How to Know If a Contractor Marketing Company Is Legit (Before You Pay Them)
Most contractor marketing companies will take your money and deliver excuses. Here’s a specific checklist of questions to ask before you sign anything – and what the right answers look like.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.
Author: Brady Carlson | Co-Founder of Dirt2Dollars
Published Date: 27 May, 2026
The Problem With Contractor Marketing Companies
There are hundreds of marketing agencies claiming they can help land clearing, excavation, and other contractor businesses grow. Most of them can’t. Most of them run the same generic playbook – run some Facebook ads, collect their retainer, blame the leads when results don’t come.
Contractors get burned constantly because they don’t know what questions to ask before paying. By the time they realize the agency doesn’t know what they’re doing, they’ve already wasted $3,000 to $10,000 and several months of their time.
I’m going to give you a checklist. These are the questions you should ask any marketing company before signing a contract. The answers will tell you whether you’re dealing with someone who can actually deliver results – or someone who will be full of excuses in month three.
Question 1: Do You Specialize in My Niche?
This is the first question and it filters out most agencies immediately.
A generalist agency that works with dentists, plumbers, restaurants, and contractors doesn’t understand your business. They don’t know that land clearing is seasonal in some markets. They don’t know the difference between a forestry mulching job and a full excavation project. They don’t know what qualifying questions to ask homeowners. They don’t understand your equipment, your pricing, or your sales cycle.
What you want to hear: “We work exclusively with land clearing and excavation contractors” or “We specialize in home services contractors with a heavy focus on land services.” The more specific, the better.
What should raise a flag: “We work with all kinds of businesses, including contractors.” That means you’ll be their learning experience. You’ll pay for their education in your niche.
Question 2: Can You Show Me Real Case Studies With Names and Numbers?
Anyone can claim results. “We’ve helped contractors grow their revenue significantly” means nothing. You want specifics.
Ask them to show you case studies. Real contractor names (first names are fine), real markets, real numbers. How much did revenue increase? In what timeframe? What was the cost per appointment? What was the close rate? How many on-site appointments per month did the client receive?
If the case studies are vague – “John grew his business by 40%” with no context – push for more. 40% of what? In how long? Through what specific mechanism?
What you want to hear: “Michael was at $30K per month when he came to us. Within 60 days he was at $85K. He’s getting 18 qualified on-site appointments per month at a close rate of about 38%.”
What should raise a flag: Generic testimonials, stock photo testimonials, or case studies that talk about “significant growth” without real numbers.
Question 3: Do You Guarantee Anything?
A guarantee tells you how confident the agency is in their own work. Agencies that won’t put anything in writing aren’t sure their system works.
Now, legitimate marketing involves real variables. Nobody can guarantee a specific revenue number because close rates, pricing, and market conditions vary by contractor. But an agency can guarantee inputs: a specific number of qualified on-site appointments per month, a specific cost per lead, or a specific ad spend threshold.
What you want to hear: “We guarantee a minimum of X qualified on-site appointments per quarter or we refund the difference.” That’s a company willing to be held accountable.
What should raise a flag: “We can’t guarantee results because marketing has too many variables.” That’s true to a point, but it’s also a convenient way to never be accountable for anything. Even vague guarantees like “if you’re not satisfied after 90 days, we’ll work for free until you are” show more confidence than nothing at all.
Question 4: How Do You Charge - Per Lead, Per Appointment, or Per Month?
Pricing structure tells you a lot about incentives.
Pay-per-lead models mean the agency gets paid whether the leads are good or bad. They’re incentivized to maximize lead volume, not lead quality. You get 50 leads that close at 8% instead of 15 appointments that close at 35%.
Monthly retainer models without any performance component mean the agency gets paid whether you get results or not. Your dissatisfaction has no financial consequence for them.
The best models tie at least some compensation to outcomes – per appointment, performance bonuses, or a retainer that gets reduced if appointment volume falls below a threshold.
What you want to hear: “We charge a monthly fee that includes ads management, calling, and qualification. We guarantee a minimum number of on-site appointments per month and you can see all the numbers in your dashboard.”
What should raise a flag: Pure pay-per-lead with no qualification. Or a high monthly retainer with no performance component whatsoever.
Question 5: Will You Let Me Talk to a Current Client?
Any agency that delivers real results should be willing to connect you with a current client. This is the best due diligence you can do.
Ask to speak with someone who is actively using the service right now – not a client from two years ago, not a cherry-picked success story. A current client in a business similar to yours.
When you talk to them, ask: How long have you been using the service? Are you still happy with it? What’s your monthly appointment volume? What’s your average close rate? Would you recommend it?
