On 2026 benchmarks, roofing leads run $70 to $200, with a median around $120 and a typical lead-to-customer close rate near 25%. 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 roofing defaults loaded.
Enter your average job value to see the most you can afford to pay for a lead, and how that ceiling compares with what leads cost in your market.
Roofing has the widest gap in home services between what a lead costs and what a job pays. Full replacements run $10,000 to $18,000 in most markets, margins hold around 40 percent, and that math is why roofing lead prices are among the highest in the trades: everyone bidding knows a single closed job covers a month of marketing. The result is a market where $120 leads are normal and $200 leads are common after storms.
Storms are the defining economics of this trade. A serious hail or wind event triples search volume in the affected metro for four to eight weeks, lead prices spike with it, and out-of-town storm chasers flood the auction. Local roofers with reviews, a physical address, and financing options win those weeks on trust rather than bid price. If you budget flat across the year, you will be underspending in the exact weeks demand is free-flowing and overspending in February.
Close rate deserves more scrutiny in roofing than elsewhere because the sales process is longer: inspection, adjuster involvement on insurance work, two or three competing bids. A 25 percent close on qualified replacement leads is solid. What kills roofing lead economics is counting storm-window tire kickers, price-only shoppers collecting a third bid, as real leads; qualify hard and your effective cost per real opportunity is what matters.
A worked example: at a $12,000 average replacement and 40% margin, a closed job keeps $4,800. Closing one lead in four makes a lead worth $1,200, and a divide-by-three target puts the ceiling at $400 per lead. That is why established roofers shrug at $180 leads that would terrify a handyman business: the arithmetic simply operates at a different scale.
The insurance-work caveat: on storm claims, the homeowner's out-of-pocket is the deductible, which changes the sale entirely. Close rates on insurance-approved work run far above retail bids, but the timeline stretches with the adjuster, so measure close rate over 90 days, before writing off a lead source at 30.
Expect the top of the market band or above it for four to eight weeks after a major hail or wind event, as volume triples and storm chasers enter the auction. Local proof (reviews, address, financing) wins those weeks more than bid price does.
For replacement bids in a competitive market, 20 to 25 percent of qualified leads is solid, because most homeowners collect two or three bids. The number to watch is qualification: storm-season price shoppers counted as leads will make any source look broken.