Contractor Marketing Basics: Where to Spend Your Budget First (and What to Skip)

How to calculate your real marketing budget

Most contractors pick a marketing budget by vibes. The right way is a simple formula: take your average job value, multiply by your gross margin %, and allocate 8–15% of that as your blended cost-per-booked-job ceiling. That number tells you what you can pay for each customer — not each click.

Example: A roofing contractor with a $9,000 average job and 30% margin can afford up to ~$400 cost per booked customer while still hitting blended 15% marketing spend as a share of revenue.

Paid vs. earned leads

Paid (Google Ads, Meta, LSAs, HomeAdvisor) is instant but rented. You turn it off, you stop.

Earned (organic SEO, Google Business Profile, referrals, email list) compounds but takes 60–180 days to start producing.

The right mix for most trade businesses is roughly 60/40 paid-to-earned in the first year, inverting to 40/60 by year two as the organic foundation starts paying rent.

Branding foundations you actually need

You do not need a $5,000 logo. You need: a consistent name, address, and phone across every listing; one clean hero photo of your crew or trucks; one clear value proposition; and one fast, mobile-first website.

This is what the Rekenrek System is built around — the fewest possible moving parts that still compound.

Google Ads strategy that actually converts

Start with Local Services Ads (LSAs) if your trade qualifies. They're pay-per-lead and Google pre-qualifies the prospect.

If LSAs aren't available or aren't enough volume, run a single Search campaign targeting the top 10 "emergency" or "near me" queries in your service area. Avoid Broad Match. Avoid Performance Max for at least the first 90 days.

Measure phone calls as the conversion — not form submits. For 80% of trades, the phone closes 4–8x better than forms.