PPC · Lead marketplaces
How each charges, how to work out cost per job won, how to win shared leads, and why you should build leads you own alongside them.
Measure cost per job, not per lead
Answer shared leads within minutes
Build leads you own alongside
Tell us what you need and we’ll get back to you. Or book a free 30-minute call. Or call 954-539-5678.
Angi and Thumbtack leads can be worth it for a contractor, as a supplement. They are useful when you are new to an area, have a gap in the schedule, or want to test a service before marketing it yourself. They are a poor foundation for a business, because you pay for leads that are often shared with other pros, you pay whether or not you win the job, and every customer you win that way found Angi or Thumbtack first, not you.
That last part is my real objection. A contractor who depends on rented leads is building someone else’s brand. The homeowner remembers the app. Next time, they open the app again and the lead goes to auction again.
Neither company publishes a simple price list for pros, so be careful with any figures you read, including these. These ranges come from Housecall Pro’s 2026 guides to each platform. They are contractor-reported estimates, not official rates, and Housecall Pro sells software to contractors, so treat them as a rough guide as of 2026:
Both let you set budgets and limits. Both change their models from time to time, so check your own account’s billing terms before you commit, and confirm any membership or renewal terms in writing.
The price per lead is the wrong number to look at. What matters is what you pay per job won, compared with the gross profit on that job.
An illustration, with made-up but plausible numbers: a roofing repair contractor buys 40 leads in a month at an average of $55, so $2,200. Many are shared, some never answer, and it wins 6 jobs. Its cost per job is $2,200 ÷ 6 = about $367. If a typical repair brings $1,200 of gross profit, that is a decent trade. If the jobs are $350 gutter cleanings with $150 of profit, it is a losing one, however cheap each lead looked.
Now change one thing. The same contractor starts calling every new lead within five minutes instead of after the morning’s jobs, and wins 9 out of 40 instead of 6. Cost per job drops to about $244. Nothing about the platform changed. The speed did.
Track this monthly in a simple sheet: leads bought, money spent, jobs won, gross profit from those jobs. Three months of that will tell you more than any platform review you can find online.
With a shared lead, you are in a race with the other pros who received it. A few habits decide most of those races:
Nobody needs to quit the platforms on Monday. The way out of dependence is to build leads you own while the platforms cover the gap. For most local contractors that means, in roughly this order: a complete and active Google Business Profile, a steady flow of Google reviews, a website with a page for each service you want more of, and, if the numbers work, Google’s Local Services Ads or search ads aimed at your area.
We have written about each of these: local SEO for contractors, how to get more Google reviews, and Local Services Ads versus Google Ads. Local Services Ads also charge per lead, to be fair, but the customer is contacting your business by name, so each call builds your own reputation.
A rule of thumb I like: if more than about a third of your new jobs come from marketplaces, start shifting effort toward channels you own. It is not a law of nature, just a level at which a change in the platform’s pricing starts to hurt your whole year.
If you would like help working out your own cost per job across channels, book a free 30-minute call. We will look at where your work comes from and tell you what we would change first. Book your free call.
To be honest, the platform matters less than your trade, your area and how fast you answer. Try one at a time, with a fixed monthly budget, for two or three months, and measure cost per job won. Keep the one that comes out ahead, and keep it in its place. Through our paid search service we help contractors build lead flow they own, so a marketplace ends up as one source of work among several.
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Often, yes. Angi commonly sends the same request to several pros, so you are competing with them for the job. Speed of response and a strong profile decide many of those races.
Generally yes. Thumbtack charges when you are matched with a lead or choose to contact a customer, not when you are hired. Check your own account terms, as the model changes from time to time.
It depends on your trade and area. Test one at a time with a fixed budget for two or three months and compare cost per job won against the gross profit per job.
Build owned channels while the platforms cover the gap: a complete Google Business Profile, regular reviews, a website with service pages, and local ads where the numbers work.
