Marketing for a new or small contractor: which agencies take you, and which say no

Look for marketing help as a new contractor and you will find agencies that say, on their own sites, that you are too small for them. That is useful honesty, and it saves you a sales call. This page lists what each provider says about the size or stage of company it takes, quoted from its own pages as we read them on October 31, 2026, next to its published entry price and what a company in its first year would get. The low-cost options are here too, described by what they offer, and we are last, as one option. When a provider's pages are silent on something, the cell says so.

Which agencies say a new company is too small?

Hook Agency

Hook is the plainest about it. One question in its home page FAQ reads "Why don't you work with early-stage companies?", and the answer says it partners with "growth-mode companies that have established a solid foundation". The same FAQ names $3M to $15M in revenue as its client range and explains a yearly commitment. The pricing page backs that up. The Standard Website is "$1,000 /mo", shown as "$12K Total" over twelve months and "Only available when paired w/ a recurring service", and the cheapest recurring line on that page is Google Ads + LSA, from "$2,000 /mo". Local SEO + AEO is "$3,750 /mo". The page also says most clients put $5,000 to $8,000 a month into search, ads and the website. A first-year owner can read all of that without a call, which several providers on this page don't allow.

Contractor Growth Network

This agency builds for remodelers and publishes a fit page with numbers on it. The ideal client has $2M to $7M in annual revenue, "5+ years in business" and a marketing budget of "$60k+ annually". The not-a-fit column names firms under $2M or "still in startup mode", and the page tells them to "focus on dialing in your operations and referral systems first", get project management in place and start photographing finished work. That is sound advice for a new remodeler, and it costs nothing to read. Prices are public: a website costs at least $15,000 and about $26,000 on average, with the build paid off during the first six months. SEO costs $3,150 a month for markets of 30,000 to 100,000 people and $6,400 for metros over 700,000, on "12 months, then month-to-month".

Contractor Marketing Pros

Contractor Marketing Pros sorts its packages by revenue. The smallest, Launch, is "Best for contractors doing $1M-$3M/year", and Rocket and Platinum cover $3M to $5M and $5M and up. The pricing page says "SEO packages start at $3,797/month" without saying which tier that price belongs to, and each tier promises a percentage of organic traffic growth in twelve months, with unpaid work as the remedy if it falls short. The contact form asks for annual revenue, and its lowest choice is "Less than $500,000". So a small company can ask; it just won't find a package labeled for it.

Thryv

Thryv is small-business software with marketing add-ons, and its AI information page states its typical customer: "$500K-$3M annually" in revenue and "5-25 employees". The same page lists what it is not built for, including advanced crew routing and large-scale dispatch. Unlike the agencies above, Thryv sells an entry plan a one-person company can buy. Starter is $99 a month (one user, review tools, directory listings and a site you build with its AI tool) and Signature is $399, though the page offers annual and monthly billing and doesn't say which one those figures reflect. Read the terms before you choose one. The version posted on its site, marked effective December 1, 2026, says annual subscriptions renew for another year, and a cancellation has to reach Thryv 30 or more days ahead of the new period. Our Thryv comparison covers the rest.

WebFX

WebFX states no revenue floor. Its prices do the sorting. Its SEO pricing page says "Starting at $2,900/month", its plan table lists $2,900 as the lowest "Monthly Investment (6-month commitment)", and web design starts at "$8,000/site". A faster build that promises a new site in 30 days is offered too. One more data point comes from a customer, not from WebFX. In a one-star Trustpilot review dated July 2, 2026, an owner of an established business says WebFX declined SEO work because their site had just been redesigned, and that they were told WebFX needs two years of data on a website first. That is one reviewer's account, and we did not find the rule on the WebFX pages we read. If it holds, it matters most to a new company, since a new company always has a new site.

Which providers take a new or small company?

These say nothing about a size floor, or say outright that small and new companies are welcome. Lower prices come with their own trade-offs, mostly in what you keep if you leave, so each entry reports what the provider's own pages say about that.

Footbridge Media

Footbridge has the clearest offer for a company in its first year: "Just $249/Month", no contracts, month to month, and a 90-day money-back guarantee. The fee includes a custom website with unlimited pages, SEO, management of your Google Business Profile, a CRM, review requests, appointment booking, invoicing and payments, and the company says it works only with home-service businesses. Its FAQ answers the exit question in writing. Your content and domain "are always yours" and you get the site files, while its web forms, CMS, dashboard and review system, plus the hosting, need an active subscription to keep working. Every site is built new, even if you already have one you like. Our Footbridge comparison has more.

Plumbing, Roofing and HVAC Webmasters

Plumbing Webmasters, Roofing Webmasters and HVAC Webmasters each market to one trade, and each carries the same banner: "$99 to Start! Call for Details". The plumbing site's FAQ explains the model. You pay a one-time setup fee, launch comes "typically two to three weeks after signup", month-to-month service starts at launch with no long-term contract, and cancelling before launch means the monthly fee never starts. The fixed monthly rate covers SEO, local SEO, answer engine work, its DataPins tool, website design and content, and it does not vary by market. What it costs is not published ("Contact our team for current pricing"). The plumbing FAQ also says, fairly, that a company with an established Business Profile and an active website can see results sooner. Ask for the monthly figure, and who owns the site and domain, before you pay the setup fee.

Thrive Internet Marketing

Thrive's home page says it works with "clients of all sizes, from startups to multi-location enterprises", offers "affordable pricing for any size budget" and doesn't require long-term contracts. We found no prices on the pages we read, so the entry price comes from a proposal. Its contact form asks for a monthly budget twice: one field starts at "$2,500-$5,000 per month", not counting ad spend, and a second starts at "Under $750". Ask which figure is the real floor before you book a call. Of the full-service agencies on this page, it is the only one whose pages we read name startups as clients.

