Cost per lead calculator for renovation, custom home and pool builders
Everyone wants to sell you leads. Nobody asks what your last one cost.
You get the calls every week — more traffic, more leads, page one of Google. None of them ask how your work actually comes in, what it costs you, or which jobs are worth having.
So start there. Eleven questions about your enquiries, your spend and your quoting. Some you will know straight away. The ones you can’t answer are the point.
What kind of work do you do?
About four minutes · No email needed · Nothing is saved unless you send it to us
Where the work comes from
Word of mouth, ads, lead sites — and what a job is worth.
What it costs
Your ad spend against the enquiries it actually brings in.
What comes in
How many are worth quoting, and how many quotes go ahead.
Before the phone rings
Whether your website sorts the jobs before you do.
How to work out your cost per lead
Cost per lead (CPL) is what you spent to get enquiries, divided by how many enquiries it brought in. For a builder it is a starting point, not an answer — because an enquiry is not a job.
Follow the money all the way through, in three steps:
- Cost per enquiry — your monthly ad spend, divided by the enquiries those ads brought in.
- Cost per enquiry worth quoting — that, divided by the share of enquiries that are the right job, the right budget, somewhere you work.
- Cost per job won — that, divided by the share of your quotes that go ahead.
The check above does this for you from eleven questions, and works out the hours a year that go on quotes that do not go ahead — the cost that never shows up on an invoice.
Why cost per job won matters more than cost per lead
A cheap lead that rarely turns into a job can cost you more than an expensive one that often does. That is the trap with lead sites: the price of each lead looks low, but the same homeowner is usually sold to several builders, so you are paying to enter a price comparison. There is more on that in shared leads for renovation builders: paying to compete.
The other half is time. A site visit, a measure-up and a quote are hours of skilled work, and every quote that does not go ahead is hours you do not get back. Sorting enquiries before the phone rings — asking for the project, the budget, the suburb and the timing on the website — is usually worth more than buying more of them.
Eleven numbers your marketing should report every month
If someone runs your marketing, these are the numbers to ask for. A report made of impressions and clicks can look busy while saying nothing about whether the money worked.
- What you spent on ads this month
- How many enquiries those ads brought in
- Where every other enquiry came from — referrals, Google, lead sites, social
- What each enquiry cost
- How many enquiries were worth quoting (you tell them; they track it)
- What each enquiry worth quoting cost
- Which searches brought those enquiries
- Which pages people enquired from
- How many enquiries came from Google without paying for the click
- What each job won cost (you tell them which went ahead)
- What is changing next month because of these numbers
Two of them need you: only you know which enquiries were worth quoting and which jobs went ahead. A good report makes it easy to tell them.
For renovation, custom home and pool builders
Renovation builders
The question is whether the leads are the jobs you want — a whole floor, not just a bathroom. Cost per job won shows whether your marketing brings in that work, not just more calls. Marketing for renovation builders
Custom home builders
Plenty of enquiries arrive with no land, no finance and no plan. How many are worth quoting is the number that tells you whether your website is sorting them or you are. Marketing for custom home builders
Pool builders
“How much for a pool?” comes from everyone, and everyone asks at once when the weather warms up. The hours spent on quotes that do not go ahead are where a pool builder’s cost per lead hides. Marketing for pool builders
Questions builders ask about cost per lead
What is a good cost per lead for a builder?
There is no honest single number. A lead is worth what it turns into: the same cost per lead is cheap for a builder who wins one quote in three on $300,000 jobs, and expensive for one who wins one in ten on bathrooms. Published averages mix trades, countries and kinds of lead, which is why this check works the figure out from your own answers instead of quoting one.
What is the difference between cost per lead and cost per job won?
Cost per lead is what you spend to get one enquiry. Cost per job won follows that money through to a job that goes ahead: it divides by how many enquiries are worth quoting and how many quotes you win. It is the number that tells you whether your marketing pays.
Are leads from lead sites cheaper?
Often cheaper per lead, because the same homeowner is usually sold to several builders at once. That also means fewer of them turn into your jobs, so compare a lead site on cost per job won, not on the price of the lead.
Do I need to run Google Ads to use the check?
No. Without ads it works out how many enquiries and quotes it takes you to win a job, and how many hours a year go on quotes that do not go ahead.
Is anything I enter saved?
No. Your answers are worked out in your browser and are not sent to us when you finish. We only see them if you choose to send them with an enquiry.
Does it work for landscapers and building designers?
Yes. Pick your trade at the start and the questions change to suit — a building designer is asked about fee proposals and design fees rather than quotes and build prices.
Would you rather just talk it through?
The check is only the questions we would ask on a first call. You can skip it and ask us instead.
Not sure where you stand? Take the 2-minute website check