Contractor lead generation services and what they charge

Advertised prices, checked

Comparing services that charge on different bases

1. Convert every quote to cost per lead. A monthly retainer, a credit pack and a per-lead rate are three ways of describing the same spend. Divide by the leads you actually expect and the comparison becomes possible.
2. Then convert to cost per job. Divide again by your close rate. This is where cheap shared leads and expensive exclusive ones usually swap places, and it is the only figure worth taking to a decision.
3. Separate the service from the inventory. Some services sell you leads they generate; others manage your own advertising. The published gap between the two is smaller than most contractors expect: $50 to $120 self-generated against $80 to $150 bought exclusive.
4. Ask what you keep if you leave. A service that builds your own ad account and website leaves you with an asset. A service that sells you leads from its own funnel leaves you with nothing when you stop paying, which is fine if the price reflects it.

The four charging models

Rate card per lead: a published price by trade and tier, $80 to $225 for a fresh exclusive lead across the trades in this record. Bid marketplace: no published price at all because the contractor sets it, which one source states explicitly along with there being no subscription fees.

Pay per call: charged when a phone call connects rather than when a form is filled, priced higher per unit for the same reason. Aged list: $0.15 to $10 per record depending on age and volume, which is a list rather than a lead and should never be compared with the other three at face value.

Buying leads against managing your own advertising

One published source puts the cost of generating your own home improvement leads through paid media at $50 to $120, against $80 to $150 to buy them exclusive from a lead generation company, and is explicit that the lower figure assumes real competence with paid media.

That is a narrower gap than the usual sales pitch on either side implies. The premium is buying ad management, qualification and, on the better sources, some verification of consent to be called. Whether that is worth $30 to $60 a lead depends mostly on whether you have anybody who can run an ad account properly.

What the market will not tell you

Twelve of the seventeen sources checked for this record publish no price. Five of those serve pages that read perfectly well with no figure on them, and seven refused the read, returned nothing, or answered a bot challenge.

Those two are recorded separately everywhere on this site, because collapsing them would turn a fact about our fetch into a claim about a company's pricing. A contractor should treat the first group as a deliberate choice and the second as simply unknown.

Common questions

How much do contractor lead generation services cost?

Where published, $80 to $225 per fresh exclusive lead by trade, roughly half that shared, and $0.15 to $10 for aged records. Most sources publish nothing at all.

Is it cheaper to run my own ads?

On published figures, marginally: $50 to $120 self-generated against $80 to $150 bought exclusive, and the lower number assumes you are good at paid media. The difference buys ad management and qualification.

What is the difference between a lead service and an agency?

A lead service sells you contacts from its own funnel; an agency builds and runs yours. The first leaves you with nothing when you stop paying and the second leaves you an asset, which should be reflected in the price.

Do these services lock you into a contract?

Terms vary and none of the sources in this record publishes them. Ask for the minimum spend, the notice period and the credit policy in writing before the first invoice.

Prices by trade

• Roofing leads: what the sources that publish a price charge
• HVAC leads: what the sources that publish a price charge
• Solar leads: what the sources that publish a price charge
• Home Improvement leads: what the sources that publish a price charge
• Window leads: what the sources that publish a price charge
• Siding leads: what the sources that publish a price charge
• Kitchen leads: what the sources that publish a price charge
• Bathroom leads: what the sources that publish a price charge