The initial cost of roofing leads tends to be the lowest price available; however, many roofing companies do not realize that the lowest price generates the lowest profit due to shared competition, invalid leads, and the amount of time lost following up with bad leads.

When comparing lead costs, you must consider your gross margins and realistically determine what percentage of closed jobs will come from purchased leads. If you only look at the upfront cost of purchasing leads, you will likely miss the big picture.

This article looks at the economic models of 22 different roofing lead generation companies, including marketplaces, exclusive lead providers, specialist lead generation companies, and software platforms that provide managed traffic to roofing companies.

Understanding True Costs for Roofing Lead Generation Companies

Google's search results produce a combined list of companies that provide all three types of products: raw leads, agencies that will do digital marketing for you, and software platforms that will manage your direct traffic.

Most online comparative websites fail because they treat all leads the same. They highlight cost per business lead and ignore cost per acquiring customer. If you buy a shared lead for $50 and only convert 5% of those leads to signed contracts, the true total cost for each closed contract is $1,000.

Conversely, if you buy an exclusive lead with a 25% close ratio for $150, then your total cost per closed contract is $600. In this scenario, the exclusive lead was mathematically better.

To develop a profitable lead generation model, you need to track each lead source through a funnel. You must collect valid leads, contacted leads, booked estimates, and total revenue generated.

You also need to track your operational costs for responding to inquiries outside of normal business hours. A roofer that operates as a one-man band has different lead generation needs compared to a franchise with multiple locations.

Direct Marketplaces and Paid Call Networks

1. Service Direct

Service Direct works on a pay-per-lead basis and provides an exclusivity model for leads, provides a geo-targeting feature and has maximum bidding limits that you can set. The system is focused solely on providing leads with exclusive access, rather than providing leads with shared directory listings.

The reported cost for leads can vary greatly depending on the market density in which you are working. For instance, the average cost per lead, as shown in various analyses, ranges from $30 to $100, while the average cost for exclusive leads for roofing contractors ranges from $150 to $280 per lead.

The company claims an average return on investment of 8.5x, as well as a 68% appointment rate. These claims are based on first-party information and have not been independently verified.

One benefit of an exclusive lead is that you do not have to compete with four other local contractors for the same lead. Although the initial costs are generally higher for exclusive leads, this is generally offset by the significantly higher close rates associated with them, assuming you are available to answer the phone when the lead calls you.

2. Angi / HomeAdvisor

Angi is a huge marketplace for homeowners that sells service inquiries to a number of different contractors simultaneously. This means you are purchasing the intent of a homeowner looking for services, but you are also purchasing the intent of other competing contractors.

Leads from Angi / HomeAdvisor can range from $15 to $85 per lead on average, with most contractors setting their monthly budgeting for leads ranging from $300 to $2,500.

The primary operational issue with this type of model is the close rate. For marketplace leads, data indicates an average close rate of 3% to 8%. As a result of these close rate numbers, the average acquisition cost for signed jobs through this type of lead can range from between $600 and over $2,000 per signed job in sufficient competitive scenarios.

If you maintain a gross margin of only $800 on a roof repair, this channel will generate a net loss for contractors. To be successful with shared leads, you must bid quickly, follow up on leads frequently, and be competitive with either an incredibly low price point or extreme professionalism.

3. Thumbtack

Thumbtack uses a place for consumers to connect with contractors and build leads; they create dynamic pricing models for leads based on local demand and the type of job you are applying for. There are significant fluctuations in costs; the range for leads can typically run anywhere between $15 and $80.

A contractor’s success on the platform will be contingent upon having a well-established presence on the contractor's part and responding to leads quickly. Contractors' success will be greatly influenced by how quickly they respond to leads using the shared platform.

If you are on a roof and do not respond within five minutes, you will lose the lead to another contractor who was able to respond faster than you.

4. RoofClaim

RoofClaim has taken a different approach to generating leads and is now offering exclusive leads for roofers that are available for purchase at a flat rate. RoofClaim appeals to contractors that prefer to build immediate, direct relationships without the worry of having a long-term commitment to a service.

Research shows that exclusive leads cost $99 each. RoofClaim claims that they provide leads to contractors across eleven different states, and have also stated that during their selection process, they hand select only the top five percent of roofing contractors.

While the marketing language used by RoofClaim indicates that they use a flat-rate business model, it does make sense to consider the profitability that $99 per exclusive lead offers contractors based upon your closing rate.

An exclusive lead, with a ten percent closing rate, would have a total customer acquisition cost of $990, which would provide contractors with substantial profit margins on complete roof replacements.

5. 33 Mile Radius

This provider focuses specifically on creating and providing live inbound phone calls, as well as providing the necessary tools for contractors to manage their phone calls. 33 Mile Radius utilizes call recording technology and an extremely targeted geographic area paired with a pay-per-call delivery platform.

