This page is general information about marketing channels. It is not financial advice, and no channel here is a recommendation. If you are leaving a marketplace, alternatives to Angi and HomeAdvisor for roofers sorts the channels by how they work. This page does something different: it puts all of them on one yardstick, cost per signed job.
The yardstick: cost per signed job
A lead is not a job. Divide what you pay for a lead by the share of leads that sign, and you get the cost of one signed job.
- Cost per lead ÷ close rate = cost per signed job.
- A $50 lead that closes 5% of the time costs $1,000 per signed job.
- A $200 lead that closes 25% of the time costs $800 per signed job.
Profit Acuity's 2026 analysis of shared roofing leads uses the same formula, and shows how far one lead price can swing: at $50 a lead, a 20% close rate gives $250 per booked job, and a 6% close rate gives $833 (published on WBOC's press release page, July 13, 2026). For a longer worked example, see how much roofing leads cost.
What each source costs and how often it closes
One article gathers cost and close-rate ranges for every channel in one place: Zuper's "Best Way to Generate Roofing Leads in 2026," published July 15, 2026. Zuper sells roofing software, and it attributes its figures to other vendors (LeadTruffle, GhostRep, SkillMammoth, Kixie and others) without tying each number to one study. These are vendor claims.
The table below repeats Zuper's ranges. The last column is our own arithmetic: the midpoint of the cost range divided by the midpoint of the close-rate range. It gives a rough ranking, not a prediction. Referrals, where Zuper gives a close rate of "50%+", use 50%.
| Source | Cost per lead (Zuper) | Close rate (Zuper) | Our arithmetic: cost per signed job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals and past customers | $0 to $150 | 50% or more | about $150 |
| Organic search (SEO) | $5 to $40 | 30% to 50% | about $56 |
| Google Business Profile | $0 to $25 | No figure given | not computed |
| Door knocking | $20 to $50 | 15% to 30% | about $156 |
| Social ads | $20 to $80 | 15% to 25% | about $250 |
| Google Local Services Ads | $45 to $162 | 25% to 35% | about $345 |
| Google search ads | $150 to $200 | 20% to 40% | about $583 |
| Lead aggregators (shared) | $40 to $110 | 5% to 15% | about $750 |
Read it with these cautions:
- The ranges are wide, and the close rates are optimistic for paid search. A measured report points the other way. SearchLight Digital's Q1 2026 report on 15 roofing accounts tracked 3,304 leads and 263 paying customers on $347,421 of ad spend. That is about 8% of leads becoming paying customers and about $1,321 of spend per paying customer (our arithmetic on SearchLight's figures). It is one agency's accounts in one quarter, and it notes that replacement jobs close slowly.
- Referral cost is mostly time. ActiveProspect, a lead-management company, calls referrals the lowest cash cost and lists them as free apart from follow-up and the spend on your reputation (ActiveProspect, March 2, 2026). Zuper's $0 to $150 range is its own estimate.
- SEO costs time before it costs leads. Zuper's own sources say results take months. The low cost per lead assumes that work is already done.
- Exclusive leads are not in Zuper's table. See the next section.
Where exclusive leads fit
An exclusive lead goes to one buyer, so it costs more than a shared lead and, in theory, closes more often. ActiveProspect lists exclusive leads at $150 to $300 or more and shared marketplace leads at about $75 to $110 or more (March 2, 2026), and it gives no close rates for either. A lead seller, Elevarus, published a table on May 20, 2026 that puts exclusive leads at $110, a 35% close rate and about $698 per signed job, against $583 for a shared lead called within four minutes and $1,556 for one called in twelve. Elevarus says these numbers are illustrative, not client data. The lesson is not the totals. It is that the shared lead's cost per job moves a great deal with how fast you call, and the exclusive lead's moves less.
Profit Acuity's analysis puts shared marketplace close rates at 2% to 8% with slow or unstructured follow-up, 8% to 15% on average, and 15% to 25% with fast callbacks and qualification. Those are one vendor's numbers. Exclusive vs. shared leads explains the trade-off and the questions to ask any seller, and how to follow up on a new roofing lead covers the first hour.
Reviews and your Google profile
Reviews do not bring leads on their own, but they decide whether a homeowner who finds you calls you. BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 asked 1,002 U.S. adults. It found that 97% read reviews for local businesses online, 68% want at least four stars, and 31% will only use a business rated 4.5 or higher. 74% look for reviews from the last three months, and 80% say they are likely to use a business that replies to all of its reviews (BrightLocal, February 11, 2026). Reviews also feed Google Local Services Ads, where Google lists star rating and number of reviews among the factors that set your ranking.
