How Much Should Tradies Spend on Marketing?

This is the question we get more than any other. And the answer most tradies expect is some magic number. "Spend $2,000 a month" or "you need at least $5K." But the honest answer is: it depends on what a lead is worth to you.

So instead of giving you a number pulled out of thin air, let us walk through the real maths using actual data from one of our trades clients. No theory. No guesswork. Just what happened when a real tradie started running Meta ads with us.

The $25/Day Benchmark

One of our clients started on $25 a day. That is about $750 a month. Not a massive budget. Not a scary number. About the same as a decent tool purchase or a tank of fuel for the ute each week.

On that budget, they generated 60 leads over five months. That works out to $57 per lead. And in their best month, they pulled in 23 leads from that same daily spend.

Now, $57 per lead might sound like a lot if you have never paid for marketing before. But let us put that number in context.

The Maths That Changes Everything

Say your average job is worth $30,000. That is pretty standard for a renovation, a decent concrete pour, or a full landscaping project. Now say you close one in every five or six leads. That is a normal close rate for project-based trades.

So you spend $57 per lead, you need maybe six leads to land one job. That is $342 in ad spend to win a $30,000 project. Even if your margins are tight, that is an absurd return on investment.

Let us zoom out even further. If you spend $750 a month on ads for a full year, that is $9,000. One single closed job from that entire year of advertising more than covers the total spend. Everything after that first job is pure profit on your marketing investment.

What Tradies Spend Without Blinking

Here is what gets me. The average tradie will spend $60,000 on a ute. They will spend $15,000 on insurance every year. They will drop $5,000 on tools without losing sleep. They will pay $200 a week in fuel. None of that gets questioned because it is "part of the business."

But $25 a day on marketing? "Mate, I cannot afford that right now."

The difference is that a ute does not bring you new customers. Tools do not fill your calendar. Insurance does not generate revenue. Marketing, done properly, is the only expense in your business that directly puts money back in your pocket. Everything else is a cost. Marketing is an investment.

The "I Cannot Afford Marketing" Reframe

When a tradie tells us they cannot afford marketing, what they are really saying is: "I cannot afford to invest in getting more work." And if that is genuinely true, it usually means they need marketing more than anyone.

Because when things are quiet, the instinct is to cut costs. Tighten the belt. Wait it out. But cutting marketing when things are slow is like turning off the tap when you are thirsty. It makes the problem worse, not better.

The tradies who do well through quiet periods are the ones who keep their marketing running. They understand that the leads you generate this month turn into quotes next month and jobs the month after. There is a lag. And if you turn it off every time things slow down, you are always playing catch-up.

How to Think About Your Budget

Here is a simple framework. Ask yourself three questions.

First, what is your average job value? If you are doing $30K renovation projects, you can afford to spend more per lead than someone doing $3K bathroom installs. The maths scales with your job size.

Second, how many jobs do you need per month to keep the boys busy? If you need two projects a month and your close rate is one in five, you need about ten leads a month. At $57 per lead, that is $570 a month in ad spend. That is less than your weekly fuel bill.

Third, what is the cost of not having work? Add up your fixed costs for a quiet month. Payroll, ute repayments, insurance, rent on the shed. That number is almost always bigger than what you would spend on marketing. The marketing is cheaper than the alternative.

Start Small. Scale What Works.

You do not need to come in guns blazing with a $5,000 a month budget. Start with $25 a day. Run it for 15 days. See what comes back. One of our clients got their first lead within 15 days of going live. That is not a promise. That is what happened.

Once you can see that the system works, then you increase the budget. If $25 a day gives you 12 leads a month, then $50 a day might give you 20 to 25. You scale based on results, not guesswork.

The tradies who win at this are not the ones who spend the most. They are the ones who start, measure, and adjust. They treat marketing like any other part of the business. Track the numbers, keep what works, cut what does not.

The Bottom Line

You can start filling your calendar for less than you spend on fuel each week. The maths is simple. The risk is low. And the cost of doing nothing is almost always higher than the cost of starting.

If you have got the boys sitting around waiting for the phone to ring, $25 a day is not an expense. It is the cheapest insurance policy in your business.