THE SHORT ANSWER
In 2026 a qualified, exclusive lead for a home-improvement or installation business costs roughly EUR 40 to EUR 150. Solar and heat pumps sit at the high end (EUR 90 to 150), roofing and HVAC in the middle (EUR 60 to 110), and simpler jobs such as painting or flooring at the low end (EUR 40 to 70). Three things move the price: how expensive the click is in that market, how many installers are bidding for the same homeowner, and whether the lead is exclusive or resold to four competitors. Flock Leads prices exclusive leads from EUR 60 to EUR 75 each depending on package size.
What a qualified lead actually means
The word lead is used for three very different things, and that is why quoted prices range from 5 to 300 euro for what sounds like the same product.
A raw contact is a name and an email address from a downloaded guide. There is no stated intent to buy. These cost EUR 5 to 20 and convert at low single digits.
A shared lead is a homeowner who requested a quote, then had that request sold to three, four or five installers at once. Marketplaces work this way. These cost EUR 25 to 70, and you are in a race to call first. Realistic close rates sit around 8 to 15 percent.
An exclusive qualified lead is a homeowner who requested a quote, matched your service area and job type, and whose details go to you and nobody else. These cost EUR 40 to 150. Close rates of 20 to 35 percent are normal when follow-up is fast.
Everything below refers to exclusive qualified leads, because that is the only version where cost per lead and cost per customer have a stable relationship.
Cost per exclusive qualified lead by industry in 2026
Ranges observed across Western European home-improvement campaigns. Each line states the price per exclusive lead, the typical job value, and the number of leads normally needed to win one customer.
Solar panels - EUR 90 to 150 per lead. Job value EUR 7,000 to 14,000. Three to five leads per customer.
Heat pumps - EUR 90 to 140 per lead. Job value EUR 9,000 to 18,000. Three to five leads per customer.
Roofing - EUR 70 to 110 per lead. Job value EUR 6,000 to 15,000. Four to six leads per customer.
HVAC and air conditioning - EUR 60 to 100 per lead. Job value EUR 3,000 to 8,000. Four to six leads per customer.
Windows and doors - EUR 60 to 95 per lead. Job value EUR 5,000 to 12,000. Four to six leads per customer.
Insulation - EUR 50 to 85 per lead. Job value EUR 2,500 to 6,000. Four to seven leads per customer.
Kitchens and bathrooms - EUR 50 to 90 per lead. Job value EUR 8,000 to 25,000. Five to eight leads per customer.
Painting and plastering - EUR 40 to 70 per lead. Job value EUR 1,500 to 4,000. Five to eight leads per customer.
Flooring - EUR 40 to 70 per lead. Job value EUR 2,000 to 6,000. Five to eight leads per customer.
Garden and landscaping - EUR 40 to 65 per lead. Job value EUR 2,000 to 8,000. Five to nine leads per customer.
Country multipliers
The same lead does not cost the same everywhere, because advertising auctions are local. Against a Benelux baseline of 1.0:
Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal: 0.9 to 1.1
Germany and Austria: 1.1 to 1.3, driven by deeper installer competition
United Kingdom and Ireland: 1.0 to 1.2
Nordics: 1.2 to 1.4, small populations and high click costs
Poland, Czechia, Romania, Hungary: 0.5 to 0.7
United States, Canada, Australia: 1.3 to 1.8, where solar leads regularly exceed 200 dollars
What actually drives your cost per lead
Click price in your market
A solar click in Germany costs multiples of a flooring click in Portugal. Cost per lead inherits that gap directly, before anything else in the funnel matters.
Form conversion rate
At a 4 percent landing-page conversion rate and a EUR 2.50 click, a lead costs EUR 62.50. Lift that page to 8 percent and the same traffic delivers leads at EUR 31.25. Half of all cost-per-lead differences between two companies in the same market come down to the page, not the ads.
Exclusivity
A shared lead is cheaper per unit and much more expensive per customer, because four installers are calling the same homeowner within the hour.
Qualification depth
Filtering on postcode, job type, timeline, property ownership and budget removes 30 to 50 percent of raw form fills. The leads that survive cost more each and close far better.
