Week 1
Discovery + build.
60-minute call to map your trade, suburbs, average job value and current setup. Then I build the campaigns, keyword research, ad copy, landing page, call tracking, conversion tagging, usually live within 7 days.
About
BUILT BY A LOCAL, FOR LOCALS.
Forge West is a one-man Perth agency that does one thing properly: grow trade businesses through paid ads and landing pages. No team photos to hide behind, you work with me directly.
100%Perth & WA focused
0Lock-in contracts, ever
24hrReply time on any request
1Person running your account
Origin story
Why trades. Why Perth.
I grew up around small business. Dad runs an engraving business, and half my uncles have held a trade ticket at some point. I know what it feels like when the phone goes quiet for a week and rent's due. I've also seen what happens when a tradie picks the wrong agency: slow pages, reports full of jargon, and a login they never get handed.
I'd been running marketing for a few bigger Perth businesses, but the best results always came from doing less, better. The accounts that worked were the ones with one person obsessing over the details, keyword by keyword, ad by ad, week by week. The accounts that flopped were the ones run by committees, where nobody owned the outcome. So I left to build something where one person owns it.
That's Forge West. Trade-only, plumbers, sparkies, builders, landscapers, glaziers, the lot. Perth-only. I know the suburbs, the cost-per-clicks, the seasonality, who buys what when. Founder-led, you talk to me, every time. One rule: I only work with tradies I'd happily give Dad's number to. If I wouldn't send Dad to a contractor I'm running ads for, I don't run the ads.
That filter, plus staying trade-only in Perth, is the whole thing. No fancy pitch decks, no junior account managers, no contracts you can't cancel. Just ads that ring the phone, pages that load, and a person who picks up when you call.
Oliver Gniel, Founder
Methodology
How I actually work, week by week.
No fluff agency framework. The same operating rhythm I'd run for Dad if he were paying me to fix his marketing.
Weeks 2–4
Daily tuning.
First month is heavy lifting. I'm in the account daily, building negative keyword lists, killing junk search terms, reshuffling bids, watching call-quality. Most of the cost-per-lead drop happens in this window.
Month 2 onwards
Weekly optimisation rhythm.
Every Monday: search-terms audit + negatives update. Every Wednesday: bid + budget reshuffle. Every Friday: creative refresh and weekend prep. Same rhythm, every week, for the life of the engagement.
End of month
Plain-English report.
What spent, what leads came in, what's working, what I'm changing next month. On Pro it includes a 30-minute call. No 24-page slide decks nobody reads.
Quarterly
Strategy reset.
Every 90 days I pull back and look at the bigger picture, where your cost-per-job is heading, whether the channel mix is right, whether there's a new opportunity worth testing. That's also when I'd recommend adding SEO if you're only running ads, or vice versa.
What I won't do
The things you'll never see from Forge West.
Trust is built on what you refuse, not just what you offer.
No lock-in contracts.
Month-to-month, full stop. No 6-month minimums, no claw-back fees, no auto-renewals you have to fight to cancel.
No hostage accounts.
Every Google Ads, Meta Business and analytics account sits in your name on day one. If I part ways you keep everything, campaigns, history, conversion data, the lot.
No junior account managers.
You signed up for me, you get me. I don't farm work out to interns three weeks out of training, and I don't take on more clients than I can personally manage.
No guarantees I can't keep.
I won't promise specific lead numbers, specific Google rankings, or 'the phone ringing in 7 days'. Anyone who does is selling you a fairy tale. I guarantee the work, proper setup, weekly optimisation, monthly reporting that shows the truth.
No fluff reports.
Reports are plain English. Spend, leads, cost per qualified lead, what changed, what's next. No 24-page slide decks designed to look impressive.
No clients outside trades.
Trade businesses in Perth or greater WA, full stop. I say no to dentists, real estate, SaaS, and anyone interstate. Specialisation is the moat.
Where Forge West is right now
Brand new agency. Not a brand new operator.
Forge West launched in 2026. I'm taking on a small number of foundational Perth tradie clients right now, full case studies will live on the results page once their 90-day marks land. Until then, the trade-off is clear: lower price, more attention, real work, but no client logos to point at yet. If that trade-off doesn't work for you, I'll be the first to say so.
Principles
How I work.
01
Trade-only, on purpose.
Plumbers, sparkies, builders, landscapers. That's the work. Not real estate, not SaaS, not dentists. I say no to everyone else because every trade I take on, I understand from the inside.
02
Founder-led. Always.
When you sign up with Forge West you get Oliver, not a junior being trained on your ad account. Strategy, execution, reporting, the lot. The buck stops with one person.
03
No lock-in. Ever.
Month to month. You can leave any time. Your ad accounts, pages, tracking and data are yours from day one. If I'm not earning my keep I don't deserve to keep you.
04
Straight answers.
If Google Ads isn't right for your trade, I'll tell you. If Meta's the better bet, I'll say. If your idea is going to waste your budget, I'll push back. You're paying for an opinion, not a yes-man.
Ready to grow
Let's get your phone ringing.
Book a free strategy call and find out exactly how I'd get your trade business more leads.