Questions we get asked
Including the ones with answers that do not help us sell.
How much does landscaping marketing cost?
Blue Grid Media publishes flat monthly pricing: $445 a month for Local Services Ads management, from $695 a month for Google Ads management, and $995 a month for both channels bundled. Custom landing pages are included free on every plan, normally $500 each. There is no setup fee and no long-term contract. Accounts spending over $5,000 a month on ads are billed at 5% of spend.
What should landscaping leads cost?
It depends entirely on the job type, which is why the blended figure misleads people. Mowing and maintenance leads run $18 to $30. Hardscaping leads run $55 to $90. Irrigation installation in a major metro at peak season can reach $75 to $90. If you are in a suburban mid-market chasing maintenance leads, a target of $28 to $45 is reasonable. If you are seeing $55 to $60 on maintenance, something is suppressing performance.
Why is my cost per lead going up when I add hardscaping?
Because hardscaping leads genuinely cost more, and that is fine. A hardscaping lead at $80 against a $3,000 to $15,000 ticket returns far more than a mowing lead at $25 against a $175 visit. Judging both against one CPL target is how good campaigns get switched off.
Should I pause ads over winter?
Usually not. January and February CPL drops to $15 to $28 in most markets because competitors go dark. In warm markets CPL stays in the $30 to $55 range year-round anyway. A reduced winter budget almost always beats a pause, and it keeps your account history and Quality Score intact for spring.
Do Local Services Ads work for landscaping?
Yes, and landscaping is a supported vertical. LSA works best for the maintenance and cleanup end where homeowners want someone reliable quickly. Higher-ticket design and hardscaping work usually converts better through Google Ads pointed at a proper page, because the buyer researches before calling.
How much should I budget to start?
Enough that each campaign can gather data rather than starve. Splitting $500 a month across four job types teaches the algorithm nothing about any of them. We would rather start with one or two job types funded properly and expand once they work.
Do you handle maintenance contracts differently from one-off jobs?
Yes, because the value is completely different. A recurring maintenance client compounds over years, so the account can afford to pay more for that lead than the first invoice suggests. One-off cleanup work has to pay for itself immediately.
What if most of my work is commercial?
Commercial landscaping contracts behave more like B2B: longer cycles, bigger annual values, and different search behavior. It can work well on Google Ads but it needs its own campaigns and its own expectations, not a share of the residential budget.
Who actually runs my account?
The person on your consultation call. No handoff to an account coordinator you have never met. We cap the roster deliberately so that stays true.
Am I locked into a contract?
No. Month to month, no auto-renewal, no cancellation fee. You own the Google Ads account, the LSA profile, the call tracking and the landing pages from day one, and they stay yours if you leave.
What if the problem is not the ads?
Then we will tell you on the call. If the leads are arriving and nobody is booking them, no amount of campaign work fixes that, and rebuilding your account would waste your money.
How much does a landscaping lead cost?
It depends entirely on the job type. Published BGM benchmarks put lawn mowing leads at $18 to $30, yard cleanup at $25 to $45, sod installation at $35 to $65, landscape design at $45 to $75, and hardscape installation at $55 to $90. The useful comparison is against break-even: mowing breaks even near $36 a lead while hardscape breaks even near $1,125, so a $75 lead is marginal for mowing and extremely cheap for a patio.
Why do my cheapest landscaping leads make the least money?
Because cost per lead and profit per lead move in opposite directions in landscaping. Lawn mowing produces the lowest cost per lead in almost every account, and it also has the lowest ticket at $150 to $220 a visit and a break-even around $36. Hardscape leads cost two to three times more and break even near $1,125. Any bid strategy chasing volume drifts budget toward mowing automatically, which is why cost per booked job is the number to manage a landscaping account on.
When should a landscaping company increase ad spend?
Maintenance contract sign-ups peak 40 to 60 percent above baseline in late winter, February and March, which is when the year's recurring revenue is decided. Spring, April and May, runs 40 to 80 percent above baseline across design, maintenance and cleanup at once and is the most expensive period to be underspending. Fall brings a second cleanup surge of 60 to 80 percent for leaf removal.
Should a landscaping company pause ads in winter?
In northern markets design and install demand drops 50 to 70 percent from November through January, but pausing entirely surrenders position and forces a cold restart in spring, which costs more than holding a floor. Sunbelt markets only dip 10 to 20 percent and should barely reduce at all. Snow removal, where it applies, belongs on its own budget line rather than sharing the landscaping one.
Is Google LSA or Google Ads better for landscapers?
Published BGM benchmarks give Local Services Ads a $30 to $55 cost per lead with exclusive phone calls and a 58 percent close rate, landing cost per booked job at $55 to $95. Google Ads runs $18 to $45 per click with a 22 percent close rate and $82 to $205 per booked job, and it earns its place on design-build research traffic. Angi and HomeAdvisor share each lead with three to five competitors, which collapses the close rate to 15 percent and pushes cost per booked job to $167 to $533.
