For a home service company doing about $5 million a year, an outside agency usually costs less than a full in-house team, its fee can land close to the loaded cost of a single hire, and the right choice depends on what you need covered and how much steady work there is. This guide builds the total-cost model with government salary data and published retainer prices, shows what each option covers, and names the situations where hiring in-house is the better call.

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The short answer: agency or in-house at $5M?

• Salary is not the cost. A salary plus benefits is the start. You also pay for recruiting, software, training, management time and the gaps in what one person can cover.
• Using BLS median wages, one in-house marketing specialist costs roughly $112,500 a year fully loaded, and a manager plus a specialist costs roughly $350,800. These are national medians across all industries, so your local market may differ. See the table below for how we calculated them.
• GoRizen's published bundled plans run $6,800 to $10,200 a month for companies at $2M to $14M in revenue, which is $81,600 to $122,400 a year, and include paid ads management, a website, speed-to-lead AI and SEO and AEO. Plan prices do not include ad spend, which is billed separately, and ad spend is a separate line in either model.
• Compare cost per closed job, not payroll against retainer. Add ad spend, people or agency cost and tools, then divide by jobs closed from marketing.
• In-house wins when the work is steady, owned by a strong lead and tied closely to your brand and sales team. A hybrid, with an in-house owner and outside help for paid media, tracking and CRM, is common and often the practical middle.

What a $5M home service company actually needs covered

Before comparing costs, list the jobs. A company at this size usually needs all of the following working together:

• Paid ads: Google Search, Local Services Ads, Meta
• SEO and AEO: local rankings, Google Business Profile, content for search and AI answers
• A website and landing pages built to convert
• A CRM with every lead tracked from first call to signed job
• Speed-to-lead and follow-up: replies in minutes, reminders, reactivation
• Monthly reporting on cost per closed job, not only cost per lead
• Reviews, social and video that build trust

The question is not "who is cheaper." It is "who covers more of this list, reliably, for the same money."

What in-house really costs

Start with government data. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports the following national medians for May 2025 (not specific to home services or to your city):

Three cautions. BLS has no separate category for paid media or CRM specialists, so the marketing specialist figure is the closest match. Medians include all industries and company sizes. A manager at a $5M contractor may be paid less than the national median, and a good paid-media operator in a big metro may be paid more.

Add the cost of benefits. BLS's Employer Costs for Employee Compensation reported that, for private industry in June 2026, wages and salaries were 70.0% of employer compensation costs and benefits were 30.0% (BLS ECEC release). To get the loaded cost, divide wages by 0.70. This is an average across all private workers, so treat it as an approximation.

Not in these numbers: recruiting and onboarding, software and tools, training, ad account and CRM administration time, and the cost of the role sitting empty. These vary too much to publish as a single figure. Price them from your own quotes, and add them.

What an agency retainer costs

Agency pricing varies widely and many agencies do not publish it, so ask for a written scope and price. GoRizen publishes its pricing. Here is a checkable example from the GoRizen pricing page:

A company at exactly $5M sits at the edge of the Acceleration and Market Leader bands; the right fit depends on scope and is set on a call. Plan prices do not include ad spend, which is billed separately. Individual services can also be bought separately. Examples from the same page include Paid Ads Level 1 at $2,500 a month, Paid Ads Level 2 at $3,900 a month, SEO Level 1 at $1,800 a month and Website Design Level 2 at $1,750 a month with a 12-month commitment. The page does not state contract terms for the bundled plans, so ask for them in writing, from GoRizen or any agency.

Annual cost: Acceleration at $6,800 a month is $81,600, or 1.6% of $5M. Market Leader at $10,200 a month is $122,400, or 2.4% of $5M. These are management and system fees, so you still pay for ad spend directly in both models.

The side-by-side: total cost and coverage

This comparison uses only the numbers above. It adds an ad spend line that is the same in every option so you can see the effect on cost per closed job.

"Rarely in all seven" is our judgment, not a statistic. Test it yourself: put a candidate's name next to each item in the earlier list and see what is left blank.

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Worked example: cost per closed job

Cost per closed job = (monthly ad spend + monthly people or agency cost + monthly tools) divided by jobs closed from marketing that month.

The inputs below are assumptions for illustration. Replace them with your own. Tools are left at zero for every option, so add yours.

Assume $15,000 a month in ad spend and 25 jobs closed per month from marketing in every option.

Holding results equal is the weak point of this table: in practice, results differ by team and agency, and a lower fee with fewer closed jobs is not cheaper. Agency fees also vary widely: some agencies publish single-service prices well below these plans (see how to choose an agency), and an in-house specialist who closes even four more jobs a month than an agency would beat every agency row above. The option that costs more has to produce more. Use this test: extra monthly cost divided by gross profit per job equals the extra jobs per month the option must close to break even. For example, if manager plus specialist costs $22,400 more per month than the Acceleration plan and a job earns $3,600 in gross profit (an assumed figure), the team must close about 6 more jobs per month just to break even. Whether that happens depends on the person or team, not on the model.

