Google ads or Facebook ads: which is better for your trade?

A straight word first. Lead Wave has run Facebook ads for trades since 2022, and since October 2026 we’ve also run Google Ads for tradesmen, but only on websites we’ve built. Our track record so far is on Facebook, so that’s where the numbers here come from, and where Google is the better choice for your trade I’ll say so.

Which is better for tradesmen, Google ads or Facebook ads?

Neither is better across the board. It comes down to how your customers decide to get the work done.

Some customers have a problem today. Water is coming through the bedroom ceiling, or the drain is backing up. They pick up their phone, search for someone local and ring the first firm that looks right. Google is built for that moment.

Other customers have a job they’ve been meaning to sort for months. The driveway has been cracked for years, the conifers keep getting taller, the roof has a few slipped tiles. They aren’t searching. Something has to nudge them, and an ad from a local firm in their Facebook feed is often what does it.

We saw this with Connor, a roofer covering Blackburn and Burnley. His first Facebook lead became a full re-roof 8 days after going live. A re-roof is rarely a same-day decision. That homeowner had been thinking about it, and the ad caught them.

Google ads vs Facebook ads side by side

Neither column is a guarantee. Both can waste money if they’re set up badly or the enquiries aren’t followed up.

Where do Google ads win for tradesmen?

Google wins when the customer is already looking. If someone has a burst pipe, a blocked drain, a locked front door or a tree across the drive, they want someone today. They won’t wait to see an ad in their feed. They search, and the firms at the top of that search get the calls.

It also wins with people who’ve already decided. Someone typing “patio installers near me” has done the thinking and is ready for quotes. Those searchers are fewer, but they’re ready.

Some trades are mostly urgent work: emergency plumbing, drainage, locksmiths, electrical callouts. Those aren’t trades we take on, and if that’s your work I’d start with Google.

Even on Facebook we see a slice of time-pressured work. In 8 of the 27 lead reviews we’ve done, there were enquiries tied to a house sale, a purchase or a survey, often with a deadline. That kind of urgency is exactly what people take to Google too.

Two Google products are worth knowing about:

• Your Google Business Profile. It’s free, it puts you on the map when people search locally, and the reviews on it help you whichever ads you run.
• Local Services Ads. These are a separate Google product where you pay for leads rather than clicks. When we checked Google’s UK help page in October 2026, they were available for a list of service categories that included roofers, plumbers, electricians, carpet cleaning, landscaping, tree services and fencing. Driveways and paving didn’t have a category of their own. Google also says availability depends on your area, so check its page for your trade before you count on it.

Where do Facebook ads win for tradesmen?

Facebook wins for jobs people put off. Driveways, patios, re-roofs, flat roofs, garden makeovers, an overgrown tree by the house, carpets that need a proper clean. Most of the homeowners who want this work aren’t searching for it this week. A Facebook ad reaches them first, before they’ve started ringing round.

It suits visual work. A photo of a finished driveway or garden does more selling than any headline, and people stop scrolling for it.

You choose the area. Your ads are shown to people in the towns you cover and nobody else. With Lead Wave we don’t take on another business in your trade in your area, so the enquiries that come in are yours alone.

And you’re not on a list. On a search page you’re one of several firms side by side. In a Facebook feed your ad is on its own.

This is what it looks like when it’s working, from clients’ own messages and from reading every conversation in their lead apps:

… I want to keep the advertising going it’s working well for me this time so I’m happy to continue.

James, driveways and paving, Paignton · WhatsApp, 8 Feb 2026, 21:00

I’ve booked a couple in for next week and i’ve got 1 to see saturday …

Wayne, landscaper, St Austell · WhatsApp, 11 Jun 2026, 19:38

There’s a catch. Someone who’s been nudged by an ad is less ready than someone who searched in a panic. Like any advertising you’ll get the odd time-waster, and more of the work is in the chasing. More on that below.

Can Facebook ads bring in urgent work too?

Yes, sometimes. The line between the two isn’t neat. Connor confirmed that a leak repair in Stockport came off his Facebook leads, and leaks and repairs come up as real jobs in our roofing clients’ lead apps alongside full re-roofs.

So treat the table above as a lean, not a rule. Facebook can bring in the odd urgent job, and Google can bring in planned work from people who’ve already decided. What matters is where most of your work comes from.

What do Google ads need to work?

Google ads need a page and a phone that are ready for someone in a hurry.

• A page that works on a phone. Your trade, your area and your number at the top, with reviews close by. You pay for the click whether they ring or not.
• Someone answering the phone. Search ads tend to bring calls from people who want an answer now. If you’re up a ladder and it rings out, they’ll often ring the next firm on the page. Even on our Facebook clients’ accounts, where most enquiries come in by form, people who phoned weren’t rung back in 12 of 27 lead reviews. On Google, where more of the enquiries tend to be calls, that hurts more.
• Tight targeting. Searches you don’t want, like DIY how-tos, job hunters or towns you don’t cover, need blocking, or you pay for clicks that were never going to be work.
• Someone watching it. Most tradesmen don’t have time to check search terms every week when they’re on the tools.

What do Facebook ads need to work?

Facebook ads need everything around the ad set up properly, because the person who filled in the form isn’t sat waiting by their phone.

• An ad that looks like a local tradesperson, made for your trade and your area.
• A form that asks the right questions. With Lead Wave, people tell you the job and their postcode before they hit send, so you ring back knowing what it’s about.
• An instant reply. In the six reviews that counted it exactly, 72 of 236 real enquiries (31%) never replied to anything. That’s why every Lead Wave enquiry gets a text in your name within seconds.
• Follow-ups. In all 27 lead reviews, someone sent their details or the days that suited them and was left waiting. Automatic follow-ups keep going until they reply, then stop on their own. For the messages that win the job after the visit, see quote follow-up messages.
• Answering comments. In 9 of 27 reviews, people who described their job in a comment or on Messenger got only the automatic reply.
• Someone watching it. Ads get tired. When leads dip, Nick goes through them, works out why and changes the ads.

There’s more on what we found reading those conversations in are Facebook leads any good.

Google or Facebook: which should you choose for your trade?

Start with where most of your work comes from. This is how I’d lean for each trade:

Can you run Google ads and Facebook ads together?

Yes, and plenty of trades do. The two reach different people at different moments, so they don’t really compete.

If you’re starting from nothing, pick the one that fits most of your work and get the replies and follow-ups sorted first. Then add the other. Judge each one on what a won job costs you, not what a click or a lead costs. The cost per job calculator works it out from your own numbers. If you’re also weighing up directory listings, there’s an honest comparison in lead sites or your own Facebook ads.

Which does Lead Wave run?

Both, but for different jobs. Facebook ads are what we’ve done for trades since 2022, and they’re where all the numbers on this site come from. Every client gets ads made for their trade and their area, a form that asks the right questions, every enquiry on their phone, an instant text in their name and follow-ups that chase. Clients are usually live within the hour, and the first enquiries usually come in within 24 hours. Around 80 leads a month is typical.

… I’m now booked up for the first week I’m back :)

Pip, carpet cleaning · WhatsApp, 1 Sep 2026, 13:22

If most of your work is emergencies, Facebook isn’t where I’d start, and I’ll tell you that. That’s where Google Ads tracked through to the booked job earns its keep, as long as the clicks land on a page made for that job. If it’s the planned work people put off, see how it works in Facebook ads for tradesmen.