Short answer: the questions above are the ones owners ask before deciding whether to work with us. The body of this page explains the thinking behind the four that matter most: cost, contracts, ownership and trust after a bad agency experience.
Frequently asked questions
What is Trades.Expert?
A Canadian digital marketing and business consulting service for trades and home-service businesses, built around Ali Sedighi's answers to common marketing questions. It's part of the Sedighi.ca and SAZ.ca group, headquartered in Vancouver, BC.
How much does it cost?
Trades.Agency plans start at $1,999 per month month-to-month, or $1,499 per month billed annually, with Elite and Enterprise plans above that. GST/HST is added by province. Ad spend is a separate budget.
Is there a long-term contract?
No. Plans run month-to-month, and 30 days' notice ends them. If you prefer, annual billing lowers the monthly rate.
How soon will I see results?
Ads can produce calls within days. Google Business Profile fixes often show within weeks. Local search and content usually take several months to build. We'll set expectations for each channel before you start.
Can you promise a number of leads or a ranking?
No. Nobody controls Google's results or your market. We can show you the reasoning behind a plan, results from our HVAC work, and exactly how we'll report progress each month.
We tried an agency before and it didn't work. Why would this be different?
Start by asking why it didn't work. Usually it's one of three things: nobody tracked booked jobs, the ads bought the wrong searches, or the reports hid the real numbers. We report cost per booked job in plain language, and you can leave with 30 days' notice.
Who owns the website and the accounts?
You do. Your domain, website, Google Business Profile, ads accounts and analytics stay in your name. If you leave, you keep all of it.
What will reports show?
Calls, texts and emails from each channel, how many became jobs where your records allow, cost per booked job, and what we're changing next and why. No vanity charts.
Do you work with my trade?
We work with trades and home-service businesses such as plumbing, electrical, HVAC, roofing, renovation and similar. Our published case studies are HVAC results, and we say so.
Are you a contractor?
No. We don't install, repair or service anything. We market and advise trades businesses.
Do you advise on licensing or regulations?
No. We link to the regulators for each province and territory, but questions about licences, permits or codes should go to the regulator.
Can I talk to Ali Sedighi?
Yes. The answers on this site are his, and you'll talk to a senior strategist from the first conversation. Call, text or email (604) 632-4959 or Ali@Sedighi.ca.
Why do you publish prices when many agencies don't?
Short answer: because an owner shouldn't have to sit through a sales call to find out whether something is affordable.
Our plans are the Trades.Agency plans, and they're listed on our pricing page. Publishing them means you can do the maths before you call. A simple test: divide the monthly cost by the gross margin on an average job. That tells you how many extra jobs a month the plan needs to produce to pay for itself. If the number looks unrealistic for your market, you've saved us both a conversation.
Why month-to-month?
Short answer: because the work should earn its place every month.
Long contracts protect the agency, not the client. With 30 days' notice, we have every reason to keep the work useful and the reporting honest. Some clients choose annual billing for the lower price, which is fine, but it's their choice. The practical point for you: you're never trapped with a provider who isn't delivering.
Why does ownership matter so much?
Short answer: because the accounts carry your history, and losing them sets you back years.
It's a familiar story in this industry: an owner leaves an agency and finds that the website, the domain or the ads account was registered in the agency's name. Years of ad history, pages and rankings can go with it. With us, everything is set up in your name from day one, and you hold the logins. If we part ways, you take it all with you. If you're unsure who owns your current accounts, that's worth checking this week, whoever you work with.
What should I do if an agency let me down before?
Short answer: work out exactly what went wrong before you hire anyone else, including us.
Ask for the last six months of reports and access to the accounts, then check three things:
- Tracking. Were calls tracked at all? Were booked jobs ever matched to sources?
- Search terms. In the ads account, what did people actually search before clicking? How much went to irrelevant searches?
- Deliverables. What pages, posts or profile updates were actually done each month?
If the answers are "no", "a lot" and "not much", you know the cause. Our guide to hiring an agency has the full list of questions to ask next time.
How do I know if I'm ready to hire anyone?
Short answer: you're ready when you can answer the phone reliably, know roughly what a job is worth to you, and have capacity for more work.
If any of those is missing, more marketing will mostly expose the gap. Calls go unanswered, quotes go out late, or new jobs crowd out existing customers. In that case, the most useful first step is often operational: phone coverage, a quicker quoting routine or a simple way to track enquiries. We're happy to talk that through in the free consultation, and the tracking guide shows how to start measuring today.
Why are the answers on this site written in the first person?
Short answer: because they're Ali Sedighi's answers, and he stands behind them.
Each answer describes his approach to a question trades owners ask. They aren't quotes from clients, and they aren't composite stories. Where we cite results, they're named results from our HVAC work with links to the live sites. Where we cite rules or programs, they link to official sources with dates. That way you can check everything you read here.
Where can I find more answers?
Short answer: in the guides, the services pages and the regional pages.
The guides go deep on lead costs, hiring an agency and tracking. The services pages answer what each service involves. And if your question is about your province, start on the areas page. If you still have a question, ask it directly.