Fence and deck builders: what to ask an agency first

Late February is when the fence and deck calendar turns over. In the North the ground is still too hard for footings, but design consults are on the books, HOA packets are going out, and every owner knows the first warm weekend in March will start the phone ringing. It is also when marketing agencies call, because they know you finally have an hour at the desk.

Some of those agencies will be worth your time. Others sell one package to every home service company in town, and in this trade that shows within the first ten minutes. Here are the questions we would want a fence or deck builder to put to any agency before signing, including us.

Start with one question: fences or decks?

Ask the agency how Google classifies your work. A good answer has two parts.

• Local Services Ads split the trade in two. Google has a “Fencing services” category for fence design, installation, repair and maintenance. Decks have no category of their own. Google lists decking under “Carpenters”, alongside cabinetry, drywalling, shelving and remodeling. A company that builds both may need both categories, each with its own screening.
• Your Business Profile gets one primary category. Whitespark’s 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors, published in November, puts the primary category at the top of the map pack factors its expert panel scored. If most of your revenue comes from decks and your profile leads with fencing, you are handing the deck searches to someone down the road.

An agency that says “we’ll get your ads running” without asking how your work splits between the two has not worked with a company like yours.

Questions to put to any agency in the first meeting

Each of these has a right answer, and each one is specific to how fences and decks are sold.

• “Where will my license number appear?” California’s contractor board requires the license number in all forms of advertising, and it counts any website that solicits business as advertising. Leaving it off carries a civil penalty of $100 to $1,000 for a first offense. Fences have their own California license class, C-13. Nevada’s board wants the license number displayed clearly on all business advertising, websites and directories included. If the answer is “we’ll put it in the footer at some point”, keep interviewing.
• “How long until Local Services Ads run?” Google says screening takes three to four weeks on average after documents go in, and it requires a public, verified Business Profile before any of it starts. Google checks liability insurance and, where the law requires one, the state license. Since October 2025 every approved advertiser carries a single Google Verified badge in place of the old Guaranteed and Screened badges. An application filed this week is on time for April. One filed in April means watching May go by.
• “How will you get us reviews?” The FTC’s final rule from August 2024 bars businesses from offering anything in exchange for a review that says something positive or negative. The answer you want is a request after every final walkthrough, all year. BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, published earlier this month, found 47% of consumers will not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, and 74% only care about reviews written in the last three months. A fence company that collects reviews only in June has a stale profile every April.
• “Which towns will you target?” Google’s guidelines for businesses that serve customers at their locations call for one profile at the central office and a service area that does not stretch beyond about two hours of driving. An agency that wants to spread profiles across towns where you have no base is working against those guidelines, not with them.
• “What will you do about the phones in May?” A homeowner who gets voicemail in May has usually called the next builder by lunch. Ask who covers the phone when every crew is on a job site, and listen for a real plan rather than a promise.

What the first ninety days should look like

For a deck and fence company starting in late winter, this is the order we would expect any agency to propose:

• Weeks 1 to 2: tracking first. Calls and forms tagged by source, and every lead marked fence or deck, new build or repair. Without that split, a quick gate repair and a composite deck get averaged into one cost-per-lead number that describes neither.
• Weeks 1 to 6: being found. The Local Services Ads application filed in the first week, profile categories set by revenue, and separate pages for fences and decks, each with photos of your own work sorted by material.
• Weeks 3 to 8: being chosen. The license or registration number on every page and ad where your state requires it, a short section explaining permits, the 811 call and HOA submissions, and a review request after every walkthrough.
• Weeks 8 to 12: being kept. A past-customer list for sealing and inspection reminders, and a referral ask to the neighbors when a fence goes up.

Started now, that plan has the profile, the reviews and the badge in place before the first spring weekend instead of halfway through June.

What a monthly report should show

A report worth paying for follows each lead to a signed job, split the way your business actually works.

• Calls answered and calls missed. In CallRail’s January 2025 analysis of 1.1 million leads, home services businesses missed 14% of calls. In April and May, this is the line to read first.
• Leads by line and by source. Fences and decks, new builds and repairs, each against the channel that produced it.
• Estimates sent and jobs signed. Leads flatter every channel. Signatures do not.
• Cost per signed job. The only figure that tells you whether a channel pays for itself, whether the job is a fence repair or a composite deck with stairs and lighting.

If the report you are shown in the pitch stops at clicks and leads, ask what happens after the phone rings. The agency should know.

What to do this month

• Decide which line leads your Business Profile, based on last year’s revenue, and add the other as a secondary category.
• File the Local Services Ads application now, under Fencing services, Carpenters or both.
• Check every ad, page, listing and truck for your license or registration number against your state’s rule.
• Send a review request to every customer from last season who was never asked.
• Decide who answers the phone on a weekday afternoon in May, before May arrives.
• Put the questions above to any agency you are talking to, and notice whether they ask you about fences and decks separately.

An agency that understands this trade will ask how your work splits before it talks about budget, and it will want to see your permits page before your ad copy. Our page for deck and fence builders sets out the plan we start from, and our Google Business Profile work covers the category and service area choices in more detail.