Cost per lead
Campaign spend divided by raw inquiries. Useful for channel diagnostics, but not enough to judge lead quality or sales outcomes.
Free Contractor Tool
Contractor Lead Cost Calculator
Raw lead cost does not tell you whether marketing is working. Use your own campaign and sales numbers to estimate qualified-lead cost, booked-estimate cost, customer acquisition cost, revenue, gross profit, and break-even jobs.
Use your numbers
Calculate the whole lead funnel
The starting values are an illustrative sample, not industry benchmarks. Replace every field with numbers from the same reporting period.
Inputs
Live estimate
Your lead economics
Cost per lead
$50
Qualified leads
50
Cost per qualified lead
$100
Booked estimates
30
Cost per booked estimate
$167
Signed jobs
9
Customer acquisition cost
$556
Estimated revenue
$45,000
Estimated gross profit
$15,750
Return on ad spend
9×
Gross profit after spend
$10,750
Break-even signed jobs
2.86
Directional estimate only. Actual results depend on lead quality, response, capacity, sales execution, cancellations, job mix, and data accuracy.
Interpret the result
Read the funnel, not one number.
Lead cost becomes useful when it is connected to qualification, booking, closing, job value, and margin.
Cost per qualified lead
Spend divided by inquiries that match the service, geography, timing, and other qualification rules the contractor actually uses.
Cost per booked estimate
Spend divided by qualified opportunities that schedule the next meaningful sales step—a service call, in-home estimate, or virtual estimate depending on the trade.
Customer acquisition cost
Spend divided by signed jobs. This becomes credible only when signed outcomes are recorded consistently and connected back to the lead source.
Gross profit after spend
Estimated gross profit minus campaign spend. This is directional, not an accounting statement, and excludes overhead or costs outside the gross-margin input.
Transparent methodology
Every formula, in plain English.
Use the same reporting window for spend, leads, bookings, jobs, and revenue. Remove duplicates and spam. Define “qualified” before calculating the rate.
If the business cannot connect a source to booked jobs yet, use the missing result to identify the handoff that needs to be fixed—not to invent an assumption.
Build better tracking- 01
Cost per lead = spend ÷ leads - 02
Qualified leads = leads × qualified rate - 03
Cost per qualified lead = spend ÷ qualified leads - 04
Booked estimates = qualified leads × booking rate - 05
Cost per booked estimate = spend ÷ booked estimates - 06
Signed jobs = booked estimates × close rate - 07
Customer acquisition cost = spend ÷ signed jobs - 08
Estimated revenue = signed jobs × average job value - 09
Estimated gross profit = revenue × gross margin - 10
Return on ad spend = revenue ÷ spend - 11
Gross profit after campaign spend = gross profit − spend - 12
Break-even signed jobs = campaign spend ÷ gross profit per job
Questions, answered
Everything you need to know before we forge growth for your trade. Still curious? Request your free marketing audit and ask us anything.
Is cost per lead enough to judge contractor marketing?
No. A lower cost per lead can still produce poor economics if the inquiries are outside the service area, wrong for the job type, never booked, or rarely closed. Compare cost per lead with qualification, booking, close rate, job value, and gross margin.
What counts as a qualified lead?
A qualified lead matches the contractor's documented requirements, which may include service type, geography, timing, property fit, budget, or another operational constraint. The definition should be agreed before campaigns are evaluated.
What is a good contractor lead cost?
There is no universal number. A workable lead cost depends on qualification, booking rate, close rate, average job value, gross margin, capacity, and overhead. Use your own funnel and economics rather than a generic benchmark.
Does this calculator predict revenue?
No. It produces directional estimates from the values entered. Actual outcomes depend on lead quality, response, sales execution, seasonality, capacity, cancellations, job mix, and data accuracy.
What is ROAS?
Return on ad spend is estimated revenue divided by campaign spend. It does not account for gross margin, overhead, or operating costs, so it should be viewed alongside estimated gross profit and customer acquisition cost.
Can ServForge help set up this tracking?
Yes. ServForge can map calls and forms through qualification, booking, and signed outcomes using the contractor's approved tools and available data. Reporting depth depends on what the business records.
Build the system behind the numbers
Want the funnel behind the numbers fixed?
ServForge can audit the website, campaigns, lead routing, follow-up, and outcome reporting behind your results.