Pay-per-lead sites vs running your own ads for a plumbing company
By the Margin Media team · Updated
For a plumbing company, pay-per-lead sites are quicker to start and your own ads are better to own. A lead site sends you a homeowner's details, often shared with other plumbers, and you race to call first. Your own ads make the customer call you directly. Lead sites suit a new plumber who needs work this week. Own ads suit one building for years.
What is the real difference?
The difference is who the customer thinks they contacted. On a lead site, the homeowner asked the site for a plumber and the site passed the request to whoever pays. With your own ads, the homeowner saw your company name, tapped your number and rang your phone. One is a lead you chase. The other is a call you answer.
| Pay-per-lead sites | Your own ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Who the customer contacted | The site, which passes the request on | Your plumbing company, by name |
| Shared with other plumbers | Often, depending on the site and the plan | No, the call comes to you alone |
| Time to first lead | Fast, sometimes the same day | Slower, while the campaign is built and tuned |
| What you pay for | Each lead, whether or not it books | Clicks and calls, in an account you own |
| What you keep if you stop | Nothing, the leads stop that day | The account, its history and what it learned |
| Choice of jobs | Limited to the site's categories | You pick the jobs and the streets |
When is a pay-per-lead site the better choice?
A lead site is the better choice when you have just started, have no reviews and no website worth sending anyone to, and need jobs on the calendar before a campaign could be built. It only works if every lead is called within minutes, because the other plumbers on the list are calling too.
What should a plumber check before choosing?
Check what a booked job costs you on each, not what a lead costs. Do the sum with your own numbers: what you paid last month, divided by the jobs that came from it. A lead that looks inexpensive but books rarely can cost more for each job than an ad call that looks dear.
How does Margin run ads for a plumbing company?
Margin builds the campaigns, the ads and a booking page for each, on Facebook and Instagram. The ad account is yours and the ad budget is your money, paid to the platform. Mia answers the calls the ads bring, and the booked job lands on your portal calendar with your office told.
It is not instant. Ads take time to build and tune, and texting starts only after carriers approve your number. If you rely on lead sites today, nothing says you must stop on day one.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Ads on Facebook and Instagram, in an account you own
- Mia, the AI receptionist, on every call
- Booking onto your calendar
- A monthly report and strategy call
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
How Margin works for plumbersSee the portal with a sample business
Related questions
Are pay-per-lead sites worth it for a new plumbing company?
They can be. A new plumbing company with no reviews and no ad history can get its first jobs from a lead site, as long as every lead is called within minutes.
Why do plumbing leads from lead sites go cold so quickly?
Because the homeowner is usually hearing from more than one plumber, and has a leak or a blocked drain right now. Whoever calls first and offers a time tends to get the job.
Can a plumber use lead sites and its own ads at the same time?
Yes. A plumbing company can keep a lead site running while its own ads are built, then compare what a booked job costs from each. Keep whichever brings paying work at the better cost.