A Google Business Profile has no fee. Google says you can manage how your business appears on Search and Maps at no charge.
Door knocking and storms
Knocking on doors costs your crew's time, not a lead fee. Zuper's figures put it at $20 to $50 a lead with a close rate of 15% to 30%. Rules on door-to-door sales are set by your state and city, so check your own before you start. One federal rule applies to most home sales made at the door: the FTC's Cooling-Off Rule gives the buyer until midnight of the third business day to cancel, and requires you to tell the buyer so, in writing, and give two copies of a cancellation form (FTC, read October 13, 2026). Sales under $25 and sales made entirely online or by phone are outside it.
How to rank them for your company
Use this order of work:
- Start with what costs you little cash. Ask every finished customer for a review and a referral, and keep your Business Profile current.
- Add one paid source at a time. Give each its own phone number or form, so you can tell them apart.
- Track five numbers per source: leads, people reached, inspections held, estimates given, jobs signed. Divide spend by jobs signed.
- Run each for long enough. A roof replacement can take weeks to sign, so a month of data understates close rates.
- Shift spend to the lowest cost per signed job that you can staff. A source that sends more calls than you can answer wastes money.
The table above is a place to start, not a verdict on any channel. A busy owner-run crew and a team with sales staff will rank them differently.
Where HomeAnvil fits
HomeAnvil is one exclusive pay-per-lead source among the many above. Each new lead goes to one contractor only during your exclusivity window. Leads come from our own ads and our own quote form, and the homeowner answers questions about the project, the home, whether they own it and their timeline before giving contact details. You pay per lead from a prepaid balance, with no contract term and no cancellation fee. See how our roofing leads work. We do not publish a price list, and we make no promise of volume, close rates or revenue.
Our terms, in brief
- Exclusive leads
- Each new lead goes to one contractor only during your exclusivity window; after it, a lead may be offered again, under the terms the homeowner saw.
- No contract term
- A prepaid balance your card tops up when it runs low. No cancellation fee. Pause or stop any time.
- Credits for bad leads
- Report a wrong number or out-of-area lead within 7 days, unless your agreement says otherwise. Accepted returns are credited back.
- Your ZIPs, your cap
- Choose the ZIP codes you serve and how many leads you want each week.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest way for a roofer to get leads?
By cash, referrals and a Google Business Profile, because neither charges per lead. They cost your time and your reputation. SEO also has no per-lead fee, but it takes months of work first.
What is the fastest way to get roofing leads?
Paid sources and door knocking. Zuper lists door knocking as same-day. Ads start once a campaign is live, and Google Local Services Ads start only after Google finishes screening, which Google says takes 3 to 4 weeks on average after you submit your documents.
Are shared leads from marketplaces worth it?
It depends on your close rate. In the figures above, shared leads had the highest cost per signed job even though their price per lead is low, because they close least often. Teams that call within minutes do better on them than teams that do not.
Do exclusive roofing leads close better than shared leads?
Sellers say so, but we found no independent study that measures it for roofing. Compare your own cost per signed job on each for a few months.
Which source should I track first?
Whichever takes the largest share of your budget. Give it its own phone number, and write down every lead and its result.
Where this information comes from
We read each source below on October 13, 2026. Figures from vendors are labeled as vendor claims in the text. The cost-per-signed-job column and the SearchLight ratios are our own arithmetic.
- Zuper, Best Way to Generate Roofing Leads in 2026, July 15, 2026: cost per lead and close rate by channel. A vendor article that relies on other vendors' figures.
- Profit Acuity, Angi and HomeAdvisor Leads for Roofers: Their Real Cost Per Booked Job (2026), published as a press release on WBOC, July 13, 2026: the cost-per-booked-job formula and shared lead close rates.
- ActiveProspect, How much do roofing leads cost?, March 2, 2026: shared and exclusive cost per lead, and referrals as the lowest cash cost.
- Elevarus, Buying Roofing Leads in 2026, May 20, 2026: an illustrative exclusive and shared comparison, labeled by its author as not client data.
- SearchLight Digital, Roofing Google Ads cost per lead, Q1 2026 report: leads, paying customers and spend.
- BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, February 11, 2026.
- Google, About ad rankings: the factors that rank Local Services Ads, including rating and review count.
- Google, Business screening and verification requirements: the 3 to 4 week screening time.
- Google, Business Profile help: no charge for a profile.
- Federal Trade Commission, the Cooling-Off Rule.
We will update this page when these sources change, and the date above will say when.
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