Google Ads for contractors pay when the job is worth a lot, your area is wide enough to get clicks, and you can answer the phone. They are a poor fit for a small crew with a thin margin, because every click costs money whether or not the person ever hires you. Compare any ad spend with leads you could buy by cost per signed job, not cost per click.
Most searches for this phrase come from the United States, where the word is “contractor”. In Australia and New Zealand the same business is a builder or tradie. The mechanics are the same in all three. PreBuild works in Australia and New Zealand and is opening in the United States; it is not running ads for US contractors yet. For the Australian builder version of this decision, see Google Ads or buying leads.
How Google Ads for contractors charge
With most search campaigns you pay when someone clicks, not when they call or hire you. Google explains in its auction overview that your bid is the most you are willing to pay for a click, and what you actually pay is often less. Ads that rank higher may cost more per click. Better keywords, ads and assets can win a higher position at a lower price.
That has two effects. You cannot know the click price before you start, because it is set in the auction each time. And you pay for clicks from people who were never going to hire anyone.
Google also has a different product for local trades, Local Services Ads, with its own rules and its own way of charging. We explain it in how Local Services Ads charge.
Why the cost per click is high in home trades
Google’s Keyword Planner gives estimated bids for a phrase. Those are estimates, not what advertisers paid and not what you will pay, so we are not quoting any here. The honest number is the one in your own account after a few months.
What is true without a number: in home trades the click is expensive for a reason. A signed job is worth thousands, so many contractors are willing to bid high, and the auction rewards that. The same logic means a small business in a crowded city may pay the most for the least.
What a click needs to become a job
A click is the first of five steps, and you lose people at each:
- The person clicks.
- They land on a page that fits what they searched.
- They ring or fill in the form.
- You reach them, and they are in your area and want the work.
- They accept your quote.
Cutting waste at the top is cheap. Google’s search terms report shows the actual queries that triggered your ads. Add the wrong ones, such as “jobs”, “course”, “diy” or “free”, as negative keywords. Google says negative keywords do not match close variants, so add plurals and synonyms yourself. Misspellings, it says, are handled for you.
Waste at the bottom is harder to see. Ringing back late, quoting people outside your area and quoting people only collecting prices all happen after the ad has done its work, and no setting in the account fixes them.
Ads you own versus leads you buy
The fair comparison is the cost of one signed job each way. Control, data and how quickly each starts are weighed in the builder guide linked above. Here is the sum itself, with made-up numbers for illustration only.
If you spend $3,000, win 3 jobs and the average job earns you $6,000 in gross profit, ads cost $1,000 per job. If a bought lead costs a set price and you win 1 in 5, the maths is that price times five. Put in your real figures. What a lead is worth to your business shows how to work out your side.
Ads give you something you keep: the account history, the keywords that worked, the pages. Bought leads give speed, with no learning period. Many businesses end up using both.
When ads do not suit a small crew
- You work in a small area, so few people search for your service nearby and the budget buys little.
- You cannot answer the phone during the day. Missed calls are paid clicks wasted.
- Your jobs are small or low margin, so the click price eats the profit.
- You are booked for months. More enquiries will not help.
- You have no time to review the search terms every week.
In those cases a referral habit, a good Google Business Profile or buying checked leads may do more. Google’s own help says the number of reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking, and that you cannot pay for a better local ranking.
Tracking a click to a signed job
You cannot judge ads without following each lead to the end. Google’s offline conversion import works by storing the click ID with each lead and sending it back to Google when the sale happens in the office or on the phone. Google’s page says these uploads moved to its Data Manager API from 15 June 2026, so follow the current instructions.
Even without the import, a simple sheet works: date, where the lead came from, whether you reached them, whether you quoted, whether you won. After three months you can divide spend by signed jobs.
If you would rather have someone run the account for you, PreBuild sets up ads in your own account. For the Facebook side of the same question, read Facebook ads and lead quality.
Common questions
Are Google Ads worth it for contractors?
They can be when the job is large and you have the time to manage the account and answer calls. Judge them by cost per signed job over several months.
How much do Google Ads cost for a contractor?
It depends on your trade, city and competition. Google’s Keyword Planner gives estimates, not guarantees, and you pay per click in the auction. Your own records are the only reliable figure.
Is it cheaper to buy leads than run Google Ads?
Sometimes, sometimes not. Compare the cost of one signed job each way, using your win rate.
Do I need a website to run Google Ads?
You need a page for the click to land on. A page about the specific job beats a home page.