Backlog — Paid ads for home service contractors
Paid ads for home service contractors

You don't need more leads. You need a backlog.

We run ads for one contractor per trade, per city — and we run our own service company, so we know what a lead is actually worth. You own the ad account. Campaigns live in 14 days. No lead-count promises we can't keep.

9.2x
Return on spend
$111k
Revenue booked
84
Jobs booked
965
Leads generated
$12.48
Cost per lead
A Tier Washing · 2026 season to date · CAD · from our own Facebook Ads account
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No slide deck. Just the ad account, the numbers, and what we'd do in your market.

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Case studies

Three businesses. Three different goals.

A pressure washing company, a plaster contractor, and a distillery. Different trades, different objectives, different definitions of a win — which is the whole point.

A Tier Washing
Pressure washing · Toronto · 2026 season
Our own company
9.2x
Return on spend
$111k
Booked
84
Jobs
$12.48
Per lead

Goal: book residential jobs and fill crew days. $12,044 in spend produced 965 leads and 84 booked jobs at an average value of $1,321. Five of the eight campaigns produced nothing — we've left them in the numbers, which is why the blended return is 9.2x and not 9.4x.

Source: Facebook Ads Manager export, full account, 2026 season to date. Revenue is booked job value tracked in our own CRM. CAD.
Plâtre Apex
Plaster & drywall · July 2026 · first month
First 30 days
$422
Total spend
48
Leads
$8.79
Per lead
$45k
Booked work

Goal: prove the channel on a small test budget. One ad set, one month, $422 spent — 48 leads at $8.79 each, at a $0.74 cost per click. Apex reports roughly $45,000 in booked work off those leads. They earned that by calling people back fast — the same 48 leads sitting in an inbox would have been worth nothing.

Source: Facebook Ads Manager export, Jul 2–31 2026 (spend, leads, CPL, CPC). Booked revenue is reported by the client from their own records and is not tracked in the ad platform. CAD.
Legend Spirits
Distillery · May–Aug 2026
Foot traffic
$484
Total spend
106k
People reached
2,532
Clicks
$0.08
Per click

Goal: get people through the door, not into a form. Not every business needs leads. Legend Spirits needed a local audience to know they exist. $484 put them in front of 106,370 people, and staff now regularly hear customers say they came in because they saw the ad.

Source: Facebook Ads Manager export, May 24–Aug 1 2026 (spend, reach, clicks, CPC). Walk-in attribution is anecdotal — reported by staff from customer conversations, not measured. We're honest about that. CAD.

The full A Tier Washing account — every campaign

Before we run your budget, we run ours. This is the whole export, losers included.

Campaign Spend Revenue Leads Jobs Return
2026 Interlock $7,066$97,14156650 13.8x
2026 Soft Wash $597$2,076392 3.5x
2026 Spring — Forms $4,194$11,78735732 2.8x
5 test campaigns that didn't produce $187$030 0x
TOTAL $12,044$111,00496584 9.2x

All figures CAD, pulled directly from Facebook Ads Manager, 2026 season to date. Blended return includes five test campaigns that produced nothing — because that's what a real account looks like. Revenue is booked job value, not profit.

1

$12.48 a lead

965 leads across the season. In home services that's a strong number, and it's what happens when the creative looks like a real local company instead of a stock photo.

2

84 jobs booked

At an average job value of $1,321. That's a full season's worth of work off one ad account — the kind of volume that fills crews instead of plugging gaps.

3

We show the losers too

Five campaigns in that table produced nothing. We left them in. Any agency showing you only their winning campaign is showing you a slide, not an account.


Why you're here

You've probably been burned by an agency already.

Almost every contractor we talk to has one of these four stories.

"The leads were garbage"

Sixty form fills. Forty tire-kickers, ten outside your service area, the rest wanted a price and vanished. Nobody asked what a good lead looks like in your trade before they started spending.

They went quiet

A dashboard link you never opened and a monthly PDF full of impressions. Nothing about booked jobs. You found out something was broken by looking at your bank account.

They owned everything

Their ad account, their landing page, their phone number. When you left you walked away with nothing — no pixel data, no audiences, no history. Straight back to zero.

They ran your competitor too

Same city, same trade, same keywords. You were bidding against a company run by the same person taking your money. Nobody mentioned it until you saw their ad.

Every one of those is a structural problem, not bad luck. So we structured around them.


Straight talk

The first call books the job.

