Getting customers
Where HVAC, plumbing and electrical leads come from, and what each one costs
In 2026, a Google Local Services Ads lead cost HVAC, plumbing and electrical contractors $39 to $57, and a search ad lead $128 to $183 unless the caller had searched their name. Here is where leads come from, what each costs, and the number worth comparing instead.
On this page
The short version
- On SearchLight's 2026 benchmarks, a Google Local Services Ads lead cost $51 for HVAC, $57 for plumbing and $39 for electrical.
- A Google search ad lead, for any search but the company's own name, cost $149 for HVAC, $183 for plumbing and $128 for electrical.
- Per paying customer, Local Services Ads cost $233, against $472 for Google search ads overall.
- A free Google Business Profile sent SearchLight's contractors about as many leads in June 2026 as Local Services Ads did.
- Angi, Thumbtack and Yelp publish no prices, and Angi sends each request to several pros.
A lead is a call, a message or a form from someone who might hire you. Where it comes from decides what you pay for it, and how often it turns into a paid job.
The figures here are from SearchLight, which sells ad tracking to contractors and follows their leads through to the invoices they collected. They're the closest thing there is to a price list. Google, Angi, Thumbtack and Yelp all set their prices by the job, the place and the demand, and none of them publishes one.
Where leads come from, and how you pay for each
| Where it comes from | How you pay | What a lead cost |
|---|---|---|
| Your Google Business Profile, in the map results | Nothing. It takes your time: hours, photos and reviews | Free |
| Google Local Services Ads, at the top of the search page | Per call, message or booking from the ad, not per click | $53 on average (February 2026) |
| Google search ads, when someone searches your name | Per click | $34 (January 2026) |
| Google search ads, for any other search | Per click | $149 for HVAC and plumbing (January 2026) |
| Yelp Ads | Per click, at a price that moves with demand | Yelp doesn't publish one |
| Angi or HomeAdvisor | Per lead, priced by the size of the job. Each request goes to several pros | Angi doesn't publish one |
| Thumbtack | Per lead, within a price and a budget you set | Thumbtack doesn't publish one |
| Referrals, past customers, your trucks and signs | Nothing per lead | Free |
The Local Services figure is across 888 contractors, and the search ad figures across 816 HVAC and plumbing contractors, from SearchLight's two benchmarks. How each company charges is from its own help pages, listed at the end.
What one lead cost, by trade
SearchLight splits its figures by trade. In all three, a lead from Local Services Ads cost about a third of one from a search ad.
| Trade | Google Local Services Ads | Google search ads, any other search |
|---|---|---|
| HVAC | $51 | $149 |
| Plumbing | $57 | $183 |
| Electrical | $39 | $128 |
Local Services Ads: February 2026, from 409 HVAC, 230 plumbing and 112 electrical accounts. Search ads: HVAC from January 2026, and plumbing and electrical from January to March 2026, from 524 and 271 accounts.
The spread inside one trade is wider than the gap between trades. For plumbing search ads, one account in ten paid $77 a lead or less, and one in ten paid $396 or more: five times as much, for the same trade in the same months. How an account is run moves the price more than the trade does.
Compare the cost of a customer, not of a lead
A cheap lead that never books costs more than a dear one that does. SearchLight followed each lead to the invoice, and per paying customer the gap grows:
- $233 per paying customer from Local Services Ads. Source: SearchLight, February 2026
- $472 per paying customer from Google search ads overall. Source: SearchLight, January 2026
- $804 per paying customer from search ads for any search but your name. Source: SearchLight, January 2026
Search ads on your own name were the cheapest of all: $34 a lead and $104 per paying customer. But those people were already looking for you. Google's Performance Max ads cost $72 a lead and booked the least often: 32.2% of their leads, against 43.9% for Local Services Ads.
Then what each lead brought in. SearchLight's return on ad spend, times its cost per lead, is the paid work one Local Services lead turned into, on average:
| Trade | Cost per lead | Return on ad spend | Paid work per lead | Average paid job |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC | $51 | 9.55× | $487 | $2,110 |
| Plumbing | $57 | 6.85× | $390 | $1,714 |
| Electrical | $39 | 8.52× | $332 | $1,434 |
Paid work per lead sits far below the average job because most leads never became a paying customer: roughly 19% of Local Services leads did, on SearchLight's figures. Its contractors track their ads closely, which may make these numbers look better than yours. Revenue it couldn't match to a lead is left out, which makes them look worse.
