Not all links carry the same weight. A link from a relevant, trusted site in a natural editorial context is worth far more than a link from a low quality directory stuffed with outbound links. Links can be marked nofollow, sponsored or ugc, which tells search engines not to pass full credit, and paid link schemes violate Google's spam policies and can get a site penalized. What matters most is relevance plus genuine authority: the local news site, the supplier, the trade association, the chamber, the charity you actually sponsor.
Local service businesses have easier link sources than most people assume, and they are all offline relationships made visible. Supplier and manufacturer dealer pages, the local chamber, youth sports teams you sponsor, trade associations, local news coverage of a job, and partner businesses you refer to. Each is a real link from a relevant site. Skip anything sold in bulk packages. A handful of honest local links usually moves a contractor further than hundreds of junk ones, and it carries no risk of having to clean up later.
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