What a Loft Conversion or Extension Lead Is Actually Worth — And What You Should Pay to Get One
Most trades owners know a lead costs money but have never done the maths on what one is actually worth. Here's the simple calculation that tells you exactly how much you can afford to pay per enquiry.
Ask a builder what they'd pay for a genuine loft conversion enquiry and you'll get anything from 'nothing, work comes by word of mouth' to a wild guess. But every growing trades business eventually pays for leads — through ads, through an agency, through Checkatrade fees, or through the owner's own evenings doing marketing. The ones who grow profitably are simply the ones who know the number.
The basic calculation
The value of a lead is: average job value × gross margin × lead-to-job conversion rate. Take a loft conversion company with an average job of £55,000, a 25% gross margin, and a record of converting one in four quoted enquiries into signed work. Each lead is worth £55,000 × 0.25 × 0.25 — roughly £3,400 in gross profit.
That number changes how you see marketing costs completely. Paying £150 for a qualified lead that carries £3,400 of expected profit isn't an expense — it's one of the best trades you'll make all year. Even paying £400 is fine. The businesses scared of paying for leads usually haven't done this sum; they've just anchored on 'marketing is a cost'.
Why bigger jobs change the maths entirely
Run the same calculation for a bathroom fitter with a £6,000 average job and the lead value drops to around £300–£400. Still healthy — but the headroom is tighter. This is why the same Google Ads click can be a bargain for an extension builder and ruinous for a handyman: the click costs the same, but the job behind it doesn't. Before you spend anything on lead generation, know which side of that line you're on.
Don't forget the lifetime multiplier
A signed client isn't worth one job. They're worth the repeat work, the referral to the neighbours who watched the scaffold go up, and the review that wins the next stranger. Conservatively, a delighted extension client is worth 1.3–1.5× the initial job over a few years. Factor that in and your true lead value — and therefore what you can afford to pay — rises again.
What leads actually cost by channel
Checkatrade and similar platforms sell shared leads — often £30–£60 each, quoted against three or four competitors, with conversion rates to match (10% is common). That makes the effective cost per signed job far higher than the sticker price. Exclusive leads from your own Google presence — ads or organic — cost more upfront but convert at two to three times the rate, because the homeowner chose you specifically, not a directory listing.
The number that actually matters
In the end there's only one figure that counts: cost per signed job, compared to the gross profit that job produces. Track it for three months and every marketing decision becomes simple. Channels producing signed work at 10–15% of job value get more budget. Channels you can't measure get cut. That discipline — not any clever tactic — is what separates trades businesses that scale from ones that stay stuck at the same turnover year after year.
Want to know your real numbers?
Book a free 20-minute audit — we'll work through your average job value, conversion rate and margin, and tell you exactly what a lead is worth to your business and the cheapest way to get more of them.