The leads you don't pay for one by one
In June 2026, SearchLight's contractors got about as many leads from their free Google Business Profiles (372,200) as from Local Services Ads (376,500), and more than from Google search ads (306,800). Search results outside the ads sent 79,900. AI assistants such as ChatGPT sent 1,715.
Shared leads: Angi, HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack
Marketplaces charge per lead, not per job. Angi's help pages for pros say it sends each request to several pros, that different sized jobs have different lead fees, and that it makes no guarantee of how much work you'll get. Thumbtack says you set your own price and budget for leads, and that they decide how many you get.
So what a lead costs there depends on your trade, your area and the job. And a shared lead is one that other pros are calling too.
Before you pay for leads anywhere
- Ask what counts as a lead, and what doesn't: spam, a caller outside your area, a job you don't do.
- Ask how you get credit for a bad one. Google checks each Local Services lead for 30 days and credits low-quality ones on its own.
- Set a monthly cap. Google and Yelp both say they never charge more than the monthly maximum you set.
- Know which source sent each job. Ask every caller how they found you, or give each source its own phone number.
- Answer, or call back within minutes. Other pros are calling a shared lead too, and on Local Services Ads a missed call can be billed.
The lead you already paid for
Since October 1, 2026, Google charges a Local Services advertiser for a call missed during business hours once the caller has stayed on the line for more than 20 seconds. Its own help page on how leads work now says so (what changed).
Misses are common. Invoca's 2026 home-services data puts the share of callers who never reach a person at about 48%. Every lead you pay for and don't answer raises the price of the ones you do.
Common questions
How much does an HVAC lead cost?
On SearchLight's 2026 benchmarks, a Google Local Services Ads lead cost HVAC contractors $51 on average in February 2026, and a Google search ad lead, for any search but the company's own name, cost $149 in January 2026. Angi, Thumbtack and Yelp don't publish prices: theirs depend on the job, the place and the demand.
How much does a plumbing lead cost?
$57 from Google Local Services Ads in February 2026, and $183 from Google search ads for other searches than the company's name in January to March 2026, on SearchLight's benchmarks. Search ad prices varied five times over between plumbing accounts, from $77 a lead to $396.
How much does an electrical lead cost?
$39 from Google Local Services Ads in February 2026, and $128 from Google search ads for other searches than the company's name in January to March 2026, on SearchLight's benchmarks.
What's the cheapest way to get HVAC and plumbing leads?
The free ones: your Google Business Profile, referrals and past customers. Of the paid ones, Local Services Ads cost SearchLight's contractors $233 per paying customer, against $472 for Google search ads overall. Search ads on your own name cost least of all, but only reach people already looking for you.
Are Angi and Thumbtack leads worth it?
Only your own numbers can say. Both charge per lead, at prices set by the job and the place, and Angi sends each request to several pros. Count what you spent and the paying customers it brought in for a month or two, then compare that cost per customer with Google's.
Sources
- SearchLight, Google Local Services Ads cost per lead by trade, February 2026 (888 contractors; cost per lead, booked share, average job and return by trade; $233 per paying customer). Checked .
- SearchLight, What is a good cost per lead for HVAC Google Ads?, January 2026 (816 HVAC and plumbing contractors; search ads on the company's name, other searches and Performance Max). Checked .
- SearchLight, Plumbing Google Ads cost per lead, January to March 2026 (524 plumbing and 271 electrical accounts; the spread between accounts). Checked .
- SearchLight, Are ChatGPT and LLMs sending leads to home services contractors?, July 2026 (leads by source in June 2026). Checked .
- Google, How leads work (Local Services Ads) (prices by place, job and lead type; the missed-call rule; credits within 30 days). Checked .
- Google, Local Services Ads (pay per lead, not per click; search ads are pay per click). Checked .
- Google, Business Profile (free to create). Checked .
- Angi Leads, Service Professional FAQs (several pros per request; lead fees by job size; no guarantee of work). Checked .
- Thumbtack, for pros (you set your price and budget for leads). Checked .
- Yelp, How does Yelp's Cost Per Click advertising program work? (pay per click at a price set by demand; never over the monthly budget). Checked .
- Invoca, Home Services Lead Conversion Benchmarks Report, July 2026 (52% of callers reach a person). Checked .
Prices and policies change; the links are the authority, not this page. Spot something out of date? Tell us.
