Google Ads management — what a Google Ads agency or PPC management service handles — is the work of building, running, and tightening your paid search account so your budget reaches homeowners searching for your trade right now, and those clicks turn into booked jobs instead of wasted spend. A manager handles the keywords, the negative keywords that block junk, the bids, the ad copy, the landing pages, the call and conversion tracking, and the weekly tuning that keeps your cost per lead down. It matters because the home-services average is $7.85 a click and $90.92 a lead — money you either turn into work or hand to Google for nothing.
We're a home-services marketing agency, and we run Google Ads for the trades every day — roofing, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, pest control. So we come in already knowing what a click costs in your trade, which searches book real jobs, and how fast demand swings when a storm hits or the first heat wave breaks. The phone is how your trade gets hired, so we manage the account toward calls that turn into work, not a dashboard of clicks.
When a homeowner types "AC not cooling" or "emergency plumber near me," they aren't browsing — they're ready to hire. Paid search puts you in front of that person at the exact moment they pull out their phone, and in home services that moment isn't cheap: clicks run from $10.49 in plumbing up to $13.74 in painting. The trick is that the trades run on demand spikes, and a managed account moves with them.
Roofing jumps after hail. HVAC triples in the first heat wave and the first freeze. Plumbing spikes when pipes burst. We pre-stage campaigns and scale bids the day demand moves, instead of catching it a week late when the rush is over.
A $12 click is only worth $12 if someone picks up fast. Contacting a web lead within five minutes makes you 21x more likely to qualify it than waiting half an hour. We wire up call tracking and a follow-up workflow so a pricey click doesn't go cold in your inbox.
Built, run, and tightened toward one number: qualified calls per dollar. Here's what management covers.
High-intent terms for your trade, plus a negative list that blocks job-seekers, DIYers, suppliers, and tire-kickers before they cost you a click.
Multiple ad versions per campaign, tested against each other so the wording that books the most calls wins your budget.
The account split by what the homeowner is trying to do, with bids and budgets managed to your seasonality — scaled up when demand hits, pulled back when it's quiet.
Every call recorded and tied to the keyword that drove it, so we optimize toward booked jobs — not clicks that never ring the phone.
Fast, mobile-first pages with click-to-call up top, since most home-service searches happen on a phone and your homepage rarely converts a ready buyer.
Plain GA4 and Looker reporting on cost per lead, calls, and return on ad spend — backed by weekly tuning that cuts wasted spend and tightens bids.
"Google Ads" isn't one thing, and pointing every dollar at a single Search campaign is how contractors overpay. We pick the mix by what books work in your trade and your market:
The core. We bid on high-intent searches ("furnace repair near me," "licensed electrician") and route them to a landing page built to ring your phone. Best for steady, qualified lead flow and for scaling past what LSAs can reach.
Pay-per-lead, Google-Guaranteed, and pinned to the very top — but they cover a narrow set of searches. Cheapest high-trust leads when you qualify, so we run Local Services Ads alongside Search rather than against it.
For installs and higher-ticket jobs with a longer decision (a new roof, a system replacement). PMax spreads reach across Google's network, and retargeting stays in front of the homeowner who clicked but didn't call the first time.
Not sure which mix fits your trade? Our guide to Google Ads management for contractors breaks down Search vs LSA vs PMax, campaign structure, and the weekly work that keeps cost per lead down.
Every page on this search result gates pricing behind a "request a proposal" form, which is exactly why contractors end up confused about retainer vs setup vs percentage of spend. We publish it. Agencies commonly charge 10–20% of ad spend, or a flat $500–$10,000+/mo, usually with a minimum management fee. Here's where we land.
home services; $10.49 plumbing to $13.74 painting
$45 pools/spas up to $228 roofing & gutters — why management matters
Home & Home Improvement conv. rate & cost per lead
Setup runs $500–$1,000. Most contractors land at $2,000–$5,000/mo all-in, or we'll run 15–20% of ad spend if you prefer that model. Month-to-month, and you own the account.
A trades-focused team beats a generalist or doing it yourself on the things that actually move cost per lead: real per-trade data, seasonal speed, an account you keep, and pricing you can see before you sign.
| The Trades Agency | Generalist / budget agency | DIY / in-house | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trade-specific data | Real per-trade CPC and CPL math, keyword & negative lists from actual home-services spend | Generic templates reused across every industry | Learn-as-you-go, paid for in wasted clicks |
| Seasonal speed | Pre-staged campaigns, same-day bid scaling when demand hits | Reacts in days, if it notices at all | Easy to miss the spike entirely |
| Account ownership | You own the Google Ads account and keep all the data | Often locked in their account — you leave with nothing | Yours, along with every mistake in it |
| Pricing | Published up front, flat or % of spend | "Request a proposal" wall | Free, minus the spend you burn learning |
| Reporting | Cost per lead and booked calls in plain GA4 reporting | Dashboards of clicks that never tie to revenue | Whatever you have time to check |
We dig through your account (or your market, if you're starting cold), pull benchmarks for your trade, and find where the budget is leaking.
Keyword and negative lists, campaign structure, ad copy, and landing pages with call and conversion tracking wired in.
Ads go live with call tracking and speed-to-lead running from day one, so no lead slips through unanswered.
Over 30–60 days we cut junk queries, test ad copy, and tune bids toward the searches that book your highest-value jobs.
Plain monthly numbers on cost per lead and return on ad spend, then we push budget into what's booking work and stage campaigns ahead of your busy season.
If you're talking to more than one agency, four questions sort the trades specialists from the rest:
Ask what a click and a lead cost in roofing versus plumbing. If they can't answer, they'll learn it on your budget.
You should keep your Google Ads account and history if you ever leave. Walk from anyone who locks it down or hides the fee.
Cost per lead and booked calls — not a wall of clicks and impressions that never ties back to revenue. This is the #1 thing contractors lose sleep over.
In-house management means faster fixes when your cost per lead climbs. Outsourced means waiting on someone else's queue.
Illustrative examples — realistic, anonymized scenarios that reflect typical home-services Google Ads outcomes, not specific client guarantees.
Still unsure? Call us — a senior strategist picks up.
(888) 555-0142Sample — representative of typical client feedback.
Our old agency ran our HVAC account like every other client they had. The Trades Agency rebuilt it, cut our cost per lead by a third before summer, and actually showed me which keywords were booking installs. First time the reporting made sense.
We were getting clicks and no calls and couldn't figure out why. Turned out half our budget was going to junk searches and there was no call tracking at all. Six weeks after they took over, the phone hasn't stopped.
Get a free growth plan built for your market and trade. You'll talk to a senior strategist — usually same-day.