Roofing is one of the most expensive trades to advertise for on Google, and the reason is simple: a roof job is a big ticket, so every roofer in your area is willing to pay for the same clicks. If you own a roofing company and you're trying to work out what a campaign should cost, one number won't tell you much. What helps is knowing which searches cost the most, what drives your budget, and where the money tends to leak.
Why Roofing Clicks Cost So Much
Google sells each click in an auction. When a single replacement job is worth thousands of dollars to the winner, competitors bid up the price, and roofing clicks end up among the priciest in home services. That means a small budget gets you fewer clicks than it would for a cheaper trade, so you need to be realistic about how many leads a given budget can buy, and careful about which clicks you pay for.
Not All Roofing Searches Are Equal
"Roof replacement near me" and "new roof cost" come from people planning a large job, and they're usually the most expensive and most valuable. "Roof leak repair" searches are more urgent and often smaller. "Storm damage roof" and "roof inspection" searches spike after weather events and can be competitive for a short stretch. Then there are the searches you don't want to pay for at all: people looking for roofing jobs, DIY how-tos, or roofing supplies. Putting all of this into one campaign with one budget lets Google decide where the money goes.
What Actually Sets Your Monthly Budget
There are two separate costs, and quotes often blur them together.
- Ad spend (paid to Google): This depends on your market, how many estimates your crew can run each week, and how many of those estimates you close. A crew booked out for weeks doesn't need the same budget as one with open dates. Competitive metro areas cost more than smaller towns.
- Management fee (paid to whoever runs it): Some people charge a flat monthly fee, others take a percentage of your ad spend. Ask which one you're being quoted, because a percentage fee grows every time your budget does.
Where Roofing Ad Budgets Leak
- Job-seeker and DIY searches. "Roofing jobs," "roofer salary," and "how to patch a roof" will click your ad unless you block them with negative keywords.
- A service area wider than your crews will drive. Paying for leads 50 miles out that you'll decline is wasted money.
- Leads that wait. A roofing lead often contacts several companies. If a form submission sits for a day, someone else has already booked the estimate.
- Sending every click to the homepage. Someone searching for storm damage help should land on a page about that, with your number and proof of work in view right away.
Why the Landing Page Changes Your Real Cost
Two roofers paying the same per click can have very different costs per estimate. One sends visitors to a fast page built around a single job with tap-to-call; the other sends them to a slow, general homepage. With clicks this expensive, a page that converts even a bit better lowers your true cost more than trimming the bid ever will.
What I Charge, and Why
I build roofing websites for a flat $499, with 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. We set the ad budget together before anything goes live, based on your market and how many estimates you can handle, and you can cancel the management side in the first 30 days. I build every site and run every campaign myself, so there's no account manager in between.