Lead generation for contractors comes down to one comparison: what a source cost against the completed, paid jobs it produced. Lead counts don't settle it, because a lead can be a wrong number, a price shopper or a homeowner who already booked someone else. This hub covers the two ways to get leads (buy them or earn them), the one ledger that compares every source fairly, and the office habits that decide what a lead is worth once it lands.
Buy, earn, or both
| Bought leads | Earned leads | |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | Marketplaces like Angi, Google Local Services Ads, pay-per-lead sellers, paid clicks | Search and Google Business Profile, reviews, referrals, your own customer list |
| How fast they start | Days | Months |
| What happens when you stop paying | They stop | They keep coming, then fade slowly |
| Shared with competitors? | Often, on marketplaces | No |
| Who controls volume | You, through budget | Mostly your reputation and your records |
| Main risk | Paying for leads your office can't book | Waiting too long for results |
Pricing models differ too. Google charges Local Services advertisers per lead, including messages and booking requests, and reassesses charged leads over 30 days.1 Angi charges per matched lead, with fees that vary by job size, and connects each customer with multiple pros.2 On Angi, a new lead can push you past your monthly budget if its fee is more than what's left.3 None of these publishes a fixed price list, so your own billing is the number to use.
When to lean on which side depends on your schedule and your trade. A shop that's booked out three weeks ahead in July gains little from more paid leads that month, and a lot from asking happy customers for reviews and referrals. A new shop with an empty board has the opposite problem: earned leads won't arrive fast enough, so a tightly targeted paid source buys time. Trades with long sales cycles, like roofing and HVAC replacement, need patience with any source, because the signed contract can come two months after the lead. Whatever the mix, a bought lead brings one extra duty: ask the seller what the homeowner agreed to on their form before your office texts them.
One ledger for every source
Every source, bought or earned, goes on the same five-column ledger each month. The columns come from your job records, not from the platforms.
| Source | Spend | Leads | Booked | Completed | Collected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One row per source, per month | From billing | Spam and duplicates removed | Jobs that kept the source's campaign | Finished and invoiced | Paid |
Cost per completed job, by source
Metric
Booked rate by source
How many leads from a source became booked jobs.
booked jobs ÷ leads, per source, per month
Where the numbers come from: Leads tagged with a campaign at arrival, and the jobs that kept it.
Metric
Median speed to lead by source
How long leads from each source waited for a real first response.
median of (first real response time − lead created time), per source
Where the numbers come from: Lead timestamps and the first connected call or booking-ready text.
Two rules keep the ledger honest. First, a source with no completed jobs yet shows a blank, not a zero; for replacement work and roofing, results can arrive 60 days after the lead. Second, earned sources have spend too: agency fees, review tools, referral rewards and staff time. Put them in, or earned sources will always look free.
TradesWork doesn't buy leads or run ads. Many shops use an agency or TradesForce for that, and the ledger works the same way whoever runs the campaigns.
The office decides what a lead is worth
The same lead can be worth a booked job or nothing, depending on what happens in the next ten minutes.
What every lead needs, from any source
- Lands in one inbox with a visible timer
- Gets a real first response in minutes during staffed hours
- Is offered a specific arrival window on first contact
- Is marked booked or lost with a reason
- Keeps its source on the job, the estimate and the invoice
- Gets texted only with the right consent
Our speed to lead guide shows how to time calls, forms and marketplace leads separately. For nights and weekends, compare an HVAC answering service, an AI receptionist and in-house coverage by cost per booked job; the TradesWork AI receptionist is in early access, so confirm it's switched on for your account before you rely on it. A missed call text back covers the calls nobody could pick up.
Free download · ExcelField Service KPI ScorecardTrack the 12 numbers that run a service business, week by week, with formulas already built in.Guides in this channel
- Angi leads for contractors: how Angi bills and credits, and how to find your break-even lead fee.
- HVAC lead generation: why repair and replacement leads need different scorecards.
- Roofing lead generation: the inspection-to-contract funnel, shared leads and storm leads.
Paying Google per lead? Our Local Services Ads guides cover what happens after the lead lands. To roll every source into one acquisition number, see customer acquisition cost for contractors.
How TradesWork fits
In TradesWork, the lead inbox brings leads from Angi, Thumbtack, Yelp, Google Local Services, your website form and forwarded lead emails into one list, de-duplicated and tied to a campaign that the booked job keeps. One-click connections to Thumbtack, Google Ads, Meta Lead Ads and Yelp aren't live yet; most of those sources arrive by forwarded email or webhook today. The revenue-by-channel report then fills the ledger above without a spreadsheet.
Footnotes
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How leads work, Local Services Help, Google, accessed October 15, 2026. ↩
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Service professional FAQ, Angi Leads (formerly HomeAdvisor Pro), accessed October 15, 2026. ↩
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Billing: Frequently Asked Questions, Angi Help Center, March 5, 2026. ↩