Shared Lead Pricing Explained

Shared lead pricing is the amount a contractor pays for a homeowner inquiry that the seller may also provide to other contractors. In 2026, a published example runs from $10 to $49 per shared general-contractor lead, but the defensible budget must also include recurring fees, prepayments, overages, credits and exit costs.

Disclosure: theBuildd publishes this article and sells one-buyer residential contractor opt-ins, with optional dispatching on monthly plans. We rank our offer first for price legibility and one-buyer distribution, then apply the same written-terms test to every provider. We have not purchased or tested the competing services discussed here.

The caveat applies to us too. Get the distribution, territory and replacement promises into the order you accept. A public price page describes an offer; the signed document governs what your company buys.

The 2026 benchmark is a range, not an average

There is no verified national average shared lead pricing figure for US contractors. Large marketplaces vary prices by task, location, demand or an account setting. They do not publish a complete national transaction dataset from which an independent average can be reproduced.

Billy.com supplies the cleanest current public example. Its general-contractor page lists $10 to $49 per shared lead, sent to as many as four service providers. That is a vendor-published rate for one provider and category, not a market average.

Broader 2026 estimates are useful only when labelled. ROI Performance reports roughly $20 to $100 for shared home-improvement leads across selected trades. Its own methodology calls the figures planning estimates rather than formal-survey averages, quotes or promises.

Sources: Billy.com, “General Contractor Leads: Pricing,” billy.com/partners/general-contractors, checked August 20, 2026; ROI Performance, “The Real Cost of Contractor Leads in 2026,” roiperformance.agency/contractor-lead-pricing, checked August 20, 2026.

Pricing-method sources: Angi Help Center billing FAQ, March 5, 2026; Thumbtack Pro Community, “How to Set the Right Lead Budget,” April 9, 2026; Modernize Marketplace Solutions pricing page; all checked August 20, 2026.

Use the $10 to $49 example to challenge a quote, not to approve one. A roofing replacement request and a small repair contact do not carry the same job value, qualification work or demand. The provider’s price range also says nothing about the fees surrounding it.

The full price stack has seven layers

The sticker price is only the first layer. A contractor building a budget needs every unavoidable cash charge, every balance that can become unusable and the staff work caused by the channel. Keep optional software separate unless purchasing it is required to receive leads.

The membership fee and lead charge answer different questions. A membership may buy platform access or a discounted lead rate. It does not disappear merely because the invoice displays it on another line.

A prepayment is not always an expense on day one. If the balance remains usable, it is cash committed. If it expires or the terms make it nonrecoverable after cancellation, the unused amount becomes part of the acquisition cost or exit cost.

Published terms expose costs the headline range misses

Angi’s current documents show why the contract stack matters. Its April 2026 Pro Agreement allows payment through a subscription, per lead or a lead bundle. It says a subscription is an automatically renewing fixed-term commitment in which the pro prepays for leads and receives a discount.

The same agreement says an early-termination fee can apply when the onboarding contract includes one. It does not publish one universal dollar amount or percentage. The signed onboarding contract controls the existence and method of that fee.

Angi also says the Subscription Fee can rise by up to 10% at renewal. Its March 2026 billing guidance says annual-subscription automatic leads are billed monthly, while contractors without an annual subscription are billed weekly.

Source: Angi Pro Agreement, last updated April 23, 2026, sections II.4 and IV; angiads.pactsafe.io/versions/69ea6d277b5696271a549a02.pdf; checked August 20, 2026.

Budget controls need the same scrutiny. Angi’s billing FAQ says a pay-per-lead account with $480 already used against a $500 monthly target may still receive a $40 match, producing $520 of lead value. Manually selected Opportunities can be billed outside the monthly budget.

Source: Angi Help Center, “Billing: Frequently Asked Questions,” dated March 5, 2026; intercom.help/angi/en/articles/11024858-billing-frequently-asked-questions; checked August 20, 2026.

Credits are not cash savings until issued. Angi’s May 2026 guidance gives pay-per-lead pros 45 days to request review of listed defects and says issued credits expire after six months. Annual-subscription leads and Opportunities are not eligible under that page.

Source: Angi Help Center, “How to Request a Lead Credit,” dated May 5, 2026; intercom.help/angi/en/articles/11403440-how-to-request-a-lead-credit; checked August 20, 2026.

Thumbtack illustrates a different stack. Its published partner page says there are no subscription fees. Its official Pro Community guidance says contractors control spend with an exact maximum lead price and a weekly budget, while pricing varies across categories and markets.

Modernize publishes another variation. Its pricing page describes dynamic “Right Pricing,” with the contractor setting the maximum ceiling. The page does not publish one national dollar range, membership amount, deposit or exit schedule, so those cells remain account-specific until a written offer fills them.

Sources: Thumbtack and Hatch partner page, info.thumbtack.com/hatch; Thumbtack Pro Community budget guidance, April 9, 2026; Modernize pricing, modernize.com/pros/marketplace-solutions/pricing; checked August 20, 2026.

That is the honest shared lead pricing benchmark: one public price example, several public pricing mechanisms and a set of amounts that only an account-specific order can establish. “Not published” is a finding. It is not permission to substitute a third-party guess.

