A&B Consulting Group is a marketing agency serving Chicago from our office in Burr Ridge, about 30 to 40 minutes southwest of the Loop. We provide web design, SEO, Google Ads, Meta advertising and reputation management for contractors, building supply distributors and local businesses across the city and its neighbourhoods.
Chicago is the largest market we work in and the one where generic local marketing fails hardest. The city is not a place people search for; the neighbourhood is.
We work the city from Burr Ridge, which puts most of the South and West sides inside half an hour and the North Side somewhat further depending on the hour. For most of what we do that distance is irrelevant — but it does shape honest advice about which parts of the city a given business should actually be chasing.
Competing for a service plus 'Chicago' means competing against everybody in a city of nearly three million, including national operators with budgets no local business can match. It is the most expensive and least rewarding target available.
The searches that actually produce work are narrower: the service plus a neighbourhood, or the service plus 'near me' from somebody standing in one. Those have less volume, far less competition, and much higher intent — the person searching is in the area and wants somebody who works there.
So the structure that works is a page per neighbourhood you genuinely serve, written with real knowledge of the housing there, rather than one city page listing fifty neighbourhood names. The second approach is obvious to readers and to Google, and it does not rank.
Chicago's bungalows are one of the most consistent opportunities in the region for exterior trades. Tens of thousands of houses, built in a comparable period, with similar roof structures, similar masonry and similar problems appearing at similar ages.
That consistency is worth building marketing around. A contractor who can speak specifically about this kind of house — the roof configuration, the masonry and tuckpointing, what goes wrong and what it costs to put right — is far more convincing to an owner than a generalist describing roofing in general terms.
It also means the work advertises itself locally. These houses sit in blocks of near-identical neighbours, so a visible job produces enquiries from the same street. That is the strongest argument for pairing targeted local advertising with the work you already have on the ground.
The two-flats and three-flats across large parts of the city mean a substantial population of small landlords, and they are a different customer from a homeowner.
They decide faster, because the decision is commercial rather than emotional. They are more price-aware and more comfortable comparing quotes. And they come back — somebody with three buildings has a recurring need across all of them, which makes the lifetime value considerably higher than a single roof replacement.
Almost no contractor marketing speaks to them specifically. Material addressing turnaround, tenant disruption, scheduling around occupancy and handling multiple properties will reach a buyer nobody else is talking to.
Working in the city is operationally harder than working in the suburbs — permitting and inspection are more involved, and parking, alley access and street conditions genuinely affect what a job costs to run.
Contractors who handle all of that competently rarely say so, and it is a real selling point. A homeowner who has been through a bad permit experience is actively looking for somebody who will not repeat it.
The reverse is also worth being honest about. A suburban contractor who has not worked in the city should think carefully before marketing into it, because the first few jobs where the realities bite produce the reviews that follow you.
Areas we cover around Chicago:
Neighbourhoods, almost always. Competing for a service plus 'Chicago' means competing against a city of nearly three million and national operators with far bigger budgets. Service plus a neighbourhood has less volume, far less competition and much higher intent, and it is where the work actually comes from.
Yes — the work is done remotely regardless, and we are 30 to 40 minutes from the Loop for the parts that are better in person. What matters more than our address is whether we understand the market, and the city's housing stock and trades are a large part of what we work on.
Consistency. Tens of thousands of similar houses from a comparable period, with similar roof structures and masonry, developing similar problems at similar ages. A contractor who speaks specifically to that house type convinces owners far more than one describing roofing in general, and visible work produces enquiries from the same block.
By addressing what they actually care about, which almost nobody does: turnaround, tenant disruption, scheduling around occupancy and handling several properties. They decide faster and more commercially than homeowners, and they come back — which makes them worth more over time than a single job suggests.
Only with your eyes open. Permitting is more involved and parking, alley access and street conditions genuinely change what a job costs to run. Those realities tend to bite on the first few jobs, and that is when the reviews that follow you get written. It is a good market, entered deliberately.
The full programme.
Learn more →Ranking by neighbourhood.
Learn more →For the bungalow belt trades.
Learn more →3,800+ leads in 12 months.
Learn more →What contractors actually pay.
Learn more →We are about 30 to 40 minutes northeast away, so this can be a conversation in your office rather than a video call. Tell us what you are trying to fix.