One of the first questions tradespeople ask when they start Google Ads is: “What should I be paying per lead?” The answer depends on your trade, your location, and your job value — but here are the benchmarks and how to think about it.
Average Cost Per Lead by Trade (UK, 2025)
These are approximate averages for Google Ads in competitive Yorkshire and Northern England markets:
- Plumber/Emergency plumber: £20-£60 per lead
- Electrician: £25-£70 per lead
- Roofer: £30-£80 per lead
- Kitchen fitter: £40-£120 per lead
- Boiler installation: £50-£150 per lead
- General builder: £35-£100 per lead
These are wide ranges because costs vary enormously by location, competition, ad quality, and landing page performance.
How to Calculate Your Maximum Acceptable CPL
Work backwards from your job value. If your average job is worth £800 and you close 40% of enquiries: 10 leads x 40% close rate = 4 jobs. 4 jobs x £800 = £3,200 revenue. If your profit margin is 40%, that is £1,280 gross profit from 10 leads. Maximum spend on those 10 leads to break even: £1,280. Maximum CPL: £128. This gives you headroom — anything under £128 per lead is profitable for this example.
How to Reduce Your Cost Per Lead
Improve Your Landing Page Conversion Rate
If your landing page converts 5% of clicks into leads, your CPL is 20x your cost per click. If you improve it to 10%, your CPL halves. Better landing pages are often the highest-leverage improvement available.
Sharpen Your Keyword Targeting
Bidding on overly broad keywords drives up costs and reduces relevance. Target specific, high-intent searches. Add negative keywords aggressively to eliminate wasted spend.
Improve Your Ad Quality Score
Google charges less per click to ads with high Quality Scores (relevance, expected CTR, landing page experience). A higher Quality Score means lower costs and better positions.
Focus Budget on Best-Performing Times and Locations
Run your ads when your potential customers are most active (typically 7am-7pm weekdays for most trades). Bid more aggressively in your core service area, less in fringe areas.
What If Your CPL Seems Too High?
Before cutting your budget, audit the problem. Is it the keywords? The landing page? The ad copy? The offer? Most high-CPL problems have a specific, fixable cause. Cutting budget without fixing the root cause just means fewer expensive leads rather than cheaper leads.
Want a free audit of your Google Ads campaigns? Book a call and we will identify exactly where you are overspending.