Average cost per lead by trade in 2026: roofing, HVAC, plumbing, remodeling and more
Commonly reported cost-per-lead ranges for home-services trades in 2026: roofing $40 to $150 on Meta and $150 to $400 on Google Local Services Ads; HVAC $50 to $200 on Google Search; plumbing $40 to $175; electrical $40 to $175; remodeling $60 to $250 for kitchen and bath; concrete and excavating $40 to $175; landscaping $30 to $120. The ranges are wide because market, season, offer and follow-up speed move the number more than the platform does.
By Marco Savone, co-founder of Scusa Media. Sold and marketed for a Metro Detroit exterior remodeler before starting the agency.The ranges, by trade
Roofing: $40 to $150 per lead on Meta, $150 to $400 on Local Services Ads, $100 to $300 on Google Search. Storm season pushes volume up and cost down for a few weeks, then the reverse.
HVAC: $50 to $200 on Google Search, $30 to $120 on Meta. Peak heat and first freeze are the cheapest weeks per lead and the most expensive per click.
Plumbing: $40 to $175 on Google Search, $25 to $100 on Meta. Emergency searches cost more per click and close faster.
Electrical: $40 to $175 on Google Search, $25 to $100 on Meta. Panel, generator and EV charger leads cost more and are worth more.
Remodeling (kitchen and bath): $60 to $250. Long sales cycle, so nurture matters more than the lead price.
Concrete and excavating: $40 to $175 for residential work. Commercial and builder work comes from search visibility and relationships, not paid leads.
Landscaping and hardscape: $30 to $120 for maintenance and installs; hardscape project leads run higher and are worth ten times more.
Why the ranges are wide
Market density. A metro with thirty roofers bidding on the same search term costs more than a county with three.
Offer. 'Free estimate' is table stakes. Financing, a fixed-price starter service or a same-day promise lowers cost per lead because more people act.
Follow-up. Two companies can buy identical leads at identical prices; the one that answers in two minutes books twice as many. Cost per lead is a vanity number without cost per booked job next to it.
Tracking. Half the accounts we audit cannot tell which campaign produced the jobs that closed. Without conversion tracking into the CRM, the 'average' is a guess.
The number that actually matters
Cost per booked job. Take a channel's spend, divide by jobs signed from it, compare to the gross profit of a job. A $300 Local Services lead that signs 30 percent of the time is a $1,000 job cost; on a $12,000 roof that is cheap. A $40 Meta lead that signs 3 percent of the time is a $1,333 job cost and needs work.
We report cost per lead and cost per booked job for every client every month. That is the whole point of connecting ads, the CRM and the site into one system.
How we built these ranges
Publicly reported platform benchmarks for home-services categories, cross-checked against what we see managing paid accounts for contractors. They are ranges, not promises, and they will drift as auction prices change. We update this page when they do.
Questions people ask next
Is a $100 lead expensive?
Depends on the job. On a $400 drain cleaning, yes. On a $15,000 roof, no. Price leads against gross profit per job, not against each other.
Which platform has the cheapest leads for contractors?
Meta usually has the cheapest lead and the lowest close rate. Local Services Ads has the most expensive lead and the highest close rate. Google Search sits between. Most contractors need two of the three.
How do I find my own cost per lead?
Run our free website and SEO audit for the site side, then look at each ad platform's spend divided by leads that reached your CRM, not leads the platform claims.
Related: Roofing marketing · HVAC marketing · Plumbing marketing · Electrical marketing · Remodeling marketing · Concrete marketing · Excavating and site work marketing · Landscaping and hardscape marketing
Proof from clients
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