What general contracting leads cost in 2026
Ask five general contractors what a lead actually costs and you'll get five different numbers — because the price on the invoice and the price per job you actually win are rarely the same figure. Here's what the published 2026 data says general contractors are paying on Angi, HomeAdvisor and Google, broken out by channel, plus where the numbers get too thin to trust.
No source read publishes a general-contractor figure of its own. The Angi range is for "general contracting / remodeling", and the Local Services Ads figure is SearchLight's "General / All Trades" blend, which mixes several trades and is not a measurement of general contractors specifically.
What each channel actually charges
| Where | Per lead | Who else gets it |
|---|---|---|
| Angi / HomeAdvisor Plus a membership of about $300 a year. | $40–100+ | Typically 3–8 contractors |
| Google Local Services Ads SearchLight’s “General / all trades” blend, 464 accounts. | ~$54 | Just you |
| Paid search estimate Be Seen, Contractors!: contractor cost per lead by trade (2026). Listed under "remodeling", the nearest category the agency publishes; paid channels. | $75–300+ | Depends on the campaign |
The agency rows are estimates, not datasets, and the sources disagree with each other. That is normal for lead pricing, and it is why the ranges are wide.
What a shared general contracting lead costs per job won
Shared leads are reported to close at roughly 13 to 20 percent. At those rates a lead priced $40 to $100+ works out to about $200 to $769+ for each job you win. That is our arithmetic on two published ranges, not a measurement; contractors report worse. The number to compare across channels is this one, not the price on the lead.
What the jobs are worth
In SearchLight’s February 2026 data, general contracting leads on Local Services Ads booked 43.9% of the time at an average tracked ticket of $1,831. That is the all-trades blend, so read it as a rough guide for general contractors, not a measurement of them. “Booking” is a booked job, not a paid one.
Why the job behind the lead changes the number
"General contracting lead cost" is arguably the wrong question, more than for any other trade here, because the scope behind the inquiry varies so much: a small remodel, a room addition, a full renovation and new construction are different projects with different budgets, timelines and buyer intent, and a general inquiry form rarely tells you which one you are looking at until you talk to the homeowner. A general contractor's sales cycle for a larger project is also typically weeks or months of consultation and estimating, not a same-week close, which changes what "cost per booked job" even means compared with a single-visit trade. Because no source read separates general-contracting figures by project scope, a lead's real economics here depend on qualifying the project size and budget early, more than on the price of the lead itself.
What we couldn’t find
None of the sources we read published a Thumbtack price for general contracting, so we left it out rather than guess. If you pay for Thumbtack, the price shown in your own account is the real figure for your market.
Common questions
Read next: how much a lead is worth, what Angi and HomeAdvisor charge, and a website and inquiry form built for general contractors.
Where ProLicensed fits
We build you a website that asks a customer the questions you'd ask — photos, address, urgency, what's actually wrong — so you get the details of a job you can price, instead of a voicemail you return blind. $99/month flat, every inquiry yours alone, cancel any month.
What it won't do is create demand that isn't there or send you leads. If nobody in your area knows your business exists, start with your Google Business Profile and your reviews — they're free and we don't get paid for them.
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- SearchLight Digital: Google Local Service Ads cost per lead by trade (2026)A dataset: February 2026, 888 home service contractors, $6.72 million of Local Services Ads spend. Figures are before dispute credits.
- The Valley Marketing Group: Angi leads cost per lead for contractors (2026)An agency article. Its per-trade Angi ranges are figures it attributes to other publishers, not its own measurements.
- Housecall Pro: HomeAdvisor vs. Angi comparison (2026)Written by a vendor of field-service software. Its close-rate and contract-term figures are ones it attributes to LeadTruffle.
- Be Seen, Contractors!: contractor cost per lead by trade (2026)An agency's estimates for paid channels, described by the agency as a sanity check rather than a quote.
These are published third-party figures, not ProLicensed measurements, and prices change often — check them before you budget against them. Last checked September 2026.
If you're a contractor
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