Most contractors don't have a lead problem. They have a speed problem. A lead called back in five minutes converts several times better than the same lead called back in thirty. The homeowner filled out three forms — whoever calls first usually wins, and it has almost nothing to do with price.

So before we take a dollar, we check something most agencies never ask: who answers your phone, how fast, and what happens on a Saturday?

If the honest answer is "me, when I'm off a ladder," we'll say so on day two and help you fix it before we spend anything. Pouring leads into a business that can't catch them means you pay us to generate work you'll waste — and we both get to be unhappy in month three.

We turn away business over this. It's the biggest reason contractors fire agencies, and it's almost never actually the agency's fault.

The leads are only half of it

A lead that gets one call and no follow-up is a wasted lead. Most booked jobs in home services take five to eight touches — a call, a text, another call two days later, an email the following week.

Plâtre Apex turned 48 leads into roughly $45,000 because they actually worked them. The same 48 leads sitting in an inbox are worth exactly nothing, and we'd both be blaming the ads.

If you're not going to follow up, don't run ads. Save your money.

If you don't have follow-up, we'll build it

Most contractors don't have a system — they have a phone and good intentions. So we install one:

  • Instant text to every new lead, within seconds of the form
  • Missed-call text-back so nobody hits voicemail and vanishes
  • A multi-day call, text and email sequence that runs itself
  • Quote follow-up for people who got a number and went quiet
  • Reminders and alerts so your team knows who to chase today

You still have to pick up the phone. But you'll never again lose a job because nobody remembered to call on Thursday.

None of this is a package we drop on you

A Tier Washing needed booked jobs. Plâtre Apex needed to prove a channel on a small budget. Legend Spirits needed people walking through a door — no forms, no leads, no CRM. Same agency, three completely different builds.

On the call we go through your actual situation: what your capacity is, what a job is worth, where your leads come from now, what your follow-up looks like, and what's genuinely broken versus what just feels broken. Then we build around that.

Sometimes the answer isn't more ad spend at all. Sometimes it's fixing the follow-up, raising the price, or getting the phone answered on Saturdays first. If that's what we find, that's what we'll tell you — even when it means a smaller invoice for us.


Who we work with

One contractor per trade, per city.

Different trades, different playbooks. A $28 cost-per-lead is excellent for pressure washing and impossible for roofing — anyone quoting one universal number hasn't run both.

Pressure WashingSoft wash · concrete · roofs
Window CleaningResidential · commercial
Gutter ServicesCleaning · guards · install
Interlock & HardscapePatios · walkways · repair
DrywallRepair · new build · restoration
PaintingInterior · exterior · cabinet
RoofingRepair · replacement · storm
HVACService · install · maintenance
PlumbingService · repipe · water heater
FlooringLVP · tile · hardwood
LandscapingDesign · maintenance · lawn
RemodelingKitchen · bath · additions

Not listed? Ask. If we haven't run your trade we'll say so plainly and price the first 90 days accordingly, rather than pretending we're experts in it.


Run your own numbers

What would this look like for you?

Pick your trade and move the sliders. Mid-range market benchmarks — not our best month, and not a promise.

Sets a benchmark cost per lead, ticket, and close rate.
What goes into the platforms. This is not our fee.
$5,000
Pre-filled from your trade. Change it to your real number.
$650
Be honest. Most contractors guess 50% and are nearer 30%.
35%
Leads / mo
179
Jobs booked
44
Cost per job
$114
Revenue / mo
$28,438
Return on ad spend
5.7x

What this is. An illustration using mid-range market benchmarks — not our results and not a projection for your business. Real numbers depend on your market, your offer, your close rate, and how fast you call people back. Revenue shown is booked job value, not profit. Our fee is separate from the spend above.

How it works

Live in 14 days.

No four-week "discovery phase." You're paying to get leads, so we get you leads.

Days 1–3

Access and the honest conversation

  • Access to your Business Manager, Google Ads, GBP, website and CRM
  • Audit of anything you've run before — what worked, what burned money
  • Your real numbers: average ticket, close rate, capacity, service area
  • The sales readiness check — who answers, how fast, nights and weekends
Days 4–10

Build

  • Tracking: Meta pixel, Conversions API, Google tags, call tracking, UTMs
  • Landing page built for your trade and market
  • Lead routing into your CRM with a speed-to-lead alert the second one lands
  • Creative production — photo, video and copy angles for your trade
  • Campaign structure, audiences, and the offer that makes someone fill in the form
Days 11–14

Launch

  • Campaigns live by day 14 — that date is in your agreement
  • We submit a test lead ourselves and follow it to your phone before going live
  • Kickoff call: what happens next, and what to ignore in week one
Days 15–45

The learning phase — and we say this before it happens

Weeks one to three are data collection, not performance. Cost per lead starts high and comes down. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something.

