Lead generation
Lead platforms promise a steady stream of enquiries. Here's what tradespeople actually get: the real numbers, the complaints, and whether the maths works out.
2 min read — 4 sections
Contents
A homeowner fills in a form asking for a job, such as a boiler service. The platform sells that enquiry to several tradespeople at the same time, and each trade pays to contact the customer.
That can create useful volume, but it also means you are often competing on speed and price before the customer has chosen your business specifically.
The picture across public review sites and trade forums is mixed. Many trades report:
- **Shared leads with several competitors** contacting the same customer at the same time.
- **Non-responsive customers** who are browsing prices rather than ready to book.
- **High lead cost relative to job value**, especially on smaller jobs.
- **Some trades do well**, particularly in higher-value work or lower-competition areas.
The consistent feedback: paid lead platforms work better as a volume play than a quality play. If you're fast to respond and have capacity to chase cold leads, you can make them work. If you're already busy, the admin load can become expensive.
Let's say leads cost £20 on average and you convert 1 in 4 into a job. That's £80 per acquired job.
For a £150 boiler service, that's a tight cost of acquisition. For a larger job, it may be reasonable.
The problem is consistency. Lead quality varies, and the volume of genuinely ready-to-book customers is often lower than the headline numbers imply.
The fundamental difference is ownership. Paid leads are rented: stop paying, stop getting leads. A local website that ranks on Google sends you direct enquiries over time.
Building a website to rank takes time and requires either your time or a managed service. The upfront work is higher, but the long-term cost per enquiry drops once ranking is established.
For a trade doing steady volume, the comparison often looks like:
- **Paid lead platforms:** ongoing spend for shared enquiries, converting a smaller percentage into booked jobs
- **Managed website:** flat monthly cost, direct tracked enquiries, and a local asset the business owns
The website wins at scale. Paid lead platforms can still be useful as a short-term volume filler while the site builds ranking.
What's one job worth to you - a hundred quid? Two? If it brings you one extra job a month, it's paid for itself twice over. And you don't risk a penny finding out.
Ready?
Let us build you a free preview — your actual site, for your trade, in your town. See it before you decide a thing.
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