Guide
Plumbing leads: what they cost, who else gets them, and how to own your own
Where plumbing and heating leads come from, what each kind costs, which ones are shared with other plumbers, and what you keep when you stop paying.
Plumbing leads are customer enquiries you pay someone else for: a lead site, Google, or a lead agency. They work for some plumbers, heating engineers and electricians, but most are paid for whether or not you win the job, and some are shared with other trades. airstad local takes a different route for trades in Surrey, Hampshire, West Sussex and London: it runs your own website, Google Business Profile and reviews, so customers come to you directly. This guide sets out where leads come from, what they cost and what you keep.
Where do plumbing leads come from?
Plumbing leads come from four places: lead sites, Google’s Local Services Ads, lead agencies and your own listing and website. Each one charges differently, and only the last one belongs to you.
| Source | How you pay | Who else gets the customer | What you keep when you stop paying |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead sites (Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Bark, Rated People) | A membership, a fee per shortlist, or credits per lead | On some sites, several trades contact the same customer | New leads stop |
| Google Local Services Ads | A charge for each lead from the ad | Other businesses appear in the same ad block | New leads stop |
| Lead agencies | A fee per lead or a monthly fee | Depends on the agency’s terms; read them before you sign | New leads stop |
| Your own enquiries | Your time, or a fixed fee to someone who runs it | Nobody: the customer found you | Your website, your Google listing and your reviews |
How much does a plumbing lead cost?
A plumbing lead costs from about £5 to £40, depending on where it comes from and the size of the job. These are third-party estimates, because most platforms do not publish a price per lead.
- Google’s Local Services Ads cost about £15 to £40 a lead, and Rated People £5 to £20, according to Whito’s UK plumber marketing costs (opens in a new tab) .
- Google says you pay only for leads related to your business and services, in its Local Services Ads guide for the UK (opens in a new tab) .
- What Checkatrade, MyBuilder and Bark charge, with sources, is in our guide to how much Checkatrade costs .
Are shared plumbing leads worth paying for?
A shared lead is worth paying for only if you win enough of them to cover the ones you lose. On Bark, three to five tradespeople typically contact the same customer, according to NobleLeads (opens in a new tab) , and at most one of them gets the job.
- Work out the cost of each job you win, not each lead: what you spent in a month, divided by the jobs that came from it.
- Do that over three months, because one month can mislead.
- Compare it with what a job earns you. Our Pricing page has a calculator for the same sum.
Do electricians and heating engineers pay for leads the same way?
Yes. Electricians and heating engineers buy leads from the same lead sites and from Google’s Local Services Ads, which lists both plumbers and electricians as services in the UK. The cost per lead varies by trade, job size and area, so check each platform’s own pages for your trade.
How do you get plumbing enquiries that are yours?
You get your own enquiries by making sure the customer finds you first: a website with a page for each job you do, a complete Google Business Profile, and recent reviews. Customers who find you that way call you, not a list of trades.
- A Google Business Profile is free, and it is the listing that shows your business on Google Maps.
- More Google reviews come from asking every customer on the day the job ends.
- Your website should have a page for each job and each area you cover.
If you would rather hand that over, airstad local runs all three for plumbers, heating engineers and electricians for one fixed monthly fee, set out on our pricing page . We do not promise a number of enquiries, because nobody can. Some plumbers keep a lead site as well, and that is a choice to make against your own figures.
Sources
Lead prices change without notice, and most platforms do not publish them, so the figures above are estimates, not quotes. Check each platform’s own pages before you decide.
More guides
- How much does a website cost in the UK for a plumber?
- What UK agencies publish for a plumber's or electrician's website, what the price does and does not include, and what to check before you pay.
- Website for plumbers, heating engineers and electricians: what to put on each service page
- Give each job you want more of its own page, answer what customers ask before they ring, and leave off what Google treats as spam.
- Google review rules for plumbers, heating engineers and electricians, on one page
- Ask every customer, offer nothing in return, and never write, filter or trade away a review. What Google's policy and UK law say about each common practice, with the source for every line.
- How to add your business to Google Maps: a complete Google Business Profile for plumbers, heating engineers and electricians
- How to get your business on Google Maps, and what a complete listing needs. Every part of it, what Google allows in each, and a ten-minute monthly check that keeps it right.
- How much does Checkatrade cost? Checkatrade, MyBuilder and Bark compared for plumbers, heating engineers and electricians
- How much Checkatrade costs, what MyBuilder and Bark charge a plumber, heating engineer or electrician, how each one charges, and why the price of a lead is not the price of a job.
- How to get more Google reviews: a guide for plumbers, heating engineers and electricians
- Ask every customer on the day, send one reminder, and never offer anything in return. What Google and UK law allow, what they rule out, and a routine that fits a busy week.