Whose calendar are you following?
National retailers start holiday advertising in October because they are competing for gift purchases decided weeks ahead, and they have the budgets to hold position through the most expensive auction of the year.
A local service business copying that schedule inherits the cost without the reason. Your customer is not planning a December gift — they are deciding whether to fix something before winter, or spending their holiday budget somewhere else entirely.
What actually happens to your costs
From roughly the first week of November through mid-December, auction prices in most consumer categories rise sharply — commonly two to three times normal. You are bidding against retail, brands, and in election years political spend, all with more money than you.
Paying triple for the same click is not a strategy. Recognizing when it happens is.
The three windows that are actually yours
Late September to late October: pre-winter urgency. Anything that must be done before the weather turns. This is your peak, and it sits just before the expensive period.
The week between Christmas and New Year: almost nobody is advertising, people are home, and planning-mode purchases get made. Cheap and underrated.
The first three weeks of January: the cheapest high-intent window of the year, and where the work you sold in December gets booked.
What to do in November and December anyway
Do not go dark — narrow. Cut broad prospecting, keep brand terms, keep retargeting, and lean hard on your own customer list where you pay nothing to be remembered.
Shift the budget you saved into late October and early January. Same annual spend, materially better cost per job.