For most local service businesses in Phoenix, a good cost per lead is between $40 and $150 — but the number only means something next to your job value. A useful rule: your cost per lead should be under 10% of your average job value if you close around a third of what comes in.
The short answer
Between $40 and $150 for most Phoenix local service businesses. Emergency trades sit at the low end because intent is high and the decision is fast. Considered purchases — remodelling, medical, legal — sit well above it, and $300 a lead can be perfectly healthy if the job is worth $20,000.
The number on its own is almost useless. What matters is the relationship between three figures you already have.
The only three numbers that matter
Cost per lead is meaningless without job value and close rate. Together they give you cost per booked job, which is the figure that decides whether marketing is working.
| Business | Cost / lead | Close rate | Job value | Cost / booked job |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC emergency | $65 | 55% | $1,400 | $118 |
| Landscape design | $120 | 25% | $9,000 | $480 |
| Kitchen remodel | $310 | 12% | $34,000 | $2,583 |
The remodeller pays nearly five times the cost per lead of the HVAC business and is running the healthier account, because their cost per booked job is 7.6% of revenue against the HVAC business's 8.4%.
If somebody tells you your cost per lead is too high without asking what a job is worth, they are guessing.
What a good number looks like, by trade
Ranges from the Phoenix accounts we run, twelve months to September 2026. Yours will sit somewhere in the band depending on competition and season.
| Trade | Typical cost per lead | What pushes it up |
|---|---|---|
| HVAC & plumbing | $45–$110 | Summer emergency season |
| Electrical | $55–$130 | Commercial terms |
| Roofing | $90–$220 | Storm season, heavy bidding |
| Landscaping | $60–$140 | Design vs maintenance mix |
| Remodelling | $180–$400 | Long consideration cycle |
| Med spa & wellness | $70–$190 | Scottsdale competition |
If your number is too high
In order of how fast they move, which is rarely the order people try them in.
- Answer the phone. Across the accounts we audit, between a fifth and a third of paid calls go unanswered or to voicemail. No targeting change competes with fixing that.
- Separate emergency from planned. Blending them in one campaign means one budget and one bid strategy serving two products with different economics.
- Cut the geography you don't serve. Most accounts are paying for clicks thirty miles outside any realistic service area.
- Fix the landing page. Sending paid traffic to a homepage is the most common and most expensive error in local paid search.
- Then touch the keywords. Last, not first — this is where most people start.
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Related questions
Is cost per lead the same as cost per acquisition?
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Brandon Miller
Founder of Weslo Digital. Running marketing for Arizona local businesses since 2011. The figures in this article come from the accounts we manage, not from industry surveys.