The best places for a tradie to advertise are the ones where your customers already look: Google Maps through a free Google Business Profile, local Facebook community groups, your ute and job site signs, property managers and other trades, and your own website. Lead platforms like hipages and Airtasker and paid ads can fill gaps, but they cost money every month and the work stops when you stop paying.
Start with the free options, because they cost time instead of money and the enquiries come to you alone. Then add paid channels one at a time, and keep only the ones that bring jobs you actually want.
Where should tradies advertise?
Advertise first where people already search for a tradie: Google Maps, Google search and local Facebook groups. A free Google Business Profile, a website with your services and suburbs, and a sign-written ute cover most of it. Add property managers and builders for repeat work. Use paid platforms and ads to fill quiet weeks.
"Where to advertise for tradies?" shows up in Google's People Also Ask box for tradie marketing searches, and tradies on Reddit give the same answers again and again. A 2023 r/AusRenovation thread titled "Where to advertise for work as a tradie" is a good snapshot. The top reply, with 28 upvotes, said: "Find some local community FB groups." Another said simply: "I use google maps."
Every option at a glance
Free channels cost your time and keep the enquiry yours. Platforms charge per lead, per job or per month, and share the customer with other tradies. Paid ads charge per click. Your own website costs a setup and a monthly fee, and every enquiry through it is yours. Here is how they compare.
| Channel | What it costs | Is the enquiry shared? | Speed |
| Google Business Profile | Free | No | Builds over months |
| Local Facebook groups | Free | Often, people ask the group | Fast |
| Ute and site signs | One-off sign-writing | No | Slow and steady |
| Property managers and builders | Your time | No | Slow to start, then repeat work |
| Your own website | Setup plus a monthly fee | No | Builds over months |
| hipages | $139 to $649 a month + GST | Yes, up to three businesses | Fast |
| Airtasker | 12.5% to 20% + GST of each job won | Yes, customers compare offers | Fast |
| Google or Facebook ads | You set a budget and pay per click | No | Fast while you pay |
Platform prices are from hipages' and Airtasker's own pages, checked October 2026. We cover them in detail in hipages alternatives for tradies.
Google Business Profile: the free one that matters most
A Google Business Profile is free and puts you on Google Maps, which is where most people look for a local tradie. Google says local results are decided by relevance, distance and prominence, and that "there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking." Reviews, photos and complete details all help.
Tradies who have been through it put it first. A commenter in an August 2026 r/smallbusiness thread, advising a young painting business, said: "Google Business Profile is your #1 priority, full stop. That thing drove like 80% of our early leads."
To set it up properly, choose the right main category, list every service, set your service areas, add real job photos and ask every happy customer for a review. If you work from home, Google's guidelines say to hide your address and show a service area instead. We go through every step in how to get into the Google Maps top 3 and in Google Business Profile for tradies.
Local Facebook community groups
Most suburbs have a community Facebook group where people ask "can anyone recommend a good plumber?" Many groups allow business posts on one set day a week. Answering those requests, and posting good before and after photos on business days, costs nothing but time. Read each group's rules first, because posting on the wrong day gets you removed.
The 2023 r/AusRenovation thread put it well: "lots of them have a specific day they allow businesses to post so check the rules. Then advertise away, it seems to be the main spot people go to these days. Once you get a good rep, people will recommend you as well."
A few habits that help:
- Reply to recommendation requests quickly and politely, even if it is not your suburb.
- Post finished jobs on business days, with a photo and the suburb.
- Never argue in the comments. Everyone in the suburb can see it.
- Ask happy customers to tag you when someone asks for a recommendation.
Not every tradie has good luck there. One tradie in a r/smallbusiness thread said Facebook brought "naive homeowners who are too cheap." Treat it as one channel, not the whole plan.
Your ute, signs and the job site
A sign-written ute with your business name, trade and phone number works every day you drive, and every day it sits outside a job. A site sign or yard sign on finished jobs, with the customer's permission, does the same. They are one-off costs that keep working, and the enquiries come straight to you.
Make them easy to read from across the street: your business name, your trade, your mobile number and your website, in big, plain letters. Skip the slogans. A website on the ute also helps you look like a proper business. As a tradie said in an August 2026 r/tradies thread, a website makes it "easier to justify your quotes too when the other guys just have a mobile number on their ute."
Property managers, builders and other trades
Property managers, real estate agents, builders and other trades send repeat work if you are reliable. Introduce yourself, show up on time, communicate clearly and invoice quickly. One good relationship can bring more steady work than months of paid leads, and none of it is shared with other tradies.
Someone who works in real estate explained what keeps a tradie on their list, in a r/AusPropertyChat thread with 429 upvotes: "Once we have a good trade who communicates, doesn't rip off our clients, and is prompt with completing & invoicing jobs we stick with them."
The same goes for other trades. Painters get work from builders and plasterers, electricians from builders and air conditioning installers, landscapers from fencers and concreters. Pass on good tradies' details when you cannot take a job, and many will return the favour.
Your own website and local search
Your website is the place every other channel sends people to check you out: the Facebook post, the ute, the Google profile and the referral all lead there. A page for every service and every suburb you work gives Google something specific to show, and a quote form on every page turns visits into enquiries.
