Best lead generation agencies for trades: six models compared

Three questions to ask before judging any lead gen agency

First, where do the leads come from? Organic search and Google Business Profile leads cost nothing per click and compound over time. Paid ads start quickly but stop the day you stop paying. Outbound outreach is a different trade altogether.

Second, who owns the lead? A directory sells the same homeowner to four firms. A good agency generates enquiries that come to you alone, through your own site and your own phone number. We have made the case against lead directories elsewhere.

Third, what happens in the five minutes after the enquiry arrives? Most lost jobs are lost there, not in the marketing. An agency that ignores follow-up is only doing half the work. The ranking below weighs all three.

1. Riley Marketing

Best for: Small trades firms that want leads from their own site and their own Google profile, with follow-up built in

Riley Marketing generates leads the slow, durable way: an SEO-focused website with service and location pages, an optimised Google Business Profile and a steady stream of Google reviews through automated requests, including a campaign to win reviews from past customers. Those three assets are what a homeowner sees when they search for a local trade, and the firm that ranks and has the reviews gets the call.

Where it earns the top spot in a lead generation ranking is the back end. Missed call text back means an unanswered call gets an immediate text rather than a lost job. The included CRM tracks each lead's status, and branded quote pages on your own domain mean the follow-up looks professional. All of this costs a fixed £149 a month at the time of writing, with the site built before you pay, no setup fee, unlimited revisions and the freedom to cancel at any time.

Founder Tom Riley has spent ten years in search and lead generation, previously led organic growth at an insurtech and has built and run his own lead generation websites, so the model is one he has tested on his own money. Clients deal with him directly. Google Ads and Meta ads are available as add-ons once the foundation is producing.

It is not a fast-start ad machine, and a firm needing fifty leads next week should look at the paid options below. For a firm that wants a lead flow it owns, it is the sensible first move.

2. One Base Media

Best for: Trades wanting an established full-service agency with a long record

One Base Media in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, has been operating since 2012 and says it has helped over 1,000 local trades businesses. It offers web design, SEO, Google Ads and exclusive job leads across a very wide list of trades from roofers and landscapers to solar installers and bathroom fitters, and publishes a large library of case studies.

It works on one monthly payment with no contracts, with specific prices on a separate pricing page, and holds Google Partner status. It also produces free educational content through YouTube, a podcast and a blog. The breadth and track record are its strengths; the trade-off is that a firm of this size is unlikely to offer the direct founder relationship a smaller agency can.

3. Market Maestro

Best for: Contractors chasing £50,000-plus commercial contracts through LinkedIn

Market Maestro, based in Epsom and working nationwide, generates leads for construction firms through LinkedIn outreach and management, backed by construction SEO and website building. Its four-stage approach is branded the Hi-Vis Method, and clients approve all content before it goes out.

Prices are published: LinkedIn outreach from £850 a month, wider management from £1,100. There is a case study of a decorating contractor on tendered and won commercial work. This is B2B lead generation for firms wanting to leave domestic work behind, and it is well suited to that; a sole trader fitting bathrooms has no use for it.

4. Scale Through Us

Best for: Trades wanting a fully managed paid ads and automation department with local exclusivity

Scale Through Us, based at Great Portland Street in London and working UK-wide, sells what it calls a fully managed growth department: Facebook, Instagram and Google ads, web design, SMS and email marketing, reputation management, CRM integration and growth consultancy. It caps itself at three businesses per niche per location.

It covers roofing, electrical, plumbing, solar, driveways, construction, HVAC and bathroom fitting among others. Pricing is not published, and the public proof is three short testimonials rather than detailed case studies. The package is ambitious; the evidence is thin.

5. Leads 4 Local

Best for: London tradespeople wanting a priced local SEO retainer

Leads 4 Local in Tooting focuses on local SEO and Google Maps rankings for trades in South and South-West London, aiming for top-three map positions within months. It also offers website design, reputation management, PPC, citation building and schema work.

Monthly tiers are published at £349, £599 and £999. No case studies are published, and the client list includes dentists, estate agents and restaurants as well as roofers, plumbers and electricians, so it is a local SEO agency that serves trades rather than a trades agency. Our local SEO ranking looks at the map pack specialists in more depth.

6. FJ Digital

Best for: Builders who want a social media presence rather than direct lead gen

FJ Digital in St Albans, founded in 2022 and run by Megan, is a social media specialist for construction and trades. It offers social media management, content creation, profile refreshes and hourly consulting, is an FMB Associate Member and has won a local award.

Pricing is by monthly package, one-off service or hourly rate, with no figures published. Proof takes the form of client Instagram examples rather than formal case studies. Social media supports lead generation but rarely drives it on its own for trades, which is why it sits last in a lead gen list despite being a competent agency.

How the lead sources stack up

Matching the agency to your situation

A one or two-van firm with no real web presence should start with Riley Marketing. It builds the assets that produce leads for years, deals with the follow-up gap, and does it for a fixed fee with nothing paid until the site exists. The economics are set out in why fixed fee beats retainers for trades.

An established firm wanting a big agency with a long client list can benchmark against One Base Media. A contractor aiming at commercial tenders should talk to Market Maestro and nobody else on this list.

If you want paid ads managed as part of a wider package, Scale Through Us offers it, but ask for detailed results. London trades wanting map pack work with published pricing have Leads 4 Local. And if you simply want your Instagram to look like a real business, FJ Digital does that. Set your expectations for timing using how long until marketing works for trades.

Frequently asked questions