Pay per lead for builders and trades. What you're paying for.

Pay per lead means you pay a lead company a set price for each enquiry it sends you, instead of paying for the ads yourself or a monthly fee. What that price buys depends on three things: what counts as a lead, how many other businesses get the same one, and what happens when it's a dud.

Apply now How we charge

PreBuild charges per homeowner, rung and checked first. How that differs is further down.

Job docket · Fencing and decking

No. S-0417

Sample

Sarah T.

Carindale QLD 415204•• ••• 318

Wants done: 38 m Colorbond fence, side and rear boundary, 1.8 m high
When: Before the end of January
Budget they said: About $7,000
Ballpark we gave: $6,000 to $9,500

Trade questions

Length: About 38 m
Material: Colorbond, Monument
Neighbour: Agreed, splitting the cost
Access: Side gate, gentle slope at the rear

Caller's note

Old paling fence is leaning. Wants it gone before the kids are home for the holidays.

Real number
Asked for a quote
Wants it done
In your area
Job can be done
Decision maker

Rung by PreBuild before it reached you. Sent to one business only.

What one homeowner looks like when it reaches you. Made-up homeowner.

How pay per lead usually works.

Most lead companies run the same four steps. The detail that matters is in the third.

The company advertises for your trade.Through its own ads, a website or a job marketplace, in the areas it covers.
A homeowner fills in a form or rings.That enquiry is the lead. Some companies check it before it goes out. Many send it straight on.
The lead is sent out.To you alone, or to several businesses at once. This is the step to ask about.
You are charged for it.Per lead, often from money paid in advance. The price usually moves with your trade and the size of the job.

The seller is paid per enquiry. You are paid per signed job. Everything worth checking sits between the two.

How pay per lead agencies get paid

Three things to check before you pay for a lead.

Is it shared, or sent to one business?
A shared lead goes to several businesses at once, so you race the others to the phone and the homeowner gets several calls about the same job. Exclusive should mean one business only, never resold. Ask for the number in writing.
What exclusive should mean
What counts as a lead?
A form someone filled in, a phone call over a set length, or a person somebody has actually spoken to? Whatever the seller can bill for should be written down. A lead nobody has rung is a form, not a homeowner.
What a verified lead should mean
What happens when it's a dud?
Wrong numbers, duplicates, people outside your area and people who only wanted a price all turn up. Ask which ones you can send back, how long you have to say so, and whether you get your money back or a replacement.
Fake and duplicate leads

Pay per lead and the other ways to pay.

Each one sends the bill at a different point. The later it lands, the more of the risk sits with the seller, and the higher the price for each one. Compare prices at the same point, never across.

Ways to pay for homeowner enquiries: what you pay for, who wears a dud, and what to check
Way to pay	What you pay for	Who wears a dud	What to check
Pay per click	Every click on your own ads, whether or not they enquire	You	Who owns the ad account and the data
Pay per lead	Each enquiry the seller sends you	You, unless the refund rules are clear	How many businesses get it, and what counts as a lead
Pay per appointment	Each visit the seller books for you	Shared, depending on whether a booked or a kept visit is billed	What counts as an appointment
Pay per homeownerHow PreBuild charges	Each homeowner rung, checked and sent to you only	The seller, if a check turns out wrong	What is checked, and what happens when a check was wrong
Monthly retainer	The work, whatever comes of it	You	The minimum term, and what you are shown each month

No prices here, ours or anyone else's. They move with the trade and the job.

Pay per appointment, explained What a lead is worth to your business

How PreBuild does it: pay per homeowner.

We don't sell enquiries. We find homeowners for builders, trades and home services, ring every one before you hear about them, and send each one to a single business.

You pay for: A homeowner we've rung and checked against six things, sent to you and nobody else
How many: 10, 15 or 20 homeowners
Your price: Set by your trade and the size of the job, given in writing on a call before you pay anything
The money: A deposit to start, the balance after your first quote
A check was wrong: We replace them. No forms, no argument.
Lock-in: None. No retainer, nothing monthly.

Ticked off on the call

They answer on a real number
They asked for a quote
They want the job done, not just a price to compare
They are in the area you cover
The job can be done at their place
They are the one making the call

The six checksTicked off on every call, before anything reaches you.

Pick how many homeowners you want.

Take 10, 15 or 20. The price per homeowner is set by your trade and the size of the job, and it's the same whichever number you pick. You get yours in writing on the call, before you pay anything.

10homeowners
A good place to start. Enough to see how our homeowners go in your area.
Apply for 10
15homeowners
For a business with room in the diary and someone free to ring back fast.
Apply for 15
20homeowners
For a crew with plenty of room for more work and time to quote it.
Apply for 20

No retainer, no lock-in, nothing monthly.

What you get

A homeowner in your area who wants the work done, already spoken to on the phone. By text and email:

Their name and number
Their address
What they want done
When they want it done
What they said about budget
The ballpark price we gave them

They go to you and nobody else.

How it works

A deposit to get started.
We send your first homeowner. You go and quote them.
Happy? You pay the balance.

Change your mind before the first one lands and we refund you in full. Want out after the first one? You pay for that one only and we send the rest back.

All we ask: ring them within the hour. If you get flat out, tell us and we'll pause.

Common questions

What does pay per lead mean?

You pay a set price for each enquiry a lead company sends you, instead of paying for the advertising yourself or a monthly fee. What that price buys depends on what counts as a lead, how many businesses get the same one, and the refund rules.

Is pay per lead worth it for tradies?

It can be, when the job is big enough and the leads are real. Work it back from a signed job: your margin on one job, divided by the number of leads it takes to sign one, is the most a lead is worth to you. If the same lead goes to several businesses, you are one quote of several, so allow for that.

Work out what a lead is worth to you

What is the difference between shared and exclusive leads?

A shared lead is sold to several businesses at once. An exclusive lead should go to one business only and never be sold again. Some sellers call a lead exclusive when it is only exclusive for a day or within a postcode, so ask what the word means, in writing.

What exclusive should mean

Can I get a refund on a bad lead?

It depends on the seller's terms. Ask which leads you can send back, how long you have, and whether you get money back or a replacement. With us, if a homeowner wasn't who we said they were, we replace them, and if you change your mind before the first one lands, we refund you in full.

Is PreBuild pay per lead?

Close, but not quite. We charge per homeowner, not per enquiry: every homeowner is rung and checked against six things before you hear about them, and each one goes to one business only. You take 10, 15 or 20, at a price set by your trade and the size of the job, given in writing on a call.

How we find and check homeowners

How much does a lead cost?

It moves with the trade, the size of the job, where you work and how many businesses get the same lead, so a single figure would mislead you. We don't publish ours. The price per homeowner is set by your trade and the size of the job, and you get it in writing on a call before you pay anything.

Apply and get your price in writing

Want homeowners for your business?

Tell us your trade and where you work. We'll ring you to talk it through and give you your price in writing. If it's not a fit, we'll say so.