Nobody can promise a ranking. What a site can be is structured to improve local search visibility: clear service pages, suburb pages, your Google Business Profile linked to it, and your name and phone number the same everywhere. That work stacks up month after month, and nobody else quotes on the enquiries it brings. We cover the whole topic in local SEO for tradies.
See what a full Build looks like for your trade: websites for painters, websites for electricians, websites for landscapers or websites for plumbers.
Lead platforms: hipages, Airtasker and others
Lead platforms are fast but you pay every time, and you share the customer. hipages charges $139 to $649 a month plus GST for credits, with leads capped at three businesses. Airtasker takes 12.5% to 20% plus GST of each job you win. They suit new tradies and quiet weeks better than long-term growth.
Most tradies who do well on them use them as a stepping stone. A tradie in an August 2025 r/AusRenovation thread said "most tradies in my field only use the services to get established and then dump them as soon as possible." We compare them in is hipages worth it? and Airtasker vs hipages for tradies.
Paid ads: Google Ads and Facebook ads
Google Ads and Facebook ads put you in front of people fast, and you set the budget. Google Ads show above search results when someone searches your trade. Facebook ads reach people in your area by suburb. Both stop the moment you stop paying, and both can burn money quickly if you do not track which clicks turn into jobs.
Paid ads work best once the basics are in place: a website with a page for the service you are advertising, a phone number that is answered, and a way to tell which jobs came from the ad. Without those, you are paying for clicks that land on nothing. Start small, run one service in a few suburbs, and track every enquiry for a month before spending more.
Letterbox drops and print
Flyers, letterbox drops and local papers still work for some trades, mostly when they are tightly targeted. Drop flyers in the streets around a job you are doing, not the whole suburb. Many tradies say broad print advertising is the worst return, so test small before you spend big on it.
A tradie in a r/smallbusiness thread on the best return on marketing put it plainly: "In my experience physical advertising is the worst.. Eg, billboards, letterbox drops, magazines etc." Another planned door hangers for the streets around jobs in better-off suburbs. Targeted print near a live job, where neighbours can see your work, is the version that makes sense.
How to choose: track where every job comes from
Ask every new customer how they found you, and write it down. After three months you will know which channels bring jobs and which bring tyre kickers. Put more time and money into the channels that work, and drop the ones that do not. Without this, you are guessing.
Keep it simple. A note in your phone or a column in your job spreadsheet is enough: date, suburb, job type, quote amount, won or lost, and where they found you. The lead cost calculator works out what each paid channel really costs per job.
A simple 90 day plan
Month one, set up the free channels: Google Business Profile, a review request after every job, and two or three local Facebook groups. Month two, fix your website and get your ute sign-written. Month three, add one paid channel if you still need more work, and track it closely.
- Week 1. Claim and fill in your Google Business Profile. Hide your home address and add your service areas.
- Weeks 2 to 4. Ask every finished job for a review. Join local Facebook groups and learn their business post days.
- Month 2. Get a website with service and suburb pages, linked from your profile. Sign-write the ute.
- Month 3. Introduce yourself to three property managers or builders. Test one paid channel with a small budget.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the best place to advertise as a tradie?
For most tradies, a free Google Business Profile is the best place to start, because it puts you on Google Maps where people look for local trades. Back it up with a website, a sign-written ute, local Facebook groups and relationships with property managers and builders. Add paid platforms or ads only to fill gaps.
What is the best free advertising for tradies?
A Google Business Profile, local Facebook community groups and word of mouth are all free. Google says local results depend on relevance, distance and prominence, and that you cannot pay for a better local ranking. Reviews, photos and complete details help. Asking every happy customer for a review costs nothing.
Is Facebook good for advertising a trade business?
Local Facebook community groups can be very good, because people ask their neighbours for recommendations there. Check each group's rules, since many only allow business posts on one day a week. Facebook ads can work too, but track which clicks become jobs, because some tradies find Facebook attracts price shoppers.
Are Google Ads worth it for tradies?
They can be, once your website has a page for the service you are advertising and someone answers the phone. Google Ads stop the moment you stop paying, and they are separate from Google Maps rankings, which Google says cannot be bought. Start with a small budget and track every enquiry.
Is hipages a good place to advertise?
hipages can fill a diary fast, especially for new tradies, but you pay $139 to $649 a month plus GST and share each lead with up to two other businesses. It works best as a stepping stone while you build channels you own. See our guide to hipages cost for tradies.
Sources
- Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking: relevance, distance and prominence, and "no way to request or pay for a better local ranking".
- Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business: hiding your address as a service-area business.
- hipages membership costs and Airtasker Tasker tiers: platform prices, checked October 2026.
- r/AusRenovation, "Where to advertise for work as a tradie", August 2023: the Facebook groups and Google Maps quotes.
- r/smallbusiness, "Young painting business owner looking for advice", August 2026: the Google Business Profile quote.
- r/smallbusiness, "Best ROI marketing for Tradie business?": the print, Facebook and door hanger comments.
- r/AusPropertyChat, "Helped my plumber mate stop losing jobs from missed calls": the real estate quote, from a thread with 429 upvotes.
- r/tradies, "Are websites worth it for tradies", August 2026: the mobile number on the ute.
- r/AusRenovation, "Hipages vs. Airtasker vs. Other Listings", August 2025: using platforms to get established.
Related reading
- Lead generation for tradies: what actually works
- How to get into the Google Maps top 3
- Local SEO for tradies
- hipages alternatives for tradies
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