A lead generation agency finds people who want work done and passes their details to your business, usually by running ads and handling the first contact. For a small builder or tradie, the question is not which agency. It is how many hours you can spare, how much cash you can risk, and what you will measure to know it is working.
What a lead generation agency does and does not do
Most agencies that serve trades do some mix of these jobs:
- Build and run ads on Google or Meta.
- Build the page the ad sends people to.
- Collect the enquiries that come in.
- Sometimes ring or message each enquiry before passing it to you.
What they do not do is quote, visit the site or win the job. That part stays with you. An agency can put a homeowner in front of you. It cannot make the homeowner choose you over the two other firms they have rung.
The word “agency” covers very different businesses. Some sell you ad management for a monthly fee. Some sell you enquiries at a price each. Some do both. Find out which one you are talking to before anything else, because who carries the cost of a bad month depends on it.
Hours versus cash
You pay for lead generation one of two ways: in hours or in cash. Sometimes both.
| Route | You spend | You get |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | Evenings and weekends: setting up ads, fixing them, answering every enquiry | Full control and every number in your own account |
| Shared-lead marketplace or job board | A subscription or a fee per job listing, plus time chasing | Enquiries fast, but often shared with other firms |
| Agency running your ads | A monthly fee plus the ad spend | Someone else doing the set-up and the tuning |
| Agency or service that sells checked enquiries | A fee per enquiry delivered | Enquiries without running the ads yourself |
A worked example, with made-up numbers to swap for your own. Say setting up and checking your own ads takes six hours a week, and an hour of your time on site is worth $90 to the business. That is $540 a week of your time, or about $2,300 a month, before any ad spend. If an agency’s monthly fee is well under that, and it does the job at least as well, it is cheaper than you. If your evenings are free anyway, the sum changes.
Price your own time honestly. If you are on the tools all day and building ads at night, the hours you save by hiring help are worth something, even if that value never appears on a bill. If you are between jobs and have slack, doing it yourself costs less cash and teaches you what your customers respond to.
One cost people forget is speed. An enquiry that waits a day for a reply often goes to the next firm. Whoever runs the ads, someone has to answer fast. How fast to respond to building enquiries covers this.
Risk and who carries it
Ask one question first: if no good enquiries arrive this month, who pays?
- With a monthly management fee, you do. The agency is paid either way.
- With a fee per enquiry, you pay only for what is delivered, but check how an enquiry is defined and whether you can send back a bad one.
- With a marketplace, you pay the subscription or the per-job fee whether or not you win the work.
The second risk is the contract: minimum terms, auto-renewal, price changes and exit fees. The third is contact rules. If an agency rings or messages people for you, you can still be responsible for how it is done. Both are set out, with links to the regulators, in how to choose a lead generation company.
A 60-day test
Do not sign a long term for something you have not tried. Test it.
- Set your numbers first. Write down what a signed job is worth to you and how many quotes you can honestly handle each week.
- Start small. Agree a small spend or a small number of enquiries. Avoid any contract that locks you in before you have seen results.
- Keep a simple log. For every enquiry: date, how it arrived, whether you reached the person, whether you quoted, and whether you won.
- Listen to a few conversations or read the messages. Ask whether the homeowner knew they were asking for a quote.
- Judge at 60 days by cost per signed job, not cost per enquiry. Spend divided by jobs signed. If few jobs have closed by then because your jobs take months to sign, say so at the start and judge on quotes given.
Sixty days is a test length, not a promise of results. Some trades close in a week and some take a season.
Questions to ask an agency
- Whose ad account is it? Will I keep the account, the page and the data if I leave?
- Is your fee paid whether or not enquiries arrive?
- Who speaks to the homeowner first, and what do they say about my business?
- Can I see the messages or the call notes?
The full checklist for any lead company, including contract terms, is in the guide linked above.
When to do it yourself
Doing it yourself makes sense when:
- You have the evenings to learn it and the discipline to answer every enquiry quickly.
- Your area is small enough that a modest ad spend can reach it.
- You want to own every number, and you are happy to be slow at first.
- You are not ready to commit cash to someone else’s process.
Hiring help makes sense when your time is better spent on site, when ads you have tried yourself have not worked, or when slow replies are costing you jobs. A marketplace can suit a start-up that needs any work at all, as long as you accept that enquiries may be shared.
PreBuild sits in the checked-enquiry group: it runs the ads, rings every homeowner who enquires, checks six things and sends each one to one business. See how it works and how it runs ads in your own account.
Common questions
What is a lead generation agency?
A business that finds people who want work done and passes their details to you, usually by running ads and handling the first contact. Some charge a monthly fee, some a fee per enquiry.
Is a lead generation agency worth it for a small builder?
It can be, if you test it first and judge it by cost per signed job. It is less likely to be worth it if you cannot reply to enquiries fast or you cannot afford a month with nothing to show.
Should I hire an agency or run ads myself?
Hire when your hours are worth more on site and you can carry the cost; run ads yourself when you have time to learn and want full control. A 60-day test works for either.
Who is responsible if an agency breaks the contact rules?
You can be, even when the agency did the calling or sending: the Do Not Call Register industry page says the commissioning business must comply too. Check your situation with the regulator.