How Much Should a Builder Spend on Marketing?
The short answer
Work it backwards from the profit on the jobs you want. On a £50K job with £15K profit you can spend about £3–3.5K to win it; on a £100K job with £25K profit, £5–7K. Then check what each channel really costs per lead, start with the free channels, and only scale paid ads once you can price, present and close.
- Budget per project, not per month. Decide what you can spend to win one job and still keep a healthy profit.
- Know your profit per job first. If you don't, fix pricing before you spend a pound on ads.
- Free channels first; paid ads need minimums: about £5K to test Google Ads, about £2K a month for Facebook and Instagram.
- Most marketing problems are sales problems. Fix the stage that leaks before you spend more.
"How much should I spend on marketing?" usually gets a percentage-of-turnover answer from an agency. That number tells you nothing about whether the money comes back.
There's a better way. Sviat uses it at Craftex and with the builders he mentors. Decide what you can afford to spend to win one project. Then check which channel can deliver it for that. Want us to work out your number per project? Book a free strategy call.
Step 1: how much a builder can spend on marketing per project
Start with the profit, not the turnover. Take the kind of job you want more of. Ask: how much could I spend to win it and still be happy with what's left?
| Job value | Profit on the job | You could spend to win it | Profit after marketing |
|---|---|---|---|
| £50,000 | £15,000 | £3,000–3,500 | about £11,500–12,000 |
| £100,000 | £25,000 | £5,000–7,000 | about £18,000–20,000 |
These figures are from Sviat's own campaigns and clients. Yours will differ, but the method doesn't.
Spending on ads before you know your profit per job. If you don't know it, you can't know what a lead is worth. Fix your pricing first with our Builder's Pricing Playbook.
Step 2: know what each channel really costs
Every channel has a different cost per lead, a different share of leads that are any good, and a different time before it works. Already paying for leads that go nowhere? Check the four steps where leads get lost before you change channel.
| Channel | Budget to test | Typical numbers | Time to work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | £5K minimum | Office fit-out example: ~£15 a click, £150–300 a lead, about 1 in 5 qualified, £3–5K of spend to sign one project | Weeks |
| Facebook & Instagram Ads | ~£2K a month | £7–15 a lead, £60–150 a qualified lead, deals usually £5K–£150K | Weeks |
| Bark | Pay per lead | Expect to price around 10 jobs to win one | Days |
| Website & SEO | £5K set-up + ~£2K a month | The biggest enquiries can reach £1M+ | 6–12 months |
| LinkedIn outreach | Your time | 1–3% reply rate, so volume and the message matter | Weeks |
| Referral program | 5–10% of contract value, paid on signing | You only pay when you win | Ongoing |
Numbers are examples from Sviat's own campaigns and clients, as of 2026. Your costs will vary by trade, area and offer.
Not sure which channel fits your jobs?
Book a free call and we'll work out the numbers with you.
Step 3: turn cost per lead into cost per project
A lead isn't a job. Work out how many leads you need for one signed project, then multiply.
Here's an illustrative example for a builder using Google Ads:
That's 15 leads for one job, so about £3,000. On a £50K job with £15K profit, that works. On a £12K job with £2K profit, it doesn't, and you'd need a cheaper channel or bigger jobs.
The lever most builders miss is the last line. Sign one in two qualified leads instead of one in three, and your cost per project drops by a third without changing your ad spend. That's why most marketing problems are really sales problems.
Step 4: spend in the right order for your stage
| Your stage | Spend on first | Hold off on |
|---|---|---|
| On the tools, first jobs | Calling contacts and past clients, a Google Business Profile, Bark for £10–50K jobs | Agencies, big ad budgets |
| £150K–£500K, small team | Referral program, architects and designers, one paid channel tested properly | Running three paid channels at once |
| £500K–£3M | Google or Facebook ads to a landing page, a proper website, case studies | Government tenders until around £0.5–1M turnover |
| £3M+ | SEO, content and a brand that does the selling | Cheap lead platforms that pull you back to small jobs |
The free channels cost time, not money, and they often work fastest. Adam, a builder we mentored, signed £91,796 in 8 days by calling his contacts and previous clients properly. Individual results, not typical or guaranteed.
Step 5: track it, or you're guessing
Without tracking, you'll keep paying for the channel that feels busy instead of the one that signs work.
- One CRM with the source of every lead written down.
- Same-day replies to every enquiry. Speed matters more than the ad.
- Monthly review: spend, leads, qualified leads, signed jobs and profit, per channel.
- Cut or fix any channel that hasn't produced a signed job within its test budget.
Construction Company Marketing Guide
Marketing score, channel costs per lead, a 90-day plan and a channel tracker.
Get the free guideWant a marketing budget that pays for itself?
Book a free strategy call.
When to get help
Rather have the website, Google profile and lead system built and run for you? Our construction marketing and lead generation service does it with a contractor's eye on which enquiries are worth having.
For the full channel playbook, read the free construction marketing guide. Then copy our 12-month construction company marketing plan and see what a construction website should include.
Is marketing one piece of a bigger growth plan? BizMentor's one-to-one mentoring with Sviat, who runs a working construction company, builds pricing, sales and lead generation together. It aims for results in about 4 months, not 1–3 years. Book a free strategy call, or start with the free 4-minute Construction Business Scorecard.
This is general information from a contractor's experience, not financial advice. On the tools and under £500K a year? Watch our free training first.
Before you spend your next pound on marketing
- You know the profit on the jobs you want more of
- You've set what you can spend to win one project
- You know the cost per lead and per signed job for each channel you use
- Every enquiry gets a reply the same day
- You review spend against signed work every month
