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GUIDE · ECONOMICS

How to calculate customer acquisition cost as a contractor.

Cost per lead is what the ad platform reports. Customer acquisition cost is what it actually took to put a signed contract in your hands.

4 min read · By the BlueSmith team · Updated

Key takeaways
  • CAC = all-in marketing cost ÷ signed jobs from that marketing.
  • Include fees, software, and production, not just ad spend.
  • Leave referral and repeat jobs out unless marketing produced them.
  • Compare CAC to gross profit per job, not to revenue.

CAC, CPL, and cost per estimate are different numbers

Cost per lead is ad spend divided by inquiries. Cost per booked estimate is ad spend divided by appointments. Both are early signals. Neither includes what you paid the people running the ads, and neither tells you whether a contract was signed.

CAC is the full cost of one new customer. It’s the number to set against what that customer’s job is worth.

What goes in the cost

Add up everything you spent to attract and book new homeowners during the period.

  • Ad spend on every platform
  • Agency, freelancer, or in-house marketing salaries
  • Software used for marketing: CRM, landing pages, scheduling
  • Video and photo production
  • Lead marketplace fees, if you buy leads

Worked example (example numbers, not a benchmark)

In one month you spend $4,000 on ads, $3,000 on agency fees, and $500 on software. That’s $7,500 all-in. Those leads produce 5 signed jobs, so CAC is $1,500 per job ($7,500 ÷ 5).

Your average job is $25,000 at a 35% gross margin, or $8,750 in gross profit. CAC takes 6% of the revenue and about 17% of the gross profit on each job. Whether that works depends on your overhead, but now you can see it.

Match jobs to the month the lead came in

Big jobs sign weeks or months after the first inquiry. If you divide this month’s spend by this month’s signatures, a slow-closing campaign looks terrible early and great later.

Track each signed job back to the month and source its lead came from. Then calculate CAC for that month once most of its estimates have reached a decision. It takes a CRM that records the source on every lead, but it’s the only way the number means anything.

What lowers CAC

The cheapest improvements usually happen after the lead arrives. Every extra estimate that books, shows up, and signs spreads the same spend across more jobs.

  • Faster first response to new inquiries
  • Qualifying questions before an estimate is booked
  • Reminders that keep booked estimates from no-showing
  • Follow-up on estimates that haven’t signed
  • Cutting campaigns that bring leads but no contracts
RUN YOUR NUMBERS

Contractor CAC: what does it cost you to sign one job?

Cost per lead tells half the story. Customer acquisition cost counts everything you spent and divides it by the jobs you actually signed.

35%

Customer acquisition cost per signed job: $1,500

Customer acquisition cost per signed job$1,500
CAC as a share of each job’s revenue
6.0%
CAC as a share of each job’s gross profit
17.1%

$7,500 a month all-in for 5 signed jobs at $25,000 and 35% margin.

See what we’d build for these numbers

Starts with example numbers. Change them to yours. Arithmetic only, not a promise of results.

Open the full contractor cac calculator

KEEP GOING

Read next.

STRAIGHT ANSWERS

Questions we hear.

Should referral jobs count in CAC?

Not in paid marketing CAC. If you also spend on a referral program, track that as its own channel with its own CAC.

What’s a good CAC for a contractor?

There’s no universal number. A good CAC is one your gross profit per job can carry with room left for overhead and profit. Set your own ceiling from your margins.

How often should I calculate CAC?

Monthly, by source, with a lag that matches your sales cycle. Recheck older months as their estimates finish closing.

Does repeat business change the picture?

It can. A customer who comes back or refers others is worth more than one job. Most contractors still judge paid spend on the first job alone to stay conservative.

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