Buyer’s guide · Contractors

Marketing for contractors: every way to get customers, compared (2026)

There are five ways a contractor gets new customers: free listings and reviews, ads you run, leads you buy, people you pay to run it, and mail. Which mix fits depends on your budget, how fast you can call back, and whether you want leads now or a business that brings in work on its own. This guide compares 26 options on price, lead sharing and the time they take, using each company’s own pages.

By Eric Smith, founder of Outfitter AI and a former general contractor · Prices checked October 4, 2026

The short answer: where to start

Whatever you pick, Google is where most homeowners start. In BrightLocal’s 2026 survey, 52% of consumers started their most recent local business search on Google Search [3], and 97% read reviews for local businesses [1]. That’s why the free profile and a steady stream of reviews come before any paid option on this page.

The order to do things in

Most owners start with whatever salesperson called last. A better order is to build the things that make every later dollar work harder, then add paid channels one at a time so you can tell what’s working. Here’s the order we’d follow with a 1 to 25 person shop, and why.

1. Google Business Profile and reviews. Google says creating a profile and listing your business “is free” [4]. It’s the listing that shows on Maps and in local results, and it’s where reviews live. Reviews decide a lot: in BrightLocal’s 2026 survey, 68% of consumers said they’ll only use a business with four or more stars, and 31% want 4.5 or better [1]. Answer every review, good and bad; 80% said they’re likely to use a business that responds to all of its reviews [1]. Ask for a review the day the job is done, by text, while the customer is still happy. Search isn’t the only place people look anymore, either: BrightLocal found nearly half of consumers are now asking AI tools for business recommendations [2], one more reason to keep your public listing complete and current.
2. A simple website. Every ad, postcard and review eventually sends someone to check you out. They want to see what you do, where you work, photos of real jobs and a phone number they can tap. It doesn’t need to be fancy, it needs to load fast on a phone and make calling easy. Our website builder guide compares the options.
3. Google ads: Local Services Ads if your trade qualifies, then search ads. These catch people searching right now, which is the closest thing to a ringing phone you can buy. Local Services Ads charge for leads (calls and messages), not clicks, and your trade has to be one Google covers and screens. Search ads charge per click and only pay off with a website that converts and someone watching the account.
4. Facebook, Instagram and Nextdoor. These reach people who aren’t searching yet: the homeowner who’s been meaning to redo the deck. Leads cost less on average but are colder, so they work best for visual trades and seasonal offers. Good before-and-after photos matter more than clever copy.
5. Referrals and repeat customers. The cheapest job you’ll ever book is from someone who already paid you once. A maintenance reminder, a seasonal check-in or a referral thank-you costs pennies per customer. If you’re on job software, this is often already built in.
6. Direct mail. Postcards to the streets around a job you just finished, or to past customers, build recognition that makes your other marketing work better. Mail rarely makes the phone ring the day it lands, so treat it as a steady drumbeat, not a switch.

You don’t have to do all six at once. Most small shops do steps 1 and 2 in the first month, add one paid channel, and only add the next once they can say what the first one costs per booked job (see tracking below).

Rented leads vs. things you keep

Every marketing dollar buys one of two things. Some buys a rented lead: it shows up while you pay and stops the day you stop. Some buys an asset you keep: a review, a customer on your list, a profile that ranks. Both have a place. The mistake is spending everything on rented leads and having nothing to show for it in three years.

Shared leads, explained honestly

Lead marketplaces sell a homeowner’s request to more than one contractor. Angi’s Market Match says “leads are sent to you and up to three other pros” [8]. Porch says it will “never allow more than four professionals to buy a single lead” [10]. Networx’s shared plan sends each lead to up to four contractors, at $10 to $100+ a lead, or $15 to $120+ for an exclusive lead that goes to you alone [9]. Thumbtack and Bark don’t say on the pages we checked how many pros can respond to one request.

When four contractors get the same phone number, the homeowner usually goes with whoever calls first and sounds competent. That makes marketplaces a good fit for a shop with someone at a desk who can call back in five minutes, and a frustrating one for an owner who checks messages at lunch. Angi also says lead credits don’t cover customers who don’t call back or jobs you don’t win, because those are built into its lead pricing (see the Angi profile).

