What a paid lead really costs a garage door company
Most owners know what they pay per lead. Fewer know what they pay per job. The gap between the two is where a lot of garage door profit disappears.
Cost per lead vs cost per booked job
Not every lead books. Some are price shoppers, some call three companies, and some are outside your area. The number that matters is:
Cost per booked job = cost per lead ÷ share of leads that book
At $50 a lead with 4 in 10 booking, each booked job carries $125 of lead cost. At 3 in 10, it's about $167.
What the market says
- Google Local Services Ads leads for garage door repair averaged about US$49 in early 2026.
- Google Ads leads for garage door repair work out to roughly $120 to $220 per booked job.
Why it changes your price
On a $200 spring job, $150 of lead cost leaves almost nothing for the springs, the truck, the tech or you. Our spring pricing guide walks through that math. The fix isn't to stop buying leads. It's to price for them.
- Know your booking rate. Count last month's paid leads and how many became jobs. Most shops guess high.
- Put lead cost into your hourly rate. Spread a year of lead spend across the hours your techs sell, like any other cost. The free shop rate check asks how many calls come from paid leads, what you pay per lead and how many book, and builds it in.
- Look at the whole door. A customer who came from a $150 lead deserves a full inspection and honest choices, not just the cheapest fix. See 10,000 vs 25,000-cycle springs for one example.
- Grow the free channels. Every repeat customer, referral and review lowers your average lead cost. Ask happy customers for a review before you leave the driveway.
A quick check
Divide last month's lead spend by the jobs those leads produced. If that number is more than about a quarter of your average job, lead costs are eating your margin. Treat it as a warning sign and fix your prices or your booking rate first.
Sources: Searchlight Digital, garage door Local Services Ads cost per lead (May 2026); Elevarus, garage door Google Ads benchmarks by job type (May 2026). Example numbers are for illustration.