Before you spend on Google Ads for your contracting business

Before paying to bring more people to your business, decide what should happen when they contact you. A campaign can produce enquiries you cannot serve, calls nobody answers or requests for work you no longer want.

Preparation starts with a specific offer, clear service boundaries and a way to follow an enquiry through to its outcome. Those decisions help you judge the campaign on the work it brings, rather than the activity it reports.

Pick one service and a realistic area

Start with a service you can describe clearly and have capacity to deliver. Identify the locations you can cover at a sensible cost, the jobs you will accept and any exclusions the customer should know before getting in touch.

For example, an appliance repairer might want assessment enquiries for specific appliance types within an existing travel area. A broad promise to repair anything, anywhere would create a very different set of expectations.

Ask whoever manages the campaign to explain its location settings. Google distinguishes people present in an area from people showing interest in it, and says location targeting is based on signals rather than guaranteed physical accuracy. Its location targeting explanation describes that distinction. Check the locations of actual enquiries as part of your review.

Match the promise to the service experience

Customers should understand what you do, where you work and what the next contact will involve. Keep price statements, availability and qualifications accurate. If a diagnosis is required before quoting, make that clear instead of implying an instant fixed price.

Use a working phone number and a request process that someone is responsible for checking. Test the enquiry from the customer's side before spending money on it. Confirm that the information reaches the right person and that there is a plan for calls or requests received while you are on a job.

The contractor service guide explains the information that helps a customer arrive prepared for that conversation.

Agree a budget and how changes are approved

Record the advertising budget, management fees, the period being assessed and who can authorize an increase. Be clear about which amount goes to the advertising platform and which pays for management work.

An average daily budget is not necessarily a hard daily spending cap. Google explains that actual daily spending can vary, subject to the applicable spending limits. Review its budget and spend guidance with the person managing your campaign before deciding what you can commit.

There is no universal starting budget that guarantees enough suitable enquiries for every trade and location. Use the service's economics, your capacity and the evidence from the campaign. If the available budget cannot support a useful assessment, agree that limitation before launch rather than disguising it with a confident forecast.

Measure suitable enquiries and accepted work

Define what you will count as an enquiry, then distinguish duplicates and unsuitable requests from real opportunities. Keep the original source evidence where available and record the outcome when the conversation progresses.

An illustrative calculation makes the difference clear. Suppose advertising spend is $300 and there are ten enquiries. The advertising cost per enquiry is $30. If only six are suitable, the cost per suitable enquiry is $50. If two become accepted jobs, advertising cost per accepted job is $150. These figures exclude management fees and job costs, and are an example rather than a performance expectation.

Do not treat an accepted estimate as money received. Review work value, delivery costs and payment separately before deciding whether more of the same enquiries would help the business.

Put the launch decisions in one brief

Here is a fictional appliance repair campaign brief. Replace its assumptions with the service and capacity you can actually provide:

Before launch, test a real enquiry and confirm that it can be answered. At the agreed review, compare the evidence with this brief. If you cannot identify suitable enquiries or account for the spending, resolve those gaps before approving an increase.

Make the review lead to a decision

If the campaign reaches the right customers but calls are missed, address the response process. If enquiries concern the wrong service or area, review the offer and targeting with the campaign manager. If suitable enquiries do not become work, examine timing, scope and the estimate conversation before assuming more traffic is the answer.

TradePocket's Google Ads service provides campaign management around an agreed scope and advertising budget. Use the marketing planning guide to connect that campaign with capacity, customer handling and the results you review each month.