Google Ads for Home Service Businesses

What changes from one trade to the next?

The mechanics of Google Ads are the same for every trade. What changes is the job: what it is worth, how people search for it, whether they call or fill in a form, when in the year they need it, and whether it is an emergency. A good account is built around those, so each trade below gets a different structure, not the same template with the trade name swapped in.

Three things are the same everywhere: the account is in your name, you get a landing page built for the ads, and every call is tracked and recorded.

Google Ads for roofing companies

Replacement, repair, inspection and storm work are different jobs with very different values, and they cost about the same per click. So the account splits them, bids replacement higher, and keeps storm terms small until a storm actually hits.

The keyword that wastes the most is the trade plus a city on phrase match, because it buys competitors' brand searches.

Roofing is where most of my accounts are, so it has its own page: Google Ads for roofers.

Google Ads for HVAC companies

HVAC has two businesses inside it: system replacements, which are big tickets people research, and repairs, which are urgent and often after hours. Each gets its own campaign and budget, so a no-cool call in July does not eat the replacement budget, and replacement searches get a page that answers price and financing questions.

Demand swings with the weather, so budgets move by season: cooling in summer, heating in winter. Because so much of it is urgent, the ad schedule and who answers the phone after hours decide as much as the bids do.

Google Ads for plumbers

Most plumbing searches are emergencies, and emergencies call rather than fill in forms. So the account is built for calls: tracked numbers on the ads and the page, and emergency repair kept separate from the planned, higher-ticket work like water heaters, repiping and sewer lines, which gets its own campaign and bid.

If nobody answers at night, the account should not run at night.

Local Services is usually strong for plumbers, and I set it up either way.

Google Ads for electricians

Small service calls and bigger projects, such as panel upgrades, EV chargers and generators, sit side by side in electrical searches. The bigger projects get their own campaigns and pages because that is where the margin is, and the small calls are handled so they do not soak up the budget. Licensing matters for Local Services verification, so that is checked first.

Google Ads for remodelers

Kitchen and bathroom remodels are long decisions. People search for ideas and costs weeks before they call anyone, search volume is lower than in the emergency trades, and most leads arrive as forms, not calls.

So the account buys the searches closest to hiring, like "kitchen remodel contractor" and "bathroom remodel cost", and skips the inspiration searches. The page carries real project photos and a straight answer on price ranges, and the form asks for the budget so a small job doesn't take an estimate slot.

Google Ads for basement and foundation companies

A wet basement or a cracked foundation is urgent and worrying, while basement finishing is a planned project. Those are separate campaigns with separate pages. For repair work, an inspection is the natural first step, so the offer on the page is the inspection, not a vague free quote.

Google Ads for siding, window and exterior companies

Siding and window replacement are big-ticket projects with a season. The account splits siding from windows because the buyers and the job values differ, and it runs harder in the months people actually do exterior work. If you advertise financing, the ads need the lender's terms and disclosure text first: "no money down" and similar lines trigger disclosure rules.

Google Ads for painters and concrete contractors

Exterior painting and concrete work, driveways, patios and flatwork, are seasonal and photo-driven, so budgets follow the season and the landing page leads with finished jobs from the area. Interior painting runs year-round at smaller tickets. One note for Canadian painters: Local Services Ads are not open to painters in Canada, so there it is Search and the Business Profile.

Which trades are not a fit?

Businesses whose work is mostly commercial, trades where most jobs are too small for a click to pay back, and anyone who needs a guaranteed number of leads. If your average job is small, Local Services and your Business Profile usually go further than Search, and I'll say so on the call. When Google Ads is not worth it.

What does it cost in any trade?

The same in every trade: $1,000 once to build, then from $1,500 a month, which covers ad spend up to $10,000 a month. Ad spend is separate, at least $2,000 a month, paid straight to Google. Local Services leads are billed by Google per lead. Month to month. How the account is built and the pricing page have the detail.

Elijah Nawrot, founder of Red Orca Digital. Three years on roofs, four running paid ads for roofing companies. Red Orca is a Google Partner. More about me.
Last updated September 24, 2026