Contractor SEO cost per month and what drives it
Published price guides put contractor SEO at about 1 000 to 3 000 USD per month for a general contractor, remodeler or builder who serves one metro, and 3 000 to 7 500 USD when the program covers several towns or a market with strong competitors. Some sellers list plans from 500 USD, and a few multi-market programs go past 8 000 USD. These are market ranges from sellers, not an AgencySEO quote, and the sellers disagree most on the low end.
The fee should buy four kinds of work. Service pages for the trades you want, such as kitchen remodels, additions, roofing or decks. Town and neighborhood pages for the areas you serve. Business Profile and review work for the map pack. Reporting that ties calls and estimate forms to the work. A quote that names none of these in plain terms is not ready to compare.
What each contractor SEO budget buys
Use the table as a scope checklist. A larger fee should buy more pages and better links, not a longer report.
| Monthly budget | Typical scope | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Under 750 USD | Profile cleanup, citations, a few page edits | Fine for a new crew in a small town. Ask for named deliverables, not hours. |
| 750 to 1 500 USD | Service pages for one or two trades, one town, basic links | Common for solo owners. Check that pages are written for your trade, not swapped from a template. |
| 1 500 to 3 000 USD | Service and town pages, profile work, reviews, links, fixes | The usual range for a remodeler or general contractor in one metro. |
| 3 000 to 7 500 USD | Several towns, several trades, heavier link work, tracking | For multi-crew firms and competitive metros. Ask which towns come first. |
| Above 7 500 USD | Multi-location programs, content at volume, reporting by office | Make sure the extra spend buys pages and links, not account management. |
Ask which items are new work and which are one-time setup. A profile audit and citation cleanup are useful but should not be billed every month as if they were new.
How many projects pay for contractor SEO
Start from your average gross profit per signed job and work backward. These are examples to plug your own numbers into, not forecasts.
| Average gross profit per job | Jobs to cover 1 500 USD a month | Jobs to cover 3 500 USD a month |
|---|---|---|
| 2 000 USD (small repair and install work) | 9 jobs a year | 21 jobs a year |
| 5 000 USD (bathroom or deck) | 4 jobs a year | 9 jobs a year |
| 12 000 USD (kitchen or addition) | 2 jobs a year | 4 jobs a year |
| 30 000 USD (large remodel or new build) | 1 job a year | 2 jobs a year |
The math favors big tickets, and it assumes you answer estimate requests quickly and close a fair share of them. If you want the same exercise for a single trade, our HVAC SEO cost article walks through it for service work, and the contractor SEO services page shows what we build first.
What moves a contractor SEO quote
- Number of trades. Each service that needs its own page, photos and proof adds writing time.
- Number of towns. A town page only helps with real local detail, so each one adds work.
- Competition. A metro with several large remodeling brands costs more to enter than a small county.
- Your current site. Slow pages, a template builder or thin service pages need fixing before new content helps.
- Review volume. A steady stream of recent reviews lowers the effort the map pack needs.
Contractor SEO or paid lead services
Paid lead services and SEO answer different needs. Lead services fill the calendar quickly and stop when you stop paying. SEO takes months and keeps working after the invoice is paid.
| Channel | Where it wins | Tradeoff |
|---|---|---|
| Paid lead services | Fast inquiries when the schedule is thin | Cost per lead rises with competition, inquiries are often shared and spend ends the flow |
| Local Services Ads and paid search | Immediate calls from people ready to hire | Pay per click or lead, and bids climb in busy metros |
| SEO | Inquiries that arrive on your own site and compound | Four to eight months to build and no result guaranteed |
Most contractors run a mix. The useful habit is to track signed jobs by source, so the cheaper source gets more budget over time. Once estimate requests start to arrive, AI proposal software for estimates can help you answer them the same day.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Who owns the site and the Business Profile? Both should be in your name.
- Which pages will you build first? Look for service and town pages, not only blog posts.
- How are leads tracked? Ask for calls and form reporting, not only rankings.
- What is the term? Six or twelve month minimums are common. Monthly terms let you leave if results do not follow.
- Are links built on real sites? Ask for examples of the kind of sites you will get.
The same questions help when you compare any agency. Our notes on SEO retainer pricing cover how to read the rest of the quote, and the roofing SEO cost article runs the same break-even math for a single trade.
AgencySEO monthly plans for contractors
AgencySEO plans combine service and town pages, Business Profile work, links, technical fixes and reporting. Every plan is month-to-month with no setup fee, and annual prepay saves 20 percent.
| Plan | Monthly price |
|---|---|
| Small | 1 500 USD |
| Growth | 3 500 USD |
| Scale | 7 500 USD |
Compare the AgencySEO plan pricing with the quotes you hold, and use the audit above to see where your site stands.