lead to contractors.

National Bath Program

A Meta ad from the persona page Scarlett Boswell sends the visitor through a rotator to a "2026 Bathroom Remodel Relief Service" pre-sell, which hands off to QuinStreet's bathandshowerpros.com. The form asks 9 questions after the ZIP before it asks for a name.

1. Ad. Scarlett Boswell, one of 63 active ads: "Easy way for homeowners to apply for the 2025 bathroom relief program." CTA: Learn more.
2. Rotator. nationalbathprogram.com/2553/rotate shows "Checking Your Eligibility Based On Location", then Voluum routes to a variant (/voluum/blue).
3. Pre-sell. "Homeowners are getting brand new, affordable bathroom renovations after checking their zip code on this website." Qualifier: "your bathrooms must be over 9 years old". Every CTA says "CHECK MY ZIP CODE NOW".
4. Handoff. The CTA clicks out through track.aaixt.com/click to bathandshowerpros.com/?CCID=…&QTR=…&CLK=…&AFFID=….
5. Lead form. ZIP, then 9 questions with a progress bar from 12% to 80%, ending with "Do you own your home?"
6. Stop. At 93%, "Almost Done!" asks for first and last name. We stopped here.

AdMeta adScarlett Boswell 1Pre-sellnationalbathprogram.com · tap for full page 2Handoff: ZIP codebathandshowerpros.com Q1Project type12% Q2Which floor18% Q3Plumbing condition24% Q4Walls and floor30% Q5Why remodel37% Q6Current problems43% Q7Enclosure type68% Q8Showerhead74% Q9Own your home?80% StopFirst and last name93% · not submitted

Swipe or scroll the strip; tap any screen to enlarge.

National Window Program

The window funnel uses the same machinery as bath (persona page, rotator, Voluum, QuinStreet), but hands off to homewindowprices.org and asks for name and address together after 8 questions.

1. Ad. Madison Monroe, one of 20 active ads, all launched in the last 19 days: "Final round of approvals for unsold windows. Apply now and save big." Headline: "Unsold Window Prices Are Cheap".
2. Rotator. nationalwindowprogram.com/3956/rotate routes through Voluum to /energybill/voluum.
3. Pre-sell. Geo-personalized: "SERVING Ventura, California RESIDENTS NOW", "Limited Time Program - 2026", "Senior Homeowners Are Getting Energy-Efficient Window Quotes After Checking Their Zip Code", beside a senior holding a $115 energy bill. CTA: "CHECK MY ELIGIBILITY NOW".
4. Handoff. homewindowprices.org/?CCID=…&QTR=…&CLK=…, the same parameter scheme as the bath buyer, under Pella, Renewal by Andersen and Jeld-Wen logos.
5. Lead form. ZIP, then 8 questions, several auto-advancing on tap, ending with "Do you own your home?"
6. Stop. "Almost Done!" asks for first name, last name and street address on one screen. We stopped here.

AdMeta adMadison Monroe 1Pre-sellnationalwindowprogram.com · tap for full page 2Handoff: ZIP codehomewindowprices.org Q1Replace or repair Q2How many windows Q3Stories Q4Window shape Q5Current material Q6Frame condition Q7Why replace Q8Own your home? StopName and addressnot submitted

Swipe or scroll the strip; tap any screen to enlarge.

Home Repair Nightmares

The YouTube and Google funnel pre-sells with a fake news article, then keeps the lead on Union Square's own findmywindowpro.com and asks financial questions the Meta buyers don't: home value, credit score and military service.

1. Entry. YouTube and Google video ads (the advertiser's 120 Google creatives to this domain), for example to /windows-service. We found no Meta ads for it.
2. Pre-sell. A news-site layout: "Home Improvement News", "Exclusive Investigation", "Exposed: Homeowners in California Are Saving Thousands on Window Replacements", a byline for "Robert Calloway, Home Improvement Correspondent" dated the day of the visit, "2.4K shares". The article names "PremierWindows.org" as the tool.
3. Click-out. Every link goes to wuetrk.com/3C3SW9/8SNWKBM/, an affiliate tracking link, which lands on findmywindowpro.com/?o=4520&a=84&c=19401…, not PremierWindows.org.
4. Owned form. "Upgrade Your Windows. Lower Your Bills. Love Your Home." Its small print: "Our contractor network does NOT participate in, or have any affiliation with, free or government assistance programs."
5. Questions. Rent or own, home value (prefilled hint: "Average home price in Ventura, California is $1,499,500"), replace or repair, estimated credit score, and "Are you or your spouse an active or previous U.S. military service member?"
6. Stop. At 69%, "Almost there… What is your project address?" We stopped here; name, email and phone would follow.

1Fake-news pre-sellhomerepairnightmares.com · tap for full article 2Owned form: ZIP codefindmywindowpro.com · 3% Q1Rent or own7% Q2Home value21% Q3Replace or repair29% Q4Credit score46% Q5Military service62% StopProject address69% · not submitted

Swipe or scroll the strip; tap any screen to enlarge.

Side by side

The two Meta funnels sell the lead to QuinStreet on the first contact screen. The YouTube funnel collects more, including credit and veteran status, before asking where you live.

Takeaways and open questions

The funnel's job is to turn a sales lead into an eligibility check: every screen before the contact form feels like qualifying for a program, not requesting a sales call.

• Program framing, contradicted in the small print. The pre-sells say "Relief Service" and "Assistance Program"; the form they feed says it has no affiliation with any assistance program.
• Tap-only questions build commitment. Eight or nine one-tap answers and a progress bar at 80–93% come before the first contact field.
• Two monetization routes. Meta traffic is sold on to a buyer network (QuinStreet). YouTube and Google traffic stays on an owned form that also collects credit and veteran status, which typically lets a lead be resold to financing and VA-loan buyers.
• Built for home IPs. The buyer forms block datacenter traffic, and the pages personalize by city from the visitor's IP.

Open questions

• What the contact steps ask after name and address (email, phone, TCPA consent wording). Walking them means submitting a lead.
• Whether National Bath Program's YouTube entry (/google/blue) goes to the same buyer as its Meta entry.
• Who buys the findmywindowpro.com leads (affiliate offer 4520, affiliate 84).