Home-Service Marketing Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the 22 terms contractors meet when buying marketing — with real 2026 benchmarks from the home-service accounts we manage.
These are the terms contractors run into when buying marketing, defined in plain English. Where a number appears, it comes from Opus Group's own client accounts, not from industry surveys.
Cost per lead by trade
Cost per lead varies by trade, market and job type. Across the accounts Opus Group runs, the last twelve months averaged $63 a lead, and in their best months clients have paid between $44 and $90 for each call or message from Google. What moves the price in each trade:
| Trade | What drives it |
|---|---|
| Pest control | Cheapest leads in home services; the real math is the recurring-plan lifetime value behind each one. |
| Tree service | Trims low, removals and storm work high; storm weeks reprice everything. |
| Plumbing | Emergency intent converts fast; speed-to-answer moves close rates more than lead price. |
| Landscaping | Maintenance low, design/build high; one large project can pay for many leads. |
| HVAC | Service calls low, install/replacement high; maintenance-agreement lifetime value compounds behind every close. |
| Electrical | Service calls low; panel, EV and generator project searches cost more and are worth more. |
| Roofing | The most contested leads in the trades; large replacement tickets justify them. |
Close rates vary by trade, job type, lead source and answer speed, so measure your own from your job records. Full methodology: Home-Service Cost Per Lead Benchmarks 2026.
Call tracking
Call tracking gives marketing channels their own forwarding numbers, such as search ads, mailers, truck wraps and yard signs, so every call can be traced to the source that produced it. Google logs Local Services Ads leads itself and says the business phone number there must not be a tracking number, so keep your real local number on Local Services Ads and your Google Business Profile.
Related: Cost per booked job · Return on ad spend
Close rate
Close rate is the percentage of leads that become paid jobs. It varies by trade, job type, lead source and how quickly the phone is answered, so measure your own from your job records rather than relying on an industry average.
Related: Cost per booked job · Speed to lead · Exclusive lead
Cost per booked job
Cost per booked job is what it actually costs a contractor to win a customer: cost per lead divided by close rate. Work it out from your own job records.
Related: Cost per lead · Close rate · Call tracking
Cost per lead (CPL)
Cost per lead (CPL) is the amount spent on a marketing channel divided by the number of leads it produced. Across the accounts Opus Group runs, the last twelve months averaged $63 a lead, and in their best months clients have paid between $44 and $90 for each call or message from Google. Cost per lead only becomes meaningful once divided by close rate.
Related: Cost per booked job · Close rate
Customer lifetime value (LTV)
Customer lifetime value (LTV) is the total revenue a customer brings over the whole relationship, not just the first job. It matters most in trades with recurring work: a pest control plan keeps paying after the first treatment, and HVAC maintenance agreements compound behind every install, so track lifetime value from your own records.
Related: Return on ad spend · Cost per booked job
Exclusive lead
An exclusive lead is an enquiry that comes straight to one business through its own channels, such as its Google Ads, Local Services Ads, Google Business Profile or website, rather than being distributed to several pros by a marketplace.
Related: Shared lead · Owned channel
Google Business Profile (GBP)
A Google Business Profile (GBP) is the free listing that controls how a business appears on Google Maps and in the map pack — its primary category, service area, hours, photos and reviews. A complete profile with the right primary category is the foundation of local SEO.
Google Local Services Ads (LSAs)
Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) are pay-per-lead ads shown above every other result on Google for home-service searches. The contractor pays for a call or message from a homeowner rather than a click, the lead is exclusive, and the listing carries the Google Verified badge once the business passes Google's screening.
Related: Google Verified · Pay-per-click · Google search ads
Google search ads (Google Ads)
Google search ads, run through Google Ads, show a contractor's ad for searches it chooses — such as “roof replacement” or “emergency plumber” — and charge per click. They take more skill to manage than Local Services Ads but are the most precise way to target specific high-ticket jobs.
Related: Pay-per-click · Google Local Services Ads
Google Verified
Google Verified is the blue checkmark badge shown on Local Services Ads, earned by passing Google's screening and verification: license, insurance and background checks, depending on the trade. It replaced the Google Guaranteed and Google Screened badges in October 2025, when Google also ended the money-back guarantee, and it cannot be bought separately.
Related: Google Local Services Ads
Home-service marketing
Home-service marketing is the use of Google Ads, Local Services Ads, local SEO and lead tracking to put contractors — HVAC, plumbing, roofing, electrical, landscaping, tree service and pest control companies — in front of homeowners actively searching for their services, and to measure which enquiries become booked jobs.
Related: Google Local Services Ads · Local SEO · Cost per booked job
Home-service marketing budget
A home-service marketing budget is best set backwards from the jobs a contractor wants to win: target booked jobs ÷ close rate = leads needed, and leads × cost per lead = monthly ad spend. Most of it should go to exclusive owned channels: Local Services Ads first, search ads on high-ticket jobs, and local SEO underneath.
Related: Owned channel · Google Local Services Ads · Local SEO
Lead marketplace
A lead marketplace, also called a lead aggregator, is a platform such as Angi, HomeAdvisor or Thumbtack that collects homeowner requests and charges pros for the resulting leads or matches, and a single request can reach more than one pro. It rents a contractor leads rather than building a channel the contractor owns.
Related: Shared lead · UK lead directories · Owned channel
Local SEO
Local SEO is the work of ranking a business in Google's map and organic results for searches in its service area, through a complete Google Business Profile, recent reviews, service and city pages, and consistent business listings. It builds more slowly than paid ads, but the calls it brings carry no cost per click.
Related: Google Business Profile · Map pack
Map pack
The map pack — also called the local 3-pack — is the block of three local businesses shown with a map on Google service searches. Google ranks it on relevance, distance and prominence; it costs nothing per click and is won with a complete Google Business Profile and a steady flow of recent reviews.
Related: Google Business Profile · Local SEO
Owned channel
An owned channel is a lead source a business runs under its own name, such as its Google Business Profile, website, reviews, Local Services Ads and Google Ads campaigns. Unlike leads bought from a marketplace, the calls come to the business directly and the reviews and results build on its own profile.
Related: Exclusive lead · Lead marketplace
Pay-per-click (PPC)
Pay-per-click (PPC) is an advertising model where the advertiser pays each time someone clicks an ad, as with Google search ads. It differs from pay-per-lead models such as Local Services Ads, where a contractor pays only when a homeowner calls or messages.
Related: Google search ads · Google Local Services Ads
Return on ad spend (ROAS)
Return on ad spend (ROAS) is the revenue a campaign produces divided by what was spent on the ads: $10,000 of booked jobs from $1,000 of ad spend is a 10x ROAS. It measures advertising efficiency before labour, materials and other costs.
Related: Cost per booked job · Customer lifetime value
Speed to lead
Speed to lead is how quickly a business responds to a new enquiry. In home services, calling every lead back within five minutes is the highest-return change most contractors can make, because homeowners with urgent problems hire whoever answers first.
Related: Close rate · Call tracking
Territory exclusivity
Territory exclusivity means a marketing agency works with only one company per trade in each service area, so it never runs campaigns for a client's direct competitor.
Related: Exclusive lead
UK lead directories
UK lead directories — Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People, TrustATrader and Bark — are the British equivalent of lead marketplaces: tradespeople pay a membership or per-lead fee, and a customer's job usually reaches several of them at once.
Related: Lead marketplace · Shared lead
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