- Repair calls and replacement leads need separate cost-per-lead math.
- Lead ceiling = roof price × margin × share you’ll spend × close rate × booking rate.
- Storm-season leads look cheap and close like emergencies. Judge the year, not the week.
- Track cost per booked inspection and cost per signed roof, not just the dashboard CPL.
What makes a roofing lead valuable
Most homeowners buy a roof once or twice in their lives. When a real replacement buyer raises a hand, that single inquiry can carry a five-figure job. That’s why roofers can afford to pay more per lead than most trades.
The catch is that a lot of roofing inquiries aren’t replacement buyers. Leak calls, a missing ridge cap, a realtor who needs a certification letter. Those pay small and still eat an estimator’s afternoon. Lump them in with replacements and your cost per lead stops telling you anything.
Count replacement leads on their own
Say an ad brings 30 inquiries and 12 of them are leak repairs. The platform shows one cost per lead across all 30. Your real cost per replacement lead is spend divided by 18, not 30.
Ask one question before booking: repair or replacement? Then tag every lead in your CRM so the split is there when you run the numbers. That one tag is what makes roofing CPL worth looking at.
Worked example (example numbers, not a benchmark)
The inputs below match the example on our roofing page. They aren’t industry averages, so plug in your own.
A replacement averages $18,000 at a 35% gross margin, so each signed roof leaves $6,300 in gross profit. You’ll spend 10% of that to win it: $630 per signed roof. You close 30% of the inspections you run, so a booked inspection can cost up to $189 ($630 × 30%). 40% of replacement leads book an inspection, so the break-even is about $75.60 per replacement lead ($189 × 40%).
Under that number, each replacement lead pays for itself at these rates. Raise your close rate or your average roof size and the ceiling rises with it.
Storm season bends the numbers
After the first big storm, inquiries pour in and cost per lead drops. Those homeowners have water in the house. They book whoever shows up first, and every roofer in town is calling them.
In dry months, leads cost more but the homeowner is planning. They have time to compare, which means your inspection, your proposal, and your follow-up decide the job. Look at cost per signed roof across a full year before you decide which months are worth funding.
The numbers worth tracking each month
The dashboard CPL is a starting point. These tell you whether the spend is working.
- Cost per replacement lead, with repairs pulled out
- Cost per booked inspection
- Share of inspections that turn into a written bid
- Cost per signed roof, by month and by campaign
