If you’ve priced contractor marketing, you’ve seen numbers so far apart they seem like different products: $249 a month from one shop, $4,000 a month from another, $15,000 from a third. Here’s the uncomfortable truth — they are different products, and knowing which tier you’re looking at is most of the decision.
The three price tiers, honestly described
The template mills ($200–400/month, all-in). Website, hosting, “SEO,” directory listings, sometimes a CRM — bundled for less than a service call. How? Volume and templates: the same site skeleton, the same content lightly reworded, hundreds of clients per staff member. Some contractors do fine on these. But read the reviews before signing: the recurring complaints are cookie-cutter sites, thin actual SEO work, and — remarkably — shops that sign up direct competitors in the same town and even list them side by side in their own directories. At this tier you are not buying a competitive edge; you’re buying the same edge as everyone else who paid $249.
The specialist agencies ($1,500–$8,000/month). This is where real, custom work lives: dedicated strategists, genuine content, link building, proper reporting. The best publicly post prices around $4,000/month for SEO alone, with websites billed separately — sometimes $1,600+ per month for the site itself. Here’s what most contractors miss: this tier doesn’t want you unless you’re big. The leading shops openly say they fit contractors doing $2M+ — some $3M+ — in revenue. The math is honest: at $50–80K/year of marketing spend, you need serious job volume for it to pay. If that’s you, these agencies are often worth it.
The enterprise platforms ($8,000–$15,000+/month). Multi-location operations, call-tracking software, attribution suites. If you’re reading a small Ontario web shop’s blog, this isn’t you yet, and that’s fine.
What determines the price (so quotes stop being mysterious)
Four things, roughly in order: content volume — real per-service, per-town pages are hours of writing each, and they’re the part that ranks; market competition — ranking a roofer in Toronto costs multiples of ranking one in Brantford; scope — whether “SEO” includes your Google Business Profile, reviews, technical work, and content, or just a monthly report; and who does the work — an agency’s price includes account managers, sales commissions, and office overhead before a dollar touches your rankings.
Our prices, since we’re asking you to trust numbers
Foundwork’s builds are fixed and one-time: $2,500–$3,500 (Foundation), $5,500–$8,000 (Growth), up to $18,000 (Market Leader) — you own the site outright, no monthly site rental. Ongoing SEO/GEO runs $400–$900/month, and care plans start at $59. That’s a quarter to a tenth of specialist-agency pricing for the same architectural playbook — possible because it’s a solo operation with no account managers, no sales team, and a hard cap on client count. The honest trade-off: you get one person’s focused attention, not a department — and there’s a waitlist when capacity fills, because the alternative is the neglect this industry is famous for.
How to compare quotes, whatever tier you’re in
Ask every shop the same five questions. What exactly ships each month — pages written, links earned, fixes made? Do I own the website and accounts outright if I leave? Is pricing flat, or a percentage of anything? Will you show me another client’s actual Search Console data, not a percentage claim? And who, by name, does the work? The answers sort the market faster than any price sheet — and any shop offended by the questions has answered them.
Ready to put this to work?
New site or fixing the one you have — start the conversation. If you already have a website, I’ll include a free, plain-English audit with my reply: rankings, local search, and whether AI can find you.
Start your project →Already have a site? Ask for the free plain-English audit — or just email jamie@foundwork.ca.