Buying Leads vs. Generating Your Own: Cost per Lead and per Customer

You run a solar, roofing, HVAC or windows business and you want more jobs. Buying leads looks like the fastest route: pay per inquiry and the phone rings. A few months in, doubts creep in. Many leads never pick up, already have three quotes, or just wanted a ballpark price. Is buying leads worth it, or should you generate your own?

Short answer: Purchased leads typically cost $20 to $100 each, depending on the industry and whether the lead is shared or exclusive. But price per lead says little: calculate per customer. A $25 shared lead where 1 in 15 becomes a job costs you $375 per customer. Generating your own leads with ads and fast follow-up is often cheaper per customer, but takes more work.

What does a lead cost?

Lead sellers sell inquiries from people asking for a quote. Price depends on the industry, the job value and whether the lead is shared with other companies. The ranges below are typical and vary by provider and market.

Shared vs. exclusive leads: the big difference

A shared lead is sold to three to five companies at once. The homeowner gets several calls within the hour and usually picks the fastest or cheapest. An exclusive lead goes only to you. It costs more, but you get a fair shot.

The trap: if you only look at price per lead, shared leads win. If you look at price per customer, they often lose.

Worked example: cost per customer, not per lead

Cost per customer = price per lead / share of leads that become customers

These close rates are examples. They depend heavily on how fast you call, how good your quote is and whether the lead is already comparing. Track for three months how many of your leads become customers, and you will know your real cost per customer.

Then compare it with the value of a job. If a heat pump install brings $2,500 in gross profit, $240 per customer is a great deal. For a $500 roof repair it is too much.

Generating your own leads: how it works

Generating your own leads means running Facebook and Instagram ads and receiving the inquiries directly. Nobody else gets them. Three things decide whether it works:

1. The ad. A concrete offer for your area, like "Free roof inspection in Denver" or "See what a heat pump saves you in 1 minute". Show real projects, ideally on video.
2. The form. A Meta instant form is low-friction but brings more casual inquiries. Two or three qualifying questions (home type, timing, zip code) filter out price shoppers.
3. The follow-up. Call or text within five minutes. Research on lead response has shown for years that contact rates drop quickly after the first minutes. A lead you call the next day has already requested three other quotes.

The weak spot of doing it yourself is usually the ad: you need fresh visuals and copy every few weeks to keep cost per lead down. AI makes those in minutes; see how to make AI video ads. For solar and heat pump installers we covered the full playbook in solar and heat pump lead generation.

What to check before you buy leads

If you still buy leads, ask these questions before you sign:

• Exclusive or shared, and with how many? Ask for the exact number of companies per lead.
• What if a lead is bad? A wrong phone number or someone outside your area should be credited.
• How fresh is the lead? A lead from yesterday is worth less than one from five minutes ago.
• Where does the lead come from? Comparison sites bring price shoppers; an ad with a concrete offer usually brings more serious inquiries.
• Are you locked into a minimum? Watch for monthly minimums and notice periods.

Frequently asked questions