TL;DR
PPC for contractors is three channels with three price tags, and the trade decides which one goes first. Google Local Services Ads charge per lead ($20 to $80 in most trades) and go first for every licensed trade they cover. Google Search charges per click, and the clicks that book jobs run $8 to $16 in the low-ticket trades (handyman, lawn, cleaning, painting, junk removal) and $35 to $80 in the emergency trades (plumbing, HVAC, electrical, garage doors, restoration), which works out to $50 to $400 a lead. Meta charges $2.18 a click and about $43 a lead in home improvement but the leads are cold, so it fits replacement, remodel and seasonal offers and fails for anything urgent. Budget floors: $600 a month for the low-ticket trades, $1,500 for the emergency trades, and nothing at all until the website has 30 reviews and someone answers the phone inside five minutes. Management runs 10 to 20 percent of spend industry-wide; ours is a flat $600 or 12 percent for Google Ads and $300 or 15 percent for Local Services Ads.
Disclosure: Skill Mammoth manages Local Services Ads, Google Ads and Meta ads for contractors, with the prices above published on our paid ads page. We also decline roughly a third of the accounts that ask, because the arithmetic below says the budget would be wasted on the website they have. Every price in this post is from Google's keyword planner data pulled through DataForSEO on October 6, 2026, the 2026 WordStream and LocaliQ benchmarks, or Google's and Meta's own pages read the same day.
The three channels and what each one charges
| Channel | You pay per | Typical contractor cost | Intent | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Local Services Ads | Lead (call or message) | $20 to $80 a lead, $150 for restoration | Highest: above the search results, Google Guaranteed badge | Every licensed trade in an LSA category, first dollar |
| Google Search | Click | $8 to $80 a click by trade; $50 to $400 a lead | High: the homeowner typed the problem | Installs and replacements, services LSAs do not cover, volume past the LSA cap |
| Meta (Facebook and Instagram) | Click or impression | $2.18 a click, $42.95 a lead (home improvement, 2026) | Low: nobody was looking | Roof replacement after storms, HVAC replacement with financing, remodels, seasonal lawn and cleaning offers |
| Yelp, Nextdoor, Thumbtack, Angi | Click, day or lead | $5 a day and up; shared leads $15 to $150 | Mixed | Market-dependent supplements; see the posts linked below |
| Verdict | LSAs first, Search second, Meta for the replacement and seasonal work, marketplaces as filler. The order barely changes by trade. The budgets and the click prices do. | |||
What a click costs in your trade
These are Google's planner top-of-page estimates for the searches that produce booked jobs, pulled October 6, 2026. Campaign averages usually land 20 to 40 percent under the planner once quality score builds, but the gap between trades is the point.
| Trade | The search that books jobs | Cost per click | Realistic cost per lead | Monthly floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC | ac repair near me $46.82; emergency ac repair $79.30; furnace repair near me $25.47; ac installation $25.43 | $25 to $80 | $150 to $400 | $1,500 |
| Plumbing | plumber near me $39.45; emergency plumber $76.38; drain cleaning near me $41.17; water heater replacement $31.74 | $30 to $76 | $150 to $400 | $1,500 |
| Electrical | electrician near me $23.25; emergency electrician $42.66; panel upgrade $5.70 | $6 to $43 | $80 to $250 | $1,000 |
| Roofing | roof repair near me $39.02; roofing contractor near me $26.82; roof replacement cost $19.96 | $20 to $39 | $124 to $310 | $1,500 |
| Garage doors | garage door repair near me $46.46 | $46 | $150 to $350 | $1,500 |
| Restoration | water damage restoration $48.57; mold remediation near me $32.97 | $33 to $49 | $200 to $500 | $2,500 |
| Pest control | pest control near me $32.48 | $32 | $100 to $200 | $1,000 |
| Windows and siding | window replacement near me $52.83; siding contractors near me $35.58 | $36 to $53 | $200 to $450 | $2,000 |
| Remodeling | bathroom remodel near me $32.29; remodeling contractor near me $11.12; kitchen remodel cost $10.69 | $11 to $32 | $100 to $300 | $1,000 |
| Junk removal, movers | junk removal near me $15.66; movers near me $24.75 | $16 to $25 | $40 to $120 | $600 |
| Painting | painters near me $14.20 | $14 | $50 to $150 | $600 |
| Tree, fence, concrete, gutters | tree service near me $14.85; fence installation near me $13.68; concrete contractor near me $12.52; gutter cleaning near me $13.76 | $12 to $15 | $50 to $150 | $600 |
| Cleaning, lawn, handyman, landscaping | house cleaning near me $10.07; lawn care near me $9.81; handyman near me $8.67; landscaping near me $8.27 | $8 to $10 | $30 to $90 | $600 |
| Verdict | The monthly floor is the budget below which the campaign cannot buy enough clicks to tell you anything. The lead ranges assume a landing page converting 8 to 15 percent of clicks; at 4 percent, double every lead figure and halve the number of trades where PPC makes sense. | |||
Trade-specific setups with the keyword splits and the negative lists are in Google Ads for plumbers, Google Ads for electricians and roofing PPC. The LSA cost table by trade is in Local Services Ads cost.
Not sure which channel comes first for your trade and market?
Fifteen minutes with your Google Business Profile and your service list is enough to say where the first $1,000 goes and what it should buy.
The campaign structure that keeps a lead affordable
Every contractor PPC account that works has the same four pieces, and every one that bleeds is missing at least two.
