A trade-specialist marketing agency in Australia typically charges $1,500 to $4,500 per month in management fees, separate from your ad spend. Larger multi-channel programs that combine paid ads, SEO and content run from $2,500 to $12,000 a month. Anything under about $1,000 a month is either a very narrow scope or is being delivered by someone with too many clients to give yours attention.
That is the headline. The more useful question is what the money buys, because two agencies quoting $2,500 can be selling completely different things.
The Four Pricing Models
Percentage of ad spend deserves a specific warning for trades. It sounds fair and it creates precisely the wrong incentive: the agency's income rises when your budget rises, whether or not the extra spend produces work. A flat fee at least means their income does not depend on talking you into a bigger budget.
Per-lead pricing has the opposite failure. The agency is paid per lead, so their job becomes maximising lead count, and the fastest way to do that is to loosen the targeting and drop the qualifying questions. You end up paying $80 each for people outside your service area. That is the mechanism behind why 50 leads can be worse than 5.
What You Should Get at Each Level
Under $1,000 a month
Realistically this buys campaign management only: someone logs into your ad account, adjusts budgets, and sends a report. No creative production, no landing page, no CRM work, no follow-up automation. It can work if you already have everything else built and just need a pair of hands. It will not work as your whole marketing function.
$1,500 to $2,500 a month
This is the realistic floor for a done-for-you system. Expect ad management, ad creative, a landing page built to convert, CRM setup with automated follow-up, and reporting that ties leads to booked work. One channel, done properly, is worth far more than three done thinly.
$2,500 to $5,000 a month
Multiple channels, or one channel plus meaningful strategic work: creative testing at volume, ongoing landing page optimisation, sales process help, and reporting you can actually run a business off.
$5,000 and above
Appropriate for trade businesses over roughly $3 million in revenue running paid ads, SEO and content together, often across several locations. Below that scale, this level of fee usually means paying for capability you are not yet in a position to use.
The Costs That Do Not Appear on the Quote
This is where budgets get blown, because the retainer is only part of the number.
- Ad spend. Nearly always separate, and it should be, paid directly by you to the platform. Budget $750 to $3,000 a month depending on your market. The client in our case study runs at roughly $25 a day.
- CRM software. $50 to $300 a month. Ask whether it is bundled or billed to you separately.
- Call tracking. $30 to $100 a month, and make sure the numbers are portable.
- Creative production. Photography and video of your actual finished jobs. Some agencies include it, most do not, and stock imagery does not sell trade work.
- Setup or onboarding fee. Anywhere from nothing to $5,000. Always ask, in writing, before you sign.
- Minimum term. Not a dollar cost, but a six or twelve month lock-in is a real commitment. A twelve-month minimum on a $2,500 fee is a $30,000 decision, not a $2,500 one.
Work out the total for the first twelve months, including spend and every add-on, and compare that number rather than the monthly fee.
Is It Actually Expensive? Do the Job Maths
The only sensible way to judge a fee is against the value of one job.
That last row is the honest one. If your average job is a few hundred dollars, a $2,000 retainer needs to generate an enormous volume of work to make sense, and a paid-ads funnel is probably the wrong tool. Local SEO and a well-run Google Business Profile will serve you better and cost far less.
Five Signs You Are Overpaying
- Your fee is more than double your ad spend. There are exceptions, but if you are paying $3,000 in fees to manage $800 of ads, the ratio is wrong.
- The report is full of impressions, reach and engagement. If you cannot trace a number on the report to a job in your calendar, you are paying for decoration. See how to tell if your agency is wasting your money.
- Your creative has not changed in six months. Ads fatigue in two to four weeks. Stale creative means nobody is doing the work.
- You cannot get a straight answer on cost per booked job. They should know it. If they only know cost per click, they are not measuring the thing you care about.
- Nobody has asked about your close rate or average job value. An agency that has never asked what a job is worth to you cannot possibly be optimising towards revenue.
What We Charge, and Why
Since this article is about price transparency, it would be poor form to be coy about our own.
LVRG charges $2,000 per month plus GST. Ad spend is separate and paid by you directly to Meta from your own account. No setup fee, no build fee, no percentage of spend, no per-lead charge. Month to month, with 30 days notice either side. The full detail, including the guarantee conditions, is on the FAQ.
We land in the "$1,500 to $2,500, done properly, one channel" band deliberately. We do Meta ads, landing pages, CRM automation and lead qualification. We do not do SEO or Google Ads, and we would rather tell you that than bolt on services to justify a bigger invoice.
And the honest limitation: at $2,000 a month we are not the cheapest option and we are not trying to be. If your average job is under $5,000, the arithmetic above is not in your favour and we will say so on the call rather than take the retainer.
Common Questions
How much should a tradie pay a marketing agency in Australia?
Trade-specialist agencies typically charge $1,500 to $4,500 per month in management fees, with ad spend separate and paid directly by you to the platform. Larger multi-channel programs run $2,500 to $12,000 a month. Under about $1,000 a month generally buys campaign management only, with no creative, landing page or CRM work included.
Is ad spend included in an agency's monthly fee?
Usually not, and it should not be. Ad spend belongs on your own ad account and your own card so you can verify every dollar and keep the account history if you change agencies. Budget $750 to $3,000 a month for ad spend on top of the management fee, depending on your market and trade.
Should I pay an agency a percentage of my ad spend?
Be careful. Percentage-of-spend pricing, usually 10 to 20 percent, pays the agency more when you spend more, regardless of whether the extra spend produces booked work. A flat retainer at least removes the incentive to talk you into a bigger budget than your market can absorb.
Is per-lead pricing a good deal for tradies?
It depends entirely on how "lead" is defined, and it usually means a raw form submission. That pays the agency to maximise volume, which is achieved by broadening targeting and removing qualifying questions. You end up paying full price for enquiries outside your service area. Ask what happens when a lead is unqualified.
How do I know if I am overpaying my marketing agency?
Five signals: your management fee is more than double your ad spend, the reporting is dominated by impressions and reach, your ad creative has not changed in six months, nobody can tell you your cost per booked job, and nobody ever asked about your close rate or average job value.
What if my jobs are only worth a few hundred dollars each?
Then a $2,000-a-month paid-ads retainer is probably the wrong tool. You would need fifteen to thirty jobs a month just to cover the fee. Focus on local SEO and a properly maintained Google Business Profile instead, which cost far less and suit high-volume, lower-value work much better.