A remodeler asks three agencies for a proposal and gets back $1,500, $5,000, and $14,000 a month. All three promise SEO, paid search, a better website, and a monthly report. The gap is rarely the deliverables list. It is how much ad spend is buried inside the number, whether the plan is built around the projects you actually want, and whether anyone will tie a signed kitchen or addition back to the source that produced it.
This is what home remodeling marketing actually costs in 2026, what each band buys, what a consultation and a signed project should cost by project type, and how to read the quote in front of you.
The first question: what is inside the number?
Before comparing two proposals, ask for three lines in writing:
- Agency fee - strategy, campaign management, content, SEO, and reporting labor.
- Media spend - what goes to Google, Meta, and any lead platforms, ideally billed to your own card in accounts you own.
- Production and software - project photography, video, call tracking, CRM, and review tools.
A $5,000 quote with $3,000 of media inside it is a $2,000 service engagement. A $5,000 fee on top of your own ad budget is more than twice the work. If a proposal will not split those lines, the monthly report will be just as hard to read.
Why remodeling quotes spread so wide
Remodeling is not one business. The project you sell changes everything about what marketing costs:
- Kitchens. $40,000-$120,000 projects, 60 to 120 day decisions, won on portfolio, design process, and reviews.
- Bathrooms. $15,000-$60,000 for full remodels, much less for one-day conversions. More volume, more price shopping. See the bathroom remodeling marketing guide for that side.
- Additions and whole-home. $100,000-$500,000+, long cycles, often tied to design fees, permits, and financing. Few leads, huge stakes.
- Basements and outdoor living. Mid-ticket, seasonal, and often bought by families who just moved in.
- Single-trade replacement. Windows, siding, tubs, and cabinets refacing, sold in the home by a sales team. High lead volume and the highest marketing spend as a share of revenue.
An agency quoting $1,500 is usually pricing a local SEO and Google Business Profile package for a small remodeler. An agency quoting $14,000 is usually pricing content, video, paid media across channels, and design event promotion for a design-build firm. Neither number is wrong. Make sure the quote matches the projects you want more of.
Budget bands for remodelers
Monthly, all in, agency fee plus media:
| Company profile | Total / mo | Agency fee | What it realistically covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner-operator, under $1M | $1,500-$3,500 | $1,000-$2,000 | Google Business Profile, a review engine, portfolio and project-type pages, a narrow search budget |
| Growing remodeler, $1M-$5M | $3,500-$9,000 | $2,000-$4,000 | Local SEO, paid search by project type, retargeting, call tracking, CRM attribution to signed revenue |
| Design-build firm, $5M-$15M | $9,000-$25,000 | $4,000-$8,000 | Content and video, multi-channel paid media, design events, referral and past-client programs |
| Single-trade replacement or multi-location | $25,000-$100,000+ | $8,000-$20,000 | High-volume appointment generation for in-home sales teams, per-market campaigns, appointment setting support |
The planning figure most growing remodelers use is 4-8% of gross revenue on marketing. Single-trade replacement companies with in-home sales teams often run 8-12%, because they buy appointments at volume.
Remodeling also has seasons. In most markets, inquiries peak from January through spring, when homeowners plan the year and tax refunds land, with a smaller push in early fall for projects people want finished before the holidays. A good plan builds content and portfolio in the slow months and spends hardest when buyers are deciding.
What a lead, a consultation, and a signed project should cost
These bands hold across most US markets. Dense, high-cost metros run toward the top.
| Project type | Qualified lead | Consultation held | Marketing cost per signed project |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen remodel | $100-$300 | $300-$900 | $2,000-$5,000 |
| Full bathroom remodel | $75-$200 | $200-$600 | $1,200-$3,000 |
| Addition or whole-home | $150-$450 | $600-$1,800 | $4,000-$12,000 |
| Basement or outdoor living | $75-$250 | $250-$700 | $1,500-$4,000 |
| Single-trade replacement (in-home sale) | $60-$200 | $250-$600 per appointment sat | 8-15% of contract value |
A healthy consultation-to-contract rate for a well-qualified pipeline is 25-40%. Under 20% usually means price shoppers, projects below your minimum, or slow follow-up, not a traffic problem.
