How much does a tradie lead cost?

It varies a lot by trade, job size and area, so the sticker price per lead is not the number that matters. What matters is cost per job you actually win, because the same lead is sold to several tradies and you only win some of them.

Are paid leads worth it for tradies?

They can be when you are quiet and need work this week. The trap is that they bill you whether you win or not, and the work stops the day you stop paying. They are a tap to turn on and off, not a pipeline you own.

What is the cheapest way to get tradie leads?

Leads you own: your past customers, then a review-rich Google profile and your own website. They do not charge you per lead and they do not get sold to four other blokes at the same time.

How much do tradie leads really cost? (the maths nobody shows you)

Updated 22 Jun 20262 min readAll trades

Lead platforms quote you a tidy price per lead. That number is not what a job actually costs you, and the gap is where the money quietly leaks. Here is the real maths.

The real number is cost per job, not cost per lead

You pay per lead. But the same lead is sold to several tradies, so you do not win all of them. Say a lead costs you $30 and you win one in four (you are racing three other blokes each time). That is not a $30 job, it is $120 in lead fees for the one you won. A lead that looks cheap on the sticker can be dear once you do that sum.

Work out your own number: take what you pay per lead, and multiply by how many leads it takes you to win one. That is your true cost per job. It is almost always higher than people expect.

What the platform price does not count

The hours quoting jobs you never win.
Racing to reply first, every time, or losing.
Competing on price, which trims the margin on the jobs you do win.

Compare it to leads you own

A review-rich Google presence and your own website bring in leads that are yours. They do not go to four other tradies, they do not bill you per lead, and they compound: the work you put in keeps paying off month after month. The cost is mostly upfront plus a bit of upkeep, not a fee every time the phone rings.

The honest version

Do not bin the platforms overnight, especially if you need work this week. But every dollar you can shift from renting leads to owning your pipeline lowers your cost per job over time. We went deeper on that in is hipages worth it and hipages alternatives for tradies.

The cheapest lead you will ever get is the one already ringing your own number, and the most expensive is the one that rings out. BizEdge does one job: every call you cannot pick up gets a text back in seconds with your name and your business, and the caller's number lands on your phone. It is $49 a month plus GST, month to month, and the billing only starts once it has caught your first missed call. Setup is one code on your phone, and it works on Telstra, Optus and Vodafone. That is less than a single platform lead, and the caller was yours to start with.

// common questions

Common questions

How much does a tradie lead cost?: It varies a lot by trade, job size and area, so the sticker price per lead is not the number that matters. What matters is cost per job you actually win, because the same lead is sold to several tradies and you only win some of them.
Are paid leads worth it for tradies?: They can be when you are quiet and need work this week. The trap is that they bill you whether you win or not, and the work stops the day you stop paying. They are a tap to turn on and off, not a pipeline you own.
What is the cheapest way to get tradie leads?: Leads you own: your past customers, then a review-rich Google profile and your own website. They do not charge you per lead and they do not get sold to four other blokes at the same time.