Electrical work has a wider price spread than almost any other trade — a $150 outlet swap and a $12,000 panel upgrade both start with the same "electrician near me" search. That spread is exactly what makes Google Ads confusing to budget for if you're an electrical contractor. The honest answer is: it depends heavily on which jobs you're bidding to win, not just what market you're in.
Why the Clicks Cost So Differently
General terms like "electrician near me" or "local electrician" typically run $10-$25 per click. Higher-ticket terms cost more because the job behind them is worth more to whoever wins the click — "panel upgrade cost" or "whole house rewire" can push $30-$50, and "emergency electrician" or "24 hour electrician" often costs the most of all, since that searcher is minutes from booking whoever answers first. If you're bidding one flat budget across all of those terms without separating them, you're likely overpaying for the cheap searches and underfunding the ones that actually turn into big tickets.
What a Realistic Monthly Budget Looks Like
Same as any trade, split it into what you pay Google and what you pay whoever runs the campaign.
- Ad spend (paid to Google): A single-electrician operation can get a real read on performance starting around $800-1,200/month. Multi-crew shops chasing panel upgrades, rewires, and commercial work in a competitive market often run $2,000-4,000+/month to stay visible on the terms worth the most.
- Management fee (paid to whoever runs it): This is separate from ad spend. Flat monthly fees typically run $500-1,500/month; percentage-of-spend agencies usually charge 10-20%. Know which model you're being quoted before comparing two numbers that aren't actually the same thing.
The EV Charger Trap
EV charger installation is a growing, genuinely lucrative service line for electricians, and it's tempting to lump it into a general campaign. Don't. "EV charger installation" pulls in national installer networks and big-box competitors with far bigger budgets, which can burn through spend fast without producing local calls. It's worth its own small, tightly-targeted campaign with your service area locked down, rather than folding it into your main electrician campaign and wondering why the cost per lead jumped.
Storm Season Changes Your Numbers
Generator installation searches spike hard in the weeks before hurricane season in storm-prone regions, and again right after a major outage hits the news anywhere nearby. If that's part of your business, budget for a temporary bump in both spend and competition during those windows rather than getting outbid and wondering why calls dried up. Outside of storm-driven spikes, electrician demand is steadier year-round than a seasonal trade like HVAC or landscaping — which also means there's less of an off-season to coast through if the campaign isn't tuned.
What I Charge, and Why
I build electrician websites for a flat $499 — no monthly fee for the site itself. If you want me running Google Ads on top of that, it's $750/month management, and you fund your own ad spend directly with Google — I don't mark it up or take a cut. Most electrical contractors land in the $800-2,000/month ad spend range depending on how many calls they want and how competitive their market is. We set that number together before anything goes live, and you can cancel the management side after month one with no contract holding you in.