What can you pay for a lead?

Start with what a customer pays for one job. Take away the cost to do it. Take away the money you want to keep. Multiply what is left by the share of leads who hire you.

In our made-up example: ($1,000 − $600 − $100) × 25% = $75 per lead. That leaves $300 for ads per booked job. The $100 you keep pays regular bills first. Only what is left is profit.

The upper limit is different. It does not set aside money for regular bills or profit. In the example, it is $100 per lead. Paying that much leaves nothing for those bills or profit.

We built this calculation using the idea of money left after job costs. See the SBA's guide to costs and breaking even. Breaking even means covering costs without making a profit. The SBA has not approved this calculator.

Use the price and costs of a typical first job. Look at one group of past leads. Count each person once. Count a booked job when someone hires you. For example, 1 job from 4 enquiries means 25% of leads hired you. Use matching dates for ad spending and lead counts.

Google Ads calls some actions ‘conversions’. These might be enquiries, sales or other actions you choose to track. Only count people who contacted you about a job here. See Google's guide to counting conversions.

This estimate assumes your typical job costs stay the same. It also assumes the same share of leads will hire you. It leaves out tax and money from future jobs for the same customer. The money you keep must cover regular bills first. It is not all take-home profit.

The estimated ad cost per booked job uses the share of leads you say will hire you. It does not use a count of jobs from your ads. The examples show what could change, not what will happen.

We compare the full numbers before rounding them for display. A difference of half a cent or less counts as a match. This applies to both the target and the upper limit.