Trades searches are local or they're nothing
Nobody shops for a roofer nationally. Every search that matters has a town attached to it, which means the whole strategy is service pages crossed with places — a structure most agencies never build because their other clients don't need it.
Owner-operated means decisions happen in one conversation
I'm one person. That works beautifully with an owner who can say yes on a Tuesday, and badly with a marketing committee that needs three meetings and a deck. If you have in-house marketing staff, you need a partner who slots into their process — that isn't me.
2–15 employees is a real capacity ceiling
Below two, there usually isn't enough crew to handle the extra calls, and marketing spend hurts. Above fifteen, you're generally into multi-crew, multi-market territory where the budget and the reporting expectations outgrow a solo studio.