Google Ads for a local business works when the most you can pay for a click is lower than the most you can afford. Google's budget rules set the ceiling: your spend can reach twice your daily budget on one day and no more than 30.4 times the daily budget in a month. Prices vary by trade. In Google's own bid estimates for Vancouver and Surrey searches, a tree removal click starts near $2 and a furnace repair click can top $40. Work out your break-even click price first, then choose the budget.
By the numbers
- Your spend on any one day can reach up to 2 times your average daily budget. Google also caps the month: you won't be charged more than 30.4 times your average daily budget. Google's own example: $10 a day, at most $304 a month. GOOGLE DOCUMENTED
- A $50 daily budget therefore caps at $1,520 for the month, and a single day can run to $100. That is our arithmetic on Google's rule. DHM CALCULATION
- Local Services Ads charge when a customer gets in touch from your ad, not when someone clicks. Google is moving them into Performance Max campaigns, where you still pay for valid leads rather than clicks. GOOGLE DOCUMENTED
- Bid estimates for local trade searches in Canada vary roughly twenty-fold, from about $1.83 for the low end of a tree removal search in Surrey to $42.42 for the high end of a furnace repair search in Vancouver. The table below has all six. KEYWORD PLANNER DATA
What six local searches cost around Vancouver and Surrey
These are Google Keyword Planner estimates for Canada, pulled on 2026-10-16. The low figure is roughly the 20th percentile of bids that won a top-of-page spot and the high figure roughly the 80th, according to DataForSEO's field documentation. Treat them as a range of what advertisers bid, not a quote for your account.
| Search | Avg. monthly searches (12 mo.) | Low bid | High bid |
|---|---|---|---|
| emergency plumber vancouver | 590 | $7.07 | $34.58 |
| furnace repair vancouver | 390 | $12.00 | $42.42 |
| roof repair vancouver | 170 | $7.18 | $29.29 |
| electrician surrey | 590 | $4.38 | $13.84 |
| drain cleaning surrey | 40 | $3.63 | $25.24 |
| tree removal surrey | 140 | $1.83 | $6.37 |
Two things stand out. The same city can price one trade at a fraction of another. And the gap between a low bid and a high bid inside one search is wide, which is why a single "average cost per click" figure from a blog post tells you little about your account.
The break-even click: do this before you set a budget
Three numbers from your own books give you the most you can pay for one click and still make money.
- Profit per job. What you keep after materials and labour on a typical job, not the invoice total.
- Close rate. Of the leads you quote, how many become jobs. One in three is 0.33.
- Lead rate. Of the people who click, how many call or book. One in ten is 0.10.
Multiply the three. Break-even click = profit per job × close rate × lead rate.
A worked example follows. The numbers are illustrative, so swap in yours. A roofer keeps $600 profit on a typical repair, closes one lead in three, and gets a lead from one click in ten. $600 × 0.33 × 0.10 is about $20. Any click above $20 loses money on average. Against the table above, an electrician search in Surrey (high bid $13.84) fits that math. A furnace repair search in Vancouver (high bid $42.42) does not, unless the job is worth much more.
The budget follows. At a $12 average click, a $50 daily budget buys about four clicks a day. At $4 it buys about twelve. Check that the clicks you can afford are enough to produce a handful of leads a month. If they aren't, a smaller budget won't fix it. A different channel might.
Google Ads, Local Services Ads or the Map Pack?
Each channel charges differently and fails differently. Most local businesses use more than one.
| Channel | How you pay | Suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads (search) | Per click, set by auction | Urgent searches where a click is worth more than it costs | Budget limits that stop ads mid-month, and clicks that never call. See our paid ads page. |
| Local Services Ads | Per valid lead, not per click | Trades that want calls and booked jobs | Verification steps and the move into Performance Max. See Local Services Ads. |
| Map Pack (organic) | No per-click charge | Owning a service area over time | It takes months, and nobody can guarantee a position. See the Map Pack and Map Pack vs organic. |
Paid clicks stop the day you stop paying. A Map Pack position you earned keeps working while you sleep, which is the idea behind owning leads instead of renting them. We run both, and we start small on paid, prove the return, then scale. That is the max-ROAS method on our paid ads page.
Three budget mistakes we see
Reading the daily budget as the monthly bill
A daily budget of $50 reads like $1,500. Google's rule allows up to $100 on one day and $1,520 over the month. Plan your cash for the cap, not the average.
Setting a budget before knowing the click price
If a click costs $35 and your break-even is $20, doubling the budget doubles the loss. Do the break-even math first.
Letting the provider own the ad account
When the account sits in someone else's name, your conversion history and audience data leave with them. Ask for the account to be in your name and give the provider access.
Questions we get
Frequently asked questions
How much should a local business spend on Google Ads?
Start from the most you can afford to pay for one click, then set the budget. That number is your profit per job, times your close rate, times the share of clicks that become leads. Our worked example below lands at $20 a click. Your numbers will differ, and so will the right budget.
How does the Google Ads daily budget work?
Google's help pages say your spend on any day can reach up to two times your average daily budget, and that you won't be charged more than 30.4 times the daily budget in a month. A $10 daily budget can cost at most $304 in a month. A $50 daily budget can cost at most $1,520.
Is $50 a day enough?
It depends on what your clicks cost. At an average of $12 a click, $50 a day buys about four clicks a day. At $4 a click it buys about twelve. Check the bid ranges for your trade in the table above, then run the break-even math before you commit.
What is the difference between Google Ads and Local Services Ads?
Standard search ads charge when someone clicks. Google's Local Services Help says you pay when a customer gets in touch from your ad. Google is also moving Local Services Ads into Performance Max campaigns, where you still pay for valid leads. We cover both on our Local Services Ads page.
What does a click cost for trades around Vancouver and Surrey?
In Google's Keyword Planner estimates, top-of-page bids ran from about $1.83 to $6.37 for tree removal in Surrey, and from about $12.00 to $42.42 for furnace repair in Vancouver. The table above lists six searches. These are bid estimates, not quotes, and your real price depends on your account.
Who should own the ad account?
You should. When you own the account, your history, your conversion tracking and your audience data stay yours if you change providers. We set up accounts in the client's name from day one, and our paid ads page explains how we run them.
Sources
- Google Ads Help, Manage your spend in Google Ads: the 2 times daily limit, the 30.4 days monthly charging limit, and the $10 / $304 example.
- Google Ads Help, About spending limits: daily and monthly spending limits for most campaigns.
- Local Services Help, How leads work: you pay when a customer gets in touch from your ad.
- Google Ads Help, Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals: you still pay for valid leads, not clicks.
- Google Ads Keyword Planner estimates for Canada, retrieved through the DataForSEO API on 2026-10-16, with field definitions from DataForSEO's search volume documentation.
The bid figures are estimates of what other advertisers bid, not prices you will be charged, and DataForSEO documents only the cost-per-click field as USD; treat the bid ranges as US-dollar-scale estimates. The roofer example is illustrative arithmetic, not a claim about any real business or benchmark conversion rate.