Facebook Ads Vs. Google Ads: Here’s Which One Will Work Better For Your Construction Business

Especially for contractors, making sure you’re investing in the right advertising platform is crucial.

And if you’re in the situation where you’re deciding whether to spend money on Facebook Ads or Google Ads, this article will help you make the right choice.

Let’s dive right in and see which of these two options will grow your contracting business more efficiently.

What Are Facebook Ads

As of 2024, Facebook had 3.07 billion active users that spend, on average, around 33 minutes on the platform.

Your audience, homeowners in their 40s, 50s and more, spend a lot of time on Facebook so it makes sense to have an ad or two up there.

Or does it?

Generally, if you’re scrolling on Facebook you want to have a laugh, relax, and see what your friends and family are up to.

It’s unlikely that homeowners are there to be reminded they need a new deck, a bath makeover, or new kitchen cabinets.

As a result, most people that see an ad on Facebook will skip or browse past it without even flinching.

There will be some that click on the ad, but they’ll be highly unqualified leads…

But if your ad and your offer is good, you can get some very cheap leads that might actually want to work with you.

This client is getting leads for as cheap as $28.78 for projects worth over $30,000. We’ve made their ads work so well that they’ve added over $3 Million in revenue since we started doing their ads.

What Are Google Ads

The term “bathroom remodeling near me” is Googled over 40,500 times every month. Over 40,500 homeowners looked online for “deck builders” as well, and some other 27,100 searched for “kitchen remodel near me.”

This tells us there’s a ton of homeowners who are actively looking for services like yours.

And here’s the best part of it…

These are all qualified leads that are ready to get a quote and hire you if your offer is good enough.

Having a Google Ad running for what homeowners are looking for will result in more website traffic, more inbound calls, more pricing quote requests, more consultations, and, ultimately, more profit for your business!

Above, you’ll see how many people search on Google for queries like ‘kitchen remodel’, ‘kitchen renovation’, ‘kitchen contractor’, etc. Over 90,500 people monthly are interested in kitchen remodels. You can target all these people with your ads!

In a nutshell:

Facebook Ads Vs. Google Ads Breakdown

There are pros and cons to running Facebook Ads and Google Ads for your construction business. Below, I made a breakdown so you can see the main differences.

#1. Setup

For Facebook Ads, you’ll first want to create a Facebook Ads Manager that’ll allow you to create and control the ads that you’ll be running.

For Google Ads, you’ll need a Google account, something you probably already have. If not, click here to start creating one. With that account, you’ll log into Google Ads, and then you can start creating your first campaign.

Both these platforms have made it easy to start the most basic campaign and get an ad running. However, there are a ton of options you can select, and the lingo is very difficult to understand if you’ve never done ads before (like CPC, CTR, bidding, campaigns, ad sets, and so on).

#2. Some Of The Most Important Tools

Facebook Ads puts at your disposal various tools to track and optimize the ads you’re running. Some of the most important ones are:

Google Ads is a bit more versatile in terms of tools. Some of its best tools include:

#3. Ease Of Use

Facebook and Google’s ultimate goal is for you to spend money advertising on their platforms, so they made it extremely easy to do so even without a professional. You can create a very basic ad with just a few clicks.

However, keep in mind that Smart Campaigns on Google or Facebook are far from the real power that advertising has when taking time with it. Besides, you won’t have access to all the great tools that make your ad work.

#4. Overall Cost

Generally, it’ll be cheaper for you to run Facebook Ads because, as we said earlier, the leads you’ll get will be of lower quality.

You’ll spend a little bit more with Google Ads, but the leads that come through are more valuable because these people are ready to buy; they just don’t know from where.

All in all, it comes down to how much you can lower the cost per click of your ads. If you’re working with someone good at it, you can sell a $30k job at the cost of a few bucks, which is 100% worth it.

#5. Support

We’ve had multiple meetings with both Facebook Ads and Google Ads Support teams, and all ended with similar advice… “increase your budget.”

If there’s a thing you need to understand is that these platforms exist to make money. In fact, out of Google’s $279.81 billion in revenue, approximately $162.45 billion came from ads. On the same note, Facebook (or Meta) generated $135 billion in ad revenues in 2023.

With that being said, if you want real, practical support, consult with a professional. At Contracting Empire, we manage thousands of dollars in ad spent for multiple contracting businesses around the U.S., and we’re more than happy to help you out with your ads!

#6. Leads Quality

Because Facebook will show your ad to a larger pool of people, you’ll get a ton of exposure and that will lead to a lot of cheap, unqualified, hard-to-sell leads. With a good offer, you’ll have a decent shot at closing these leads.

