Every contractor gets the same offers: pay per lead, pay a monthly fee, pay an agency. This guide lays out the choice fairly, because lead platforms work for some contractors and not for others, and the answer is rarely all or nothing. It covers leads for contractors, what each route costs you, and where building your own reputation fits in.
What a lead platform actually sells
A lead platform collects people who want work done and sells you the chance to quote for it. You are paying for the introduction. The customer is real, and sometimes the job is great. What you are not buying is the relationship with that customer or the audience the platform has built.
In the US the names you will hear are Angi, Thumbtack and HomeAdvisor, with Nextdoor, Yelp and the BBB as profile and review sites. Platforms charge per lead or by subscription, depending on the platform, and some mix the two. Terms change, so check current terms before you decide. Plenty of contractors do well on Angi or Thumbtack in the right trade and area. Others find a lead shared with several competitors hard to convert. Both can be true in the same town.
The fair case for platforms
- Speed. You can have a profile live this week and be quoting next week.
- Intent. The customer already wants a job done.
- Low setup. No website, no Google profile, no posting.
- A fit for a quiet month or a new business with no reviews yet.
None of that is wrong. If a platform brings you jobs at a cost per job won that you are happy with, keep it.
Where it gets expensive
- You pay whether you win or not. A lead is a chance, not a job.
- A lead may go to several businesses, so you are quoting against price-shoppers.
- The price and the rules can change, and you do not control either.
- Reviews left on a lead platform live on that platform rather than your Google profile. If you leave, they stay behind.
- Spend stops the leads. When you stop paying, the flow stops.
Ask about the contract length, whether you can cancel, how the platform handles a lead that turns out to be a tire-kicker or a duplicate, and whether you can see which jobs went to your competitors.
The math worth doing
Work out cost per job won, not cost per lead. Here is an example, not real figures: if you spend $500 in a month and win two jobs, each job cost you $250 to land before you have lifted a tool. If those jobs are worth $300 in profit each, the platform is losing you money. If they are worth $2,000 each, it is working. Do the sum with your own numbers, and include the evenings you spend chasing leads.
What you own
A Google profile with a run of recent reviews works differently. You do not pay per customer. Each review stays on your listing and keeps working on the next person who searches for you. Posts, photos and a decent website do the same. This is slower at the start, which is why it gets skipped. But the water heater swap you finished last month can still be selling for you next year.
It also helps the paid channels. A customer who gets a lead from a platform may still Google your name before they call, so your own reviews can help you win leads you paid for.
Word of mouth runs through Google
Referrals still drive a lot of trades work. But the person who got your name from a neighbor is likely to check you out online before calling. If your Google listing has no recent reviews or looks dormant, the referral can slip away. Recent reviews are what turn a recommendation into a phone call.
Agencies and doing it yourself
An agency can be the right call if you have the budget and want someone to run it. Get the price in writing, ask who owns the accounts, and be wary of guaranteed rankings. Doing it yourself is free until you count the evenings. The honest answer for most contractors is a mix: keep what pays for itself, build what you own, and use tools to stop it eating your week.
A simple split
- Keep the lead sources that pay back at a cost per job you can live with.
- Ask every customer for a Google review.
- Keep your Google listing active with real jobs.
- Review the numbers every quarter and cut what does not pay.
Plan: Where Mitch fits
Mitch does not buy leads or run ads. It turns each finished job into social posts, a Google review request and a review reply draft, so your reputation builds without extra evenings. Local is $189 a month, free for 14 days with no card. See [how paying for leads compares](/us/compare/paying-for-leads).
Build the channel you own.
Start collecting reviews you keep. 14-day free trial, no card.