Winning work, 29 October 2026
Cost per lead for trades: Google Ads vs Meta vs lead sites
Cost per lead is what you spend on a channel in a month divided by the enquiries it brings in. For example, a firm paying £1,200 to £1,800 for 60 leads a month is paying £20 to £30 a lead. The figure that decides whether a channel pays is cost per won job: cost per lead divided by the share of those leads you win.
How do you work out cost per lead?
Add up everything a channel costs you in a month and divide by the enquiries it brought in that month. Count everything: ad spend, the agency's management fee, the lead site's membership, and any software you only pay for because of that channel. Then go one step further and divide by your win rate, because a cheap lead you never win is the most expensive kind.
Your numbers, not a promise. Change any figure to match your firm.
The calculator starts with an example spend of £1,500 for 60 leads. The win rate and job value are examples too, so change them to yours.
What does a lead cost from each channel?
Each channel charges in a different way, which is why their headline numbers are hard to compare. There is no reliable published UK average cost per lead for trades, so treat any single figure you see online with care and measure your own.
| Channel | How you pay | What decides your cost per lead |
|---|---|---|
| Google Local Services Ads | Per valid lead (call, message, voicemail) | Your budget, trade, area and how you rank against other providers |
| Google search ads | Per click | Click price in your area, plus how many visitors your page turns into enquiries |
| Meta ads (Facebook, Instagram) | The ad budget you set | Your creative, targeting and how fast you answer the messages |
| Lead and directory sites | Monthly membership, often a fixed term | How many enquiries the site sends you in your area |
| Lead partners | A share of the job value | The share agreed; one firm told us its partner takes 50% |
| Agencies (SEO, social) | Monthly fee | Leads they bring that you can trace to them |
A few facts from the providers' own pages, as of October 2026:
- Google Local Services Ads in the UK cover many home-service trades, including plumbers, electricians, roofers, HVAC and carpenters. You pay for each valid lead. A missed call in business hours counts as a lead if the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds, messages and voicemails count, and repeat contact from the same number within 15 days isn't charged again. Google says lead credits for invalid leads aren't available to advertisers in EMEA, which includes the UK, so check your leads carefully.
- Checkatrade lists a free profile, an Approved plan at £30 a month and Growth plans from £59 a month on its join page, and its blog gives the basic plan as £30 plus VAT. Fixed plan memberships run for 12 months, and the basic plan doesn't include appearing in Checkatrade search results. Check the pricing page for your trade and area before you sign. There's more in are Checkatrade and lead sites worth it.
What 60 leads a month cost per won job
Cost per lead alone can make marketing look reasonable. Cost per won job can tell a different story.
Boiler and air con installer, 60 leads a month
Say a firm pays £1,200 to £1,800 a month for about 60 leads. We use the £1,500 midpoint; the win rate and job value are illustrative too.
| Monthly spendmidpoint of £1,200 to £1,800 | £1,500 |
| Leads a month | 60 |
| Cost per lead£1,500 ÷ 60 | £25 |
| Win rate1 in 5 | 20% |
| Jobs won a month60 × 20% | 12 |
| Cost per won job£1,500 ÷ 12 | £125 |
| Same leads, win rate falls to 1 in 10£1,500 ÷ 6 jobs | £250 |
Volume has its own cost: 50 enquiries can mean 50 quotes and 50 supplier emails. Leads cost time as well as money, so cost per won job should include the hours spent quoting the ones you lose.
Is a percentage-of-job partner cheaper than paying per lead?
Only on small jobs. A partner who takes a share of the job costs nothing when you lose, which feels safe, but the cost grows with every job you win. An emergency plumbing and drainage firm in Dundee told us its lead partner takes 50%. At that share, a £400 call-out pays £200 for the lead. Compare the same job at a £125 cost per won job and the per-lead channel is cheaper on anything above £250.
How do you track where leads come from?
Ask every new enquiry "how did you find us?" and write the answer down next to the date, the job and whether you won it. Use a separate phone number or WhatsApp link for each paid channel if you can. After three months you can work out cost per won job for each channel and stop paying for the ones that don't pay back. It helps if every enquiry lands in one place; see one inbox for enquiries.
Should you spend more or fix replies first?
Fix replies first. A lead you've paid for and answered the next day is the most expensive one you'll buy. Before you raise a budget, check your reply time, your quote turnaround and your follow-up on quotes that went quiet. If those are tight and the channel still costs more per won job than the job can carry, cut it and put the money into the cheapest source you have: reviews, referrals and a Google Business Profile.
Where Nexley fits
Nexley is the AI back office for UK trade firms: five AI assistants run your tenders, quotes, buying, scheduling and invoicing. It connects to the tools you already work in, you run it all from WhatsApp, and you approve everything. £799 a month.
For paid leads, Nexley replies to new enquiries in your words, asks your qualifying questions, and logs the source, the job and the outcome, so your cost per won job is there at the end of the month. You decide which leads to quote, and you approve every quote before it goes.
Common questions
What is a good cost per lead for a plumber in the UK?
There's no reliable public benchmark. Work backwards instead: decide what you can afford per won job (a slice of your margin on an average job), multiply by your win rate, and that's the most you can pay per lead.
Why are my Google Ads leads so expensive?
Usually because clicks aren't turning into enquiries, or enquiries aren't turning into jobs. Check the page the ad sends people to, the areas and hours you're showing in, and how fast you reply. Then compare cost per won job, not cost per click.
Are Meta ads good for trades?
They can be for visual, higher-value work such as kitchens, extensions and landscaping, where a photo sells the job. They need a fast reply to messages. Track them by cost per won job like any other channel.
Should I count referrals as free leads?
Count them as cheap, not free: you paid for them by doing good work, and a referral scheme may have a cost. They're usually your best-converting source, so track them too.
Sources
- Google Local Services Help: How leads work
- Google Local Services Help: Getting started with Local Services Ads, United Kingdom
- Google: Local Services Ads for UK businesses
- Checkatrade: Pricing
- Checkatrade: Is Checkatrade worth it?
Every rule, rate and date above was checked against these sources on the date shown at the top.
Topic: Winning work
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