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Trade lead cost calculator

Cost per lead is what you pay a directory or ad platform divided by the enquiries you get. Cost per job is what matters: the same spend divided by the jobs you actually win. Pay £150 a month for 40 leads a year and win one in four, and each job costs you £180 before you have bought a screw. This calculator works that out for any channel, on gross profit, and shows what a website of your own would need to win to cost less.

What do you want to know?

Left after materials and labour, before your own wage.

Channel 1

Official: From £59 a month on a 12 month contract (join.checkatrade.com, checked 15 Sep 2026). Reported: Members report £80 to £500 a month (localadder.co.uk tracker, Q3 2026). VAT not stated. Shared: Member-reported: 10 to 20+ trades per enquiry.

The fees above are example inputs to start from, not what you will be charged. Put in your own.

Lead cost comparison

Each job won costs you

£188

Checkatrade Growth: £45 a lead, 9.6 jobs a year, £1,800 a year in fees. That is 45% of the gross profit from those jobs.

Channels, cheapest job first

Cost per lead, per job and return by channel
ChannelPer leadPer jobJobs a yearNet a yearROI on profit
Checkatrade Growth£45£1889.6£2,228124%
Show how we worked this out
  • Checkatrade Growth: £1,800 a year ÷ 40 leads = £45 a lead. 40 × 60% quoted × 40% won = 9.6 jobs, so £188 a job. Gross profit £4,028, less fees, £2,228. ROI on turnover would be 539%: most calculators show that one, and it flatters everything.

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Your figures go into the note on the form, where you can change or delete them.

Platform figures checked 18 Sept 2026 and labelled official or reported. Our prices include VAT; several platforms do not say.

Cost per lead versus cost per job

A lead is an enquiry. A job is money in the bank. With £150 a month and 40 leads a year, each lead costs £45. Win one in four and you get 10 jobs, so each job costs £180. The platforms quote the first number; your accounts feel the second.

What a Checkatrade lead really costs

From £59 a month on a 12 month contract (join.checkatrade.com, checked 15 Sep 2026). Members report £80 to £500 a month (localadder.co.uk tracker, Q3 2026). The £150 a month in the example above is an example input, not a Checkatrade figure. The full breakdown, including the contract and the fees that can still apply, is in the Checkatrade cost guide.

What MyBuilder, Bark and Rated People leads cost

  • MyBuilder: Not checked on MyBuilder's own pages. From £7 per shortlist, no monthly fee; typically £5 to £35 a lead, more on large projects (localadder.co.uk, Q3 2026).
  • Bark: Not checked on Bark's own pages. £1.80 a credit, quoting Bark's help centre; roughly £9 to £36+ a lead at 5 to 20+ credits each (localadder.co.uk, Q3 2026).
  • Rated People: No prices published. £30 to £60 a month plus VAT, and £15 to £40 a lead (localadder.co.uk, Q3 2026).
  • TrustATrader: No prices published; yearly membership, no charge per lead. £240 to £750 a year (localadder.co.uk, Q3 2026).

Reported figures are what members say they pay, gathered by a third-party tracker, not the platforms' own prices. Most of these leads go to more than one trade, so you are quoting against others for each one. The side-by-side comparison is in Checkatrade alternatives.

Why we work ROI on gross profit, not turnover

In the example, 10 jobs at £1,200 is £12,000 of turnover. Against £1,800 of fees, that looks like a 567% return. But after materials and labour, a 35% margin leaves £4,200 of gross profit. Less the fees, that is £2,400, a 133% return. Both are "ROI"; only the second is money you keep. Not sure of your margin? The markup calculator works it out from a real job, and the day rate calculator shows what your labour has to earn.

That is also the honest answer to "what does a 20% ROI mean": 20% more back than you spent, and it matters hugely whether that is measured on turnover or on profit.

How many jobs does a website need to win to beat a directory?

Take what the site costs over a period and divide by the directory's cost per job. A Business website at £995 with Local SEO Growth at £200 a month and care from year two costs £8,795 over three years. To cost the same per job as the £180 above, it needs about 1.36 jobs a month. To pay for itself outright on gross profit, about 0.58.

We do not promise enquiry numbers, so the tool does not either. It tells you what the site would need to do, and you judge whether that is realistic for your trade and area. At some numbers a directory is cheaper per job in the first year, and the tool says so.

The three-year view

Directory fees stop working the day you stop paying. A website and its rankings keep working, and you own them. That is why the comparison runs over up to three years, the same view as in how to get roofing leads.

How to calculate marketing ROI

Marketing ROI is (return minus cost) ÷ cost × 100. Spend £1,000 and bring in £5,000 of work and the ROI on revenue is 400%. On a 35% margin the gross profit is £1,750, so the ROI on profit is 75%. ROAS, return on ad spend, is revenue ÷ spend: 5 here.

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate ROI in marketing?

(Return minus cost) ÷ cost × 100. Use gross profit as the return, not turnover, or every channel looks better than it is. The Quick ROI tab works it out both ways.

What is a good ROI for marketing?

Any return on gross profit above 0% means the marketing paid for itself; below 0% it cost you money. Measured on turnover the figures look far bigger, which is why the number on its own tells you little. Compare channels on cost per job won.

Is a 2% ROI good?

Only just. A 2% return on gross profit means the marketing paid for itself with 2% to spare. On turnover, 2% almost certainly means a loss once materials and labour are counted.

What does a 20% ROI mean?

For every £1 spent, £1.20 came back. On gross profit that is a real 20p gain per pound. On turnover it is probably a loss, because the materials and labour in those jobs come out of the £1.20.

Is 30% a good ROI?

On gross profit, 30% means the marketing earned back its cost plus 30%, which is a solid result. On turnover it may not cover the cost of doing the jobs. Check which one you are looking at.

Is Checkatrade worth it?

It depends on your cost per job won against the profit in each job. For some trades it fills the diary quickly. The full weighing-up, including the contract and complaints, is in our guide to whether Checkatrade is worth it.

What is a good cost per lead for a tradesperson?

There is no single figure: it depends on your job value, your margin and how many leads you win. A £45 lead is cheap for a £10,000 extension and expensive for a £150 repair. Work out cost per job won, then compare it with the profit in a typical job.

Should I cancel Checkatrade if I get a website?

Not on day one. A new site takes time to rank, and Checkatrade's paid plans run for 12 months and renew automatically. Overlap the two, watch where your jobs come from, and give notice when the site carries its weight.

Sources

The fees in the calculator are example inputs to start from, not quotes. Platform figures are labelled official (from their own pages) or reported (what members say they pay). We do not promise enquiry numbers.

By Janusz Wozniak, Founder & Lead Developer

Built to be blunt both ways: it says when a directory is cheaper per job, so you can trust it when it says the opposite.

Last updated .

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