Roofing leads: what they cost, and who else gets them.

The bit every seller skips

A repair lead and a re-roof lead are different products.

"Roofing leads" gets sold as one thing. It isn't. A re-roof is worth dozens of tile repairs, so what you can afford to pay for the lead changes just as much. Here's what each job is worth, and the most a lead for it should cost you if you win one quote in three.

The last column uses a rough rule: winning a job should cost you about 10 to 15 percent of what it's worth, counting the quotes you lost to get it. It's worked out from the middle of each price range. So a £20 lead is a bargain on a re-roof, fine on a flat roof or chimney, and a loser on a tile or leak repair unless you win nearly every quote.

Buying leads

What the lead sellers' own terms actually say.

Nearly every page ranking for "roofing leads" is a seller's sales page. We read their terms and pricing pages instead, because that's what you're actually signing up to.

Generating your own

What roofing leads cost when you buy the click yourself.

A click isn't a lead, so you need a conversion rate to turn one into the other. The only published figure for home improvement is WordStream's: 7.33% of search clicks become an enquiry. It's US data, so treat it as a rough guide. Here's what that makes a lead on each roofing search.

Google Ads data for the UK, pulled 23 September 2026. These are bid-based estimates, so most advertisers pay less per click than this.

So on price per lead alone, a £20 bought lead beats running your own ads. Where your own leads win is everything else about them:

• →Nobody else was sold the lead. The customer searched, saw your ad, and rang you.
• →You pick the jobs. Bid on re-roofs and flat roofs, skip the tile repairs that can't carry a lead cost.
• →Your number only shows when you can answer. Google lets you schedule your ads and your call button to your working hours.
• →You can turn it up in autumn and down in summer, day by day, with no contract to sit out.
• →Nobody takes a margin on the click. You pay Google directly.

For budgets, see how much to spend on Google Ads.

Lead to job

What turns a roofing lead into a job.

Answer within the hour

Harvard Business Review studied 1.25 million web leads at 42 US companies. Firms that tried to reach a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to have a real conversation with the decision maker as firms that waited even an hour longer, and more than 60 times as likely as firms that waited a day. Of 2,241 companies they tested, 23% never replied at all.

The famous "5-minute rule" comes from an older 2007 study of six companies, and its authors say it "did not address close ratios". Neither study was about roofing, and neither measured jobs won. On a shared lead you're racing the others, though, so ring first.

Give them what they've been told to check

The National Federation of Roofing Contractors tells homeowners exactly what to look for. Answer those questions before they ask:

• ✓Get up to three roofers to look at the job, and "do not automatically take the cheapest option"
• ✓Get the quote in writing, except possibly for small emergency repairs
• ✓Ask for an insurance-backed guarantee, because "even the best contractors can go out of business"
• ✓Be careful about paying upfront and about cash or VAT-free deals

NFRC members are inspected before they join and every three years after. If half or more of a roof is replaced, Building Control has to be notified, unless the roofer is in a competent person scheme such as CompetentRoofer or NAPIT and self-certifies. CompetentRoofer comes with a 10-year insurance-backed guarantee on that work. Say which schemes you're in, up front, on your quote and your website.

Know the rules when you quote at their home

A job agreed in the customer's home is an off-premises contract under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. That means:

• →They can cancel within 14 days without giving a reason
• →Leave out the written cancellation information and it's a criminal offence, and the cancellation period runs up to 12 months longer
• →Starting inside the 14 days needs their express request in writing, or you risk not being paid if they cancel
• →An urgent repair they called you out for is exempt

None of this applies to an off-premises job of £42 or less. For everything bigger, have a written quote template that covers it.

The honest verdict

Which route suits which roofer.

You don't have to pick one. Buying exclusive re-roof leads to fill the diary now, while your own ads and website get going, then cutting back once your own leads are coming in, is a sensible split. For the full order to do things in, read how to get more leads.

Straight answers

Questions roofers actually ask.

How much do roofing leads cost in the UK?

It depends on the route. Lead Pronto advertises exclusive roofing leads from £20 each and booked appointments from £130. Hammer Down runs an auction where bids start at £20. Get Work sells a monthly plan from £600 plus VAT, of which £300 is Google Ads spend. Checkatrade, Bark, MyBuilder and MyJobQuote do not publish a roofing lead price at all. Buying the click yourself on a roofing search costs £3.93 to £13.17.

Where can I buy roofing leads?

From a pay-per-lead seller (Lead Pronto, Hammer Down), a shared lead site (MyJobQuote, Bark), a directory plan (Checkatrade, TrustATrader) or a managed ads subscription (Get Work, Leads Everyday). Rated People no longer sells memberships: since September 2026 its leads go to Checkatrade members.

Are exclusive roofing leads worth it?

On a re-roof, almost always: the rough rule on this page lets you pay about £625 a lead on a £12,500 job at one win in three. On a tile repair it allows about £12, so a £20 lead loses money before you have quoted. Check what "exclusive" means at your seller, too: at Hammer Down it only covers leads sold through its own platform.

What is the 5 minute rule for leads?

It is the idea that you should call a lead back within five minutes. It comes from a 2007 study of six companies that measured whether a lead was reached and qualified, not whether a job was won. The stronger source is Harvard Business Review in 2011: firms that tried to reach a web lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as firms that waited even an hour longer.

Is buying leads legal in the UK?

Yes, but you carry the risk. The ICO says a business buying marketing data must do its own checks, and that it is not enough to accept the seller's assurances. Consent passed on by a third party should generally not be used after six months, for emails and texts it has to name your business, and if you ask someone to make marketing calls for you, you can be responsible for them.

How can I get free roofing leads?

A Google Business Profile costs nothing, and Google says local ranking comes down to relevance, distance and prominence, with reviews helping prominence. You cannot pay for a better position in it. Set it up as a service-area business with up to 20 areas, and ask every finished job for a review.

Can roofers use Google Local Services Ads in the UK?

Yes. Roofers is one of the UK categories. You need a verified Business Profile and to pass Google's screening, which takes three to four weeks on average. In the UK you pay for answered phone calls, and there are no automatic credits for bad leads.

What is a roofing lead?

Somebody who wants roofing work and has left their details or rung you. The word covers very different things: Checkatrade's terms count a click from its site to yours as a lead, while Lead Pronto separates a lead from a booked appointment and prices them differently.