Last Updated on July 24, 2026
Plumbing leads are the cheapest in the trades, and that is what makes them dangerous. A £12 lead feels like nothing. But shared plumbing leads go to three to six firms at once, so the number that matters is cost per won job, and on small repair work that number routinely exceeds the margin on the job itself. Plumbing leads only pencil out on high-value work: boilers, bathrooms, cylinders.
The 2026 numbers
- Pay per lead, shared platforms: roughly £2 to £40 per plumbing lead depending on job size. Small repairs sit around £5 to £15; boiler installation leads around £20 to £40.
- Membership models: the biggest UK directory starts at £30 plus VAT a month for a name-search listing with no leads. Realistic all-in spend for a firm actually receiving enquiries: £150 to £500 plus a month, with per-lead fees of £20 to £40 on bigger jobs on top.
- Pay per shortlist: roughly £5 to £30 plus per shortlisting depending on job size; an active month can run £100 to £300 in fees.
- Credit platforms: credits around £1.20 plus VAT each; a plumbing lead costs roughly £5 to £12 for small work, £22 to £40 plus for a bathroom refit.
- Dedicated boiler lead sellers: published entry price from £6 per telephone-qualified lead, sold to a maximum of three firms; realistic boiler lead prices nearer £20 to £40.
- Google Local Services Ads: UK agencies report £15 to £40 per qualified plumbing lead in normal areas, £60 to £100 plus in competitive urban markets. No official Google UK figure exists.
- Lead sharing: the same enquiry typically goes to three to six firms depending on platform.
- Owned marketing comparison: a lean local SEO and Google Business Profile setup runs roughly £300 to £800 a month; direct enquiries from owned channels convert at roughly double to triple the rate of shared leads because the customer has already chosen you.
The worked examples
Small repair work. A £12 shared lead won one in five costs £60 per won job. Won one in ten, £120. Against a £100 leak repair, the platform out-earned the plumber. This is the structural reason repair-led firms churn off lead platforms.
Boiler work. A £30 boiler lead won one in five costs £150 per won job on a £2,500 to £4,000 install: workable. Won one in ten, £300, and rising response times are usually the reason. The variable is not the platform. It is minutes-to-first-call and follow-up.
The annual view. A firm buying 30 mixed leads a month at an average £15 spends £5,400 a year. At a blended one-in-five win rate that is 72 jobs at £75 each. The same £5,400 as an owned-channel budget builds an asset that keeps producing when the spending stops, which bought leads never do.
What the numbers mean
Cost per won job = cost per lead ÷ win rate. Cheap leads hide expensive customer acquisition because sharing caps the win rate: you are racing three to six firms to the same phone number. High-value jobs can absorb that mathematics, small jobs cannot, and no platform’s pricing reflects the distinction. Owned channels, a verified listing, Google Business Profile, reviews, service reminders, convert higher precisely because there is no race.
The full argument, and where leads do belong in a plumbing business, is in the leads trap for plumbers.
Method and sources
Figures are published 2026 pricing from platform membership and help pages (Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People, Bark, Boiler Guide), UK agency reporting on Google Local Services Ads, and consistent third-party pricing analyses. MyBuilder’s exact fee table, Rated People’s current subscription price and Checkatrade’s full tier pricing are not published; those ranges are triangulated and should be read as such. This post mirrors the method of our electrician leads research and roofer leads research. Prices change; figures were checked in July 2026.
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