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Contractor lead prices are easy to misread because the word “lead” can describe several different events. One quote may buy a shared contact record. Another may buy an exclusive homeowner opt-in, a connected call, a scheduled estimate or a complete monthly acquisition service. Their dollar amounts do not become comparable until the purchased event and the work left to your office are visible.
Start with the billing unit. Then measure each source through the same downstream stage in your own CRM.
Identify what the quoted price buys
| Pricing model | Common billable event | Work your team may still own |
|---|---|---|
| Shared lead | Contact sent to several contractors | Speed-to-contact, qualification, booking and sale |
| Exclusive lead or opt-in | Contact sent to one buyer by that provider | Qualification, booking and sale unless the order says otherwise |
| Pay per call | Call that meets a duration or intent rule | Live answer, qualification, scheduling and sale |
| Pay per appointment | Scheduled date and time that meets stated rules | Confirmation, attendance, estimate and sale |
| Flat weekly or monthly plan | Defined service for a fixed period | Whatever acquisition, calling and scheduling the scope excludes |
Ask what creates a charge, which filters apply, whether the same contact can go to another buyer, and what remedy follows an invalid record. For a call, request the duration and dispute rule. For an appointment, define whether a no-show is billable. For a flat plan, request the territory, trade, handoff and included services.
Provider exclusivity controls the provider’s distribution. It does not prevent a homeowner from independently asking another contractor for a quote.
Compare complete source cost
The invoice may omit costs required to make the source usable. Build a complete source-cost row for the measurement period:
source cost = provider fees + media + platform fees + dispatching + attributable intake labor
Do not add labor twice when a service already includes it. Keep setup charges visible and decide whether to assign them to the first period or spread them over an agreed test horizon.
Next, calculate several funnel stages rather than relying on cost per delivered name:
- Cost per accepted lead = complete source cost divided by accepted leads.
- Cost per reached homeowner = complete source cost divided by homeowners reached.
- Cost per held estimate = complete source cost divided by estimates that occurred.
- Cost per sold job = complete source cost divided by jobs attributed to the source.
If a stage has zero outcomes, its unit cost is undefined. Record the spend and zero result instead of dividing by an invented denominator. The cost per booked job guide provides a fuller scorecard for consistent attribution.
What changes contractor lead cost
Several factors can move a quote even when the provider uses the same pricing model.
- Purchased event. A form submission, connected call and held appointment require different amounts of provider work.
- Distribution. A provider can charge one buyer more than each buyer of a shared record because it cannot recover acquisition cost through multiple sales.
- Trade and project. Roofing replacement, drain cleaning and kitchen remodeling have different demand, filters and acquisition economics.
- Territory and season. Competition and homeowner activity vary by location and time of year.
- Qualification and scheduling. A person calling and booking adds labor, but the agreement must state what that person verifies.
- Remedy. A replacement, credit, non-billing decision and refund shift different amounts of risk.
Do not infer lead quality from price alone. A more expensive event may include additional work, or it may simply come from a difficult market. The written scope and your tracked outcomes settle the comparison.
Current theBuildd pricing
theBuildd publishes flat-price options for residential homeowner opt-ins. Prices below were checked against the current offer on 23 September 2026.
| Plan | Price | Current handoff |
|---|---|---|
| Trial | $300 one time | 4-7 exclusive opt-ins; contractor qualifies and books |
| Weekly | $800 | Exclusive opt-ins; contractor qualifies and books |
| Monthly tier 1 | $3,000 | Exclusive opt-ins in the agreed trade and ZIP territory |
| Monthly tier 2 | $6,000 | Same product at a larger plan tier |
| Monthly tier 3 | $9,000 | Same product at a larger plan tier |
| Monthly tier 4 | $12,000 | Same product at a larger plan tier |
Optional dispatching is available only with monthly plans. It adds $500, $1,000, $1,500 or $2,000 to the matching tier. Dispatching adds an in-house caller and can hand over a live transfer or booked appointment. It does not guarantee contact, an appointment, attendance or a job.
Each opt-in goes to one buyer through theBuildd. Territory is agreed by ZIP code and trade, without a permanent right or a fixed per-ZIP volume promise. Bad leads are replaced rather than refunded, and the exact eligibility standard should be confirmed before purchase.
Example: compare two quotes at the held-estimate stage
Suppose Source A costs $1,000 for a period and Source B costs $1,500. These are sample inputs, not provider prices or performance claims.
| Sample input or result | Source A | Source B |
|---|---|---|
| Complete source cost | $1,000 | $1,500 |
| Accepted leads | 20 | 15 |
| Held estimates | 4 | 6 |
| Cost per accepted lead | $50 | $100 |
| Cost per held estimate | $250 | $250 |
Source A looks cheaper at delivery, but the two sources are equal at the held-estimate stage under these assumptions. Sold-job and gross-profit data could separate them later. Replace every sample input with source-tagged CRM data before making a budget decision.
Use a trial to test fit, not prove a universal rate
A small trial can reveal whether the service area is correct, contact fields work, requests fit the agreed scope and your team follows up as planned. It cannot establish a stable close rate for every season or territory.
Write the acceptance rules and follow-up owner before delivery starts. Preserve timestamps, lead IDs, call attempts, bookings, held estimates and final job outcomes. The lead-generation trial checklist provides the fields and review sequence.
Budget from capacity as well as price. A source that sends more opportunities than the office can answer or the estimators can attend can raise downstream cost even when the delivered-lead price looks low. Choose the handoff your team can work, then judge it with one set of funnel definitions.
Compare the current plans at the same funnel stage.
Confirm the trade, ZIP territory, qualification owner, optional dispatching and replacement terms before calculating your expected budget.