What Is Your Real Cost per Signed Job?

Last updated: September 2026. By Ryan Goering, founder and CEO of BaaDigi, a contractor marketing agency with a commercial interest in managed acquisition. The method below is a framework, not proof that BaaDigi beats any named marketplace.

What exactly are you buying?

Ask the seller to define the product in writing. Is the charge for contact information, a call, an appointment or a completed transaction? Does exclusivity refer to distribution of that contact, geography, a time window or something else? Do not infer contractual territory exclusivity from a generic marketing phrase.

For your own channels, identify which assets and accounts you control: domain, website, advertising account, phone numbers, content and exportable customer records. Asset control and short-term economics are separate benefits. Owning a website does not prove its current acquisition costs are lower than a marketplace's.

Which costs belong on both sides?

You may maintain media-only and all-in views, provided both are clearly labeled. Google's average CPA definition describes cost per recorded conversion; it does not turn an advertising report into a complete statement of company acquisition costs.

How does the denominator change a comparison?

Build a row for each source using records from comparable inquiry groups. A lead invoice, appointment count and completed sale describe different parts of the process. Use the same outcome in both columns before comparing the totals.

If there are no signed jobs, cost per signed job is undefined, not zero. Keep the spending visible. The table still does not settle profitability: compare the contribution after delivery, collection timing and capacity required by the resulting work.

If every lead has the same cost and the measured close rate uses the same inquiry group, lead cost divided by that rate can reproduce cost per sale before fixed costs. Your actual ledger is preferable to a percentage borrowed from another company. The trade-level cost worksheet helps separate unlike work.

What does a real pay-per-lead ledger look like?

Here is the top half of the worksheet filled in with BaaDigi client data: four Google Local Services Ads accounts, June 11 to September 22, 2026.

That blank last row is the point. Most contractor ledgers stop exactly there, with a good lead price and no idea what a job costs. The single-account rows behind that total ran from $31.08 to $47.51 per charged lead, which is why a trade benchmark from someone else's account is not your number either. Fill in the signed-job row from your own CRM before you compare any two sources. For the marketplace side of the same ledger, our HomeAdvisor alternatives for contractors guide lists what each vendor bills for.

What should you do with time, refunds and duplicates?

Record credits against the related source and document how you allocate shared office or sales time. Use one customer opportunity record for repeated contact about the same project. If a request is unqualified, keep the spending visible while classifying the reason.

Check the current provider's credit and cancellation terms before buying. Nonresponse and invalid contact information are different events; one does not automatically create the same refund right as the other. Our Angi decision guide and Thumbtack review address specific products rather than assuming all marketplaces work alike.

How should you treat repeat business and open estimates?

Keep first-sale acquisition and later customer activity distinguishable. Documented repeat work can inform your budget, but a projected lifetime value is not collected cash. Avoid counting the same future transaction in several channels' returns.

Compare inquiry groups that have had enough time to resolve for the work you sell. Show open estimates and canceled work. Large remodels and urgent service calls should not be forced into an identical sales timetable simply to make a chart easier to read.

When does it make sense to shift toward owned channels?

Consider the transition when you need clearer account control, better service-fit targeting or another reliable source of qualified demand. Test a defined change while retaining sources that remain profitable and operationally useful. There is no evidence established here that every direct channel becomes cheaper after six or twelve months.

BaaDigi provides SEO services and paid advertising management. Neither is priced as a universal cost-per-job promise. If record ownership is the immediate gap, the Custom CRM Starter build is $1,500 plus $147 per month and itemized usage, with scope confirmed before purchase.