The Real Cost of a Rented Lead
2 min
Key Points
- The effective customer acquisition cost on Angi is approximately $2,500 per booked job. The SEO-sourced equivalent is $290 to $310 — an 8x cost difference.
- A typical restoration contractor spends $65,000 to $110,000 per year on lead gen platforms, building zero equity. The same investment in owned digital presence builds an appreciating asset.
- Lead gen platforms sell the same lead to 3 to 5 contractors simultaneously, driving close rates down to 10-15% vs 40-60% on exclusive organic leads.
- Angi’s revenue has declined 43% from its $1.8 billion peak, yet lead prices continue rising for contractors.
- A free growth assessment at bodyne.com/score calculates your true cost per acquisition across rented vs owned channels.
Run the math on a typical restoration contractor using Angi.
Industry benchmarks put water damage restoration leads at $300 to $1,000 each on Angi. The platform sells each lead to 3 to 5 contractors simultaneously. Close rates on shared leads run 10 to 15%.
Take a contractor buying 20 leads per month at $500 average. That is $10,000 per month. At a 12% close rate, that is 2.4 booked jobs. Roughly $4,167 per booked job in acquisition cost alone. Before a single truck rolls.
The average water damage restoration ticket is $3,000 to $5,000. After labor, materials, equipment, insurance, and overhead, the margin on a $4,000 job is around $1,100 to $1,400.
The acquisition cost can exceed the margin on the job itself.
Being busy is not the same as being profitable. And renting leads is not the same as owning customers.