Contractors can purchase qualified inbound phone calls from 33 Mile Radius for a flat fee, based on their local market. In addition, 33 Mile Radius provides extensive capabilities for contractors to suspend their marketing campaigns when the level of workload becomes overwhelming or if there are several additional roofing jobs created due to inclement weather.

The company utilizes a number of established criteria to determine if the inbound phone call is billable. You should read the refund policy very carefully so that you understand which types of leads are invalid.

6. LeadsHunt

LeadsHunt is one of those roofing lead generation companies that specializes in delivering roof leads in real-time, ensuring that all leads are verified by LeadsHunt before being sent to the contractor.

The average cost of a lead from LeadsHunt is between $50 and $150 each, but costs vary significantly depending on market size and how many leads are purchased at once.

The company offers contractors 100% exclusive leads and uses a multi-step process to verify all leads to remove bad leads (fake numbers and renters) from the database. An exclusive and verified lead can save roof sales teams many hours of follow-up calls because their time will be exclusively focused on qualified homeowners who have requested roof estimates.

7. Inquirly

Inquirly is another provider of roofing leads that is similar to LeadsHunt, as both companies provide leads only to contractors who want to avoid purchasing shared inquiries from the marketplace.

Inquirly does not publish exact pricing information, but the goal is to provide leads to a single buyer only, so as to avoid bidding wars for the same roofing project.

When working with any provider of leads, you should ask for a clear definition of what is considered a billable lead, especially when your company only performs certain types of roofing jobs. For example, if a homeowner asks about vinyl siding, and your company only does asphalt shingle roofs, you need to know if you will still be billed for that lead.

Marketing Agencies and Outsourced Roofing Lead Generation

8. Roofing Webmasters

Roofing Webmasters is a specialized agency that focuses solely on the roofing industry through roofing SEO, the development of custom websites, and the generation of inquiries via inbound marketing.

Roofing Webmasters uses its own proprietary tool called DataPins to submit local job-site information directly to Google, validating its service area. All of the pricing is custom and done on a monthly basis. Ultimately, this provides long-term organic acquisition of customers.

You pay for the time and strategy upfront, so that you can create an organic customer base through your hard work. The results appear six to twelve months after applying these strategies; however, after that point, leads begin coming in without spending additional money on marketing. There will be a dramatic difference in cost per order on an average lead compared to paid listing services after the three-year average.

9. Built-Right Digital

Built-Right Digital specializes in providing full-service marketing for roofing companies. They take care of everything—local SEO, Google My Business, web design, and extensive media buys on Google and Facebook.

The starting point for a basic local SEO campaign is $1,500 per month. However, it’s not uncommon for aggressive paid media buys to exceed $10,000 per month (not including any advertising costs) by only accepting contractors that are ready to grow rapidly. Built-Right Digital can generate traffic right away while developing your organic presence over time.

10. Hook Agency

Hook Agency is known for focusing heavily on visual web design and branding along with content marketing and SEO.

Custom quotes are required for their pricing. Their target audience is contractors who want to dominate their local market through brand authority instead of just running after the cheapest click. Having a strong brand increases your close rate on every other lead source because consumers will search for your company’s name after finding it on a directory.

11. Scorpion

Scorpion is a marketing firm that services businesses at an enterprise level through a system called RevenueMAX. They have an extensive emphasis on paid search, local SEO, and advanced reporting capabilities.

Their target audience is larger and multi-state businesses. According to Scorpion, they generate 113% more leads and have a 63% lower cost per lead for some of their clients, providing ROI reports of up to 28 times.

The majority of these results are reported by the agency. The platform enables robust lead generation analytics to companies generating significant lead volumes via online and offline sources.

12. Thrive Internet Marketing Agency

Thrive is a large, diverse digital marketing company and one of the versatile roofing lead generation companies that enables its clients to access various digital channels, including search page optimization, social media management, website development, and so on.

Their target market are contractors who want to utilize a large company with generalized expertise to manage all their digital properties. General firms bring with them a proven track record of executing strategies across many industries; however, it is vital for contractors to ensure that the dedicated account manager understands the difference between a high-intent roof replacement keyword and a low-intent roof repair search.

13. RYNO Strategic Solutions / Blue Corona

These brands, working in the larger home-services market, provide outstanding call track analytics and raw revenue data.

Data-driven contractors seeking to determine exactly which keyword drove which phone call are their primary target market. Custom pricing applies. Their expertise is in attribution, as without understanding which advertisement generated a $20,000 roof replacement, it is impossible to execute an effective marketing plan; therefore, they provide the tracking structure to support identifying return on investment (ROI).

