We wrote these guides for Durham contractors who want to understand their own marketing before spending on it. Each one tackles a decision owners make every year, usually by instinct, and turns it into something you can calculate. Read them in order, or jump to the one you need.
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The Durham ad budget worksheet: what you can afford to pay for a lead
Your ad budget comes from three numbers: average job value, gross margin and quote win rate. Multiply margin by win rate to find what one lead is worth, decide what share of that you'll spend, and build every bid from there.
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The Durham contractor's twelve-month marketing calendar
Spend on ads just before and during your busy season, build content and fix your website in the slow months, and ask for reviews whenever jobs are finishing. Planning this a season ahead is what separates steady contractors from feast-or-famine ones.
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How to draw a Durham service area that actually pays
Your best service area is not the biggest one you can reach; it's the set of towns where job value, drive time and competition combine to give you the most profit per crew-day. You can work it out on one sheet of paper.
1. Planning a profitable service area across Durham
How to draw a service area that pays helps you decide which of Durham's eight municipalities to focus on. It covers drive-time maths, how to score each town by job value and competition, why the lakeshore and the north need different tactics, and how to expand without diluting your profile.
You'll learn:
- how to calculate the real cost of a job 45 minutes from your yard
- a simple scoring sheet for every Durham town
- when to add a new municipality, and how
2. Setting an ad budget from your own numbers
The Durham ad budget worksheet shows how to work out what you can afford to pay per lead and per click, using job value, margin and win rate. It explains why ads in Pickering and Ajax cost more than in Clarington or Scugog, how to stop paying for Toronto clicks, and how long to test before judging.
You'll learn:
- the three-number formula for break-even cost per lead
- how to set a test budget big enough to trust
- how repeat customers and maintenance plans change the maths
3. A twelve-month marketing calendar for Durham contractors
The Durham contractor's marketing calendar lays out what to do each season: when to push ads, when to publish content, when to ask for reviews, and how to plan around Ontario's winter. It includes a month-by-month table and notes for roofing, landscaping, HVAC, plumbing and renovation firms.
You'll learn:
- which months to build content versus spend on ads
- how to use the slow season to prepare for the busy one
- how to plan your review and referral asks around job volume
Who these guides are for
They're written for owners and office managers of Durham contracting businesses with somewhere between one truck and a few dozen. You don't need a marketing background. If you can read an invoice and a profit-and-loss statement, you can use every worksheet here.
They're also useful if you already work with an agency. Use the numbers to check whether the plan you're paying for matches your own break-even figures, and to ask better questions at your next review meeting.
What the guides deliberately leave out
They don't cover social media posting schedules, logo design or printed flyers. Those can help, but for most Durham contractors they matter less than the three decisions covered here: where to compete, what to pay for a lead, and when to spend. Get those right first, and the rest becomes easier to judge.
We also leave out anything resembling licensing, safety or code advice. Where a topic touches regulated work, the guides point you to the organisation responsible instead.
How to use these guides
Each guide has worked examples with made-up but realistic numbers. Replace them with your own. The point isn't the example figures; it's learning to make the decision with arithmetic rather than gut feel.
If you'd rather have someone run the numbers with you, the services page explains what we do, and the pricing page shows what it costs. You can also call, text or email and talk it through. The first 30-minute consultation is free for eligible trades businesses.
A note on accuracy
Where a guide mentions a program, rule or statistic, it links to the official source and is dated October 2026. Programs change, so always confirm current details with the administrator before relying on them in your marketing. For broader context on Durham's municipalities, see our areas page.
Frequently asked questions
Are these guides free?
Yes. They're written to be useful whether or not you ever work with us.
Do the guides apply outside Durham?
The methods do. The examples and town names are specific to Oshawa and Durham Region.
Which guide should I read first?
Start with the service area guide. Knowing which towns to focus on shapes both your budget and your calendar.