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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.

By the BlueSmith team · Updated

At a glance

You enter
  • Monthly ad spend
  • Monthly agency and marketing fees
  • Other marketing costs per month
  • Signed jobs from marketing per month
  • Average project value
  • Gross margin
You get
  • Customer acquisition cost per signed job
  • CAC as a share of each job’s revenue
  • CAC as a share of each job’s gross profit
How the math works
  • CAC per signed job
  • Share of revenue
  • Share of gross profit
  • Example (not a benchmark)
What it costs
Free. No signup, no email. Arithmetic on your own numbers, not a promise of results.
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.

HOW IT WORKS

Three steps. Your numbers.

  1. 01

    Enter your numbers

    Enter monthly ad spend, agency or marketing fees, and any other marketing costs.

  2. 02

    Watch it recalculate

    Add how many signed jobs came from that marketing.

  3. 03

    Use the answer

    Add your average project value and gross margin.

How the math works

CAC per signed job

(Ad spend + fees + other costs) ÷ signed jobs from marketing. All-in, not just what the ad platform reports.

Share of revenue

CAC ÷ average project value. Useful for budgeting, but it hides how thin or fat the job really is.

Share of gross profit

CAC ÷ (average project value × gross margin). This is the one to watch. If it creeps toward 100%, you’re working for the marketing.

Example (not a benchmark)

$5,000 ads + $3,000 fees + $1,000 other = $9,000. 6 signed jobs: $1,500 CAC. On a $20,000 job that’s 7.5% of revenue. At a 30% margin, 25% of the $6,000 gross profit.

KEEP GOING

Use it with these.

STRAIGHT ANSWERS

Questions we hear.

Is a low CAC here a sign my marketing works?

Not on its own. The calculator only does arithmetic on your inputs. A month with one lucky job can look great and mean little.

Which jobs count as from marketing?

Jobs that started as a lead from the channels you’re paying for. Referrals and repeat customers belong in a separate count, or they flatter the number.

Jobs sign months after the lead. How do I handle that?

Use a longer window. Add up three or six months of spend and the jobs signed in that stretch, then enter the monthly averages.

Should my own time count?

If you or your office spend real hours on marketing, put a fair value on it under other costs. It’s a cost even if no invoice shows up.

Numbers are the start. Let’s build the system.

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