A good cost per lead for home renovation sits between £50 and £150 on Google Search, £20 and £60 on Meta, and £80 and £200 on LinkedIn — but none of those numbers matter unless you also track your close rate and your average job value. The only metric that tells the full story is cost per contracted job.
Why Cost Per Lead Is Incomplete on Its Own
If an agency tells you they can get you leads for £10, you should be worried. In high-ticket renovation, a lead that cheap usually lacks intent, hasn't been qualified, or is just someone looking for a 'ballpark' price they can't afford. The cost per lead only matters when it's viewed alongside the lead-to-contract conversion rate.
Consider two contractors running paid search campaigns. Contractor A pays £40 per lead and closes one in eight, meaning their cost per job is £320. Contractor B pays £90 per lead but closes one in three, meaning their cost per job is £270. Contractor B has a "worse" CPL but a dramatically better acquisition economics. Every pound they invest works harder.
This is the core problem with CPL as a primary success metric: it rewards volume over quality, and in high-ticket renovation, quality wins every time. A kitchen remodel worth £25,000 can absorb a £200 cost per lead with a healthy margin. A £200 lead on a £2,000 bathroom job cannot. The metric must always be read in proportion to your average job value.
Typical close rate on low-intent digital leads
Close rate on high-intent, pre-qualified leads
Of target revenue most successful remodelers reinvest in marketing
What CPL Ranges Look Like by Channel for Remodeling
Different channels attract different buyer states, and that determines how much you'll pay per lead. Understanding which channel is feeding your pipeline — and what to expect from each — is the foundation for realistic budget planning.
Google Search Ads: £50–£150 per lead
Search leads are the most valuable because the prospect is actively looking for a contractor right now. They've typed a specific query, which means intent is high. You'll pay more for this quality, but conversion rates justify the cost in most markets.
Meta (Facebook/Instagram): £20–£60 per lead
Meta leads are cheaper because you're interrupting a scroll, not answering an active search query. The prospect wasn't thinking about a renovation before they saw your ad, which means more nurturing is required before they're ready to buy. Higher lead volume, lower conversion rate.
LinkedIn: £80–£200 per lead
LinkedIn reaches commercial and professional audiences — relevant for contractors targeting office fit-outs, commercial renovations, or high-income homeowners in professional roles. Expensive, but when the audience matches your ideal client, quality is high.
Local Service Ads (LSAs): £30–£80 per lead
Google's lead generation product for verified local businesses. Leads come via phone call, meaning they're typically more serious than form fills. Increasingly competitive in remodeling markets but still effective when managed well.
These ranges are broad because markets vary significantly. A contractor in a dense urban market competing with twenty others for "kitchen remodeling London" will pay more than one in a suburban area with less competition. The starting point isn't what the market average is — it's what the economics look like for your specific job values, close rates, and market conditions.
The Metric That Actually Matters: Cost Per Contracted Job
The ultimate metric for any remodeling business is Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) — specifically, the cost per signed contract. If you spend £1,000 on marketing and sign one £20,000 contract, your CPA is £1,000. Whether that contract came from ten £100 leads or one hundred £10 leads doesn't matter. The result is what pays the bills.
The scenario above shows why a lower CPL can actually produce a worse economic result. When your close rate improves dramatically, you spend less per acquired job even if you spend more per lead. This is why the best renovation marketers obsess over close rate and lead quality alongside CPL.
How Lead Quality Affects Your Numbers
Lead quality in renovation is determined by a handful of factors: whether the prospect has a genuine project in mind, whether their budget is in your range, whether they're in a position to make a decision, and whether they understand the value of what they're buying. A system that attracts leads scoring high on all four of these will always outperform one that prioritises volume.
- Vague project description ("just looking")
- Asking immediately about "rough ballpark"
- No timeline for the project
- Multiple quotes from many contractors
- Came from a lead aggregator or directory
- Specific project description with photos
- Asking about your process and portfolio
- Clear timeline pressure ("need it done by...")
- Specific budget range they've considered
- Came from your own website or referral
The distinction matters because high-quality leads require different marketing to attract. They're not responding to "get a free quote" — they're looking for a contractor who demonstrates skill, professionalism, and trustworthiness before the first conversation. Content, case studies, and a strong portfolio drive quality leads more reliably than pure ad volume.
What Budget Makes Sense for a Remodeling Business
Most successful remodeling businesses reinvest 5–10% of their target revenue back into marketing to maintain a consistent pipeline. If you want to book £600,000 of work per year, a marketing budget of £30,000–£60,000 annually is a reasonable foundation. This includes ad spend, agency management fees, content, and any tools or software.
The right split between channels depends on your sales cycle, your team's capacity to follow up quickly, and the competition in your local market. As a starting point, most remodelers find that allocating 60–70% of their digital budget to search (Google Ads and LSAs) and the remainder to Meta for retargeting and brand building produces the most predictable pipeline.
"The budget question isn't 'how much can I afford to spend on marketing?' It's 'how much does it cost me to bring in a contract, and does that number make sense given my job value and margin?'"
— Wisdom First MarketingWarning Signs Your CPL Is Misleading You
Your CPL can look great while your business is actually bleeding. Here are the signs that your cost per lead metric is giving you a false sense of security.
Your close rate is declining
If your leads are getting cheaper but your close rate drops, the quality is falling. You're filling your calendar with consultations that go nowhere, which wastes your team's time and creates opportunity cost you're not accounting for.
You're quoting a lot but winning little
If your consultations convert to quotes but your quotes rarely convert to contracts, the problem isn't lead volume — it's lead fit. You're attracting people who aren't a match for your service, price point, or process.
Your average job value is shrinking
Cheap leads often mean lower-value projects. If your CPL is falling but so is your average contract size, you may be succeeding at attracting the wrong end of the market.
Your agency reports CPL but not CPA
An agency that celebrates a low CPL without connecting it to contracted jobs is optimising for the metric they control. Ask specifically for cost per qualified lead and cost per contracted job in every monthly report.
Know what your numbers need to look like
Use our Lead Volume Calculator to work backwards from your target jobs per month to the clicks, leads, and budget required across five ad channels.
Use the CalculatorCommon Questions
What is a good CPL for renovation?
A 'good' CPL depends on your average job value. For high-end remodeling, a CPL between £50 and £150 is often healthy if the conversion rate to signed contracts remains stable. The real question is your cost per contracted job.
How do I calculate cost per contracted job?
Divide your total marketing spend by the number of signed contracts generated from that spend. This gives you a clear picture of your actual acquisition cost and makes it easy to evaluate whether your marketing investment makes sense.
How does lead quality affect CPL?
Higher quality leads usually cost more to acquire because they require more precise targeting and better messaging, but they convert at a much higher rate, leading to a lower overall cost per job. Don't optimise for the cheapest lead — optimise for the cheapest job.
What's the right budget for a remodeling company?
Most successful remodeling companies reinvest 5–10% of their target revenue back into marketing to maintain a consistent pipeline of new work. The exact figure depends on your market, competition, and average job value.
Why does my agency report CPL but not close rate?
Because they control CPL and don't control your close rate. Push them to track leads through to booked consultations and signed contracts. Any agency managing significant ad spend should be able to report on lead-to-contract conversion with your CRM data.