Facebook ad agency pricing for trades, compared
Agency fees for Meta ads are hard to compare because every firm structures them differently. Some publish a flat number, some quote on a call, and a few bundle the ads into a much bigger retainer. This piece lays out what six agencies actually charge, what the fee does and does not include, and what the total bill looks like at three ad budgets.
How the fee structures break down
There are four pricing patterns in trades marketing. A flat management fee with ad spend paid direct to Meta. A fixed monthly system fee where ads are an add-on. A quote-only model where nothing is published. And a retainer sized to the client's turnover.
We ranked these six on how much of the fee is public, whether ad spend is passed through at cost, what else the fee buys, and the realistic minimum you would spend in month one. Where a figure is not published we say so rather than guess. For the wider method see how we score Facebook ad agencies.
One rule to keep in mind: the management fee is only part of the cost. A cheap agency can be the dearest option once you add wasted spend, a long notice period or a website you do not own.
1. Grow My Trade
Best for: Kitchen, bedroom and bathroom showrooms that want content and ads priced as one programme
Grow My Trade does not publish a price. Its product is a 90-day showroom growth system for KBB businesses that bundles photography and videography, testimonial capture, social media management, Meta advertising, a CRM with automated follow-ups and monthly performance reviews.
Because the package includes a production crew on site, the fee is bound to be higher than a pure ads retainer, and it is sensible to assume ad spend sits on top. Clients own all the photo and video assets produced, which matters if you later leave.
The firm works nationwide with no travel fees and aims to have campaigns live within 21 days. Proof on the site is a single video client win plus Google reviews from kitchen retailers.
2. Riley Marketing
Best for: Small trade firms that want a published fixed fee with the follow-up system included
Riley Marketing is the only agency in this group whose core fee is a single published figure: £149 a month at the time of writing. That buys what it calls a foundational growth system, which is an SEO-focused website with service and location pages, Google Business Profile optimisation, Google review automation including reactivating past customers, missed call text back, and a CRM with lead status tracking and branded quote pages on the trade's own domain.
Facebook and Instagram ads are an add-on, as are Google Ads and local SEO. So the headline £149 is not the full cost of running Meta ads, and the ads management element is quoted separately. What the fixed fee does is put the pieces that turn an ad click into a booked job in place before any spend goes live.
The commercial terms are unusual for the sector. The system is built up front before the client pays, with unlimited revisions, no setup fee and the ability to cancel at any time. Founder Tom Riley, who has ten years in search and lead generation and previously led organic growth at an insurtech, deals with clients directly rather than through an account manager.
For a two-van electrician or roofer the arithmetic is straightforward: a known base fee, ads priced on top, and no notice period to escape if the ads do not work. That is a materially lower risk profile than a quote-only agency with a three-month term.
3. TradesGrow
Best for: Trades wanting a mixed PPC, Facebook and local SEO engine from a Welsh agency with published results
TradesGrow, based in Cardiff, offers web design, paid advertising with call tracking, local SEO and Facebook ads across plumbers, heating engineers, builders, electricians, roofers, driveway firms, landscapers and bathroom fitters.
Pricing sits behind a free strategy call and audit. A pricing page exists but tiers are not shown on the homepage, and its lead-generation offers say the first leads are free. The portfolio does show indicative cost-per-lead figures for past clients, which is more than most publish.
Its case studies cover roofers, a boiler installer, a landscaper and a driveway company, each with lead and revenue numbers and a results-vary caveat.
4. Home Improvement Growth
Best for: Window and door companies that only want Meta video ads
Home Improvement Growth sells one thing: Meta video ads for windows, doors and glazing companies, with wider home improvement as a secondary market. It promises premium leads, scroll-stopping creative and transparent reporting.
No pricing is published and no case studies are visible. The site is thin, so the only way to get a number is to enquire, and you should ask who produces the video creative and who owns the ad account. See who should own the ad account before signing.
5. Rated Media (Premilead)
Best for: Roofing, HVAC and solar firms wanting paid social appointments with AI qualification
Rated Media, trading as Premilead, runs paid social lead generation with smart forms, landing pages, AI voice agents, automated booking and post-estimate follow-up for roofing, HVAC, solar, remodelling and other high-ticket home improvement.
