Before I started Altura, I worked in sales at a big marketing agency. I watched contractors pay $5,000 to $15,000 or more for template websites, weak SEO and ads that didn’t convert. They got low-quality leads, and they didn’t own any of the work. If they cancelled, it all went away. Owners never talked to an actual marketer, only an account manager who was really a salesperson. That’s why I left, and it’s why Altura works the way it does.
I’m not going to name the agency. The point isn’t one company. It’s a model that a lot of big agencies follow, and every contractor should know how it works before signing.
What big marketing agencies actually sell contractors
The agency I worked for sold bundled, one-size-fits-all packages: website, SEO, Google Ads, social media and Meta ads, all wrapped together. The problem is that not every contractor needs, or can afford, every type of marketing. A two-truck junk removal company and a 40-employee HVAC company were offered the same bundles.
A few things stood out from the inside:
- The big companies got the attention. Larger accounts were catered to. Smaller contractors were often brushed off, even though they were paying real money they couldn’t afford to waste.
- They sold everything but specialized in nothing. Websites, SEO, PPC, social: all on the menu, but nobody on the team was truly an expert in any of it.
- The work didn’t match the pitch. The sales presentation looked great. The actual deliverables didn’t.
What contractors were paying, and what they got
| What was sold | What was delivered |
|---|---|
| A custom website | A template site with little thought for converting visitors into calls |
| SEO | Bare-minimum work that didn’t move rankings |
| Google Ads | Campaigns that spent money without bringing in quality leads |
| Meta ads | Sloppily put together ads with generic creative |
| The price | $5,000–$15,000+ |
The best way I can describe it: maximum price, minimum effort. They didn’t truly market the business. They did the bare minimum to keep the account billing.
The result for most contractors was low-quality leads: tire-kickers, wrong service areas, people looking for the cheapest possible price. The owners paid for marketing, but it rarely turned into booked jobs.
The ownership problem: what happens when you cancel
This is the part that bothered me most. Clients didn’t own anything. The agency owned the website, the ad accounts and the content. When a contractor cancelled, everything went away: the site, the campaign history, the data. They had to start over from zero, which kept a lot of them paying long after they wanted to leave.
Before you sign with any agency, find out who owns:
- Your website and its content
- Your domain name
- Your Google Ads and Meta ad accounts
- Your Google Business Profile
- Your call tracking numbers and analytics
Every one of those should be in your business’s name. If the agency won’t put that in writing, that tells you something.
Why you shouldn’t be talking to an account manager
At big agencies, owners usually meet with an account manager. Where I worked, those account managers were really salespeople. They didn’t know marketing. They knew how to keep a client paying and how to upsell the next package.
That isn’t fair to the business owner. You’re paying for marketing expertise, and part of every invoice goes to someone’s commission instead. When you ask “why aren’t my ads producing calls?”, you deserve an answer from someone who can open the account and fix it, not someone who has to “check with the team.”
The biggest lesson: marketing is an investment
Not everything I learned was negative. Working inside a big agency taught me how they operate behind the scenes, and, more importantly, what business owners actually care about.
Contractors don’t want to “do marketing.” They want marketing that pays them back. The owners who were happiest were the ones who saw marketing as an investment that returned more than it cost, not an expense they paid every month and hoped worked.
That changed how I measure everything. Good marketing comes down to two numbers:
- Cost per booked job: what you spent to win each actual customer, not just each lead.
- Return on ad spend: how much revenue came back for every dollar spent.
If an agency can’t talk to you about those numbers, it’s treating your marketing as an expense.
What I do differently at Altura
I started Altura in January 2026 to do this the right way. In its first 10 months, Altura has generated more than $5 million in revenue for its clients. Here’s what’s different:
- You meet directly with me. No account managers. You talk to the person who understands your marketing and makes the changes.
- You own your accounts. If you ever cancel, you keep the work.
- The focus is quality leads and booked jobs, not clicks, impressions or vanity numbers.
- We specialize. Altura works only with home-service contractors, on Google Ads, Meta ads, SEO, Google Business Profile and websites, so you get experience, not a sales pitch.
Here’s what that looks like in practice. A Connecticut junk removal company we work with got 188 leads in its first 23 days at $29.04 per lead. A landscaping campaign turned $3,160 into 65 leads and 45 booked jobs in 45 days. See more on our results page.
Red flags to watch for when choosing a marketing agency
Built from what I saw on the inside:
- One-size-fits-all packages that don’t start with your trade, your market and your budget.
- The agency owns your website, domain or ad accounts.
- You’ll only ever talk to an account manager, never the person doing the work.
- They sell every service but can’t show deep results in any of them.
- Reports full of clicks and impressions, with no calls, leads or booked jobs.
- Template websites sold as custom builds. Ask to see live sites they’ve built for contractors.
- Pricing that doesn’t match deliverables. Ask exactly what you get for the money.
- Pressure to sign today.
For a full vetting checklist, see how to find a reliable marketing provider, and for a local-vs-national comparison, should you hire a local or national contractor marketing company.
Frequently asked questions
Do I own my website if I cancel my marketing agency?
It depends on your agreement. Many big agencies keep ownership of the website, content and ad accounts, so cancelling means losing them. Before you sign, get it in writing that your domain, website, ad accounts and Google Business Profile belong to your business. At Altura, clients own their accounts and keep the work if they cancel.
How much should a contractor pay a marketing agency?
There’s no single right number, but price should match deliverables and results. Judge it by cost per booked job and return on ad spend, not the monthly fee alone. For reference, Altura’s website builds are $2,000, $3,500 or $5,000 depending on size; see website design for small businesses. For budgeting, see what percentage of revenue should go to marketing.
Is a small agency better than a big agency?
Not automatically. Big agencies can offer more services under one roof. But a specialized, smaller agency usually gives you direct access to the person running your marketing, more attention for smaller accounts, and deeper experience in your trade.
Are marketing agencies worth it for contractors?
A good one is, because it should pay for itself in booked jobs. A bad one is an expense you can’t get back. The difference is specialization, ownership, direct access and reporting on real results.
Let’s connect
Tired of paying for marketing that doesn’t work? Talk directly with me, not an account manager. Send a message or call 253-579-3230.
Cole Mello is the founder of Altura Marketing Group. He studied marketing at Washington State University and manages Google Ads, Local Services Ads and Meta campaigns for local service businesses. About Altura