Updated September 2026 · Leads first, then you pay
Google Ads management for contractorsThe second engine. Not the first.
Most contractors meet Google Ads the expensive way: broad match, no negatives, no call tracking, and a $2,000 month that produced "drywall jobs hiring" clicks. Run in the right order — after the pay-per-lead ads and the map listing are converting — search campaigns are the cleanest way to buy the planned, big-ticket searches. I build them small, exact and tracked, in an account you own.
Exact-match money terms only
Call tracking on every campaign
Flat fee, never a cut of spend
Your account, your data, always
Want more jobs?
Burned by a Google Ads bill before? Fill this out and I'll tell you what I'd fix.
When I'll run it, and when I won't.
I'll run it for trades Local Services Ads doesn't cover well, for planned big-ticket work (replacements, remodels, repipes, new roofs) where the homeowner researches for weeks, and in metros where the pay-per-lead auction is saturated and a well-built search campaign is cheaper per booked job.
I won't run it before your map listing and website convert (you'd be paying for clicks that land on a page that doesn't ask for the job), on broad match, without call tracking, or on a "brand awareness" budget. If the math doesn't clear on the audit call, I'll say so and we don't run ads.
What I build, exactly.
One campaign per money service — "water heater replacement", "bathroom remodel", "roof replacement" — on exact and phrase match, with a negative-keyword list that starts at 200 terms (jobs, DIY, free, cheap, school, salary).
Call-only and call-extension ads scheduled to the hours a human answers, because a contractor's Google Ads lead is a phone call, not a form.
A landing page per service with price ranges, the phone number above the fold and a three-field form — the same pages that rank organically, so the click budget and the SEO compound together.
Tracking that survives an audit: call tracking numbers, form conversions in GA4 and Google Ads, every lead in the ledger with its keyword and its cost.
Weekly search-term pruning and budget pacing — the boring work that decides whether $1,000 buys eleven calls or two.
Performance Max for Local Services once your LSA account migrates: same pay-per-lead billing, new controls, no gap in delivery.
What it costs.
The same flat monthly fee as everything else I run — quoted on the first call — plus your ad spend, paid to Google inside your own account. No percentage of spend, no setup fee, no contract. Leads land first, slow months are refunded.
The proof that I'll turn ads off.
At my father's drywall company, paid-search sessions fell from 304 to 27 between spring and summer 2026 while leads rose, because the free channels — the map listing and the rebuilt website — took over and I switched the search campaigns off. An agency paid on a percentage of spend never makes that call. The whole run, month by month →
The money questions
Local Services Ads or Google Ads first?+
Local Services Ads first, almost always: you pay per lead instead of per click, the Google Verified check does the trust work, and the setup proves your close rate before any click budget exists. Google Ads comes second, for the trades LSA doesn't cover, for big-ticket planned work, and for markets where the pay-per-lead auction is saturated.
What is the minimum budget for Google Ads for a contractor?+
Enough to buy about ten clicks a day on your exact money terms in your metro — usually $600–$1,500 a month in ad spend for a single trade, paid to Google directly. Below that the data is too thin to learn from; above it only once the close rate is proven.
Do I own the Google Ads account?+
Yes. It is created in your Google account with your billing. I manage it as an admin. Fire me and the account, its history and its data stay yours.
Do you charge a percentage of ad spend?+
No. One flat monthly fee, the same terms as everything else: leads first, slow months refunded, no contract.
Will Performance Max replace my Local Services Ads?+
Google is migrating Local Services Ads into Google Ads as a Performance Max campaign type from August 2026. The pay-per-lead billing and the verification carry over; what changes is the dashboard and the bidding controls. I run both sides of that migration so nothing goes dark mid-season.
