THE SHORT ANSWER
On exclusive leads, expect between 45 and 70 percent to reach a written quotation. Urgent trades such as roofing and heating repair sit at the top of that band because the homeowner has a deadline. Planned high-value work such as kitchens, solar and heat pumps sits lower, because a larger share is still exploring. Anything below 35 percent is usually a handling problem rather than a lead-quality problem, and the two are frequently confused.
Lead to quote is the first honest measurement point in a contracting funnel. It captures everything between the enquiry arriving and a priced document leaving: whether you rang, how many times, whether the survey happened, whether the quotation was written the same week. It is also the number most often quoted without a definition, which makes comparisons between businesses close to meaningless.
Fixing the definition first is therefore worth more than the benchmark itself. Count every purchased or generated enquiry in the denominator, including the ones nobody reached, and count only issued written quotations in the numerator. Both edits push the number down, and both make it useful. A flattering figure computed loosely tells you nothing you can act on.
The numbers, at a glance
Roofing and emergency repair: modelled at 55 to 70 percent of exclusive enquiries reaching a quotation
Heating, HVAC, windows and insulation: modelled at 45 to 60 percent
Solar, heat pumps, kitchens and bathrooms: modelled at 35 to 50 percent, reflecting longer consideration and more exploratory enquiries
Below 35 percent on exclusive volume: usually a handling issue, most often unreached enquiries rather than unsuitable ones
Why urgent trades convert higher at this stage
Urgency compresses the whole sequence. A homeowner with water coming through a ceiling is reachable, decisive and unlikely to be researching for a fortnight. The enquiry-to-quotation path can complete inside forty-eight hours, and very little falls out along the way except genuinely unsuitable work.
Planned work behaves differently at the same level of intent. Someone comparing heat pump payback periods may take three weeks to allow a survey, not because they are unserious but because the decision is large and reversible until it is not. The lower conversion at this stage is not weaker demand; it is a longer measurement window, which is why any lead-to-quote figure needs a stated time horizon attached.
The four leaks, in order of size
Never reached. Typically the largest single loss, and almost entirely a function of attempt count rather than lead quality.
Reached but never surveyed. The call went well, no date was fixed, and the enquiry dissolved into good intentions.
Surveyed but never quoted. The visit happened and the document took eleven days, by which point two competitors had already delivered theirs.
Correctly disqualified. Genuinely out of scope, out of area or not the owner. This is the only healthy loss on the list.
Three of the four are process failures that cost nothing to fix. That is the substance of the claim that handling matters more than sourcing at this stage of the funnel.
How the denominator gets quietly manipulated
The easiest way to report a strong lead-to-quote rate is to shrink the denominator. Exclude the enquiries nobody answered, exclude the ones marked not interested on the first call, exclude anything older than a month, and a genuine 45 percent becomes a reported 80 percent without a single extra quotation being written.
This happens more often through drift than dishonesty, particularly when the number is compiled from a system where unworked enquiries never got entered in the first place. The defence is to take the denominator from the source: the count of leads delivered by your supplier, or the count of form submissions on your own site, rather than the count of records anyone bothered to create.
What to do with the number once you have it
Track it monthly against your own trend rather than against a sector average, because the definitional variance between businesses is wider than the real performance variance. A move from 42 to 55 percent inside your own numbers is a fact. A comparison against somebody else's 70 percent is a conversation about counting rules.
Then combine it with quote-to-job to get leads per signed job, which is the figure that actually determines what a lead is worth to you. At 50 percent and 30 percent, roughly seven enquiries produce one job. At 60 percent and 35 percent, it is under five. That difference is the entire argument for spending a fortnight on process before spending anything on more volume.
Measuring lead to quote honestly
Take the denominator from the supplier count or the form count, never from your own records.
Count only issued written quotations in the numerator, not verbal indications.
Fix a measurement window, thirty days for urgent trades and sixty for planned work.
Tag every loss with one of the four reasons and count them separately.
Publish the monthly figure internally, because a number nobody sees does not change behaviour.
How these figures were built
These figures are a benchmark model, not a survey. They combine an industry base range observed across Western European home-improvement campaigns with a country multiplier for local auction pressure. Treat them as a band to negotiate against, not a quote.
How Flock Leads prices this
Knowing your lead-to-quote rate tells you exactly how many enquiries a month you need, which is the only sensible way to choose a package size.
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
No retainer, no contract term, and no lead sent to a second business. Unused volume rolls over under the Flock Lead Promise.
Want leads like this in your pipeline?
Flock runs the campaigns, screens the enquiries and hands you only the ones that match your service area, job size and capacity. You pay per lead, not per month.
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Related answers
Frequently asked questions
Is 50 percent good?
For planned high-value work, yes. For emergency trades on exclusive volume it is mediocre and points at reachability. The number only becomes meaningful next to a trade, a definition and a time window, which is why a single sector-wide benchmark is close to useless.
How does exclusivity change the figure?
Substantially. When several businesses receive the same enquiry, a share of them are already committed elsewhere before your first attempt connects, and that loss is invisible in your data because it looks like a non-answer. Exclusive volume removes that particular leak entirely.
Should verbal price indications count as quotes?
No, keep them out. A number said on a phone call is not comparable to a document the homeowner can read twice and forward, and mixing the two makes the metric unstable. Count them separately if they matter to you, but do not blend them.
How long before the figure stabilises?
Around sixty to ninety enquiries, or roughly a quarter for most small contractors. Below that, month-to-month swings are noise, and reacting to them by changing supplier or process is how businesses end up rebuilding something that was working. Wait for the sample before you act on the signal.
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