Found System

What a $500/month marketing system actually includes

Published July 1, 2026 · 6 min read

Every contractor who books a call with us asks the same question within the first two minutes: "Okay, but what do I actually get for $500 a month?" Fair question. Most agencies hide the answer behind a discovery call. We would rather put it in writing, because the itemized list is the pitch. This post breaks down every piece of our Found System, what each piece does, and what the same stack costs if you buy it part by part.

The short answer

For $500 CAD a month, all in, you get:

• A professional website, built for you, live in 7 to 10 days
• Missed-call text-back, so a call you cannot answer becomes a text conversation instead of a lost job
• Automated lead follow-up, so every inquiry gets a response even when you are on a roof
• A review engine that asks happy customers for Google reviews at the right moment
• One-click marketing campaigns to your past customer list
• Local SEO basics, so you show up when someone nearby searches your trade
• A dedicated business number, separate from your personal cell
• One inbox for calls, texts, emails, and website leads
• Hosting, edits, and support, included

No setup fee. No contract. Month to month, cancel anytime. That last part is not a footnote, it is the business model: we have to earn the $500 every month or you leave.

What each piece actually does

The website. Not a template you fill in yourself. We build it, load your services and service area, and put it live in 7 to 10 days. Its job is not to look pretty in a portfolio. Its job is to make the phone ring. If you already have a site, we replace or rebuild it. If you want to see what your site would look like first, we build a free website preview before you pay anything.

Missed-call text-back. You are on a ladder, the phone rings, it goes to voicemail. Most homeowners do not leave one. They call the next contractor on the list. With text-back, that caller instantly gets a text: "Sorry we missed you, how can we help?" The conversation starts anyway. For an owner-operator who physically cannot answer every call, this one feature usually pays for the whole system. We wrote more on this in how to answer calls when you are on a job.

Automated follow-up. A lead fills out your website form at 9pm. Without automation, they hear back tomorrow, maybe. With it, they get a text and email within minutes. Speed wins jobs: the contractor who responds first usually gets the walkthrough. We covered the math in following up with leads in under 5 minutes.

The review engine. After a job, the system texts your customer a direct link to your Google review page. Asking in person is awkward and inconsistent. Asking by text at the moment they are happiest is neither. Reviews compound: they lift your map ranking and they close skeptical homeowners before you ever talk to them.

One-click campaigns. Your past customer list is an asset most contractors never touch. Spring booking push, seasonal maintenance reminder, referral ask: written for you, sent in one click.

Local SEO basics. Your Google Business Profile set up properly, your site structured so Google understands what you do and where. This is not a $2,000/mo SEO retainer and we do not pretend it is. It is the foundation that most contractor sites are missing entirely.

The number, the inbox, the upkeep. A real business line. Every call, text, email, and form fill in one place instead of five apps. And when you need a price changed or a photo swapped on the site, you text us. Included.

What the same stack costs piece by piece

Here is the honest comparison. These are typical market ranges, not precise quotes, and you can verify every category with ten minutes of Googling.

Buy mid-range versions of each and you are somewhere between $500 and $2,000 a month in software and retainers, plus a few thousand up front for the site, plus you are the one gluing it all together. That glue work is the part that actually kills it: most contractors buy two or three of these tools, never connect them, and cancel within the year.

The point of one system at one price is not that any single tool is magic. It is that the pieces are already wired together and somebody else keeps them running.

What $500 a month does not include

Honesty section, because the fastest way to lose a contractor's trust is a surprise invoice.

• Ad spend and ads management. The Found System is your foundation. Google or Meta ads are a separate engagement with its own budget. If you want to know what ads actually cost first, read what a Google Ads agency costs.
• Professional photo and video. We have an in-house creative team ($700K+ in creative projects, 324+ photo and video shoots), but shoots are add-ons, not part of the $500.
• An AI receptionist. Available later if you want calls answered and booked 24/7. Most clients start with the base system and add it once leads are flowing.

If someone quotes you "$500 all in" and it secretly includes none of the labour, or "everything" including ads management, ask them to itemize it. Any legit provider will.

Who this is for (and who it is not for)

It is built for contractors and local service businesses: roofing, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, painting, renovation, cleaning, and the rest of the trades. One owner or a small crew, more work coming from word of mouth than from the internet, and no time to babysit marketing software.

It is not for you if you want a national brand campaign, a complex e-commerce build, or someone to run six figures of ad spend on day one. Different problems, different tools.

Why we built it this way

Our co-founder Andy scaled his own brand, Wick of Hope, from $14K to over $1M. Not by hiring an agency: by building exactly this kind of system for himself first, then noticing that every contractor he talked to was missing the same pieces. We are based in London, Ontario, we sit at 4.9 stars from 17 Google reviews, and we work with contractors across Canada and the US. Small sample, real reviews, and we would rather cite that honestly than invent a bigger number.

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