How Much Should a Home-Service Business Spend on Marketing?
For home-service businesses, the question of “How much should I spend on marketing?” is both important and surprisingly misunderstood. Many owners base their budget on gut feelings, slow seasons, or what competitors appear to be doing. But effective marketing budgeting isn’t guessing, it’s planning. With rising competition across roofing, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, lawn care, cleaning, and other services, having a clear, strategic budget is more important than ever.
For home-service industries, marketing is not just an expense; it is a revenue-driving investment that directly influences growth, lead consistency, and market share. At CraigAds, we coach home-service companies on building predictable, scalable systems using Branding, Engagement, and Action-focused marketing. A smart budget is the foundation of that system.
Budget by Business Size
Marketing spend usually scales with revenue. As a general rule, home-service companies should expect to invest 5–12% of total revenue into marketing, depending on their growth goals and competitiveness in their market.
In highly competitive home-service markets, businesses often need to spend toward the higher end of marketing benchmarks to maintain visibility and lead volume.
- $500K–$1M businesses often spend 8–12% as they’re still establishing a strong local presence.
- $1M-$3M businesses typically land around 6–10%, balancing growth with operational stability.
- $3M+ companies can often spend closer to 5–7% because they benefit from brand momentum, referrals, and existing customer lists.
Companies in aggressive growth mode, opening new territories, adding trucks, or expanding service lines, often invest more than average.
Budget by Industry
Not all home-service industries behave the same. Some require higher marketing investment due to competition, emergency-based services, or low customer awareness.
Marketing costs vary significantly across home-service industries due to differences in competition, urgency, customer lifetime value, and lead conversion behavior.
- HVAC: Higher spend due to seasonality, competitive PPC markets, and peak-season bidding wars
- Plumbing: Strong competition; emergency services drive high-intent paid search
- Roofing: Big-ticket jobs require heavier branding and engagement campaigns
- Pest control: Recurring revenue allows for steadier budgets with lower CPL targets
- Landscaping & lawn care: Seasonal but predictable; strong returns from local SEO and recurring contracts
- Cleaning services: Lower-ticket jobs but high frequency; budget typically supports volume-based lead generation
Industries where customers make urgent decisions (HVAC, plumbing) often rely more on paid search, which can be costlier. Those with long decision cycles (roofing, remodeling) often invest more in engagement and brand-building.
Long-Term vs. Short-Term Channels
Understanding the difference between long-term and short-term channels helps determine how to allocate the budget.
Short-term (direct response)
These channels generate leads fast and are essential for keeping the schedule full:
- Google Ads
- Local Services Ads (LSA)
- Meta conversion campaigns
- Retargeting
- Lead-generation landing pages
These belong in the “Action” category of CraigAds’ approach, where dollars turn directly into leads and booked jobs.
Long-term (compounding value)
These strategies build brand authority, local visibility, and lower long-term cost-per-lead:
- SEO & service-area pages
- Google Business Profile posting
- Review generation
- Content creation
- Brand campaigns and social visibility advertising
These fall under Branding and Engagement, and while they don’t always produce immediate leads, they significantly reduce acquisition costs over time. Balanced marketing across short- and long-term channels helps home-service businesses reduce reliance on rising ad costs and platform volatility.
The healthiest marketing budgets blend both.
Seasonality
Most home-service industries experience dramatic seasonal swings. The worst mistake owners make is cutting budgets during slow seasons, which only makes the valleys deeper.
Instead:
- Maintain SEO, reviews, and local visibility year-round.
- Use retargeting and brand campaigns during slower months.
- Shift paid search spend to services with off-season demand.
- Build pre-season momentum instead of waiting until it’s too late.
The companies that maintain consistent marketing through slow seasons dominate when peak season arrives.
Sample Budgets
Below are simplified examples for illustration:
HVAC business doing $1.5M/year
- Budget: ~$10,000/month
- Allocation:
- 55% PPC & LSAs
- 20% SEO & content
- 15% social/retargeting
- 10% branding, photography, creative
Plumbing business doing $800K/year
- Budget: ~$6,000/month
- Allocation:
- 60% PPC
- 20% LSA
- 10% retargeting
- 10% reviews & local SEO
Landscaping business doing $2.2M/year
- Budget: ~$12,000/month
- Allocation:
- 40% PPC
- 25% SEO
- 25% social/retargeting
- 10% local content + photography
The exact mix depends on competition, goals, and service lines, but these ranges give a realistic starting point. Home-service marketing budgets should be reviewed quarterly and adjusted based on performance, lead quality, and return on investment.
Mistakes to Avoid
Many home-service businesses struggle not because they aren’t spending enough on marketing, but because they’re spending it inconsistently or without a clear strategy. One of the biggest pitfalls is constantly changing the budget from month to month, which resets algorithm learning cycles and drives up cost-per-lead. Another common mistake is relying too heavily on a single channel, usually Google Ads, without supporting it with SEO, reviews, or retargeting. Businesses also get into trouble when they cut long-term investments like SEO or brand visibility too early, expecting instant results instead of compounding growth. A large portion of wasted spend also comes from poor tracking: if calls, forms, and booked jobs aren’t tied back to specific channels, owners end up guessing their ROI. Many companies also underestimate the impact of local SEO, review generation, and their Google Business Profile, all of which directly affect conversions. And finally, skipping monthly marketing meetings leads to slow reactions, outdated strategies, and missed opportunities. These mistakes are all avoidable, but only with a stable, intentional approach. Setting marketing budgets without clear revenue goals often results in inefficient spending and unpredictable outcomes for home-service businesses.
Recommendations
The best approach for home-service businesses to budget is with intention, not emotion. Set a consistent monthly spend tied to a percent of revenue. Allocate those dollars across a balanced mix of Branding, Engagement, and Action channels so that your short and long term growth stays aligned. Commit to year-round investment, especially during slow seasons, so you don’t lose visibility when competitors pull back. Make tracking non-negotiable: calls, forms, jobs, and revenue attribution should all flow into a single dashboard so you always know what’s working. Meet monthly with your marketing partner or internal team to analyze performance, identify trends, and plan optimizations based on data rather than panic. Finally, evaluate marketing in 12-month cycles, not 30-day sprints.
For home-service industries, marketing performance compounds over time when budgets are consistent, data-driven, and aligned with long-term growth goals. When you budget consistently, measure accurately, and adjust strategically, marketing becomes a predictable engine for growth rather than a monthly guessing game.