Judge every source on cost per consultation held and signed revenue by source, not cost per lead. An $80 lead that wants a $9,000 bathroom you do not want to build costs more than a $350 lead that becomes a $140,000 addition.
What lead platforms really cost
Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, Houzz Pro, and similar platforms are often the first marketing money a remodeler spends. They can work, but the price on the invoice is not the real cost:
- Shared leads. The same homeowner often goes to three or four contractors. Your effective cost is the lead price divided by your win rate on those leads, which is usually low.
- Subscription plus per-lead fees. Some platforms charge a monthly fee on top of per-lead or per-contact pricing. Add both before comparing to an agency.
- No asset left behind. When you stop paying, the leads stop. Reviews and pages you own keep working.
Treat platforms as a bridge while you build your own Google Business Profile, reviews, and project pages, not as the program.
What a cheap quote leaves out
Below about $1,000 a month in agency fee, something gets cut. Usually one or more of these:
- No project-type pages. One generic "remodeling services" page trying to rank for kitchens, baths, and additions at once.
- No proof production. No plan for professional project photography, before-and-afters, or video walkthroughs, which do more work in remodeling than ad spend.
- No project minimum screening. Ads and forms that invite every handyman job and small repair in town.
- No CRM connection. Without tying inquiries to consultations and signed contracts, nobody can show revenue by source across a 90-day decision.
- Media billed inside the retainer with no visibility into what actually reached Google or Meta.
- Reports that stop at clicks and leads. See how to read an agency monthly report.
Cheap is not automatically bad. Cheap and opaque is.
Where the money should go by stage
Owner-operator with open capacity: Google Business Profile, a review request at every project closeout, professional photos of every finished job, and real pages for the two or three project types you most want. Skip brand video and anything that cannot produce a consultation inside a season.
Growing remodeler: split paid search by project type, add retargeting and a nurture sequence for the 60 to 120 day decision window, put a project minimum on the form, and start reporting consultations held and signed revenue by source instead of lead counts.
Design-build firm: the constraint usually moves from demand to designers, project managers, and production capacity. Money starts earning more in past-client and referral programs, design events, video, and recruiting than in another 10% of paid search.
When not to hire an agency yet
- You are booked out past your comfortable horizon. If the schedule is six months deep with the crews you have, spend on hiring and process, not demand.
- Nobody returns inquiries the same day. Homeowners call the next remodeler on the list. Speed beats any channel improvement, and it costs nothing.
- You do not know margin by project type. Without job costing you trust, more volume can quietly make you less profitable.
- You have no project photos. Fix the proof problem first. It is cheap and it lifts every channel.
- Total budget is under $1,500 a month. Run reviews, Google Business Profile, and project pages yourself for a season and reinvest the profit.
The short version:
- Separate agency fee, media, and production before comparing any two quotes.
- Kitchens, baths, additions, basements, and single-trade replacement have different buyers, cycles, and costs. Price the program around the projects you want more of.
- Expect $1,500-$3,500 a month all in for an owner-operator, $3,500-$9,000 for a growing remodeler, and $9,000-$25,000 for a design-build firm. Plan around 4-8% of revenue.
- Cost per consultation held and signed revenue by source are the numbers that matter. A kitchen should cost roughly $2,000-$5,000 in marketing per signed project.
- Lead platforms are a bridge, not a program. Reviews, project pages, and real photos keep working after you stop paying.
- For the channel stack and agency filter, read the home remodeling marketing guide. Compare the Top Home Remodeling Marketing Agencies and the Top Kitchen Remodeling Marketing Agencies, and see the methodology behind our rankings.