What should a roofing lead cost in Ireland?

The ranges we actually see

On Meta, a well-run roofing campaign in Ireland produces leads somewhere between €8 and €30. The cheap end is a form asking for a name and number, which fills your phone with people who will not answer it. The dear end asks what the roof is, what the problem is and when they need it, and produces a list worth ringing.

On Google Ads, roofing searches are competitive and clicks are not cheap. A lead usually lands between €40 and €120. The conversion rate is far higher because somebody typed the words — they have a problem now, and they are looking for someone to fix it.

Neither number means anything on its own. What matters is cost per quote given, and after that cost per job won.

Storm weeks change the arithmetic completely

Roofing demand is not evenly spread. A named storm goes through and an entire county needs the same work in the same fortnight, from people who are not comparing three quotes because water is coming through a ceiling.

In those weeks the cost per lead usually falls and the close rate roughly doubles, because urgency removes the price comparison. The roofers who capture them are the ones with a campaign already built and paused, ready to turn up within hours. Building a campaign during the spike means missing it — by the time it is approved and learning, the week is over.

Repairs and re-roofs are not the same lead

A slipped slate and a full re-roof arrive through the same form and differ in value by a factor of twenty. Run as one campaign, your average cost per lead looks respectable and your cost per re-roof is completely invisible.

Split them and the picture usually surprises people. Repair campaigns produce a lot of cheap leads and a modest amount of revenue. Re-roof campaigns produce fewer, dearer leads and most of the money. Most roofers have never seen those two numbers apart.

What to ask on the form

Every question costs you a few cheap leads and saves you an hour on the phone. Four do most of the work:

• —What type of roof is it — pitched, flat, or a mix?
• —Is this a repair, a replacement, or you are not sure yet?
• —Is there an active leak?
• —When are you hoping to have it done?

The honest summary

If somebody quotes you a cost per lead without asking what a job is worth to you, they are selling volume rather than work. A roofer turning over €4,000 on an average re-roof can afford a lead price that would bankrupt a business selling €200 repairs.

Work out what a job is worth, what proportion of quotes you win, and what you can therefore afford to pay for a quote. Everything else follows from that.