Seasonality
Heating leads peak from September to January. Solar peaks in spring. Off-season leads are 20 to 40 percent cheaper but slower to convert.
The only number that matters: cost per acquired customer
Cost per lead on its own tells you nothing. Divide it by your close rate.
A EUR 120 solar lead closed one time in four costs EUR 480 per customer on an EUR 11,000 job, which is a 4.4 percent acquisition cost. A EUR 45 shared solar lead closed one time in twelve costs EUR 540 per customer on the same job, and consumed three times as much of your sales team day. The cheaper lead was the more expensive customer.
The working rule across home-improvement trades: healthy customer acquisition cost sits between 4 and 9 percent of job value. Above 12 percent, either the lead quality or the follow-up is broken.
How to tell an overpriced lead from a fair one
Ask five questions before you buy.
Is it exclusive, or is it sold to how many others?
What was the source: search, social, or a comparison site? Search intent converts highest.
How old is the lead when it reaches me? Anything over 30 minutes loses reach rate fast.
What is the replacement policy for wrong numbers, wrong area, or wrong job type?
Can I switch off a postcode or a job type without renegotiating the contract?
A supplier who cannot answer all five in writing is selling shared leads with a premium label.
What Flock Leads charges
Flock Leads sells exclusive qualified leads in fixed packages, with no monthly retainer and no long-term contract.
Starter - 10 leads for EUR 750, which is EUR 75 per lead.
Growth - 25 leads for EUR 1,750, which is EUR 70 per lead.
Scale - 45 leads for EUR 2,925, which is EUR 65 per lead.
Pro - 70 leads for EUR 4,340, which is EUR 62 per lead.
Max - 90 leads for EUR 5,400, which is EUR 60 per lead.
Every lead is exclusive, delivered within minutes of the request, and matched to the postcodes and job types you selected. Unused leads roll over: the Flock Lead Promise means you never lose paid volume at the end of a month.
How to lower your cost per lead without lowering quality
Fix the landing page before touching the ad budget. Doubling a 4 percent conversion rate halves the cost per lead with no extra spend.
Narrow the service area to where you actually want to drive. Wide radiuses buy cheap leads you will never close.
Call within five minutes. Reach rate on a five-minute callback is several times higher than on a one-hour callback, and reach rate, not lead price, is where most of the money leaks.
Ask for job-type filtering. Paying EUR 90 for a lead you can service beats paying EUR 50 for one you have to refuse.
Buy in larger blocks. Volume pricing at Flock takes a EUR 75 lead down to EUR 60, a 20 percent reduction for committing to the same work you were going to do anyway.
Related answers
Frequently asked questions
What is a good cost per lead in 2026?
For exclusive qualified home-improvement leads, EUR 40 to 150 is the normal band. What makes it good or bad is your close rate: aim for a total customer acquisition cost between 4 and 9 percent of the job value.
Are cheap leads worth it?
Rarely. Leads under EUR 30 are almost always shared with several competitors or generated from low-intent traffic. They cost less per lead and usually more per customer, and they consume far more sales time.
How many leads do I need to win one customer?
Three to five for solar and heat pumps, four to six for roofing and HVAC, five to eight for interior trades, assuming exclusive leads and same-day follow-up.
Is pay-per-lead better than a monthly marketing retainer?
Pay-per-lead moves the risk to the supplier: you pay for outcomes, not hours. A retainer makes sense once you are spending enough that owning the funnel is cheaper than buying its output. Below roughly EUR 4,000 a month in media spend, pay-per-lead is almost always the better arithmetic.
Why do solar leads cost more than flooring leads?
Because the job is worth more, so more installers bid for the same homeowner, which pushes the advertising auction up. Cost per lead tracks job value across almost every trade.
Do lead prices change during the year?
Yes. Heating and insulation peak from September to January, solar peaks in spring, and outdoor trades peak in summer. Off-season leads run 20 to 40 percent cheaper.
How fast should a lead reach me?
Within minutes. Contact rates fall sharply after the first half hour, and a lead you cannot reach is worth nothing regardless of what you paid.
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