None of that makes marketplaces bad. They’re the fastest way to put estimates on the calendar in a slow week, and some trades live on them. Just know what you’re buying: a chance at a job, not a customer.

What you keep when you stop paying

• Reviews. A five-star review on your Google profile keeps working for years, for free. Google’s paid local ads sync from your profile too, so reviews help there as well.
• Your customer list. Names, addresses, phone numbers and what you did for them. This is the list you mail, text and email for repeat work and referrals. If a marketplace or agency holds it and you don’t, ask for an export.
• Your profile and website. A Google Business Profile and website that rank keep bringing calls between ad campaigns. If an agency builds your site, get it in writing who owns the site, the domain and the ad accounts if you leave.
• Followers and neighbors who know your name. Facebook followers and Nextdoor recommendations stay after the ad stops, though they’re worth less than a list you control.

A reasonable rule of thumb for a small shop: use rented leads to cover the gaps, and make sure every job they produce turns into something you keep: a review request, a spot on your list, a photo for the website.

The 2026 change to Google Local Services Ads

If you run Local Services Ads (the ads with the Google verified badge at the top of local searches), they’re changing. Google is moving them into the main Google Ads platform as Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals, in phases that start with select US home-service and storefront advertisers in August 2026 (the details are in the Local Services Ads profile below). What doesn’t change is how you pay: Google says you “still only pay for valid leads (such as phone calls and messages) rather than ad clicks” [5].

What that means in practice for a small shop:

• Download your old reports now. Google says past performance data won’t carry over to the new campaigns, so export your lead history and cost per lead before your account moves.
• Expect a different screen and different controls. Manual bidding goes away in the new setup, and you’ll manage it inside Google Ads instead of the separate Local Services app.
• Know your budget ceiling. Google says monthly spend won’t exceed your average daily budget times 30.4.
• Keep disputing bad leads. Pay-per-valid-lead only protects you if you review leads and flag the ones that weren’t real customers.
• Keep your Google Business Profile in shape. Your reviews and profile are what the ads draw from, and they’re yours whether or not you keep advertising.

Google doesn’t publish a lead price for these ads, and cost per lead varies by trade and city. If an agency or salesperson quotes you a “typical” LSA lead cost, ask where the number comes from.

All 26 options compared

Prices are what each company lists on its own pricing or help pages, checked October 4, 2026, before ad spend, taxes and add-ons unless noted. “Not listed” means we couldn’t find it on the company’s own pages, not that it doesn’t exist. “Quote only” means the company doesn’t publish prices. Ask before you sign.

Each option, in plain terms

Do it yourself on the big platforms

Google Business Profile is free and should come first. The paid options (Local Services Ads, search ads, Facebook and Instagram, Nextdoor, Yelp) let you start with a small budget and stop any time, and the inquiries come only to you. The cost is your time: ads need watching, and Google is moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads starting August 2026.

Lead marketplaces

Angi, Thumbtack, Networx, Porch and Bark sell you homeowner requests. They’re the fastest way to fill a slow week, but most leads go to up to four contractors, the first to call usually wins, and when you stop paying the leads stop. Few publish lead prices; Networx and Bark are the exceptions.

Agencies and done-for-you services

Someone else runs your website, SEO and ads for a monthly fee, on top of ad spend. Most contractor agencies quote privately and some want a 12-month contract; Hook Agency and Footbridge Media publish prices, at very different levels. Pay-as-you-go services like ours sit between doing it yourself and hiring an agency.

Marketing built into job software

If you already run your shop on Jobber, Housecall Pro or ServiceTitan, their marketing add-ons send review requests, emails and postcards to customers you’ve already served. That’s the cheapest repeat and referral work you’ll get, but none of them find strangers for you.

Review and messaging tools

These ask every customer for a Google review automatically and help you answer them. NiceJob and Broadly publish prices from about $75 to $79 a month; Podium and Birdeye are quote only and lean toward bigger or multi-location companies. Your job software may already do the basics.

Direct mail

Postcards still work for neighborhood trades. USPS Every Door Direct Mail is the cheapest at 26 cents a piece in postage if you print and drop off yourself; services like Taradel and PostcardMania print and mail for you at a higher per-piece price. Mail builds recognition more than it produces instant calls.