How to calculate shared lead pricing

Calculate shared lead pricing by adding billed lead charges, required recurring fees, nonrecoverable prepaid balances, applicable exit charges and directly attributable sales labor for one cohort. Divide the total by reached homeowners, held estimates and signed jobs separately. Label assumptions, keep one attribution window and replace estimates with invoice data.

Use this formula for a completed measurement period:

Total shared-lead cost = billed lead charges + required fees + nonrecoverable prepayments + exit charges + attributable sales labor

Then calculate three different unit costs:

Cost per reached homeowner = total shared-lead cost ÷ reached homeowners

Cost per held estimate = total shared-lead cost ÷ held estimates

Cost per signed job = total shared-lead cost ÷ signed jobs

Here is illustrative math, not an industry benchmark. Assume 20 billed leads at $30 each, a $100 required period fee, no lost prepayment, no exit charge and no labor allocation. Total cash cost is $700. If 12 homeowners are reached and two jobs are signed, cost is $58.33 per reached homeowner and $350 per signed job.

Illustrative calculation: (20 × $30) + $100 = $700; $700 ÷ 12 = $58.33; $700 ÷ 2 = $350. Inputs are labelled assumptions, not market facts or theBuildd-specific results.

The example omits labor to keep the calculation visible. Your operating sheet should not. If an estimator drives to appointments from one source, assign those hours using the company’s loaded rate and apply the same rule to every channel compared.

Work backwards from a job, not forwards from a budget. The wider contractor lead-cost framework explains how per-lead, flat-rate and advertising models move risk. Your own records decide whether the resulting acquisition cost is affordable.

Five questions make quotes comparable

Before accepting a shared-lead offer, ask for a one-page written price schedule. Sales language can describe the product, but only the schedule can establish the amount your company is authorizing.

1. What triggers a charge? Delivery, homeowner contact, mutual interest, a live call and a booked appointment are different billing events.
2. How many pros can receive the same request? Ask for the maximum, including affiliates and related platforms.
3. Which amounts sit outside the budget? Identify optional opportunities, premium lead types, taxes, platform access and overage rules.
4. What money survives cancellation? Separate usable credits, expiring credits, prepaid bundles and fees that remain due.
5. What controls the exit? Record the term, renewal date, notice method, early-exit formula and contract clause.

Ask for the number, not the adjective. “Low-cost leads” cannot be entered into a budget. A task-and-ZIP price, maximum recipient count, billing trigger and exit formula can.

Use the exclusive-versus-shared lead guide to test the recipient language. Exclusivity does not prove qualification or profitability, but a shared label tells you to budget for a sales contest that the provider created.

The residential trades directory is another guard against false averages. A useful quote names the project category inside the trade. “HVAC lead” is still too broad if it combines a service call with a full-system replacement.

Shared and exclusive prices need the same denominator

A lower price per contact does not establish a lower acquisition cost. Shared and exclusive offers must be tracked through the same stages, using the same definitions for accepted lead, reached homeowner, held estimate and signed job.

Shared distribution creates a condition exclusive distribution removes: the seller may give the same opportunity to another contractor. That can increase response pressure. It does not prove that every shared lead is poor, and exclusivity does not promise that a homeowner will answer or buy.

Compare each source on actual invoices and outcomes. Do not import a reported close rate into your forecast and present it as expected performance. Industry figures are not theBuildd-specific results, and neither model guarantees lead volume, close rate, revenue or return.

Published contractor case studies can show what happened in named markets. They are evidence of those cases, not multipliers for your budget. Your trade, territory, pricing, capacity and follow-up determine what happens next.

theBuildd changes the billing unit

theBuildd does not sell shared leads or run per-lead bidding. Each accepted residential opt-in goes to one buyer through theBuildd under an agreed trade and ZIP territory. Base plans leave qualification and booking with the contractor.

Current pricing, checked 23 September 2026, lists a $300 trial for 4-7 opt-ins, an $800 weekly option and monthly tiers of $3,000, $6,000, $9,000 and $12,000. Optional dispatching is available only on monthly plans and adds $500, $1,000, $1,500 or $2,000 to the matching tier.

Bad leads are replaced rather than refunded under applicable terms. Exact public eligibility is unavailable. No plan promises successful contact, booking, attendance, project mix, volume or sold work.

One-buyer delivery does not stop independent homeowner shopping or prove that a contact is new to the contractor’s CRM. Define duplicates, existing customers and repeat requests with the duplicate-lead checklist before comparing net price.

The honest caveat is fit. A flat plan can cost more per signed job during a slow period, and dispatching changes the handoff without guaranteeing an appointment. Get the trade, ZIPs, qualification owner, recipient rule and replacement terms into the order.

Build the budget from signed jobs

Start with the outcome your business can verify. Pull one period of invoices, add every required cost layer and preserve each lead through contact, estimate and signed job. Then compare that acquisition cost with gross profit and sales capacity.

The invoice will never tell you that. It records what the platform charged, not the time your office spent, the estimates your team ran or the work your company won. Those facts live in your own operating records.

Do not defend a budget with an unsupported national average. Defend it with a sourced price range, signed fee terms, an explicit exit exposure and your observed cost per signed job. Unknown cells stay unknown until the provider fills them in writing.