How Much Do Facebook and Instagram Ads Cost for a UK Service Business?

If you're considering advertising your business on Facebook or Instagram, one of your first questions will probably be: how much is this going to cost me?

It's a sensible question. But the answer isn't quite as simple as picking a monthly advertising budget.

There's the money you pay Facebook and Instagram to show your adverts, the cost of getting those adverts created and managed, and, most importantly, what it costs to win an actual customer.

Let's break it down without the marketing jargon.

First, understand what you're paying for

When you advertise on Facebook or Instagram, you're paying to show your business to potential customers.

Those might be homeowners interested in building work, couples planning a wedding, or people who could benefit from a professional service.

The platforms are owned by Meta, which is why you'll sometimes hear Facebook and Instagram advertising referred to as Meta Ads.

There are two main costs to understand.

1. Your advertising budget

This is the money paid to Meta to show your adverts.

You choose how much to spend, but there's no fixed price for reaching a person or generating an enquiry.

The cost depends on things like your audience, competition, location, the adverts themselves and how people respond.

A campaign might generate plenty of enquiries for one business and very few for another, even with the same budget.

2. The cost of managing your advertising

If you hire an agency, you're also paying for someone to plan, create, manage and improve your campaigns.

That can include writing adverts, developing images or videos, setting up campaigns, reviewing results and making changes.

It's important to understand exactly what's included and whether you're paying a fixed fee or a percentage of your advertising budget.

What does a realistic starting budget look like?

At The Enquiry Works, we generally recommend that suitable service businesses start with an advertising budget of at least £750 per month.

That's our recommended starting point for the businesses we work with, not a minimum imposed by Facebook or Instagram.

Our current fees are:

We work on an initial three-month commitment.

At the minimum advertising budget, that means:

• Advertising over three months: £2,250

• Management over three months: £1,650

• One-off setup: £495

Total: £4,395 before platform fees and any applicable taxes.

There's also a small additional cost worth knowing about.

Since July 2026, Meta has applied a 2% location fee to advertising delivered to UK audiences. If all £2,250 of your advertising budget is spent reaching people in the UK, that adds £45.

So the initial three-month total would be £4,440 before any applicable taxes or separately agreed additional work.

The advertising budget goes directly to Meta, not to us.

You can read our full pricing and what's included.

The important question: how many customers would make it worthwhile?

This is where I think business owners should spend more time.

Imagine you run a service business and each new customer generates £1,000 in gross profit.

By gross profit, I mean the money left from the sale after paying the direct costs of delivering the service, but before your advertising and other business overheads.

If your initial advertising and management costs come to £4,440, you'd need to win at least five additional customers at that level of gross profit to cover those costs.

That doesn't mean the advertising will produce five customers. It's simply a way of understanding what would need to happen financially.

Now imagine another business makes only £100 in gross profit from each new customer.

It would need at least 45 additional customers to cover the same initial investment.

That's a very different challenge.

Of course, some customers come back repeatedly or buy additional services. Others might not become customers until months after their first enquiry.

All of that matters when deciding whether advertising makes financial sense.

Why cheap enquiries aren't always good enquiries

Let's compare two imaginary advertising campaigns.

Campaign A

• £600 spent on advertising.

• 30 enquiries generated.

• £20 per enquiry.

• One enquiry becomes a paying customer.

That's £600 in advertising spend to win one customer.

Campaign B

• £600 spent on advertising.

• 15 enquiries generated.

• £40 per enquiry.

• Three enquiries become paying customers.

That's £200 in advertising spend per customer.

Campaign B generated fewer enquiries at twice the cost per enquiry, but it won three times as many customers.

These examples exclude management fees and other costs, but they illustrate an important point.

An inexpensive enquiry isn't necessarily a valuable enquiry.

If you're paying for advertising, you need to understand what happens after someone gets in touch.

Is Facebook and Instagram advertising suitable for every business?

No, and I think it's important to be clear about that.

Before spending money, I'd want to understand a few things about your business.

Do you already have customers?

Advertising is generally a more sensible investment when you've established that people want your service and are willing to pay for it.

Do you have room for more work?

There's little point paying to generate enquiries if you can't take on additional customers.

Can you respond quickly?

Someone who requests a quotation or appointment might also contact several competitors. Advertising can create an opportunity, but your business still needs to handle it.

Do you know what a customer is worth?

You don't need a complicated spreadsheet. But you should have a reasonable idea of your average sale value, direct costs and whether customers tend to buy again.

Can you afford to test advertising without relying on immediate results?

Some campaigns work better than others. It takes real advertising delivery and customer feedback to understand what needs improving.

If your business needs every pound of advertising to generate an immediate sale just to stay afloat, I'd be cautious about committing to a campaign.

How do you know whether the advertising is working?

Start by looking beyond clicks and enquiry forms.

I'd want to know:

• How much have we actually spent?

• How many genuine enquiries have we received?

• How many have turned into appointments or quotations?

• How many have become paying customers?

• Does the gross profit from those customers justify the investment?

You don't necessarily need expensive software to start answering those questions.

A simple record of enquiries, where they came from and what happened afterwards can be a useful starting point.

The important thing is to use that information when making decisions about the adverts.

So, is Facebook and Instagram advertising worth the money?

It can be, for the right business.

But there's no universal advertising budget, cost per enquiry or guaranteed return that makes sense for everyone.

A business with strong margins, spare capacity and a reliable way of converting enquiries into customers has a very different opportunity from one that's just starting out.

Before spending money, establish what a successful campaign would actually need to achieve.

Then decide whether the numbers make sense.

At The Enquiry Works, that's where we start.

We create and manage paid Facebook and Instagram adverts for established UK service businesses, with a focus on understanding which enquiries become actual customers.

If you're considering advertising, we're happy to look at your business and give you a straightforward view on whether it could make commercial sense.

And if we don't think it's the right investment, we'll tell you.

Find out if we're a good fit

Free initial assessment. No obligation.

Written by Liam Carlton, founder of The Enquiry Works. Cost illustrations are examples, not forecasts or guarantees of campaign performance. Prices and platform fees are based on information available in October 2026.