The structural difference
Bought leads are rented. The platform owns the customer relationship, you pay per enquiry, and the day you stop paying the leads stop. Nothing accumulates.
Owned channels — rankings, a Google Business Profile, reviews on your own name, an email list — are assets. They take months to build and then keep producing at a falling cost per job.
Buy leads when
- You need work in the next few weeks
- You are new, with no rankings and few reviews
- You have idle capacity right now
- You are filling a seasonal trough
- You are testing whether a new service has demand before building pages for it
All legitimate. Buying leads is a reasonable purchase for a specific situation.
Build your own when
- You have enough work to survive the next few months
- The marketplace price has risen every year while quality has not
- You are paying for the same customer repeatedly
- You want the business to be worth something without ongoing lead spend
The number that decides it
Not cost per lead. Cost per booked job, by source.
A marketplace lead at $40 that you close one time in eight costs $320 per job. An enquiry from your own profile at an effective $90 that closes one in three costs $270. The cheaper lead is the more expensive job.
Most contractors have never separated these two numbers, and the separation frequently reverses the conclusion.
The transition problem
The honest difficulty: for several months you pay for both. Rankings take time, and cutting the bought leads on day one to fund the build produces a revenue gap in month two and a panicked return.
The rule that works: only cut after replacement, never before. Build for three months while keeping bought volume steady, measure properly from month three, then reduce in steps.
The ratio worth aiming for
Rather than choosing, decide what share of your work should come from channels you own, and move toward it deliberately.
A business getting everything from a marketplace has no asset and no leverage — the price rises annually because more contractors joined, and there is nothing you can do about it.
What owned costs
BayouEdge builds run $2,500 to $12,500 setup with $750 to $3,500 a month. Growth Engine at $5,500 and $1,500 is the usual fit for a contractor making this transition.
Working it out
Track cost per booked job by source for sixty days. That table usually makes the decision obvious, and it is the only input that matters.
Frequently asked questions
When does buying leads make sense?
When you need work in the next few weeks, when you are new with no rankings, when you have idle capacity, when filling a seasonal trough, or when testing demand for a new service.
What number should decide it?
Cost per booked job by source, not cost per lead. A $40 lead closed one time in eight costs $320 per job, while a $90 lead closed one in three costs $270.
How do I transition without a revenue gap?
Only cut after replacement. Build for three months while keeping bought volume steady, measure properly from month three, then reduce in steps as owned volume takes over.
What is wrong with relying on a marketplace?
You have no asset and no leverage. The price rises annually as more contractors join, and the day you stop paying the leads stop entirely.