Two numbers, one question
Cost per lead is what you pay for each lead. Cost per booked job is everything you spent on a source, divided by the jobs it actually booked.
Most lead sellers quote the first number. Your bank account only cares about the second.
- Cost per booked job = (lead fees + outreach costs + any monthly fees) ÷ jobs booked.
- For a single lead: cost per lead ÷ close rate. A $20 lead you book 1 time in 10 costs $200 per job.
A worked example
These are example numbers to show the math. They aren't results anyone has seen.
- Source A: $45 per lead, you book 1 in 5. Cost per booked job: $45 ÷ 0.20 = $225.
- Source B: $15 per lead, you book 1 in 20. Cost per booked job: $15 ÷ 0.05 = $300.
- Source C: $3 per lead plus $1.50 of postcards, you book 1 in 50. Cost per booked job: $4.50 ÷ 0.02 = $225.
What the example shows
The cheapest lead isn't the cheapest job. Source A costs three times as much per lead as Source B, and books jobs for less.
Close rate moves the answer more than price does. Halve your close rate and your cost per job doubles.
So pick a source on what a booked job costs you, not on the lead price, and check that number every month.
Real benchmarks to compare against
Google search ads: WordStream/LocaliQ's 2025 home-services report, as written up by a third party, puts the average cost per lead at about $46.99 for cleaning and $90.92 across all home services. Your close rate on those leads is the part only you know.
Direct mail: the ANA's 2025 response rate report, as summarized by third parties, puts response to prospect lists at about 2% to 4.4%. A response isn't a booked job, so your booked rate will be lower.
Job value: MaidCentral's 2026 cleaning-industry index puts revenue per cleaning job at $217.91 and recurring-customer churn at 6.14% a month. That works out to roughly 16 months for an average recurring customer.
Count the whole customer, not just the first job
If customers come back, the first job isn't the whole story. A $300 cost per job looks bad against one $218 clean, and fine against a customer who books every two weeks for a year.
Use the first-job number to protect your cash, and the 12-month number to decide what a new customer is worth. Keep both honest by using your own prices and your own repeat rate.
Our pricing page shows what a lead costs on each plan, so you can run this math before you sign. Any result is an illustrative example, not a guarantee.