Meta Ads

Are Meta Ads worth it for tradies?

Meta works brilliantly for some trades and burns money for others. Here's the dividing line, plus the qualification setup that makes the leads usable.

6 min readWritten by the Tradie Code team

Meta Ads are worth it for tradies whose work is visual, considered and high value. They're usually a waste of money for tradies whose work is urgent, invisible and low value. That single distinction explains almost every success and failure we've seen.

Trades where Meta works

TradeVerdictWhy
Bathroom renovatorsExcellentVisual, considered, high-value jobs
Roofers (restoration)ExcellentDramatic before-and-after, high value
ConcretersExcellentFinished surfaces photograph beautifully
LandscapersExcellentTransformation content performs
Pool buildersVery goodAspirational, long consideration
Emergency plumbersPoorDemand is urgent — use Google
LocksmithsPoorNobody plans a lockout in advance

The lead quality problem, and how to fix it

The usual complaint is "Facebook leads are rubbish". Almost always this means an unqualified instant lead form was run with no price framing. Meta will happily give you very cheap leads from people who will never buy — you have to tell it not to.

  1. 1
    State a starting price in the creative

    "Full bathroom renovations from [your price]." Filters out people with a very different budget.

  2. 2
    Use a form with real questions

    Budget range, timeframe, property type. Fewer leads, far better ones.

  3. 3
    Optimise for qualified conversions

    Send the qualified-lead event back to Meta so it learns who to find.

  4. 4
    Respond within 15 minutes

    Meta leads cool faster than Google leads because the person wasn't actively searching.

Judge Meta on pipeline, not on this month
A Meta enquiry for a large renovation may close months later. Judging the channel on 30-day revenue makes it look broken. Track leads by cohort and you'll usually find the numbers are far better than they appeared.

What it costs

Frequently asked questions

Want this working for your business?

Tell us your trade and area. We'll look at the search demand in your area, explain how pricing works, and tell you honestly whether we can help.

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