What contractor leads actually cost in 2026
Real per-lead price ranges by trade and channel, plus how to work out what a lead is worth to your business before you buy any.
Contractor leads typically cost $15–$250 each depending on trade and channel. Shared marketplace leads run $25–$75, Google Local Services Ads $30–$90, and exclusive pay-per-lead $50–$150, with solar and full remodels reaching $250. What a lead is worth to you is close rate × profit per job — if you close 10% and each job nets $2,500, a lead is worth about $250 to you, and anything below that is profitable.
Price by channel
Shared marketplaces — $25–$75. Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, Networx. Same homeowner sold to four or five contractors. Cheapest per lead, lowest contact and close rates.
Google Local Services Ads — $30–$90. Pay per lead, verified badge, top-of-page placement. Requires license and background verification. Consistently decent quality.
Exclusive pay-per-lead — $50–$150. One contractor per lead, often territory-restricted. Higher price, no bidding war.
Aged leads — $2–$15. Weeks or months old, resold repeatedly. Occasionally worth it at volume with a dialer. Usually not.
Live transfers — $80–$300. Prospect is connected to you on the phone, already pre-qualified. Highest price, highest conversion.
Your own ads — highly variable. $40–$200+ per lead. Best long-term economics, real learning curve, and expensive while you learn.
How to work out what a lead is worth to you
Three numbers:
- Close rate — of leads from this source, what fraction become signed jobs?
- Average job value — what does a signed job bring in?
- Profit margin — what do you keep?
Then: `lead value = close rate × job value × margin`
A roofer closing 10% of leads, averaging $12,000 per job at 25% margin: `0.10 × 12,000 × 0.25 = $300` per lead. Paying $90 for exclusive leads is comfortably profitable. Paying $250 for live transfers still works if they convert better.
A painter closing 15%, averaging $3,000 at 30%: `0.15 × 3,000 × 0.30 = $135` per lead. A $75 shared lead is fine; a $150 exclusive lead is marginal unless it converts far better.
Do this before you talk to any vendor. It converts a sales conversation into an arithmetic one.
What makes prices move
Market. Los Angeles and Dallas cost multiples of what a rural market does. Same lead, same vendor.
Season. HVAC leads in July, gutters in autumn, roofing after storms. Demand spikes drag prices with them.
Exclusivity. One buyer versus five is most of the price difference between channels.
Freshness. A real-time lead and a two-week-old lead are different products, and should be priced as such.
Qualification. Leads screened by budget, timeline, or homeowner status cost more and waste less of your time.
Questions worth asking any lead vendor
- Is this lead exclusive, or sold to multiple contractors?
- How many contractors do you sell to in my territory?
- How was the lead generated? (Their own ads, a partner network, or bought data?)
- Is there consent documentation — TrustedForm, Jornaya, or a recording?
- What's the replacement policy for wrong numbers and out-of-area leads?
- Is there a contract, or can I stop at any time?
A vendor who won't answer the first two clearly is selling shared leads and hoping you won't ask.
Common questions
How much should I pay for contractor leads?
No more than your close rate multiplied by profit per job. If you close 10% of leads and each job nets $2,500 profit, a lead is worth about $250 to you — paying under that is profitable. This single calculation matters more than any published price range, because it's specific to your business.
Why are exclusive leads more expensive than shared leads?
Because the vendor can only sell them once. A shared lead sold to five contractors earns the vendor five times as much, which is why it can be priced lower. You pay the difference in competition instead — lower contact rates, price-shopped conversations, and estimator time spent on jobs already sold.
Are cheap contractor leads worth it?
Sometimes, at volume, with a fast dialer and a thick skin. Aged leads at $2–$15 can work if you're calling hundreds and your process is efficient. For most small contractors the labor cost of working bad leads exceeds the savings, and the same money spent on fewer, better leads produces more signed jobs.