14. Rival Digital

Rival Digital concentrates predominantly on paid search, Google Ads, and Local Services Ads for the skilled trades.

Rival Digital is highly capable of helping contractors quickly procure leads via paid campaigns, specifically during extreme weather events and high demands for services. When a hail storm strikes, the time it takes to implement SEO on organic searches could take days, due to panic; therefore, paid campaigns must go live within hours to capture the influx of service requests.

A paid search agency is capable of manipulating budgets by using historical data and predicting exact weather patterns.

15. Contractor Gorilla

Contractor Gorilla's target market is smaller and expanding contractors in the roofing business. They assist contractors in establishing their digital footprint by providing effective website creation, online reputation management, and lead generation optimization through social media.

A digital presence is crucial to establishing credibility with consumers. If a small contractor does not have a website, their chances of success will diminish greatly.

The digital footprint created by contractors is essential to converting new customers from outside of their current client base to a paying customer. If you have created an ineffective website, the likelihood of your new customer using your website is minimal.

16. Hearth Marketing

Hearth Marketing specializes in providing financing solutions for consumers but also provides roofing and remodeling companies with visual web design services, exterior remodeling marketing services, and long-term consumer relationship marketing.

They specialize in marketing to contractors who sell high-ticket items (roofs and remodeling) and require an extensive amount of trust in their clientele before entering into a contract for a roofing or remodeling project.

Contractors selling high-ticket items require a completely different marketing strategy, which includes creating trust factors, a comprehensive follow-up schedule and providing easy access to financing options at the beginning of the consumer decision-making process.

CRM Software and Platforms for Roofing Leads

17. GoHighLevel

GoHighLevel provides a very robust suite of services that enables contractors and agencies to reach their marketing goals. With GoHighLevel, contractors can create a custom funnel for their business, complete with SMS communication, AI-driven workflows, and a complete CRM system that is integrated with every aspect of the contractor's workflow.

The average monthly fee for GoHighLevel is $97 to $297 per month, depending upon the plan and the number of accounts that you are managing. People who contact a lead within 1 minute vs contacting a lead within 2 minutes are over 395% more likely to have the lead convert, according to statistics. GoHighLevel has automated the response to a lead in 1 minute.

18. JobNimbus

JobNimbus is designed specifically as a roofing CRM, handling everything from lead capture, complex routing, workflow automation, estimate follow-up and field service coordination.

With a monthly starting point of approximately $225, it provides an organization system to otherwise chaotic roofing crews. You can track the process of each lead from the first phone call to the physical inspection of the roof, right through to the ordering of materials. If your salesperson forgets to follow up on a $15,000 estimate, the software will automatically flag it.

19. QuoteIQ

QuoteIQ is a field-service management tool that provides review automation, online quotations, and Virtual Call Team features.

It offers pricing tiers of $29.99, $149.99, $299 and $699 per month, which are targeted at small and mid-sized contractors who want to bundle lead capture and estimating together.

The virtual call team is extremely important. If your crew is on the roof nailing shingles, they can't answer the phone. Having this type of system will keep your lead pipeline moving forward while you work.

20. Podium

Podium dominates the reputation management space by providing webchat, SMS marketing, review automation and an AI Concierge.

The standard plans cost $399 to $599 per month. Podium assumes that you have maybe already established some traffic on your website. The webchat and aggressive text messaging will turn your passive readers into active leads.

Additionally, once the customer has had an experience with your company that they were very satisfied with, Podium will automatically send a text to the customer asking them for a Google Review. The more reviews you have, the higher your local search rankings. More local search ranking means more organic leads for free.

21. Housecall Pro

Housecall Pro is a generalist field-service software solution that includes online booking, lead tracking, and dispatching.

It offers monthly plans that range from $59 to $329. It also has an AI Receptionist add-on that you can add for $99 a month. Housecall Pro is used predominantly by small contractor-based crews to digitize their entire business model.

The online booking feature allows a customer to set up an appointment for an inspection at any time, day or night, without ever talking to a human. This allows those leads to be captured before they go to your competition.

22. Jobber

Jobber provides a basic entry-level management system that enables contractors to manage booking, estimating and invoicing from one application.

Jobber's prices range from $39 monthly to $199 monthly. It was designed with the solo roofer and very small crews in mind. Jobber's automated follow-up feature, sending texts and emails to people who haven't approved their quotes, helps prevent potentially lucrative leads from falling through the cracks. Jobber's simple follow-up process easily pays for the software with just one saved job.

Don't Buy Leads Until You're Ready to Process Them

If you purchase advertising for expensive traffic, but your sales funnel is in disarray, you'll run out of cash in a hurry.

So, build your own internal tracking software, lock down your immediate response times, and only after you do this should you start putting money into other roofing lead generation companies or external sources for leads.