I try to be as underselly as possible on every call I take. I genuinely want you to learn so much from this post that if you wanted to, you could go vet any marketing agency on your own — even if it's not us.
Because here's the truth: the roofing marketing space is full of shit. There are guys who bought an agency course online six months ago and are now "guaranteeing" you 50 leads a month. They're going to throw up a Facebook lead form, hope for the best, and disappear when the leads are garbage.
Hope is not a good strategy; data is. And most of these agencies don't know what data even means.
So here's my buyer's guide. Ten things to look for, ten things to ask, and a few red flags that should make you hang up the phone.
1. Do They Specialize in Roofing or Home Services?
Marketing a roofing company is not the same as marketing a dentist's office or an e-commerce brand. The sales cycle is different. The lead-to-sale pipeline is different. The platforms that work are different.
You want an agency that understands that people buy a new roof 0.82 times in their life. That means every lead is high-stakes, the follow-up process matters enormously, and your messaging needs to communicate trust and expertise immediately.
A generalist agency isn't going to understand any of that. They're going to apply the same cookie-cutter playbook they use for every client. That's not marketing strategy — it's a template.
2. Do YOU Own Your Ad Accounts and Data?
This is the single biggest red flag in the industry, and I can't stress it enough: if you don't own your ad accounts, run.
Some agencies create ad accounts under their own business manager and run your ads from their accounts. That means if you ever leave, you lose everything. All the pixel data. All the optimization history. All the audience data. All the conversion tracking. Years of learning — gone.
Your ad accounts, your pixels, your data — all of it should be in accounts that YOU own. The agency should have access to manage them, but ownership stays with you. Period.
3. Can They Track Leads to Appointments to Sales?
Not just clicks. Not just impressions. Not just "leads generated."
Can they tell you: this ad generated 47 leads, 14 of those turned into appointments, and 3 of those became sales worth $38K in revenue? Because if they can't track the full pipeline — leads, appointments, sales — you don't actually know if your marketing is working.
A lot of agencies will celebrate generating 100 leads in a month. Great. How many of those became appointments? How many became sales? What was the revenue? If they can't answer those questions, they're not tracking the right things.
4. Do They Require Long-Term Contracts Upfront?
If someone wants you to sign a 12-month contract before they've proven a single thing, that's a red flag.
The results should keep you. Not a contract.
Now — after an agency has proven the system works and you're seeing real ROI, a longer commitment with a discount makes sense for both sides. That's a different conversation. But requiring a long-term lock-in before they've generated a single lead? That tells you they're more worried about keeping you trapped than keeping you happy.
5. Will They Share Real Dashboards With You?
You should be able to see what's happening with your marketing at any time. Not a cherry-picked PDF summary once a month. Real dashboards, broken down by platform, by campaign, by ad — showing leads, appointments, and sales.
If an agency is cagey about sharing data, ask yourself why. What are they hiding? Good results don't need to be hidden. They need to be celebrated.
6. Do They Build YOUR Brand or Theirs?
When your ads run, whose brand is front and center? When a lead comes in, do they know your company name, your USPs, your differentiators? Or do they just know they clicked on a generic "Get a Free Roof Estimate" ad?
Your marketing should build your brand equity. It should drive branded searches for your company. It should make homeowners in your market recognize your name. If the agency's system only builds their brand and their proprietary lead flow — you're in the same trap as Angi, just paying more for it.
7. Ask for Case Studies With REVENUE Impact
Anyone can show you screenshots of Facebook leads. That means nothing.
Ask for case studies that show revenue impact. How much did the client's business grow? What was the lead-to-sale conversion rate? What was the return on ad spend measured in actual closed deals, not just leads generated?
If an agency can only show you cost per lead but can't tell you cost per sale or revenue generated, they're measuring the wrong things. Leads are a means to an end. The end is revenue.
8. Do They Have a Feedback Loop?
Marketing doesn't exist in a vacuum. The agency generates leads. Your team converts them (or doesn't). If there's no feedback loop between your sales team and the marketing team, nobody can optimize anything.
A good agency wants to know: which leads were good? Which were garbage? What objections are homeowners raising? What's happening in the appointment that's causing people not to buy? That information flows back into better targeting, better messaging, better results.
If an agency just dumps leads into your CRM and never asks how they went — they're an order taker, not a strategic partner.
9. Are They an Order Taker or a Strategic Partner?
This is related to the feedback loop, but it goes deeper. Does the agency just do what you tell them, or do they push back when you're wrong?
A good agency will tell you when your follow-up process is killing your conversion rate. They'll tell you when your sales team isn't calling leads fast enough. They'll tell you when your website is hurting your brand. They'll tell you things you don't want to hear — because the goal is results, not making you feel good.
Being an order taker is dying in 2026. The agencies that drive real growth are the ones who act as partners and hold both sides accountable.
10. Will They Tell You When You're Wrong?
I've had calls where a roofer tells me their follow-up process is "we call them once and if they don't answer, we move on." And I'll tell them straight up — that's the dumbest thing you could be doing. You need to call 2 times a day for 10 days, then every 14 days until the world ends, they tell you to fall off, or they move forward.
A good agency isn't there to be your yes-man. If your sales process sucks, they need to say so. If your website looks like it was built in 2009, they need to say so. If you're not following up on leads, that's not a marketing problem — that's a you problem. And they should have the backbone to tell you that.
We both own 100%. The agency owns the marketing. The roofer owns the sales. If either side drops the ball, the whole thing falls apart.
The Guarantee Bullshit
One more thing. If an agency "guarantees" you a specific number of leads or a specific cost per lead — be skeptical. Be very skeptical.
This isn't your typical agency slide deck. I don't have any rah-rah bullshit. Marketing is a system with variables on both sides. Anyone who guarantees results before they've seen your market, your competition, your sales process, and your follow-up cadence is either lying or doesn't understand how this works.
What you should look for instead: an agency that's transparent about the process, tracks everything, optimizes relentlessly, and holds themselves accountable with real data — not promises.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if my current agency is doing a good job?
Ask yourself three questions: Can they show you how many leads turned into appointments and sales (not just lead counts)? Do you own your ad accounts and data? Has your revenue grown since you started working with them? If the answer to any of those is no, you've got a problem worth investigating.
Is it better to hire an agency or do marketing in-house?
It depends on your size and expertise. In-house gives you control but requires hiring people who actually know paid media, tracking, and optimization — not just someone who "knows Facebook." An agency gives you specialized expertise from day one, but you need to pick the right one. Most roofing companies under $20M are better served by a specialized agency than trying to build an in-house team from scratch.
What should I expect to pay for a good roofing marketing agency?
Legitimate agencies typically charge a management fee (either flat or a percentage of ad spend) plus you pay the ad spend directly to the platforms. Be wary of agencies that bundle everything into one price and won't tell you what's going to ads versus their fee. You should always know exactly where your money is going.
How quickly should I see results from a new agency?
Paid ads should generate leads in month 1. Not a flood — optimization takes time and data. By month 3, you should see improving metrics. If you're 90 days in and an agency can't show you clear data on what's working and what's being optimized, that's a conversation worth having.