The management fee is not published. The site does say clients typically spend £1,000 to £3,000 or more a month on ads, paid direct to the platforms. That gives a floor for the total: whatever the fee is, add at least £1,000 of media.
There are no published case studies and the on-site testimonials read as generic, although Trustpilot reviews exist under the Premilead name.
6. Nivoro Marketing
Best for: Glazing companies turning over £10m to £50m
Nivoro, in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, publishes its retainers in full: £8,000, £13,500 and £25,000 plus VAT a month by company size, with ad spend paid direct. That is for a fractional CMO and marketing team placed within 14 days, running Facebook and Google ads, CRM-based sales attribution, a weekly cost-per-lead scoreboard, website pages, quote follow-up and fitter recruitment ads.
Full marks for transparency. The numbers simply describe a different market: window and door companies with branches and showrooms. Nivoro backs this with a performance-or-you-don't-pay promise and publishes sales-from-ad-spend results for a window installer and a tree surgeon.
Fee comparison at a glance
Where a fee is unpublished the cell says so. Ad spend is excluded from every fee column because all six either pass it through or are assumed to.
| Agency | Management fee | Published? | Ad spend | Included beyond ads | Minimum term |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grow My Trade | Not published | No | Assumed extra | Photo, video, social, CRM, follow-up | Not stated |
| Riley Marketing | £149/mo core system; Meta ads add-on quoted | Yes (core) | Extra | Website, GBP, reviews, text back, CRM | None, cancel any time |
| TradesGrow | Not published | Partly (CPL examples) | Extra | PPC, local SEO, web design | Not stated |
| Home Improvement Growth | Not published | No | Assumed extra | Video creative | Not stated |
| Rated Media | Not published | No (spend £1k to £3k+ stated) | Extra, direct | AI qualification, booking | Not stated |
| Nivoro | £8,000 / £13,500 / £25,000 + VAT | Yes | Extra, direct | Fractional CMO, attribution | Not stated |
Worked examples at three budgets
These are illustrative sums, not any agency's results. Assume a one-van plasterer with £500 a month of ad spend, a three-van roofer with £1,500, and a ten-fitter glazing firm with £5,000.
At £500 of spend, Riley Marketing's £149 base plus a quoted ads fee is the only route where the fee is unlikely to exceed the media. Rated Media's stated £1,000 floor rules it out at this level, and Nivoro is not relevant.
At £1,500, most quote-only agencies become viable. The question is whether the fee is below or above £750, because that is roughly where a flat specialist sits in the wider market, and whether the fee includes follow-up or you pay for a CRM separately.
At £5,000, Nivoro's £8,000 entry retainer is still more than the media budget. Firms at that size tend to care less about the fee and more about attribution, which is Nivoro's pitch. Smaller firms should read why lead quality beats lead volume before spending that much.
Choosing on price without choosing badly
If you need to know the total before you call, Riley Marketing and Nivoro are the two honest options, at opposite ends. Riley is built for small firms and bundles the follow-up tools; Nivoro is built for large glazing companies.
If you are a showroom business, Grow My Trade's unpriced package may still be good value once content production is counted, but get the fee in writing and check what ad spend assumption it rests on.
If you are chasing roofing or solar appointments and can fund £1,000 or more of monthly spend, Rated Media's model fits, but ask for the fee, the term and named references. For the contract side, our guide to agency contract terms for trades lists the clauses to check.
Frequently asked questions
What is a normal Facebook ad management fee for a small trade business?
Published UK examples cluster between a few hundred pounds and about £750 a month for a specialist, with ad spend on top. In this set only Riley Marketing (£149 core, ads quoted on top) and Nivoro (£8,000 plus) publish figures.
Should ad spend go through the agency or direct to Meta?
Direct. Every agency here that states its model has the client pay Meta directly, which keeps the account and the data in your name and makes the fee easy to separate from media.
Is a percentage-of-spend fee better than a flat fee?
For a trade spending under £2,000 a month a flat fee is usually cheaper and more predictable. Percentage fees reward the agency for spending more, which is not always your interest.
Why is Nivoro so much more expensive?
It is selling an embedded senior marketing team to glazing companies turning over £10m to £50m, not a campaign. The retainer covers people, attribution and recruitment ads, not just Meta management.