"How much should I spend on Facebook ads?" is the first question most contractors ask us. The honest answer is that it depends, but not in a vague way. It depends on a handful of numbers you already know about your business. This guide shows you how to work out a sensible budget for Facebook and Instagram ads in BC, and how to tell whether your cost per lead is good.
How you pay for Meta ads
You do not pay per lead on Facebook. You set a daily or lifetime budget, and Meta charges you as it shows your ads. What you get for that money (clicks, leads, calls) depends on your targeting, your offer, your creative and how competitive your audience is at that time of year.
That is why the most useful number to track is cost per lead: total ad spend divided by the number of leads.
What affects your cost per lead
- Your service. Visual, easy-to-understand services such as fascia covers, gutter guards, exterior cleaning or landscaping tend to perform well. Complex or rarely needed services can cost more per lead.
- Your offer. A specific, valuable offer gets more responses than a generic "free quote".
- Your creative. Real before-and-after photos and short videos of your work usually beat stock images.
- Your area. Targeting a few cities you serve well is different from targeting the whole province.
- The season. Demand for exterior work, HVAC and cleaning rises and falls through the year in the Lower Mainland, and so does competition for attention.
- Your form. Asking qualifying questions lowers lead volume slightly but raises quality.
A real example
For one Metro Vancouver exterior services company, ANA Property Maintenance, Meta campaigns reported more than 500 leads from about $6,700 in ad spend over six months, roughly $13.40 per reported lead. That is one account in one market, not a promise, but it shows what is possible with a clear offer and steady testing.
How to set your starting budget
Work backwards from your business, not from what a competitor spends:
- Average job value. What is a typical job worth to you?
- Close rate. Out of ten genuine estimates, how many do you usually win?
- Capacity. How many extra jobs can your team handle per month?
- Target cost per job. How much could you spend to win a job and still be happy with the profit?
For example, if you win about three in ten estimates, and you are comfortable spending a few hundred dollars in marketing to win a job, then you can afford a cost per lead that, multiplied by the leads needed for one job, stays inside that number. Your budget should be enough to produce a meaningful number of leads each month, so you have data to optimize, without going beyond what your team can follow up properly.
Ad spend versus management fees
When comparing agencies, keep two numbers separate:
- Ad spend: paid directly to Meta, ideally from an ad account you own.
- Management fee: what you pay the agency for strategy, creative, setup and optimization.
If an agency bundles them into one figure, you cannot see your real cost per lead. Ask for both.
Signs your Facebook ads are working
- Your cost per lead is stable or falling after the first few weeks
- A reasonable share of leads answer the phone and book estimates
- You can trace booked jobs back to the campaigns
- The ads still perform when you refresh the creative
If leads are cheap but nobody answers, look at your follow-up speed and your form questions before blaming the ads. Our guide on speed to lead explains why.
Want a number for your business?
Book a free call and we will look at your job values, service area and goals, then recommend a starting budget and a realistic cost-per-lead target. Learn more about our Meta ads management for contractors.