Facebook ads are cheap to start, because you can run them for a few dollars a day, and for home businesses a lead usually costs about $40 to $45. They can work for contractors, but they work best for jobs people plan ahead, like a new patio, a remodel or a roof, and a lot worse for the emergency calls most trades live on.
If you're also thinking about Google, here's what Google Ads cost a trade business.
That's about half the roughly $90 a lead Google Ads averages for home businesses. So why doesn't everyone just run Facebook? It comes down to who sees the ad.
How much do Facebook ads cost?
The latest LocaliQ numbers for home and home improvement businesses put a click at about $0.60 when the ad just sends people to your site, and about $2 when the ad is built to collect leads. A lead from those ads costs about $43 on average, compared with about $27 across all kinds of businesses.
Facebook doesn't charge a monthly fee for the ads. You set a daily or total budget and it spends against that, so you can test with a small amount before you spend real money. If an agency runs them for you, their fee comes on top of what you pay Facebook.
Why are Facebook leads cheaper than Google leads?
The person seeing your ad wasn't looking for you. On Google, someone types "AC not cooling" and your ad shows up while they're already trying to hire someone. On Facebook, they're scrolling past photos of their cousin's kids when your ad shows up, and they stop because it caught their eye, not because they need you today.
That's why they're cheaper, and it's also why a lot of them never pick up when you call back. Plenty of people fill out the form on a whim, forget about it an hour later, and are surprised when a contractor calls. Owners who expect them to act like Google calls usually give up.
Do Facebook ads work for contractors?
They can, for the right job. They tend to do best when the work is something people think about for a while and like to see before they buy, which is why landscapers, remodelers, roofers and pool builders tend to do better on Facebook than electricians or plumbers do.
They're weak for emergencies, because nobody whose basement is flooding opens Facebook to find a plumber. They open Google, so if most of your work is "I need someone today," your money usually goes further where people are already searching.
Facebook also tends to show your ad to the people who are cheapest to reach, and those aren't always the ones who hire. A good ad shows real photos of your work in towns you serve and is clear about what you do and where, so the wrong people scroll past and the right ones stop.
What makes a Facebook ad turn into a job?
Mostly it comes down to what happens after the click, and how fast it happens. These are the things I see make the biggest difference:
- Calling the lead back within minutes, while they still remember filling out the form.
- Asking a question or two on the form, so people who aren't serious don't bother.
- Real photos of your own jobs instead of stock photos of smiling families.
- A website or page they can check before they decide, because most people want to see who you are first.
Is it better to run Facebook ads or Google Ads?
If most of your calls are urgent, Google usually wins, because the people seeing your ad already need the job done. If your work is big, planned and looks good in photos, Facebook can bring cheaper leads. They just take more chasing.
Neither one replaces showing up on Google for free, because that's the side that keeps bringing calls after the ads stop.
One thing to try this week
Look at what kind of jobs you actually want more of.
- Write down your five most profitable jobs from the last few months.
- Next to each one, write whether the customer needed it today or planned it for weeks.
- If most of them were planned, Facebook is worth a small test. If most were urgent, put that money toward showing up on Google first.
Are the jobs you want more of the ones people search for, or the ones people scroll past?
Common questions
- How much do Facebook ads cost for a contractor?
- You can start with a few dollars a day. For home businesses, a click usually costs under a dollar to about $2, and a lead costs about $43 on average.
- Do Facebook ads work for plumbers and electricians?
- They tend to work better for planned, visual jobs like remodels, roofs and landscaping than for emergency calls, because people with an urgent problem search Google instead.
- Why don't Facebook leads answer when I call?
- Many people fill out the form on a whim while scrolling. Calling back within minutes, while they still remember, makes the biggest difference.