What's a Good Cost Per Lead? (And the Metrics Contractors Should Actually Use)

This page exists to put the CPL obsession in proper context.

Contractor Unit Economics Ladder

  • CPL (easy, misleading)
  • CPBJ — Cost per Booked Job (useful)
  • CPSJ — Cost per Sold Job (useful for installs/projects)
  • CAC — Customer Acquisition Cost (real)
  • Payback period (how fast marketing returns cash)
  • Contribution margin per job (profitability truth)

Hear From Our Clients

FAQs

  • Not necessarily. The question is: what is your cost per booked job? If your booking rate is 50%, your CPBJ is $240. Whether that's good depends on your average revenue per job and gross margin.

  • Lower CPL often means lower-intent leads with lower booking rates. Cost per booked job may have stayed the same or increased.

  • Larger metros have higher competition and higher CPLs. Focus on cost per booked job as your target metric rather than a specific CPL number.