  • Daily monitoring the first week, then every other day
  • First real optimization pass around day 21
  • Weekly update regardless — five minutes, what changed and why
Ongoing

The rhythm

  • Weekly: short update — spend, leads, cost per lead, what we changed
  • Monthly: live call — leads → booked → revenue, not impressions
  • Quarterly: strategy — budget, new service lines, next market
  • Always: if something material changes, you hear it from us first

The part that matters most

We don't run your competitor.

If we're running pressure washing ads for you in your city, we will not take another pressure washing company there. It's a named clause in your agreement — your trade, your market, in writing.

We will work with a drywall contractor and a roofer in that same city, because they don't compete with you for a single click or customer. That's how we stay specialists in your trade and still run a real business.

It costs us money. We turn down qualified prospects every month because a territory's taken. The alternative is bidding our own clients against each other and pretending that's fine.

1

You own everything

Your Business Manager, ad account, pixel, audiences, landing page and data. Leave and you keep all of it. We're more work to set up this way, on purpose.

2

3 months, then month-to-month

Meta needs four to six weeks to exit the learning phase. Three months isn't a lock-in, it's the shortest honest test. After that, 30 days' notice.

3

Off-season, not off

Seasonal trade? Drop to a reduced retainer in your dark months instead of pausing. Keeps the pixel warm so you're not restarting from zero every spring.


Pricing

Published, because hiding it wastes both our time.

Flat monthly fee. We don't take a percentage of ad spend — that would pay us to spend more, not to book more.

Tier 1 · Single channel
$1,500 /mo
+ $2,500/mo minimum ad spend
First real ad program. $200k–500k operators.
  • One trade, one market
  • Meta ads (Facebook + Instagram)
  • Landing page built for your trade
  • Full tracking & lead routing
  • Speed-to-lead alerts
  • Weekly optimization, monthly report
Most contractors
Tier 2 · Full funnel
$2,500 /mo
+ $5,000/mo minimum ad spend
$500k–2M operators with crews and someone on the phone.
  • Everything in Tier 1, plus:
  • Google Search campaigns
  • Local Services Ads setup & management
  • Retargeting across Meta & Google
  • Landing page A/B testing
  • Review generation system
  • Weekly call, not just a report
Tier 3 · Multi-market
$4,000+ /mo
+ $10,000/mo minimum ad spend
$2M+ operators expanding territory or service lines.
  • Everything in Tier 2, plus:
  • Multiple metros or service lines
  • On-site creative production days
  • Offer testing & development
  • Competitor monitoring
  • Direct line, same-day response

One-time setup: $2,000

Month one is three to four times the work of a normal month — tracking build, landing page, creative, account structure, audit. If your campaigns aren't live by day 14 and the delay is on us, the setup fee is refunded.

Why there's a spend minimum

Below roughly $2,500/month the platforms can't gather enough data to optimize. Results become noise and you're paying us to guess. We'd rather turn you away than take money for something that can't work yet.


Fit

We turn down more contractors than we take.

Good fit

  • Doing $200k+ a year with crews or subs
  • Someone answers the phone inside an hour, including Saturdays
  • You can fund $2,500/mo in ad spend without it hurting
  • You have capacity to actually do more work
  • You'll give it three months before judging it

Not a fit

  • You're the only one who can sell and you're on a truck all day
  • $2,500/mo ad spend would be a stretch
  • You're already at capacity
  • You want a guaranteed number of leads per month
  • Your competitor already has your trade in your market

Questions

Straight answers

Do you guarantee a certain number of leads?

No, and be careful with anyone who does. Volume depends on your market, budget, offer, season, and platform changes we don't control. Promising a number means either padding it until it's meaningless, or counting junk to hit it.

We guarantee what we control: live by day 14 or your setup fee is refunded, weekly optimization, a reply within one business day, and full ownership of everything we build.

Plâtre Apex booked $45k on $422. Is that real?

The ad numbers are — $422.09 spent, 48 leads, $8.79 per lead, straight out of Ads Manager, and we'll show you the export on a call. The $45,000 is what Apex reported from their own records, so we've labelled it that way rather than presenting it as something we measured.