Townsquare Interactive

Townsquare sells websites, listings and reviews, Business Profile upkeep and a business hub with booking, two-way messaging and invoicing. Its home page says it works with local businesses "and nothing else", its FAQ says it works "in markets of every size", and a client quote on the home page comes from an owner who had no online presence when she started. Its pricing page lists three packages and no prices, only a free quote form. The Terms of Service (dated October 2, 2026) are where a new owner should look first. The agreement can't be ended until the initial term in your order runs out (§4.2). To cancel, you call the support desk, no later than "6:00 p.m. EST on the day before the next billing date" (§4.2). After cancelling, the terms say you lose access to the website and any ownership rights in it (§4.4(i)). If the order names no commitment period, the initial term is one month (§4.1). Our Townsquare comparison goes through the rest.

Durable

Durable is an AI builder, not an agency. Its home page promises "Get online in 30 seconds", speaks to owners just starting out, and lists Home Services among its industries. The Free plan gives a site on a durable.site address, 300 AI credits and a CRM for up to 10 customers. Launch shows "$25/m" on the plan card and $22 in the comparison table, without saying which billing period each figure is, and adds your own domain, unlimited CRM customers and bookings; Grow shows $49 and $41 the same way. One rule to know before buying a domain through it: Durable's help center says a domain can be transferred out only after the subscription has been active for at least three consecutive months, and only if it was registered through Durable. A domain you register yourself and connect is not held by Durable in the first place.

Wix

Wix is a do-it-yourself builder with a Free plan ("No credit card required"). Its plans page says displayed prices are for yearly subscriptions paid in full, and that prices and currency vary by location, so check the figure for your area on the page itself. Its FAQ says a Premium plan is what lets you connect your own domain. You write the pages and set up the forms yourself. For a company that needs a page live this week and has no budget, the trade is reasonable if the domain sits in an account you control. Our Wix comparison covers what to do when you outgrow it.

Dillard's Digital (us)

We take new companies. A brand-new service business can ask for a free launch plan, which maps out the domain, business email, phone number, Google profile and first website pages in the order to set them up. If you want us to build it, the quote is written and free; we publish no price list. Everything we set up is in your company's name, and what a site includes is on our websites page. We built the websites and CRM for our own service companies first. We have no published client reviews yet, so judge us on the plan and the quote. Ask for the free launch plan or write to hello@dillardsdigital.com.

Why do agencies turn new companies away?

The reasons are mostly practical, and an agency that publishes its floor is doing you a favor. An SEO retainer works on pages, reviews and search history that a first-year company doesn't have yet. Contractor Growth Network says as much when it tells companies under $2M to fix operations and referrals first, and the Plumbing Webmasters FAQ says results come sooner when a Business Profile and website already exist.

Money is the other reason. SEO priced at $2,900 to $3,797 a month (the WebFX, Hook and Contractor Marketing Pros figures above) is a large bill for a company still finding customers. Contractor Growth Network's pricing page suggests spending 3% to 7% of revenue on marketing, with 3% as the floor. By our arithmetic, at 3%, a $3,000 a month retainer ($36,000 a year) assumes about $1.2 million in yearly revenue.

The floor also tells you what the agency is built to sell. A retainer business earns its money over long engagements, which is why Hook explains a yearly commitment and Contractor Growth Network a twelve-month one. A first-year owner usually needs a short list of setup jobs done once and done right, then a few cheap habits kept every week. That is a different purchase, and it is the one in the next section.

What does a brand-new company need first?

Do these before you pay any agency, in this order. Most of it is free or close to it, and each step makes the next one work.

1. The paperwork. Entity, EIN, bank account, insurance, and a license where your state and trade require one. The start a company hub puts these steps in sequence, and the state-by-state pages list each state's filing office, licensing boards and tax agency.
2. A domain in your own name. Register it in an account you control before anyone builds anything, so it stays yours whoever builds the site. See how to buy a domain.
3. A Google Business Profile. Google says creating one is free, and that it works for businesses without a storefront. It is how you show up on Google Search and Maps in the towns you serve. See setting up a Business Profile.
4. One business phone number that gets answered. Put it on the profile, the truck and the site, and set a text reply for calls you miss on a job. See choosing a business number.
5. A simple site with one page per service. Name the towns you work in, show real job photos, and put a phone number and a short form on every page. A builder can carry you through a first season; what belongs on the site is in what a contractor website needs.
6. A place to log every lead, and a review request after every job. A spreadsheet works for the first month. Ask every customer for a review from the first job on, because reviews are the proof a new company is missing. See getting more Google reviews.
7. A checkup once the site is live. Our instant website checkup grades a live site in about a minute and shows what to fix first.

The first 90 days plan takes it from there. When those basics are live and the phone rings from them, that is the time to compare paid help, using the table at the top of this page.

What should you ask a provider that takes small companies?

Low entry prices are real, and so are the terms behind them. Five questions sort them out:

• What is the monthly price after the first charge? A "$99 to start" banner and a quote form both leave this open until you ask.
• What is the minimum term, and how do I cancel? Footbridge says you can cancel at any time. Townsquare's terms require a phone call and bar leaving before the initial term ends.
• What stops working the day I cancel? Footbridge names its forms, CMS and hosting. Under Townsquare's terms, the website itself goes.
• Whose name is the domain in? Durable releases a domain it registered only after three months of subscription.
• Who owns the Business Profile? You should be the owner, with the provider added as a manager, so the profile and its reviews stay with you.

To take these to a sales call, print the agency contract checklist. The guide to contract red flags explains each clause, and contractor website companies compared goes deeper on what each kind of vendor hands back when you leave.

Frequently asked questions