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How to Judge Any Marketing Offer With One Number

Here's the trap. A salesperson shows you a low "cost per lead" and you sign up. But a lead is just a name. It is not money. Money is a booked job — somebody who actually let you in the door and paid you.So throw out every fancy word they use.

The only number that matters: cost per booked job

Here's the trap. A salesperson shows you a low "cost per lead" and you sign up. But a lead is just a name. It is not money. Money is a booked job — somebody who actually let you in the door and paid you.

So throw out every fancy word they use. The only math is this: total money you spent on a channel, divided by the number of real jobs it booked. That's your cost per booked job. Write it big on the truck dashboard. Everything else is noise.

The reason this one number makes you impossible to fleece: it can't be faked. A lead seller can pump up lead counts. They can't pump up your bank deposits.

The formula, in 4th-grade math

Two ways to get the number. Easy way: at month's end, take what you paid a channel and divide by how many jobs it actually produced. $1,000 spent, 4 jobs booked, that's $250 a job. Done.

Smarter way, before you spend a dime: use the channel's real cost per lead and its book rate. Google Local Service Ads in HVAC run $51 per lead and book 44% of them (SearchLight 2026). So 100 leads costs $5,100 and books 44 jobs. $5,100 ÷ 44 = about $116 a booked job. Plumbing: $57 per lead, 44.5% book (SearchLight 2026). Electrical: $39 per lead, 43.4% book (SearchLight 2026). That's the whole game.

Now compare against the average across the big lead networks: Google LSA lands around $168 per booked job, Thumbtack around $250, Angi/HomeAdvisor around $542, and owned SEO around $290–310 (2026 lead-network comparisons). Same job. Wildly different price.

Why the same job costs $168 or $542

Look at the spread. Google LSA leads are exclusive — yours alone. Thumbtack sells the same lead to 4–5 pros. Angi sells to 2–4 pros (2026). When you split a lead four ways, you win it maybe one in four times, so your cost per booked job multiplies even if the sticker price looked cheap.

That's the fleece. They quote you the cost to buy the lead, not the cost to win the job. Shared leads convert at just 6–10%, while a direct phone call converts up to 40% (2026). Same dollar buys a totally different outcome.

And watch the refunds. Angi/HomeAdvisor refunds 15–22% of leads as credits, and customer acquisition cost there can run up to $2,500 (2026). A "refund" isn't your money back — it's store credit to buy more of the same leads.

The hidden multiplier nobody prices in: your speed

Here's the information-gain piece a generic blog won't tell you: cost per booked job isn't fixed by the channel. You move it, with one habit. Speed.

78% of homeowners hire the FIRST contractor to respond (Lead Connect 2026). And calling a fresh lead within 5 minutes makes you 100x more likely to qualify it than waiting 30 minutes (MIT Sloan, reconfirmed 2026). So two plumbers can buy the identical $57 lead — the one who calls in 5 minutes books it, the one who calls after lunch paid $57 for nothing.

Flip side: home-service shops miss 14% of their calls (CallRail 2026). Every missed call is a booked job you already paid for, walking to the guy who picked up. Fix your phone before you buy one more lead.

Run the numbers on the channel you already own

Apply the same math to your own site. The average contractor website converts just 2–3% — about 98% of visitors leave without ever contacting you (WebFX 2026). If you're paying for clicks at a $6.59 average cost-per-click across home services (LocaliQ 2025) and only 2% turn into anything, your real cost per booked job is brutal.

But plumbing sites can convert 12–16% when built right, versus 3–7% for HVAC, roofing and remodel (WebFX 2026). The difference is usually proof and a working phone. 91% of people read local reviews and most won't even consider a business under 4 stars (BrightLocal 2025), and 88% favor businesses that respond to every review (CallRail 2026). Fixing that costs you near nothing and drops your cost per booked job on every channel at once.

How to use this in a sales call

When someone pitches you, ask three questions. One: how many other pros get this same lead? (LSA = just you; Thumbtack = 4–5; Angi = 2–4, per 2026 data.) Two: what's the book rate on these leads? Three: so what's my cost per actual booked job, not per lead?

If they dodge, dance, or only talk about "leads" and "impressions," that's your answer. The honest channels can do this math in front of you. The market is huge — US home services tops $524B a year (2026) — so you can afford to be picky. You're not buying leads. You're buying booked jobs, and now you know exactly what one should cost.

Frequently asked questions

What's a good cost per booked job?

It depends on your ticket size, but compare against the 2026 benchmarks: Google LSA averages about $168 per booked job, Thumbtack about $250, Angi/HomeAdvisor about $542, and owned SEO about $290–310 (2026 lead-network comparisons). The right number is one your average job size can comfortably cover with profit left over.

Why is 'cost per lead' a bad number to judge on?

Because a lead isn't money — a booked job is. Shared leads convert at only 6–10% versus up to 40% for a direct call (2026), so a cheap lead that's sold to 4–5 pros (like Thumbtack) can cost more per actual job than a pricier exclusive one. Always convert to cost per booked job.

Can I lower my cost per booked job without spending more?

Yes — call faster. 78% of homeowners hire the first contractor to respond (Lead Connect 2026), and a 5-minute callback makes you 100x more likely to qualify a lead than waiting 30 minutes (MIT Sloan, reconfirmed 2026). Stop missing the 14% of calls you currently drop (CallRail 2026) and your cost per booked job falls on its own.