When in-house wins

In-house is the better choice in these cases:

• Steady, full-time work. GoRizen's own B2B Growth Hub advises bringing work in-house once the system exists and there is enough ongoing work to keep a full-time person busy (B2B Growth Hub).
• You already have a working system. If tracking, CRM and campaigns are in place and performing, an in-house owner can run and improve them without paying for setup.
• Brand, sales content and community. The same hub suggests a hybrid in which brand and sales content stay in-house. Someone who knows your crews, your jobs and your customers writes this better than an outsider.
• Multiple locations or heavy daily volume. Constant local changes, photos and reviews reward someone on site.
• You have a strong marketing leader to hire and manage. A good hire needs a clear scorecard, tools and authority. A weak hire costs the salary and the lost months.

When an agency fits better

• You do not have a marketing system yet. GoRizen's B2B hub notes that an agency or outside partner gives you strategy, tools and execution at once if you are starting from scratch.
• You need several specialties at once: paid ads, SEO, website, CRM and follow-up.
• You need speed. An agency can start with existing tools and processes. A hire needs recruiting, onboarding and ramp-up.
• Your volume swings by season and you want to scale spend without payroll changes.
• You want outside accountability to cost per closed job and a CRM that shows it.

The hybrid option

Many $5M companies land on a hybrid: one in-house person who owns follow-up, sales alignment, content and the CRM, and an outside team for paid media, tracking and technical work. This is the arrangement GoRizen's B2B hub describes. Its cost depends on which services you buy. Paid Ads Level 1 at $2,500 a month plus one in-house specialist comes to about $142,500 a year in the model above.

Questions to answer before you decide

1. What are the seven jobs on the list above, and who covers each one today?
2. Who owns the ad accounts, the CRM, the website and the data, and can you take them with you if you leave an agency or an employee leaves?
3. Does your CRM show closed jobs by source today? If not, fix that first with either option.
4. How fast does a new lead get a reply today? Speed-to-lead can be automated with AI whichever way you staff.
5. Is there enough steady marketing work to keep a full-time person busy for 12 months?
6. What happens to the work if your hire leaves, or if your agency is replaced?
7. What contract length and notice terms does the agency require, and is ad spend billed separately?

Once you decide, two related guides help: How to Choose a Roofing, Pool or Window Marketing Agency for comparing agencies, and What an Agency Should Report to a Home Service Owner Every Month for holding an agency or a hire to the numbers.

What results look like with an agency

These are results GoRizen reports on its public case studies. The case studies do not describe the clients' earlier staffing, so they are not an in-house comparison, and results depend on market, offer and follow-up speed.

• Sunset View Construction (windows and doors, Florida): 700+ inbound leads, 140+ sales-qualified opportunities and 40+ closed sales in 4 months. Read the case study.
• Best Roofing (roofing, South Florida): 1,000+ inbound leads, 200+ sales-qualified opportunities and 40+ closed sales in 8 months, with triple-digit quarter-over-quarter growth in leads and closed deals. Read the case study.
• STS Impact Windows & Doors: monthly sales grew from $25K to $650K, reported at four months of a 12-month plan. Read the case study.

See all case studies, or the Windows & Doors and Roofing growth hubs.

Where to go next

• GoRizen pricing
• Paid Ads Management
• CRM migration and integrations
• AI + Automation

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Frequently asked questions

Is it cheaper to hire a marketing employee or an agency?

One marketing specialist at the BLS median wage ($78,760, May 2025) costs roughly $112,500 a year after benefits, before recruiting and tools. GoRizen's published plans for a $2M to $5M company start at $6,800 a month ($81,600 a year) and include more services; ad spend is billed separately. That does not make an agency cheaper in every case. Compare cost per closed job, not payroll against a retainer.

What does a marketing retainer cost for a $3M home service company?

Retainers vary by agency. GoRizen's published Acceleration plan is $6,800 a month for companies with $2M to $5M in revenue, and its standalone Paid Ads Level 1 and Level 2 are $2,500 and $3,900 a month. GoRizen's plan prices do not include ad spend, which is billed separately. Ask any agency whether ad spend is included and what the contract length is.

What does an in-house marketing hire really cost?

Wages divided by 0.70 gives a rough loaded figure, because BLS reports that benefits were 30.0% of employer compensation costs for private industry in June 2026. At the BLS median for marketing managers ($166,790), that is about $238,300 a year. Add recruiting, software, training and your own management time.

Can one marketing hire replace an agency?

Sometimes, if the work is mostly follow-up, content and coordination. It is harder if you need paid ads, SEO, website work, CRM and reporting at the same level. List the jobs, then check which ones the candidate has actually run.

When should a home service company bring marketing in-house?

When there is enough steady work to keep a full-time person busy, the tracking and CRM system is already working, and you have a strong leader to hire and manage. Brand and sales content are often the first things to bring in-house.

What is a hybrid marketing setup?

One in-house person owns follow-up, content and sales alignment, and an outside team handles paid media, tracking and technical work. It keeps context close and gives you specialists without paying for each full time.

Who should own the ad accounts and CRM?

We recommend that you do. Whether you hire or outsource, the ad accounts, CRM, website and data should be in your company's name, with the agency or employee given access. Confirm this in writing before you sign.