Key facts
- Most home services trades require state or provincial licensing, and some require bonding and specific insurance minimums, so a marketing vendor should ask for and display license numbers correctly rather than treating them as a footnote, since some platforms and directories check this before approving ads.
- Demand for many trades is sharply seasonal or event-driven: HVAC spikes around the first heat wave or cold snap, roofing spikes after a storm, and a marketing plan that spends a flat monthly budget all year misses the windows where a homeowner is actually searching right now.
- A no-heat or no-cooling call, a burst pipe, or a lockout is an emergency search with almost no comparison shopping, while a full system replacement or a re-roof is a considered, multi-quote purchase, and a home services website needs a fast path for one and a trust-building path for the other.
- Most home services businesses run on dispatch or field service management software that assigns jobs and tracks technicians, and a marketing vendor who cannot connect a lead or a call to a job actually booked in that system is reporting form fills, not real business.
- Word of mouth and repeat business from past customers compete directly with paid marketing in this category, since a homeowner who already trusts a plumber rarely searches again, so a marketing plan should account for how much of the customer base already exists before pricing new-customer acquisition targets.
Scope boundaries
Name the trade or trades in scope, since plumbing, HVAC, roofing, and electrical each have different seasonal patterns and different emergency-versus-considered purchase mixes. State the channels: local SEO, Google Ads including Local Services Ads if eligible, and the website.
Out of scope unless separately priced: seasonal media outside digital, such as door hangers or truck wraps. Require the vendor to state how they will handle budget pacing around known seasonal spikes rather than a flat monthly number, and confirm they will display license, bonding, and insurance information correctly wherever a platform requires it.
What the vendor must be given
The business should give the vendor manager access to its Google Business Profile, Google Ads account, and analytics, never full ownership. A read connection or export from the dispatch or field service management software, so leads and calls can be tied to actual booked and completed jobs, not just form submissions.
Current license, bonding, and insurance details in the format each platform requires, and the business's actual service radius, since a home services business rarely serves an entire metro equally and paying to advertise outside a realistic drive time wastes budget. A named contact who can confirm crew capacity before a campaign scales up demand the business cannot fulfill.
Ownership and exit clauses
State that the business owns its Google Business Profile, Google Ads account, Local Services Ads profile if applicable, website, and domain outright, with the vendor added as a manager, never as the primary holder. A suspended or vendor-controlled Local Services Ads profile is a common sticking point in this category and should be addressed directly.
On exit, require full access handover within a set number of days, along with export of call tracking data and any recorded calls used for quality review, since that history has value beyond the vendor relationship.
Milestones and acceptance tests
Service radius and seasonal budget pacing plan agreed before the first campaign launches. Dispatch software integration or a manual reporting bridge live within 30 days. A defined emergency-versus-considered-purchase page structure on the website, so an emergency search lands on a page built for speed, not a general services page.
Acceptance test at 90 days: can the vendor show leads and calls tied to jobs actually booked in the dispatch system, broken out by service type, and can they show how spend was adjusted, or not, around a known seasonal event during that period.
Scoring rubric
Weight bidders on operational fit for the trade, not just marketing polish.
Experience with this specific trade and its seasonal pattern, 25 percent.
Integration with dispatch or field service software, 20 percent.
Handling of emergency versus considered-purchase search intent on the site, 20 percent.
Price and budget pacing plan, 20 percent.
References from other home services clients, called directly, 15 percent.
A bidder who proposes one flat monthly budget with no seasonal adjustment for a clearly seasonal trade should lose points here regardless of price.
Questions every bidder must answer
Require written answers.
Have you run campaigns for this specific trade before, and how did you handle its seasonal demand pattern?
Can you connect leads and calls to jobs actually booked in our dispatch or field service software?
How do you structure the website differently for an emergency call versus a considered purchase like a full replacement?
What is your process for confirming license, bonding, and insurance details are current and correctly displayed?
Who owns the Google Ads account, the Business Profile, and Local Services Ads profile once we sign?
What happens to our accounts and call tracking history if we switch agencies?
Related questions
Usually not, if the trade has a clear seasonal pattern. HVAC demand jumps around the first heat wave or cold snap, and roofing demand jumps after a storm, so a flat monthly budget misses the exact windows when homeowners are actually searching. A good plan paces spend around the trade's known seasonality.
Connect leads and calls to your dispatch or field service management software so you can see which ones became booked, completed jobs, not just form submissions or calls answered. A vendor who reports only leads, with no link to actual work booked, is not showing you the number that matters.
It can. Most trades require state or provincial licensing, and some require bonding and insurance minimums, and some ad platforms and directories check this before approving certain campaign types, particularly Local Services Ads. Keeping this information current and correctly submitted is part of running the marketing, not a separate task.
No. An emergency call, a burst pipe or a no-heat situation, is an urgent search with almost no comparison shopping, while a full replacement is a slower, multi-quote decision. The website and the campaigns should offer a fast, obvious path for one and a trust-building, informative path for the other.
It matters a lot in this category, since a homeowner who already trusts a plumber or an HVAC company rarely searches for a new one. A realistic marketing plan accounts for how much of the customer base is repeat or referral business before setting a new-customer acquisition budget and target.
SearchPod is a vendor for this kind of work and would answer this RFP; the acceptance tests here are the ones we agree to.
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