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Cost Of Marketing For Construction Companies In 2026

The cost of marketing for construction companies in 2026 is the biggest question now.

But the right kind of marketing is invaluable.

  • The cost of SEO for contractors makes sense when your website gets you leads
  • The cost of paid ads makes sense when you're capturing all demand and creating new demand
  • The cost of social media makes sense when every homeowner knows who you are

Still, how much does SEO, PPC, Meta ads, or doing social media costs?

Let’s figure out how much should contractors spend on marketing in 2026.

Cost Of Different Marketing Strategies For Contractors

While ‘marketing’ for contractors can be viewed as a heuristic strategy…

It’s made up of a lot of components.

  • SEO and Local SEO
  • Google Ads
  • Facebook Ads
  • Offline Branding (Yard signs, wrapped trucks, brochures, door hangers, etc.)
  • Social Media (TikTok, Instagram, Facebook)
  • And other, smaller parts

The ‘other, smaller parts’ are either too small of an investment to talk about…

Or are simply not worth investing money in unless you’re cashing in over $15M annually.

We’ll discuss the cost of the most impactful marketing strategies for construction companies.

cost of SEO And Local SEO For Contractors

You’re somewhat lucky. Here’s why…

SEO and Local SEO in the construction industry is still in its infancy.

This means not a lot of contractors are doing it.

So if you’re starting now, you’ll leave a huge gap between you and your competitors.

The cost of SEO and Local SEO for contractors start, on average, from $1,500/mo.

Growth of website visitors for a new website. The more clicks, the more prospects turning into leads.

Cost Of Google Ads

The cost of Google Ads depends a lot on your niche, your service area, and your competitors.

If you’re a kitchen and bath remodeler in New York City, you’ll need to bid more for leads because the competiton is much higher. The cost per good lead can be as high as $500.

If you’re a deck builder in a smaller city where the competition is almost none, a good, qualified lead can cost as little as $100.

Even so, this cost gradually goes down if you have a well-known brand and a good reputation in the area.

Your Google Ads manager should do a research on the average cost per lead in your area, and based on that, you can determine a good budget to get the number of leads you want. 

The cost of running Google Ads is made of your ads budget (the money that goes to Google) and the management fee (that goes to your agency). Management fees start from $1,500 and is directly proportionate to your ads budget.

The budget of one of our clients for Google Ads, the number of leads, and the cost per lead. Out of 155 high-quality leads, how many could you sell?

Cost Of Facebook Ads

Running ads on Facebook (or Meta) is different than on Google.

Here, the leads are much cheaper than on Google, but also of lower quality.

The reason behind is simple…

On Google, people have the intent of buying…

On Facebook, people are browsing for entertainment.

The best way to use Facebook Ads is to create demand in your market with the right kind of ads.

The cost of running Facebook Ads is made of the ads budget and the management fee. We recommend a minimum budget of $2,000, as the management fee starts from $1,500 as well.

The number of leads and the cost per lead for Facebook Ads. These ads are meant to generate demand but also capture the existing demand for this client’s product, decks.

cost of social media

Unless you’re running a $15+ MILLION dollar construction company…

Social media should be your last concern.

And there’s a good reasons for this.

Your target audience is not there…

The quality of the leads will be very low…

And if you don’t have a powerful brand already, it’ll be hard to gain engagement.

Social media fans might hate me for this…

But wouldn’t you rather spend $1,500 to get leads that pay you money instead of getting likes and views on TikTok?

The cost of doing TikTok, Instagram and Facebook starts from $1,000/mo, depending on how many pieces of content (posts, reels, videos, etc.) you want per month.

Reels, TikToks, and posts are always a hit or miss. You can get a lot of brand awareness from a reel that pulled 445,500 to your account, or a qualified lead from a reel that got 700 views. 

Figuring marketing spend based on Goals

The cost of marketing for construction companies depends on your goals.

  • Spend between 3-7% of your revenue is you want to maintain the spot you're currently in
  • Spend between 7-15% of your revenue if you want to grow predictably and make more money
  • Spend over 15% of your revenue if you want to expand aggressively and dominate the area

Marketing Spend Calculator

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3 things to keep in mind when talking about the cost of marketing

The numbers above are just averages, and you shouldn’t take them to heart.

In fact, the cost of marketing has quite a few variables you’ll want to keep in mind…

#1 Not all leads Are Worth Their Money

Say you’re spending $300 for a lead on Angi that other 10 contractors get…

Or you spend $300 for a lead on Google ads that only you got…

Which do you think it’ll be easier to sell?

Besides, on Google Ads you can filter a lot of leads so you only get the high-value clients, not the guy who wants a new kitchen for $10,000.

#2. Consider Where You're At With Your Business

If you’re just starting out, take it slow and focus on building trust and a portfolio of projects.

If you’ve been constantly growing, start investing more and more in marketing, based on advice from a professional. Maybe you don’t need to spend thousands on Ads at the stage you’re at.

If you’ve been stuck making the same money each year, or even less and less, you might be spending money on something that’s not worth it, and you need a different approach.

#3. Think about where do you want to get

Do you have all the systems in place and you want to grow aggressively?

Do you want to see a progressive growth, adding $500k – $1M in revenue yearly?

Or do you want to get all the systems in place before you grow any further?

It’s important to set your goal and talk with your marketing partner about the best way to achieve it.

Best marketing strategies to invest in 2026 For Contractors

So, what’s making remodelers, landscapers, painters, and deck builders the most money in terms of marketing?

SEO and local seo

Whether you’re remodeling kitchens and baths, building homes, decks, or doing landscapes, SEO and Local SEO are a must-have.

It’s the most important strategy that’ll get you local leads with high intent of buying.

Google And Facebook ads

Capture all existing demand for your service with Google Ads…

And create more demand for your service with Facebook Ads.

With the right offer, running paid ads is a powerful lead generation machine that keeps on running.

Branding

Build trust locally with a powerful image that inspires trust, professionalism, and reliability.

Door hangers, wrapped trucks, wrapped trailers, brochures, and yard signs are just a few of the branding elements that’ll make homeowners want to work with you.

This trio is all the marketing you need. Inspire trust and professionalism with branding, capture existing demand with local SEO and Google Ads, and create more demand with Facebook Ads.

How Do You Know Marketing Is Profitable?

Now that’s the hard part for almost everyone.

And that’s because contractors don’t have a proper lead attribution in place.

They don’t know if any of the Facebook leads closed and for how much.

Same with Google Ads.

If you don’t track every single lead you’ll get, you’ll never know where your best clients and best jobs are coming from.

And this is what we’re changing with Empire CRM.

EmpireCRMlogo

Empire CRM allows you to track ALL of your leads from the initial contact with your website until you close them.

It tracks phone calls and form submissions from Facebook, Google, Social Media, Local SEO, and your branding assets in real world…

So that you’ll always know which marketing channel brought you the best leads and jobs.

Empire CRM will also make nurturing leads a lot easier with automated text messages and emails so you can sell them easier!

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cost of NOT doing marketing For Your Construction Business

Marketing is not cheap, especially the kind of marketing that brings results.

But you know this very well…

You need to spend money to make money.

And when you look back and see that the $5,000 you spent on running ads…

Brought you 5 leads that you closed for over $30,000 each…

You realize that marketing, ads, SEO, and branding are worth it.

All you need to do is choose the marketing partner that’s in your corner and wants you to succeed.

And that’s our mission at Contracting Empire.

If you want to learn more about the cost of marketing for your construction company and what to expect, you can always ask us.

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