- Emergency and install in separate campaigns with separate budgets. "Emergency plumber" at $76 and "water heater replacement" at $32 should never share a budget, because Google will spend it on the expensive one. Same for "ac repair near me" against "ac installation," and "roof repair" against "roof replacement." The split lets you turn the emergency campaign off when the phones are full and leave the install campaign running.
- Phrase and exact match with a 200-term negative list. Jobs, salary, school, DIY, how to, parts, free, the brands you do not service, and every city you do not drive to. Google's defaults are broad match and auto-applied recommendations; both are on in a new account and both widen what you pay for.
- A landing page per campaign with a tappable number, a license and three named reviews. The page sets the conversion rate, and the conversion rate sets your cost per lead. Sending clicks to the homepage is the single most common reason a contractor account converts at 3 percent instead of 10.
- Call tracking and a five-minute call-back. Count calls over 60 seconds as conversions and nothing else. Then answer them: Harvard Business Review's audit of 2,241 companies found the average first response to a web lead was 42 hours, and the follow-up system in contractor lead follow-up system is where most accounts double their close rate without touching the bids.
Where Meta fits
Meta leads are the cheapest a contractor can buy and the least ready. The 2026 home improvement benchmark is $2.18 a click, a 5.32 percent conversion rate and $42.95 a lead on lead-generation campaigns, against $90.92 for the same lead on Google Search. The gap is intent: the search lead has a broken furnace today and the Meta lead stopped scrolling at a before-and-after photo. Meta pays for roofing after a storm, HVAC replacement with financing, remodels with strong photos, and seasonal offers in lawn, cleaning and pressure washing. It does not pay for emergency plumbing, and it does not pay for anyone without a CRM that texts the lead inside 60 seconds. Meta's own help center sets no single minimum budget but requires a daily budget at least five times your cost-per-result goal, which for a $40 lead means $200 a day; the practical floor for a contractor is $30 to $50 a day on a lead form campaign. The campaign that works is in Facebook ads for contractors, and the head-to-head is in Google Ads vs Facebook Ads.
What management costs, and when it is worth it
Industry-wide, PPC management for contractors runs 10 to 20 percent of ad spend with $500 to $1,500 monthly minimums, and most agencies will not tell you which until the sales call; only 30 percent of the 271 agencies we audited publish a price. Ours is a flat $600 a month or 12 percent of spend for Google Ads and $300 or 15 percent for Local Services Ads, no contract. The break-even is around $1,500 a month in spend: below that the fee is a third of the budget, above $3,000 a manager's negative list, bid caps and LSA dispute discipline typically recover more than the fee. The HVAC PPC companies roundup shows what the specialist shops charge and how they structure it.
Three things to skip
Performance Max and Display for lead generation. Both spend outside search, both need conversion history to aim, and both produce form spam for a local contractor with a new account. Search only, for 90 days, then decide.
Any PPC before 30 Google reviews. Paid clicks land next to competitors with 200 reviews, and the review count wins the call. The fastest route to 30 is in how to get 100 Google reviews.
Buying budget instead of fixing conversion. If cost per lead is above 15 percent of your average ticket, raising the budget raises the loss. The next $1,000 goes to the landing page, the review profile or the call-back system, and how to get contractor leads ranks every channel by cost per booked job so you can see where PPC actually sits.
Want the numbers run for your shop?
Tell us the trade, the metro and the average ticket. We will price the clicks, estimate the leads, and tell you whether to start with LSAs, Search, Meta or the website.
Frequently asked questions
How much does PPC cost for contractors?
Google Search clicks run $8 to $16 in low-ticket trades (handyman, lawn, cleaning, painting, junk removal) and $35 to $80 in emergency trades (plumbing, HVAC, electrical, garage doors, restoration), producing leads at $50 to $400. Local Services Ads charge $20 to $80 a lead. Meta runs about $2.18 a click and $43 a lead in home improvement. Management adds 10 to 20 percent of spend industry-wide, or a flat $600 a month with us.
Is PPC worth it for contractors?
Yes for licensed trades on Local Services Ads almost everywhere, and yes for Google Search when cost per lead stays under 15 percent of the average ticket, which it does for installs, replacements and most repair work with a converting landing page. No until the website has 30 reviews and the phone is answered inside five minutes, because paid clicks only amplify what the site already does.
What is a good budget for contractor PPC?
$600 a month for low-ticket trades where clicks cost under $16, $1,500 for emergency trades where clicks cost $35 to $80, and $2,500 for restoration and windows. Those are the floors below which the campaign cannot buy enough clicks to produce usable data. Run the budget for 90 days before judging it.
Local Services Ads or Google Ads for contractors?
Local Services Ads first in every trade they cover: pay per lead instead of per click, Google Guaranteed badge, placement above the search ads, and $20 to $80 a lead against $150 to $400 on Search in the same trades. Add Search when LSAs cap out, for installation and replacement searches, and for services outside LSA categories.
Do Facebook ads work for contractors?
For replacement, remodel and seasonal work, yes: $2.18 a click and about $43 a lead in the 2026 home improvement benchmarks. For emergency repairs, no, because nobody with a flooded basement is scrolling. The leads are cold and need a text inside 60 seconds and a call inside five minutes to close at a useful rate.
How much do PPC agencies charge contractors?
Typically 10 to 20 percent of ad spend with $500 to $1,500 monthly minimums, and only about 30 percent of agencies publish the number. Skill Mammoth charges a flat $600 a month or 12 percent of spend for Google Ads and $300 or 15 percent for Local Services Ads, with no contract. Management is worth paying for above roughly $1,500 a month in spend.