How much does contractor marketing cost?
A contractor marketing budget has three parts: the agency or management fee, the ad spend paid to Google or Meta, and one-time costs like a website. At EasyGrow, management is $1,500, $2,000 or $3,000 a month depending on the channels, websites start at $1,500 one time, and ad spend is set by your goals and paid directly to the platform.
The three parts of a contractor marketing budget
1. Management fee
This pays for the people and the work: strategy, Google Business Profile management, writing pages, building links, setting up and optimizing campaigns, tracking and reporting. It should be predictable and tied to a clear scope. Our packages publish exactly what each level includes.
2. Ad spend
Money paid to Google for Google Ads and Local Services Ads, or to Meta for Facebook and Instagram ads. It should always be billed to your own card in your own accounts, so you can see every dollar. Budgets vary widely by trade and market: an emergency plumbing keyword in a big metro costs far more per click than a painting keyword in a small town.
3. One-time costs
A conversion-focused website is the most common one. A contractor website from EasyGrow starts at $1,500. Larger builds with many services, locations or custom tools cost more.
How to size your budget
Start from the jobs, not the channels. Decide how many extra jobs you want a month, what an average job is worth after materials and labor, and what share of leads you typically close. That tells you what a lead is worth to you, and how much you can afford to pay for one. Our break-even calculator does this math for you.
Owned demand vs rented leads
Lead platforms charge per lead and often sell the same homeowner to several contractors. That can fill gaps, but the cost never goes down and nothing is left when you stop paying. Local SEO, reviews and a strong website are assets: the work done this year keeps producing calls next year. The healthiest budgets use paid channels for speed and owned channels for long-term cost per job.
How to tell if it is working
- Every call and form is tracked to a channel and keyword.
- You know your cost per lead and per booked job for paid channels.
- Your Maps pack positions for core services are moving up.
- Your report tells you what happens next month, not just what happened last month.