Digital marketing for contractors, without the agency fog.
Every channel, ranked by how fast it puts real jobs on a contractor's calendar — from people who held a contracting license and spent their own money on every one of these channels first. No jargon, real numbers, and the order that actually works.
Where contractor marketing money actually goes.
Every dollar you spend lands in one of three buckets. Here's what each is for:
Capture demand: Google
LSA and search ads catch homeowners who need work right now — "ac not cooling," "roof leak repair." Highest intent, fastest payback, and where every contractor should start.
Create demand: Meta
Facebook and Instagram ads put financing offers and real job footage in front of homeowners before they search. Bigger audience, cheaper reach — but only works with real filmed content, not stock.
Compound: SEO & reviews
Your Google Business Profile, review velocity, and city/service pages decide what you pay per lead everywhere else. Slowest to build, and the reason established contractors pay half what you do per call.
The order that works for contractors.
Not everything at once. This is the sequence that gets the phone ringing fastest, then compounds:
Local Service Ads first
Pay-per-call, Google Guaranteed. It's the cheapest qualified lead in the trades and most of your competitors set it up wrong or never finish the screening. Learn more →
Search ads on emergency + big-ticket keywords
Emergency searches close same-day; replacement searches are worth five figures. Each gets its own campaign and landing page. Learn more →
Fix the website before scaling spend
Every channel dumps traffic on your site. If it loads slow, has no estimator, and buries the phone number, you're paying to fill a leaky bucket. Learn more →
Meta + content to compound
Monthly filmed content, financing offers, retargeting people who visited but didn't call. This is what takes a contractor from buying every lead to being the known name in their cities. Learn more →
Digital marketing questions contractors ask.
What should a contractor spend on marketing?
A useful rule: 5–10% of revenue target. At $1M/year that's $4,000–$8,000/month all-in — management plus ad spend. Below $2,000/month total it's hard to buy meaningful data in a competitive metro; we'll tell you on the audit call if your budget won't work, before you spend it.
Which channel gets leads fastest?
LSA, almost always — calls can start within 2–3 weeks of passing screening. Search ads are next. SEO is a compounding asset, not a quick fix; anyone promising page-one rankings in 30 days is selling you something.
Can I just do this myself?
The setup, yes. The weekly tuning — negative keywords, dispute junk LSA calls, bid changes, new landing pages — is where the money is won, and it's 5–10 hours a week done right. Most contractors' time is worth more on the roof or in the truck.
Do you do SEO too?
Yes — Google Business Profile optimization, review systems, and city/service pages are built into how we work, because they lower your cost per lead on every paid channel. We just won't sell you SEO alone and tell you it'll ring the phone next week.
Get a free audit — see exactly where your marketing leaks money.
One call. Within 24 hours you get it in writing: where you rank, what leads cost in your market, and what your top three competitors are running.
No card. No contract. Takes one phone call.