How much should a concrete contractor spend on marketing?
A concrete contractor holding steady should spend about 5% of revenue on marketing. One growing 20 to 25% should spend 8%. One trying to open new markets or double should spend 11 to 14%. Split it roughly 60/40 between media and the people running it, and count ad spend and management fees separately or the number means nothing.
The benchmark, set by what you are actually trying to do
Percentage-of-revenue is a blunt instrument, but it is the right starting point because it scales with the size of the business rather than with the ambition of whoever is selling you something.
| What you are doing | % of revenue | What it funds |
|---|---|---|
| Holding steady, fully booked | 3–5% | Profile upkeep, reviews, a modest always-on presence |
| Growing 10–25% | 6–8% | Real paid search, a working site, local SEO |
| Growing 25–50% | 9–11% | Multi-service campaigns, location pages, follow-up automation |
| New markets, or doubling | 12–15% | New city pages and profiles, aggressive paid, content |
| Recovering from a bad year | 10–12% | Whatever produces fastest, usually paid plus map pack |
These are planning benchmarks, not audited industry data. Treat them as a way to check whether a proposal is in a sane range for the size of your business, then measure your own return and let that override the benchmark.
Run it on your revenue
Change either input. The split below assumes roughly 60% of the budget goes to media and 40% to the people building and running it, which is typical when the management fee is flat rather than a percentage of spend.
per year, which is 0% of revenue
Ad spend versus management fee, and why it matters
These are two different things and contractors routinely get quoted a single number that hides the ratio.
- Media is money that reaches Google or Meta and buys clicks or leads. It should go directly from your card to the platform.
- Management is what someone charges to build campaigns, write landing pages, maintain negative lists, handle tracking and report on it.
Two things to watch:
Percentage-of-spend billing. An agency taking 15 to 20% of your ad spend earns more when your costs rise. That is backwards, and it is why we charge a flat published fee instead.
The fee-heavy small budget. A $1,000 total budget split $600 management and $400 media is mostly paying somebody to manage almost nothing. Below roughly $2,500 a month total, you are usually better off doing the free channels properly yourself than buying thin management of a thin budget.
What each budget actually buys
| Per month | What it covers | Realistic outcome |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | Google Business Profile, reviews, yard signs, referrals | Enough to be findable. Not enough to grow on demand. |
| $1,000 | Profile upkeep plus a small always-on ad presence | A handful of leads. Useful for a one-crew operation holding steady. |
| $2,500 | Real paid search in one metro, plus local SEO | Predictable lead flow. The first budget that feels like a system. |
| $6,500 | Full campaigns, landing pages, follow-up automation, reporting | Enough to underwrite a signed-jobs guarantee. This is roughly our program plus its minimum media. |
| $12,000+ | Multi-city, residential and commercial, content at scale | Genuine expansion. Needs crews ready before the leads arrive. |
When to increase, and when not to
Increase when your cost per signed job is comfortably below your gross profit per job and has been for two months, your crews have unfilled capacity, and your close rate is holding as volume rises. That last one is the tell: if close rate falls as volume climbs, you are buying worse leads, not more of the same.
Do not increase when you are already turning work away, your close rate is under 25%, you cannot answer leads inside fifteen minutes, or you cannot say what your current spend produced. Spending more on an unmeasured channel just makes the mystery more expensive.
The capacity trap
The most expensive mistake in this list is not underspending. It is generating demand you cannot pour.
Leads you cannot get to in a week become bad reviews from people you never worked for. Estimates you cannot deliver become a reputation for not showing up. You paid for all of it and it damaged you.
Before increasing budget, answer three questions honestly: can you run another estimate a day, can you pour another job a week, and can somebody answer the phone within fifteen minutes while all of that is happening. If any answer is no, fix that first. It is cheaper than the advertising.
Five budgeting mistakes
- Budgeting by feel rather than by target. "A couple of grand a month" is not a plan. Start from the number of jobs you need and work backwards.
- Going dark in the slow season. Costs fall when competitors leave, and February's sales are April's pours.
- Counting media and management as one number. Hides which half is failing.
- Judging at week three. Campaigns have a learning period. Ninety days for paid, six months for SEO.
- Spending on channels you cannot measure. If you cannot attribute a signed job to it, you are not budgeting, you are hoping.
What we charge, for reference
Since this post is about budgets, it would be evasive not to state ours. The Foundation Package is $3,500 one time with credit back for what you already own. The 60-Day Booked Jobs Program is $2,500 a month plus a minimum $4,000 a month of media paid directly to Google. That is about $78,000 a year, which lands in the 9 to 11% band for a contractor doing roughly $750,000.
If that is out of range for where you are, the free channels in the table above are a real programme and we will tell you so on the call rather than selling you a thin version of the program.
Questions
Is 10% of revenue too much to spend on marketing?
Not if you are growing aggressively or entering new markets. It is too much if you are at capacity and cannot pour the work. The right figure is set by what you are trying to do, not by an industry average.
Does the ad budget include the agency fee?
It should be counted separately. Media is what reaches Google. Management is what someone charges to run it. Lumping them together hides which half is underperforming, and it is how a contractor ends up paying 40% of a small budget in fees without noticing.
What if I have no marketing budget at all?
Start with the free things: Google Business Profile properly set up, a review system at the final walkthrough, and yard signs on jobs. That is a real programme and it costs time rather than money. Add paid channels once it is running.
Should I spend more in the slow season or less?
Usually more, proportionally. Competitors pull out, costs fall, and the work you sell in February is the work you pour in April. Going dark in October is the most common way contractors end up with an empty spring.
How long before I should judge a marketing budget?
Ninety days for paid channels, six months for SEO. Judging a campaign at week three means judging the learning period, and it is the most common reason contractors switch agencies twice before anything gets a fair run.