How to tell what’s working: cost per booked job

Cost per lead, cost per click and impressions are the numbers vendors like to report, because they always look decent. The number that pays your bills is cost per booked job: what you spent on a channel in a month, divided by the jobs that channel actually put on the schedule. Better still, compare it to the gross profit on those jobs.

A made-up example to show the math: spend $600 on a channel in a month, book four jobs from it, and that’s $150 per booked job. Whether that’s good depends entirely on your average ticket and margin: fine for a $9,000 roof, painful for a $150 service call.

1. Ask every caller “how did you hear about us?” Write the answer in your job software or a notebook, every time. It’s the oldest tracking method there is, it’s free, and it catches word of mouth and yard signs that no software sees. Have your answering service or office ask it too.
2. Use a separate phone number for each channel. Call tracking services give you a forwarding number for each ad, mailer or listing, so you can count calls by source without relying on memory. If you put a tracking number on your Google profile, ask the provider how to keep your main business number listed so your contact details stay consistent across the web.
3. Tag web forms. Most website builders and ad platforms can tell you which ad or page a form came from. Turn that on.
4. Count booked jobs, not leads. At the end of each month, tally spend and booked jobs per channel. Some channels produce lots of leads that never book; others produce fewer that book more often. Only your own numbers will tell you which is which for your shop.
5. Give each channel enough time. A month of ads is enough to see a trend. Reviews, SEO and mail take longer. Judge them on a season, not a week.

For a sense of scale, LocaliQ’s 2026 Facebook benchmarks put home and home-improvement lead campaigns at $2.18 a click and $42.95 a lead [6]. That’s vendor research from an ad company, the date range isn’t stated, and it’s cost per lead, not per booked job. Use it to sanity-check a quote, not to plan a budget.

Plan the budget around your season

Most trades don’t have twelve equal months, so a flat monthly marketing budget usually spends too much when you’re already booked out and too little when the phone goes quiet. A better plan follows your calendar:

• Four to six weeks before your busy season, turn up the channels that catch people searching (Google ads, Local Services Ads) and make sure your profile, photos and reviews are fresh. That’s when homeowners start looking.
• In the busy season, pull back paid spend if you’re booked out. Paying for leads you can’t schedule wastes money and earns bad reviews. Keep asking every customer for a review: busy months are when you collect the most.
• As the season ends, mail or message past customers about the next service (a tune-up, a fall cleanup, a gutter check) and sell maintenance plans.
• In the slow months, lean on the channels that create demand: Facebook and Nextdoor offers, postcards to neighborhoods you want more work in, and, if you need jobs fast, a marketplace for a few weeks.

When the busy months are depends on your trade and your climate. Our trade guides lay out the seasons and what to market in each:

Common questions

Sources and how we compared

We compared the marketing options a 1 to 25 person home-service company would realistically consider: free listings, self-serve ad platforms, lead marketplaces, contractor agencies, marketing built into job software, review tools and direct mail. Prices and terms come from each company’s own pricing, feature or help pages, opened October 4, 2026; where a company’s own page wouldn’t load we say so and name the page we used instead. Where a company doesn’t publish something we say “not listed” or “quote only”. Industry benchmarks from ad companies are labeled as vendor research. We left out general freelancers and the thousands of local agencies that don’t publish prices or terms.

1. BrightLocal: Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 — 2026; survey of 1,002 US adults
2. BrightLocal: Consumers, AI and trust in local business recommendations — 2026
3. BrightLocal: Consumer search behavior and channels — 2026; survey of 1,227 US consumers
4. Google Business Profile
5. Google Ads Help: Local Services Ads moving to Performance Max
6. LocaliQ: Facebook advertising benchmarks — 2026; vendor research, date range not stated
7. USPS Every Door Direct Mail
8. HomeAdvisor (Angi) pro help: how Market Match leads work
9. Networx help: How much do leads cost?
10. Porch pro guide
11. Outfitter AI pricing

Last updated October 4, 2026. Prices change; if something here is out of date, call or text (507) 628-0400 and we’ll fix it.

Related: All contractor guides · Answering services for contractors · Website builders for contractors · Outfitter marketing