How Much Should a Contractor Spend on Google Ads? A Data-Driven Answer.

The Budget Question Every Contractor Asks

"How much should I spend on Google Ads?" It is the number one question we hear from contractors. And the honest answer is: it depends on your trade, your city, and your competition.

But we can give you real data instead of guesses. We have analyzed Google Ads performance across 20 trades in 57 cities, and here is what the numbers actually look like.

Average Cost Per Lead by Trade

These are real cost-per-lead numbers from active campaigns:

• Roofing: $45-85 per lead
• HVAC: $35-70 per lead
• Plumbing: $25-55 per lead
• Electrical: $30-60 per lead
• Water Damage Restoration: $55-120 per lead

The wide ranges reflect differences in city size, competition level, and seasonality.

The Minimum Viable Budget

Based on our data, here are the minimum monthly budgets we recommend to generate consistent leads:

Why Most Contractors Waste Their Ad Budget

The problem is not how much you spend — it is how your campaigns are set up. The most common mistakes we see:

1. Targeting too broad — Running ads statewide instead of a 15-mile radius
2. Wrong keywords — Bidding on informational terms instead of high-intent commercial terms
3. No landing page — Sending ad traffic to a generic homepage
4. Slow follow-up — Paying $60 for a lead and then calling back 4 hours later
5. No tracking — Having no idea which keywords generate actual jobs

A well-optimized $1,500/month Google Ads campaign will outperform a poorly managed $5,000/month campaign every single time. It is about precision, not volume.

The ROI Math

If you are spending $1,500/month on Google Ads and generating 20 leads, closing 30% of them at an average job value of $4,200, your monthly revenue from ads alone is $25,200. That is a 16.8x return on your ad spend.