How much should a home service business spend on marketing?

A common rule of thumb is 5 to 10% of revenue on marketing, higher if you are pushing to grow fast and lower once you are established and running mostly on referrals. But the percentage matters less than where it goes. For a home services business, the first dollars should build assets you own: a professional website and local SEO that keep generating calls month after month, plus a system for collecting reviews.

Paid ads and lead sites can layer on top once the foundation is there, but spending on ads while your site and profile are weak just pours money into a leaky bucket. If you would rather have a flat, predictable number instead of guessing, our contractor website pricing lays out exactly what the website and an ongoing SEO plan cost.