Electrical contracting is two revenue engines wearing one uniform. There is the service side - troubleshooting, outlets, fixtures, small repairs at $150-$600 a ticket. And there is the project side - panel upgrades, rewires, whole-home generators, EV charger installs, solar tie-ins - at $2,500-$25,000 a ticket.
Most agencies market electricians like plumbers: emergency intent, fast response, done. That captures the service calls and misses the projects that carry your margin.
Here is how to filter.
Filter 1: Do they separate service demand from project demand?
The two funnels behave nothing alike.
Service calls are urgent and near-me. Someone with a dead circuit searches, calls the first credible option, and books today. It is won with Local Services Ads, Google Business Profile, reviews, and speed to answer. Cost per booked call should run $40-$120 in most markets.
Project work is researched. A homeowner pricing a 200-amp panel upgrade or a generator reads for two to six weeks, gets three quotes, and cares about financing, permits, and warranty. Cost per lead of $80-$250 is fine when the ticket is $8,000. It is won with content, cost-explainer pages, comparison content, retargeting, and follow-up.
Ask for the budget split between the two and the target cost per booked job for each. If the agency only has one number, they are running one funnel.
Filter 2: Are they on the current demand curve?
The profitable growth in residential electrical right now sits in a handful of categories, and the agency should raise them without prompting:
- EV charger installation - still growing, high intent, and searchers compare installers on certification and rebate knowledge.
- Panel and service upgrades - the gateway to nearly every other upgrade, and the highest-value search intent in the trade.
- Whole-home generators - spikes hard after storms and outages. Agencies should have a storm-response playbook: budget on standby, ad copy ready, landing pages live within hours.
- Battery storage and solar tie-ins - rising, and often mishandled by agencies with no energy-category experience.
- Rebates and incentives - utility and federal incentive content converts unusually well and most competitors do not bother.
- Smart home and lighting retrofits - lower ticket, decent volume, good filler work.
An agency still pitching only "electrician near me" is leaving the best margin on the table.
Filter 3: The channel stack
- Google Local Services Ads. Electrical is LSA-eligible in most US markets and it is usually the cheapest source of booked service calls. Managed properly means weekly lead disputes, sub-30-second answer time, and a healthy review flow.
- Google Ads search, split into service-intent and project-intent campaigns with different bids, budgets, and landing pages.
- Google Business Profile and review velocity - 5-10 new reviews per month keeps you visible in the map pack in most metros.
- Local SEO, with dedicated pages for panel upgrades, EV chargers, generators, and rewires by city - these are the pages that compound.
- Cost and explainer content - "what does a panel upgrade cost", "how much to install a Level 2 charger". Highest-converting organic content in this trade.
- Retargeting and follow-up sequences on the project funnel, where the decision window is weeks long.
- Builder, realtor, and property-manager relationships for commercial and new-construction work - relationship-driven, not paid media.
Filter 4: Measurement that reaches booked jobs
Reporting should show, from ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, or your field software:
- Calls and forms by source, with recordings.
- Booked jobs by source, split into service and project.
- Average ticket by source - the number that proves whether the project funnel is working.
- Cost per booked job for each funnel, and blended.
- Sold estimate rate on project quotes.
If the agency reports one pooled cost per lead, your project marketing will be judged by service-call math and quietly defunded.
What it should cost
- $1,500-$3,500/month in fees for a single-market residential service program on LSA, Google Business Profile, and a small search budget.
- $3,500-$7,500/month for programs adding SEO, project content, and a second service area.
- $7,500-$15,000/month for multi-market operators or contractors with commercial divisions and generator or EV specialties.
Media spend is separate. Under roughly $2,000 per month in fees, put everything into LSA and Google Business Profile rather than spreading across channels.
When not to hire an agency yet
- You cannot answer calls live during business hours. Speed to answer beats every optimization an agency can make.
- Your techs are booked more than two weeks out year-round. Capacity, not demand, is your constraint. Recruit first.
- You have no financing option for project work. Panel upgrades and generators stall at the price conversation without one, and no volume of leads fixes that.
- You do not track average ticket by lead source. Get 60 days of baseline before signing so you can hold the agency to it.
The short version:
- Electrical is two funnels: service calls and project work. Insist on separate budgets, pages, and targets.
- The margin is in panel upgrades, EV chargers, and generators. The agency should bring these up first.
- Core stack: LSA, split search campaigns, Google Business Profile plus reviews, project SEO and cost content, retargeting.
- Reporting must show booked jobs and average ticket by source from your field software.
- Budget $1.5K-$15K/month in fees depending on footprint and specialties.
- Start with the vetted Top Electrician Marketing Agencies and read the ranking methodology.