Google Ads management for contractors

Google Ads for contractors, measured in booked jobs

Search campaigns built around the jobs your crews actually want: repairs, replacements, and recurring service. Managed by a former seven-truck service company owner, reported in cost per booked job, with missed call text back on every ad number so the calls you paid for become customers.

−72%
Cost per lead, first 30 days, Arizona service company
$54.92
Cost per conversion, full 2025 season
400
New customers added in a year
The problem

Why most contractor Google Ads accounts lose money

I hired three agencies to run Google Ads for my own service company. Every one of them made the same four mistakes. I open new clients' accounts and find the same four, whatever the trade.

Broad match on the trade name

Broad-match keywords let Google decide what "plumber" means. It decides it means plumbing jobs, plumbing school, plumbing supplies, and how to fix a toilet yourself. A third of the budget goes to searches that could never become a booked job.

Landing on the homepage

The ad says "AC repair today." The click lands on a homepage with a hero video, a mission statement, and the phone number in the footer. Half the people who click leave before they find it. Every ad needs a page that matches it, with the number and a form above the fold.

Flat budget across the season

HVAC demand doubles in a heat wave. Roofing spikes after a storm. Pool service triples in spring. An agency spending the same amount every month is overspending when nobody's searching and starving the account when everybody is.

Counting clicks as results

The report says 340 clicks and a 4 percent click-through rate. It doesn't say how many calls were answered, how many became quotes, or what a booked job cost. Those are the only numbers that matter, and most agencies don't track any of them.

How we run it

Contractor Google Ads, built the way an operator would build them

Search only, one campaign per job type

Repairs, replacements, and recurring service get their own campaigns with their own budgets. Emergency searches get their own ad group because that person is calling the first number they see. Display, Performance Max, and video stay off unless there's a reason.

Exact and phrase match, with a negative list that grows weekly

Every search term that spent money gets reviewed. Anything that isn't a homeowner in your service area who needs the job done goes on the negative list. It starts long on day one and never stops growing.

A landing page per campaign

The repair ad lands on a repair page. The replacement ad lands on a replacement page. Phone number, short form, three reviews, and a price anchor above the fold. This is where an Arizona client's conversion rate went from under 10 percent to over 24.

Seasonal pacing and geo bids

The budget follows your trade's season, set at the start of the year from the demand curve in your market. Bids go up in the zip codes where your crews already work and down where a job would cost a 40-minute drive.

Call tracking and missed call text back

Every ad number is tracked, so the report shows calls, not clicks. Missed calls get a text back in seconds. That one feature is often the difference between a campaign that pays and one that doesn't, because the phone rings while you're on the job.

Reporting in cost per booked job

You get one number every week: what a booked job cost. Behind it, calls answered, quotes sent, quotes won. If the number goes the wrong way, you'll hear from me before you have to ask.

By trade

What changes by trade, and what doesn't

HVAC and plumbing

Emergency intent, high ticket, phone-first. Campaigns lean on "repair" and "near me" terms, extended hours, and call-only ads in a heat wave or a freeze.

Roofing and exterior

Storm-driven, long quote cycle, big ticket. Budget surges after weather events, and the follow-up sequence matters more than the ad because a roof takes three touches to close.

Pool, pest, and lawn

Recurring revenue, seasonal, lower ticket per job but worth thousands over a customer's life. Campaigns are sized to lifetime value, not to the first job. Pool companies have their own page.

Proof

Google Ads results from a real Arizona service company

Recurring service and repair company. Google Ads and follow-up automation, no new website. Full 2025 season, January through August.

MetricResult
Cost per lead, first 30 days−72%
Landing page conversion rate, same budget+145%
Ad spend for the season, paid to Google$33,169
Conversions (calls and form fills)604
Conversion rate24.17%
Cost per conversion$54.92
New customers added400

Full breakdown on the results page.

Pricing

Flat management fee. Ad spend is yours, paid to Google.

Management

One flat monthly fee for the campaign build, weekly optimization, landing pages, call tracking, and reporting. No percentage of spend, so there's no reason for me to want your budget bigger than it should be. Month to month.

Ad spend

Paid by you, directly to Google, in an account you own. The starting budget is set on the call from what a booked job is worth in your trade. Use the budget guide to work backward from what a booked job is worth.

Google Ads is one part of home service marketing. If your website and follow-up are already solid, ads alone might be all you need. If they aren't, ads will find the leaks fast. The teardown tells you which.

Questions

Google Ads for contractors FAQ

How much should a contractor spend on Google Ads?

Work backward from a booked job. If a job is worth $600 in gross profit and you close one in three quoted leads, a lead is worth $200 and you can afford to pay $60 to $80 for one. Set the starting budget from that number, not from what feels comfortable. The budget guide walks through the math.

Which trades do Google Ads work best for?

Any trade where the homeowner searches with intent and a phone number: HVAC repair, plumbing, roofing, pool service, pest control, garage doors, electrical. Emergency and repair searches convert highest. Remodel and design searches convert slowest and need longer follow-up.

Google Ads or Local Services Ads for contractors?

Both. Local Services Ads sit above everything, charge per lead, and carry the Google Guaranteed badge. Search ads give you control over the message and the landing page. Run LSAs on top and search underneath, and put the same tracked number on both.

How fast will Google Ads produce leads for my business?

Calls start the first week. The account is tuned by day 30, which is when cost per lead usually drops. An Arizona service company saw cost per lead fall 72 percent in the first 30 days. After that the work is seasonal pacing and keeping the landing page honest.

Do you charge a percentage of ad spend?

No. Management is a flat monthly fee. Ad spend is paid by you, directly to Google, in an account you own. If we stop working together, the account and its history stay with you.

What happens to the leads the ads produce?

They hit a tracked number and a short form. Missed calls get a text back in seconds, and form fills get a follow-up sequence, so the leads you paid for don't die in voicemail while you're on a roof or under a sink. That follow-up is included.

Already running ads? Bring the account.

Fifteen minutes with your Google Ads account open. I'll show you where the budget is leaking and what I'd change first, whether or not we work together.