What’s a fair multifamily PPC management fee?
Most operators cannot answer this because most agencies will not publish a number. Here are the structures, the rate cards that are public, and the terms that cost more than the rate does.
The four ways the fee gets structured
- Percentage of managed spend. The most common model. The fee rises and falls with the budget, which tracks the work fairly well: thirty communities take more daily attention than three. The risk is the incentive to keep spend high.
- Flat monthly fee. Predictable, easy to budget, and fair when spend is stable. It drifts out of line as soon as the portfolio grows or shrinks, so it needs a review date.
- Per property. Common for the non-ad parts of the work: dashboards, Business Profile management, site health. It scales with the portfolio rather than the budget, which is the right driver for that work.
- Hybrid. A percentage on ad management plus a flat per-property fee for reporting and visibility work. This is how we price, because the two kinds of work scale on different things.
What the published rate cards say
Only a few firms in this category publish pricing, which makes comparison harder than it should be. Two that do, as of September 2026:
| Published rate | Paid search | Performance Max | Portfolio rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Largest platform in the category | 25% + $250/mo | 35% | Not published |
| Jamesday Digital | 18% | 18% | 16% at 20+ communities or $50K+/mo |
Swipe sideways to see the full table →
Platform figures are from its published structure as of September 2026. Jamesday figures are on our pricing page.
The math at two budgets
Rates only mean something next to a budget. Here is the monthly management fee at two portfolio sizes, before any per-property services.
| Monthly ad spend | 18% (16% at scale) | 25% + $250/mo | 35% |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $1,800 | $2,750 | $3,500 |
| $50,000 | $8,000 at the 16% portfolio rate | $12,750 | $17,500 |
Swipe sideways to see the full table →
The gap at $50,000 a month is $4,750 to $9,500 every month, which is a community’s entire ad budget. The rate is not the whole story, but it is not a rounding error either.
The terms that cost more than the rate
- Who owns the ad account. If campaigns live in the agency’s account, leaving means starting over: conversion history, audiences, and quality scores stay behind. Insist on accounts in your name, under your billing, with the agency as a manager.
- Contract length. A twelve-month term with a percentage fee removes the one thing that keeps a percentage honest. Month-to-month is the fair pairing.
- What the percentage is charged on. Managed media only, or media plus platform fees, plus ILS subscriptions, plus creative? Get the base defined in writing.
- Setup fees and minimums. A setup fee is a charge for work the percentage is supposed to cover. A high monthly minimum turns a percentage into a flat fee for smaller communities.
- What counts as a conversion. If the report counts page views or every form fill as a lead, the fee is being justified by a number that does not pay rent.
Questions to ask before you sign
- What is the fee, exactly, and what is it charged on?
- Whose name is on the ad accounts, and what happens to them if we leave?
- What is the term? What does cancelling take?
- What counts as a conversion in your reports, and can I see it in my own account?
- When did you last tell a client to spend less?
Questions about management fees
Is a percentage of spend a conflict of interest?+
It can be, if the contract locks you in and nobody ever recommends spending less. It is not, if the engagement is month-to-month, the percentage is published, and the manager tells you when a community should cut its budget. Ask for an example of a budget they cut on their own initiative. If they cannot name one, the incentive is real.
Should a flat fee be cheaper than a percentage?+
A flat fee should land close to the percentage at your expected spend, then be reviewed on a schedule so neither side is stuck with a number that no longer fits. A flat fee far below the percentage usually means less attention; far above it usually means you are paying for predictability you did not ask for.
What should be included in the fee?+
Campaign build and ongoing optimization on every platform managed, conversion tracking that counts tours and applications rather than page views, reporting you can forward to ownership, and same-day changes when a special changes. Anything billed separately for those items is a fee on top of the fee.
30 minutes, your accounts, your properties.
Bring one community's ad account. We'll show you where spend is leaking and what we'd do in the first 30 days. You keep the findings either way.
The person on this call is the person in your ads account. Cameron Day, owner.