A marketing budget worksheet for Ontario trades

Step 1: Work out what a job contributes

Start with your average job value, then subtract the direct costs of doing the work: materials, equipment, labour and subcontractors. What's left is the contribution, the money each job adds towards overhead and profit.

Use contribution, not revenue. A $2,600 job that costs $1,560 to deliver can't support $2,000 in marketing, however good the revenue looks.

If your work splits into very different job types, such as small repairs and large replacements, do this step separately for each. A plumber's $350 drain call and $4,500 water heater replacement deserve different budgets.

Step 2: Decide what you'll pay to win a job

Pick the share of contribution you're willing to spend on marketing to win one job. Many owners choose somewhere between 15% and 35%, depending on how badly they need work and how much repeat business a new customer brings. There's no correct answer; the point is to decide in advance.

Using the example:

• Contribution per job: $1,040
• Share for marketing: 25%
• Maximum marketing cost per job: $260

If a new customer often brings repeat work or referrals, you might justify a higher share. If most jobs are one-offs, stay conservative.

Step 3: Turn that into a maximum cost per lead

Not every lead becomes a job, so divide your maximum cost per job by the number of leads it takes to win one.

• Close rate: 1 in 3 leads becomes a job
• Maximum cost per job: $260
• Maximum cost per lead: $260 ÷ 3 ≈ $87

This is your guardrail. Any channel that delivers leads below $87 is worth growing. Anything well above it needs fixing or cutting. Our seasonal ads service uses exactly this number to decide when to raise or lower spend.

Step 4: Set a monthly budget from your capacity

Now work out how many extra jobs you can actually handle. There's no point buying leads your crew can't serve.

That figure must cover everything: ad spend, agency fees, software and any freelance help. If an agency's fee alone exceeds it, either the plan is too large for your business right now or your job values and close rate need to rise first. Our pricing page shows the plan fees so you can include them honestly.

Step 5: Compare buying leads with winning more of the ones you have

Before spending more, check whether improving your close rate is cheaper. Here's a side-by-side using the example business.

Option A: buy more leads. Spend an extra $1,000 a month on ads at $87 per lead, roughly 11 more leads, or about 4 more jobs at 1 in 3. Extra contribution: about $4,160.

Option B: improve follow-up. Today the business gets 45 leads a month and wins 15. Better callback times and quote check-ins lift the close rate from 33% to 40%, so it wins 18. That's 3 more jobs, about $3,120 more contribution, for the cost of a routine and some templates.

Often the answer is both, in that order: fix follow-up first, so every paid lead is worth more. Our CASL-aware follow-up guide explains how to do it properly.

Step 6: Spread the budget across Ontario's seasons

A flat budget rarely suits an Ontario trade. Demand rises and falls with the weather, and the pattern differs by trade and region.

For heating trades, the backdrop is clear: Statistics Canada found that in 2023, 58% of Ontario households heated mainly with natural gas, 18% with electricity and 4% with propane. The first cold weeks bring a surge of no-heat calls, and winters run longer in the North than in the south. Roofers peak after spring storms and before winter; landscapers peak in spring; plumbers see spikes during hard freezes.

To build a seasonal plan:

1. Pull last year's jobs by month.
2. Mark your three busiest and three slowest months.
3. Put more of the annual budget into the weeks just before and during the busy months.
4. In slow months, shift spend to work that builds over time, such as reviews, website pages and your Google profile.

Here's a simple example for a $24,000 annual budget:

Check that the peak months still respect your maximum cost per lead. If they don't, it's a sign the budget is too high for your capacity.

Step 7: Review every month

At the end of each month, write down five numbers:

1. Total marketing spend, including fees.
2. Leads received.
3. Jobs won.
4. Cost per lead (spend ÷ leads).
5. Cost per job (spend ÷ jobs).

Compare cost per lead with your maximum from Step 3, and cost per job with Step 2. If both are under, consider growing. If either is over for two months running, find out why before spending more.

Common budgeting mistakes

• Budgeting from revenue instead of contribution. It makes expensive channels look affordable.
• Ignoring capacity. Leads you can't serve damage your reputation and waste money.
• Treating every lead the same. A repair lead and a replacement lead are worth very different amounts.
• Never measuring close rate. Without it, cost per lead means little.
• Leaving fees out. Software and agency fees are marketing costs too.

Putting it to use

Fill in the worksheet with your own figures and you'll know more about your marketing than many agencies will ask you. If you'd like a second opinion, our services overview explains where we'd usually start, and the guides library has more practical reading. Regional differences that affect these numbers are on the areas hub.