At $4,000 to $5,000 of monthly spend, management fees from small independent operators commonly land somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 a month, with a separate one-time setup fee of roughly $1,500 to $3,000 covering account build, conversion tracking, and the landing page. Those aren't rules, they're the range clients will recognize as normal. Charging well under it invites a client who treats you as disposable.
Setup should be separate, because the first month is where most of the work sits. You're building the account structure, writing ad groups, installing conversion tracking, provisioning call tracking numbers, and building a page. If you fold that into month one's retainer you'll do 40 hours for $1,500 and resent it by week three.
Before money changes hands, get three things in place. A written agreement that says who owns the ad accounts, the landing pages, and the lead data, and what happens on exit. A separate business bank account, because running a client's $5,000 through your personal card is how bookkeeping goes wrong. And a decision on whether the client pays Google directly. Direct billing on their card is cleaner for you and means their card, not yours, carries a $5,000 monthly balance.
Insurance is real, not a sales pitch. Agencies typically carry general liability plus professional liability, often called errors and omissions, which responds when your work causes a client a financial loss. Premiums for a solo shop are often in the low four figures a year. Some clients won't sign without a certificate. An agent who writes for marketing firms can tell you what applies in your state.