Leads from Google are fewer but more valuable. This is because you’re advertising on a platform where people are actively searching for what you offer. It’s like you searching for the best restaurants in your town, except your prospects search for contractors, deck builders, remodelers, and so on.

Tip: There’s a learning curve on both Facebook and Google ads. It takes time for the algorithm to fully understand the type of client you want, so it keeps optimizing until it finds the perfect matches.

#7. Flexibility

Both Google and Facebook allow you to go very granular with your ads campaigns, targeting only mobile users, users from a particular location, or even users of a particular age.

You can also adjust your budgets as you go, set up a maximum cost per click, and choose different ways to measure the ads’ success (clicks, conversions, website visits, calls, forms submitted, etc.)

Google Ads is flexible in terms of integrations as well, as you can tie it to other Google services, i.e., Google Analytics, or your CRM, whether it’s Zapier, Buildertrend, or any other app you use. Facebook has its own CRM, but you can also link it to your preferred app.

The Pitfalls Of Managing Your Ads Alone

We’ve worked with contractors who were losing so much money on their ads that we couldn’t believe it.

Imagine spending thousands to run an ad that only shows to people 3 states away. Or showing an ad of a service you don’t even offer. Or even worse, an ad to a page that doesn’t exist on the internet.

You get the point… it’s a huge waste of money.

Here are some other downsides of creating and managing your ads by yourself.

Constant Maintenance

Ads maintenance encompasses a large number of activities, from just making sure a wrong keyword didn’t drain your budget overnight to using apps that would block potential spammers from clicking your ad just to eat away your money.

Some of the things you’ll have to do almost on a daily are:

The maintenance to-do list is long, but crucial if you want your ads to perform well.

Funnels Building

Lots of people wait for their phones to start ringing when all the work they did was swiping their credit cards and pressing a button to start their ads.

That’s simply not how it works.

One of the most important things marketers do is create funnels.

A funnel is a sequence of ads and landing pages that first captures the leads, warms them up really well, and then hits them one last time with an ad so good that they immediately request a quote or call you.

At Contracting Empire, we have a tried and tested, bulletproof funnel that guarantees a profitable ads campaign, be it on Google or Facebook. This is our blueprint for the success of any ad, and we’re only sharing it with contractors who truly want more for their business. Do you?

Facebook Ads Vs Google Ads For The Stage You're At

Here are some easy guidelines that apply to most contracting businesses. This is what we also follow as a roll-out for many of our clients (unless there are some other nuances that we’ll catch in the industry).

Starting out: Always go with a Local Service Ad. These are perfect for local businesses, especially home service providers. It can also work with a lower budget.
$300k+ in revenue: Start doing Google search ads. These are great to target qualified prospects. They cost more, but the return on investment is HUGE.
$700k+ in revenue: Start running Facebook ads for a good offer (e.g. a free fireplace for all decking projects, a free kitchen range for all kitchen remodels, or a discount). Facebook ads is great for scaling and reaching a larger pool of prospects.
$1M+ in revenue: Combine both Google Ads and Facebook Ads. Have different campaigns and offers and test multiple angles and services. It's time to really start growing!

Case Study: How Is Deck Bros Dominating Omaha’s Decking Industry With Google Ads

Below, you’ll see some snippets of Deck Bros’ journey with Google Ads and their progress in the span of 12 months.

First things first, let’s talk about what each of the colors means.

Keep in mind that all these 72 were qualified leads, homeowners interested in building a deck.

Sep 1 - Dec 31 2022

Jan 1 2023 - Apr 30 2023

May 1 2023 - Aug 11 2023

Aug 11 2023 - Dec 10 2024

Notice how we constantly dropped the cost per lead for one of our biggest clients. In 16 months, Deck Bros got 791 leads from Google alone, at a cost per lead of $87.82. Considering the average cost of a deck is around $25,000, it would’ve been enough for Deck Bros to close 3 of the 791 leads to break even. Luan closed more than half of those leads.

Read Deck Bros’ full case study and story here.

Who’s Contracting Empire?

We’re a team of marketers dedicated entirely to contractors and skyrocketing their construction businesses.

Our goal is for you to make enough money so you don’t have to worry about the future of the construction industry. You’ll be one of the very few businesses that thrive even during a recession.

Over the years, we’ve handled dozens of ad campaigns for contractors in every industry you can think of, from painting to full home remodels. If you want the certainty that your ads are working and you’re growing your business predictably, let’s start working on your ads!