- Set a separate cost-per-lead ceiling for each type of project you sell.
- Big remodels sign weeks after the first inquiry. Judge early on booked consultations.
- Higher-priced leads from a page with real project photos and a price range often book more.
- Small jobs can share the ad budget, but not the same target.
Remodeling leads aren’t one product
Remodelers sell a wide spread of work: a hall bath, a primary suite, a kitchen, a whole-home renovation. The gross profit on each can differ by tens of thousands of dollars.
If your ads bring in a mix and you judge them against one cost-per-lead number, you’ll overpay for small jobs and underfund the big ones. Give each project type its own ceiling, and its own page and campaign where the volume supports it.
Worked example (example numbers, not a benchmark)
These are example inputs, the same ones on our remodeling page. Swap in yours.
A kitchen remodel averages $60,000 at a 35% gross margin: $21,000 in gross profit. Spend 10% of it to win the job and you can pay $2,100 per signed kitchen. You close 30% of consultations, so a booked consultation can cost up to $630 ($2,100 × 30%). Three in ten leads book one, so the ceiling is $189 per kitchen lead ($630 × 30%).
Run a $25,000 bathroom through the same rates: $8,750 in gross profit, $875 to win it, $262.50 per consultation, and $78.75 per lead. Same company, same close rate, and a lead ceiling less than half the kitchen’s.
The sales cycle hides the real cost
Remodels rarely sign on the first visit. There are selections, revised scopes, financing, a spouse who wants to see one more design. A lead from this month can turn into a contract two or three months out.
So judge the first weeks of a campaign on cost per booked consultation. Hold the cost-per-signed-job verdict until enough consultations have had time to close, then tie each contract back to the month and campaign it came from.
When a pricier remodeling lead is the better buy
A page that shows your finished kitchens, a price range by finish level, and a few honest questions costs more per lead than a bare form. It also turns away the homeowner with a $10,000 budget for a $60,000 idea before they take your evening.
That trade is usually worth making in remodeling, where a wasted consultation costs real hours. Compare the two on cost per booked consultation and cost per signed job, never on CPL alone.
Track by project type
Every number below should be split by kitchen, bath, and whatever else you sell.
- Cost per lead against that project’s ceiling
- Cost per booked consultation
- Consultations that reach a signed contract, and how long it took
- Cost per signed job, by the month the lead came in