It's also not typical, and we'd rather say so than let you sign up expecting it. Plaster carries a high ticket, it was a strong offer, and — most importantly — they worked every one of those 48 leads hard. A contractor who lets leads sit would have gotten a fraction of it from exactly the same ads.

What if I don't have a follow-up system?

Most contractors don't. We'll build one: instant text on every new lead, missed-call text-back, a multi-day call/text/email sequence, and quote follow-up for people who went quiet. It gets set up alongside the campaigns so leads aren't landing in a black hole from day one.

You still have to pick up the phone. But you won't lose a job because nobody remembered to call on Thursday.

Do I get the same setup as everyone else?

No. A Tier Washing needed booked jobs. Plâtre Apex needed to prove a channel on a tiny budget. Legend Spirits needed foot traffic through a distillery door — no forms, no leads, no CRM at all. Same agency, three completely different builds.

On the call we work through your capacity, your job value, where leads come from now, and what your follow-up actually looks like, then build around that. Sometimes the answer is less ad spend and a better follow-up process — and if that's what we find, that's what we'll tell you.

Why is there a minimum ad spend?

Below roughly $2,500/month the platforms can't gather enough conversion data to optimize. You get a handful of leads at wildly inconsistent costs and no way to tell a good week from a lucky one.

We'd rather turn you down than take money for something that can't work at that budget. If you're under it, tell us and we'll point you at what to do first.

What if I've been burned by an agency before?

Most of our clients have. The things that went wrong are usually structural, so ask us about each one directly: who owns the ad account (you), whether we run your competitor (we can't, it's a written clause), how often you'll hear from us (weekly minimum), and what happens if you leave (you keep everything).

If our answers sound like the last guy's, don't hire us.

How fast will I see results?

Leads usually start within days. Stable cost per lead takes four to six weeks — that's the platform's learning phase, and it's real, not an excuse. Weeks one to three your cost per lead will look bad and then come down.

We tell you this before you sign rather than after you complain, because contractors who quit at day 45 are the ones nobody warned.

What exactly do I own?

Your Meta Business Manager, Google Ads account, pixel and all its history, custom audiences, landing page, call tracking number, creative, and lead data. We work inside your accounts as a partner, not our own.

It's meaningfully more work to set up this way. We do it because agencies holding accounts hostage is the ugliest thing in this industry.

What happens in my off-season?

You drop to roughly half retainer for your dark months rather than pausing. We keep a low-budget presence running so your pixel stays warm, reviews keep coming, and retargeting audiences don't decay.

A hard pause means re-entering the learning phase every spring and wasting the first month of your season paying to relearn what we already knew.

Can I just do this myself?

Honestly — some contractors can, and if you've got the time and interest you should try. The platforms aren't secret. What you're paying for is not learning it during your busy season, and not burning $8,000 discovering the campaign objective was wrong.

If you'd rather learn it yourself, say so on the call and we'll point you at where to start. We'd rather send you off in the right direction than take a retainer from someone who'd resent it.

Is my market available?

Maybe not. One contractor per trade per city, so territories go and don't come back until someone leaves. Submit the form and we'll tell you within one business day whether your trade and market are open — including if the answer is no.

What do you need from me?

Account access, your real numbers, and photos. Photos are the one thing we can't manufacture — before/after shots, crew on site, finished work. The biggest predictor of ad performance in home services is whether the creative looks like a real local company or a stock photo. Fifteen minutes on your phone at the next job matters more than most of what we do.

Find out if your market's still open.

Four minutes. We'll tell you within one business day whether your trade and city are available — and if we don't think we're the right fit, we'll say that instead of booking a call to talk you into it.

Check availability No call required to find out. One business day response.

BACKLOG  ·  Paid ads for home service contractors

© Backlog. All rights reserved.

All ad spend, lead, reach and click figures are taken from Facebook Ads Manager exports for the periods stated, in CAD. A Tier Washing revenue is booked job value from our own CRM. Plâtre Apex booked revenue is reported by the client from their records and was not measured in the ad platform. Legend Spirits walk-in attribution is anecdotal, reported by staff from customer conversations. These are past results for specific businesses and are not typical, not a projection of your results, and not a guarantee. The calculator is an illustration using mid-range market benchmarks. We do not guarantee lead volume, cost per lead, or revenue.

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