I'm talking about other business interests I've had but I'd rank local TV cable ads as the least bang for the buck ever.
The main thing I look at as far as advertising is how long do you see the current advertisers repeating. In other words were they on there last year? If their 3 month campaign worked well ether they got so much work they had to stop advertising (not likely but possible) or it was a bust. I have a couple of ways I test success before I run ads and waste money.
The only residential we are focusing on is roofs so I'm working a spring campaign now.