Trades marketing agencies in the East of England: who serves the area
The East of England is home to two of the better-known names in trades marketing: Lead Wave on the Norfolk and Suffolk coast and One Base Media in Southend. Between them they cover the two dominant models, fast Facebook lead generation and full-service web, SEO and PPC. This guide puts them alongside three agencies serving the region from elsewhere.
The regional picture
Lead Wave operates from Lowestoft and Norwich. One Base Media is in Leigh-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea, Essex. Both are genuinely East of England businesses. Riley Marketing is based in the North East and serves the region UK-wide, and has built a site for an Essex building firm. Get A Trades Website is in Edinburgh and works UK-wide. Market Maestro is listed in Epsom, Surrey, and works nationwide.
The two local firms represent opposite philosophies. Lead Wave wants your phone ringing within 24 hours from Facebook ads. One Base Media builds a site, ranks it and runs PPC as a long-term programme. The three remote options fill in the gaps: a fixed-fee foundation, a fixed-price website and a LinkedIn route to commercial work.
As with every guide in this series, prices and claims come from what each agency publishes, and we flag what is not published.
1. Lead Wave
Best for: Roofers and driveway or landscaping firms wanting fast-start Facebook leads with local exclusivity
Lead Wave is run from Lowestoft and Norwich by Nick (surname not stated), trading since 2022 under company number 13889468. Leads come from the client's own Facebook ads shown only in their area, with one business per trade per area. Every enquiry gets an automatic text within seconds, and the agency says campaigns are typically live within an hour with first leads inside 24 hours.
Services are Facebook and Meta ads, Google Ads measured on booked jobs, websites for tradesmen, automated text follow-up and area exclusivity. Named trades are roofers, driveway installers, landscapers, tree surgeons and carpet cleaners. Client results are published for roofers in several regions and a tree surgeon, plus a carpet cleaner video testimonial. Pricing is not published and is quoted via WhatsApp, on a month-to-month basis with no lock-in.
2. Riley Marketing
Best for: Smaller East of England firms that want a complete, no-contract foundation before spending on ads
Riley Marketing is a North East agency working UK-wide, and one of its published builds is SET Building & Brickwork, an Essex building firm. Its product is a foundational growth system at £149 a month at the time of writing: an SEO-focused website with service and location pages, Google Business Profile optimisation, Google review automation that also reactivates past customers, missed call text back, and a CRM with lead status tracking and branded quote pages on the client's own domain.
Set against Lead Wave, this is the slower, steadier route. Rather than buying enquiries, you build the assets that make enquiries cheaper over time: a site that ranks for town searches, a profile with a steady flow of reviews, and a quote process that does not leak jobs. The system is built before payment, revisions are unlimited, there is no setup fee and the client can cancel at any time.
Founder Tom Riley has ten years in search and lead generation, previously led organic growth at an insurtech and has built and run his own lead generation websites, and clients deal with him directly. The other published build is Anglia Decor, an industrial painting and roofing contractor. Trades covered include electricians, plumbers, heating engineers, roofers, builders, window and door fitters, decorators, landscapers, plasterers and kitchen fitters. Google Ads, Meta ads and local SEO are add-ons, which means a firm can start with the foundation and bolt on paid traffic later.
3. One Base Media
Best for: Trades wanting a long-established full-service agency covering site, SEO and PPC with wide trade coverage
One Base Media has been operating from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex since 2012 and is one of the most established trades-only agencies in the UK. It offers web design, SEO, Google Ads and PPC, lead generation with exclusive job leads, branding and a large amount of free educational content across YouTube, a podcast and a blog. It says it has helped over 1,000 local trades businesses, highlights awards and Google Partner status, and stresses affordability and no contracts.
