On 2026 benchmarks, electrical leads run $35 to $110, with a median around $65 and a typical lead-to-customer close rate near 35%. What your business can afford is a separate number: gross profit per customer, times your close rate, divided by a profit factor. The calculator below runs that math with electrical defaults loaded.
Your ceiling of $79 per lead sits inside the $35 to $110 band for electrical, so profitability depends on buying at the cheap end or converting better than average. Two levers move you clear of the band: close rate and job value. At a 49% close rate your ceiling clears $110, the expensive end of the market.
Two readings from the same dataset: the band above is the blended cost-per-lead row; paid search alone implies $44 / $88 / $186 per lead (Google cost per click divided by landing-page conversion at each quantile). Search-only leads usually cost more than the blend.
| Gross profit per customer | $675 |
| Value per leadusing the 35% industry benchmark close rate | $236 |
| Breakeven lead cost | $236 |
| Your ceiling | $79 |
Balanced: a lead may cost up to a third of the money it brings in. A sensible default for most businesses.
Plots your real number on the scale next to the benchmark band ($35 to $110).
These bands are industry medians. If you want to know what leads cost in your market right now, we will pull the numbers for your area at no cost.
Residential electrical sits in a comfortable middle of the trades: less storm-driven than roofing, less emergency-dependent than plumbing, with a ticket mix that has quietly improved as houses take on more load. Service calls and small repairs run $200 to $600; panel upgrades $2,000 to $4,500; whole-home rewires and generator installs reach five figures.
Two demand lines have changed this trade's lead economics over the past decade: EV charger installation and panel capacity. A charger install is a $1,200 to $2,500 ticket with a customer who researched the purchase for months and converts calmly and predictably. Panel upgrades ride along, since older 100-amp service often cannot carry a charger, a heat pump, and an induction range at once. Electricians positioned for that work see higher average tickets than the trade's historical mix suggests.
Close rates track how the lead arrives. Referral-style leads with a named problem (dead outlet, panel quote, charger install) close in the 25 to 45 percent band; vague estimate requests close far lower. The calculator's close-rate input matters here: measure yours on defined-problem leads and the answer will likely justify more spend than your gut does.
A worked example: an electrician averaging $1,500 at 45% margin keeps $675 per job. Closing 35% of leads puts $236 of value on each one, and the divide-by-three ceiling comes to about $79, comfortably above the market median. The same shop pushing charger-plus-panel bundles toward a $2,400 average lifts the ceiling to $126, clear of the expensive end of the band.
The licensing caveat: in most states, permit-required work locks out the handyman competition that undercuts other trades, which keeps electrical close rates and prices steadier. The flip side is capacity; a two-electrician shop hits its ceiling fast, and buying leads past your calendar just donates them to voicemail.
Generally yes: a researched purchase with a $1,200 to $2,500 ticket and calm, predictable conversion, often pulling a panel-upgrade ticket alongside it. The customer chose the product months ago; the electrician is the last decision in the chain.
On defined-problem leads (a dead circuit, a panel quote, a charger install), 25 to 45 percent is the working band. Vague estimate requests close far lower, so measure the two separately before judging any lead source.