What you want to hear: “Yes, absolutely. Let me connect you with a couple of clients and you can ask them anything you want.”
What should raise a flag: “Our clients prefer to remain confidential.” Legitimate clients who are getting results are usually happy to talk about it. Resistance here means either the results aren’t there, or the agency doesn’t have enough trust with their clients to make the ask.
Question 6: Do You Run Your Own Ads or Outsource to a Third Party?
Some agencies present themselves as full-service but outsource all the execution to subcontractors in other countries. Your ads are being managed by someone who has never had a conversation with you and handles 50 other clients at the same time.
This isn’t always fatal – some outsourced work is high quality – but you want to know who is actually building and managing your campaigns. Ideally, there’s an in-house team that knows your business.
What you want to hear: “Our media buying team is in-house. Here’s who manages your account.” Even better if you can meet them on the intro call.
What should raise a flag: Vague answers about “our team” without specifics. Or a very small agency that clearly doesn’t have the headcount to run ads, make calls, qualify leads, and handle client management.
Question 7: What Happens If Results Don't Come?
Every agency sounds great on the sales call. The real test is what happens when things don’t go as planned.
Ask directly: “If I’m not getting the promised results after 60 days, what happens?” Listen closely to the answer.
Do they have a clear escalation process? Do they bring in senior team members to audit the campaign? Do they refund any fees? Or do they just say “we’ll optimize” with no specifics?
The best agencies have a defined process for when things underperform. They take ownership, diagnose the issue, and implement a fix with a timeline.
What you want to hear: “If we’re not hitting our committed appointment volume, we have an escalation process. Here’s what that looks like…” with actual specifics.
What should raise a flag: “Marketing takes time” with no concrete next steps. Or defensiveness when you ask the question. An agency that gets defensive when you ask what happens if results don’t come is telling you something important.
Question 8: How Do You Handle the Follow-Up After the Lead?
This is the question most contractors forget to ask. It’s also one of the most important.
Generating a lead is step one. What happens next determines whether you ever see revenue from it. Someone needs to call that lead within minutes. Someone needs to qualify them. Someone needs to book the appointment. And after you give the estimate, someone needs to follow up to help you close it.
If the answer is “we generate the leads and you handle follow-up,” you’re getting half a system.
What you want to hear: “We have an in-house call team that contacts every lead within minutes. We qualify them before they hit your calendar. We also have a follow-up sequence after estimates to help increase your close rate.”
What should raise a flag: Anything that puts the follow-up burden entirely on you. If the agency’s job ends when the lead comes in, you’re doing most of the work.
The Full Checklist
Here are all 8 questions in one place. Print this out before your next call with a marketing company:
- Do you specialize in land clearing or excavation contractors?
- Can you show me case studies with real names and specific numbers?
- Do you guarantee any specific outcomes in writing?
- How do you charge – and is any of it tied to performance?
- Can I speak with a current client you’re working with right now?
- Is your ad management in-house or outsourced?
- What happens specifically if results don’t come in 60 days?
- Who handles lead follow-up and qualification after the form is submitted?
Run any marketing company through these questions. The answers will separate the real ones from the ones who will burn your money and disappear.
What Good Answers Look Like
We’re not going to hide the fact that we built this checklist and also happen to answer every question on it. But we built the checklist because these are genuinely the right questions – and we’ve watched contractors get burned for years by companies that couldn’t answer them.
At Dirt2Dollars, we specialize exclusively in land clearing and excavation contractors. We have real case studies with names and numbers – contractors like Michael who went from skeptical to fully booked in 7 days, and Kyle who went from nearly shutting down to doing over $1 million per year.
We guarantee a minimum number of on-site appointments. We have an in-house call team that contacts every lead within minutes. We’re happy to connect you with current clients. Our ad management is internal. And if results don’t come, we have a clear escalation process.
We’ve generated over $42 million in land clearing and excavation estimates for contractors across the country. That number comes from a system with real accountability at every step.
If you want to run us through the checklist yourself, book a call and ask us everything.
👉 Book a Free Intro Call: https://link.toolboxx.co/widget/bookings/intro-blogs
Brady Carlson | Co-Founder of Dirt2Dollars
About the Author
Brady Carlson is the co-founder of Dirt2Dollars, the leading marketing agency for land clearing and excavation contractors. Dirt2Dollars has helped over 250 contractors nationwide grow their businesses through exclusive lead generation, in-house appointment setting, and dedicated customer success management. Learn more at https://dirt2dollars.com/