Trade coverage is the widest in this list: roofers, landscapers, driveways, plumbers, heating engineers and boiler installers, drainage contractors, building contractors, loft conversions, solar installers, electricians, double glazing, plasterers, joiners, tree surgeons and bathroom and kitchen fitters. Case studies are numerous, covering roofing, driveways and landscaping, garden rooms, plumbing and drainage, loft conversions, shutters and blinds, scaffolding, heat pumps and windows. Pricing is one monthly payment with no contracts, with specific prices on a separate pricing page.
4. Get A Trades Website
Best for: Sole traders wanting a founder-built website with transparent pricing
Get A Trades Website is run from Edinburgh by Gary (surname not stated) and serves the UK. It offers tailored sites, quick-start one, three or five-page sites, redesigns and migrations, hosting, SEO tune-up and managed SEO, Google Business Profile optimisation and a trades business portal for quotes, invoices, leads and reviews. Quotes are fixed, the client owns the site and content is written from the client's own notes and photos.
Published prices are tailored sites from £750 to £3,000 or more, quick-start sites at £149, £299 or £499, an SEO tune-up at £39 a month and managed SEO from £149 a month. Trades named span plumbers, electricians, builders, roofers, joiners, bricklayers, handymen, decorators, plasterers, tilers, bathroom and kitchen fitters, flooring fitters, gas engineers and landscapers. There is one plumbing and tiling case study plus live client sites.
5. Market Maestro
Best for: Contractors wanting to move from domestic to commercial work via LinkedIn
Market Maestro is listed in Epsom, Surrey, and works nationwide. It runs LinkedIn-led B2B marketing for construction firms chasing contracts of £50,000 or more, using a four-stage 'Hi-Vis Method' with all content approved by the client. Services are LinkedIn outreach and management, construction SEO, website building and lead generation.
Published starting prices are £850 a month for LinkedIn outreach and £1,100 for wider management. The case study is a decorating contractor that tendered for and won commercial work.
Side by side
| Agency | In the region? | Model | Speed to results | Published price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead Wave | Yes, Lowestoft and Norwich | Facebook lead gen | Says first leads inside 24 hours | No, quoted via WhatsApp |
| Riley Marketing | No, North East (Essex client build) | Fixed-fee foundation | Built before payment; organic growth over months | £149/month |
| One Base Media | Yes, Leigh-on-Sea | Full-service web, SEO, PPC | Mixed | Separate pricing page |
| Get A Trades Website | No, Edinburgh | Fixed-price website | Build time | £149 to £3,000+ |
| Market Maestro | No, Epsom | LinkedIn B2B | Outreach cycle | From £850/month |
Which one fits
The East of England question is really Lead Wave versus everything else. If you are a roofer, driveway installer or landscaper with spare capacity, fast Facebook leads solve the immediate problem. The risk is that leads stop when the ads stop, which is why a foundation matters.
Riley Marketing is that foundation on a fixed fee for sole traders and small firms, and Get A Trades Website is the one-off alternative for those who only want a site. One Base Media is the full-service option for a firm wanting one agency to handle everything over the long term, with a track record to show for it.
Market Maestro stands apart for contractors going after commercial contracts. For background reading, the Riley Marketing fixed-fee model assessed and how trades agencies price their work explain the cost differences, the lead generation shortlist looks at paid lead specialists in more depth, and the London and South East guides cover the neighbouring regions.
Frequently asked questions
Which East of England agencies are actually local?
Lead Wave operates from Lowestoft and Norwich, and One Base Media from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex. The other three serve the region from the North East, Edinburgh and Surrey.
How fast can Facebook lead generation start working?
Lead Wave says campaigns are typically live within an hour and first leads arrive inside 24 hours. That speed depends on ad spend, which is paid on top of the agency fee.
Is it better to build a foundation or buy leads first?
If you can handle more work now and have cash for ad spend, leads first is defensible. If your website and Google profile are weak, every lead costs more than it should, so most sole traders are better served fixing the foundation first.
Does One Base Media publish its prices?
It states one monthly payment with no contracts and keeps specific prices on a separate pricing page, so ask for them in writing before the first call.