A planning tool for home service businesses

Contractor lead cost calculator

Use your own job economics and conversion rate to estimate your break-even cost per lead and a lower ceiling that leaves room for the amount you want to keep per job.

Use job revenue minus direct costs such as labor, materials, and subcontractors, before lead costs.

Use every lead you pay for in the denominator, including people you never reach.

How the calculation works

Multiply the average contribution per job by the share of leads that become paying jobs. That gives the break-even cost per lead before overhead and other costs. To calculate a lower ceiling, subtract the amount you want to keep from the job contribution before multiplying.

Example: If a job contributes $800 and 20% of leads turn into paying jobs, the break-even cost is $160 per lead. To keep $300 per completed job after lead costs, the ceiling is $100 per lead.

Comparing providers? See our guide to shared and exclusive contractor leads.

Calculate your actual cost per estimate and job

Use one source and one group of inquiries. Count the estimates and jobs those same inquiries produced, including outcomes that came in after you paid for the leads.

Example: Spend $600 to book six estimates and win three jobs, and you spend $100 per booked estimate and $200 per won job.

Use numbers from the same type of work

Run separate estimates for services with different margins or conversion rates, such as emergency repairs and planned replacements. Revisit the estimate as more jobs close. If you have limited data, compare a few plausible conversion rates before setting a budget.

See our lead qualification checklist or learn how Lead Flow Partners builds contractor lead pipelines.