How do you calculate cost per booked job?

Cost per booked job is everything a contractor spent on leads in a period, divided by the number of jobs won from those leads. Spend includes the price of every lead, including the ones that never answered, plus any monthly or membership fee. For example, 20 leads at $60 with two jobs won is $1,200 divided by two, or $600 a job.

What is a good cost per lead for a contractor?

There is no single good cost per lead for a contractor, because it depends on job size and how many leads become jobs. For reference, LocaliQ puts the median cost per lead from search advertising at $90.92 across home services and $228.15 for roofing and gutters. A cheap lead that never becomes a job costs more than a dear one that does.

Why is cost per lead a misleading number?

Cost per lead is misleading because it counts what a contractor paid for a contact, not what it cost to win a job. A $30 lead looks cheap, but at a close rate of one lead in fifteen, each job cost $450. Cost per booked job puts every lead source on the same footing, whether it is a lead platform, an ad or a referral.

What share of a job should go on getting the lead?

The share of a job that can go on winning it depends on the margin in the job. A contractor can work out the limit by dividing cost per booked job by the average job size, then comparing that percentage with the profit left after labor, materials and overhead. If the lead cost takes most of the profit, the source is not paying.

Lead cost calculator: what a booked job really costs you

The lead cost calculator works out a contractor's cost per booked job: everything spent on leads in a month, divided by the jobs won from them. It works for Angi, Thumbtack, Google ads or any other paid source. Enter your own numbers below. Nothing is saved and there is no sign-up.

Last updated 8 October 2026

What it comes to
Total spent on leads	$1,200
Leads bought per job won	10
Share of the job spent winning it	Add a job size
Cost per booked job	$600

Total spent is leads times price, plus the fee. Cost per booked job is total spent divided by jobs won.

Why the price of a lead is the wrong number

A lead platform shows you a price per lead. That number is small and easy to say yes to. It leaves out every lead that never picked up.

Here's the thing. You do not sell leads.

You sell jobs. So the only cost that matters is what you spent to win one.

The math: 20 leads at $60 is $1,200. If two become jobs, each job cost $600 before you bought a single material.

Win one, and it cost $1,200. Those are example numbers, not averages.

How to use the result

Run it for each source on its own: one month of Angi, one month of Thumbtack, one month of ads. Count only the jobs that came from that source.

Then set the cost per booked job against your average job. If winning the job takes most of the profit in it, that source is costing you money, however cheap each lead looks.

Count your time too. An hour on the phone with leads who never book is an hour off a job site, and no lead company puts that on the invoice.

What a lead costs, for comparison

LocaliQ measured 3,211 search advertising campaigns run by US home services businesses from April 2024 to March 2025. The median cost per lead was $90.92 across home services, and $228.15 for roofing and gutters. See the figure for each trade.

Lead platforms do not publish one price. See what pros report on the Angi Leads and Thumbtack pages, or read how much Thumbtack charges per lead.

The source with no price per lead

A referral from a local business that already has your customer has no lead fee to enter above. A builder, a designer or a property manager gives out your name, and can do it again next month. Here is what a referral partner is.

It is not free. Building those relationships takes time, or a service that does it for you, and that cost belongs in the sum as well. The free blueprint shows how to do it yourself.

That is where we come in

Most contractors are too busy on jobs to build those relationships. So we do it for you: we find the local businesses that already have your customer, introduce you, and keep them in touch.

The aim is partners who send you work month after month, all year, with no fee per lead. See how our service works.

See if a place is open for your trade and metro

If your cost per booked job is higher than you thought, there is another way to get the work. Checking costs nothing.

Book your spot Get the free blueprint

Questions about lead costs

How do you calculate cost per booked job?

Cost per booked job is everything a contractor spent on leads in a period, divided by the number of jobs won from those leads. Spend includes the price of every lead, including the ones that never answered, plus any monthly or membership fee. For example, 20 leads at $60 with two jobs won is $1,200 divided by two, or $600 a job.
What is a good cost per lead for a contractor?

There is no single good cost per lead for a contractor, because it depends on job size and how many leads become jobs. For reference, LocaliQ puts the median cost per lead from search advertising at $90.92 across home services and $228.15 for roofing and gutters. A cheap lead that never becomes a job costs more than a dear one that does.
Why is cost per lead a misleading number?

Cost per lead is misleading because it counts what a contractor paid for a contact, not what it cost to win a job. A $30 lead looks cheap, but at a close rate of one lead in fifteen, each job cost $450. Cost per booked job puts every lead source on the same footing, whether it is a lead platform, an ad or a referral.
What share of a job should go on getting the lead?

The share of a job that can go on winning it depends on the margin in the job. A contractor can work out the limit by dividing cost per booked job by the average job size, then comparing that percentage with the profit left after labor, materials and overhead. If the lead cost takes most of the profit, the source is not paying.

Sources

LocaliQ, "2025 Search Ad Benchmarks for Home Services", read 8 October 2026. Median figures from 3,211 US search advertising campaigns that ran from April 2024 to March 2025.