Guides · Local Services Ads
Google Local Services Ads Cost: What You Pay per Lead, and Why
By Josh Croom · October 27, 2026 · 11 min read
You pay Google for each lead, not for each click, and the price of a lead depends on your trade, your town and how the customer reaches you. A charged lead cost $49.02 on average across the five accounts we run Local Services Ads for, in the 30 days to October 20, 2026. Your weekly budget then caps what any single month can cost.
Nine leads, seven charges
Monday, 7:05 AM. Picture a fence contractor reading last week's Leads page over his first cup of coffee, before the crew shows up. Nine people reached out through his Local Services ad last week, and Google charged him for seven of them.
Two of the nine cost him nothing, because Google screened out a spam call on its own and a customer he'd talked to the week before called back about the same job. Of the seven he paid for, one is a wrong number that lasted eight seconds. He can rate that lead and ask Google for the money back, but only until 30 days have passed since the call came in. He rates it before the crew pulls in, while most of those 30 days are still left.
What a lead has cost on our accounts
Our system reads the leads on every Local Services account we run each day, and it keeps every reading, so each of these numbers comes with its own window of dates.
- $49.02per charged lead, blendedfive accounts, 30 days to October 20, 2026
- $33per charged lead on average1,531 charged leads on 4 home service accounts, Oct 2025 to Aug 2026
- 23%of leads Google didn't charge foron our home service accounts
The two prices cover different months and different accounts. The newer reading includes plumbing, fencing, lawn care, landscaping and pest control, child care and preschool, and home inspection, and a 30-day window swings more than an 11-month average, so read the two together as a range.
What you pay for, and what costs nothing
Google bills you for each valid lead, and Google decides what counts as valid, so it helps to know the rules before the first bill arrives. Its help pages spell out both sides.
That's why your full lead count is often higher than the count you paid for. Google didn't charge for 23% of the Local Services leads on our home service accounts, so divide your spend by your charged leads only, or your cost per lead will look lower than what you really pay.
- You pay for a call you answer, a call back where you talk to the customer, a voicemail, a text or email, and a booking request.
- You also pay for a missed call during your business hours when the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds. If your phone plays a press-a-key menu, those 20 seconds start when the caller presses a key.
- You don't pay for spam or repeat contacts that Google filters out, or for a caller who hangs up on your menu before pressing a key.
- You don't pay again when a customer you've already paid for calls or texts once more, as long as the two of you have been in touch within 15 days.
- You get money back when Google rechecks a lead in its first 30 days and finds it low quality, repeated or invalid.
Missed call
Local Services ad · held 24 seconds
Why some trades pay more per lead
Google sets each lead's price by your location, the job, the type of lead and the way you bid. When similar businesses near you bid on the same lead, their bids decide what that lead is worth to Google.
That's why a plumber and a home inspector can run the same kind of ad and still pay very different prices. From March 13 to June 10, 2026, our plumbing account paid nearly three times what our home inspection account paid for each billed lead.
The way a customer reaches you matters too. Google says a message lead usually costs less than a phone lead, though not always. It prices each message by how likely that customer is to book.
Cost per billed lead by trade, spring 2026
What other trades tend to pay
One agency's national estimate, read in October 2026, gives a typical price per charged lead for more trades than our own four. Prices vary a lot from city to city, so use these numbers as a rough guide rather than a quote.
That plumbing estimate runs higher than our one plumbing account did. The estimate mixes many cities, while ours comes from a single plumbing business in spring 2026, so your own town can move the price too.
| Trade | Typical price per charged lead |
|---|---|
| Roofing | about $115 |
| Water damage | about $100 |
| Plumbing | about $80 |
| HVAC | about $65 |
| Landscaping | about $65 |
| Tree service | about $60 |
| Electrical | about $55 |
How to set your weekly budget
Start from the number of leads your crew can actually handle, not from a round number that sounds right.
Step 1
Pick a lead price
Use your own cost per charged lead from the last 30 days if you already run these ads. If you're new, start from the trade numbers above, and expect your first month of real leads to move that number up or down.
Step 2
Count the leads you can handle
Decide how many new customers your team can call back and quote in a normal week. Google recommends a budget big enough for at least 10 leads a week when you use its Maximize leads bidding.
Step 3
Multiply the two
Multiply the leads you want each week by your lead price, and that's your weekly budget. At our 11-month average of $33 a lead, 10 leads a week comes to $330 a week.
Step 4
Check your monthly max
Google caps each month at your weekly budget times 30.4, divided by 7. A $330 weekly budget can't bill more than $1,433 in a month, even when one busy week runs over the weekly amount.
Step 5
Choose how you bid
Maximize leads lets Google set each bid, and it's the mode Google recommends. Target cost per lead lets you name the average price you'd like to pay. Max per lead puts a hard cap on each lead, but that option ends when your account moves into Google Ads.
Step 6
Wait two weeks, then adjust
Google says results take about 2 weeks to settle while its model learns your business. After that, read your cost per charged lead every week, and move the budget in small steps so you can see what each change did.
Google began moving Local Services campaigns into Google Ads in August 2026, in phases by trade and region. On the day yours moves, Google divides your weekly budget by 7 to set a daily one, and a month still can't cost more than that daily amount times 30.4. Manual bids end that same day, so check your budget and bidding the week your account moves.
Get money back on the leads you shouldn't pay for
You have 30 days from a lead to ask Google for a credit, and after that the charge stays put. A short weekly check works better than a rushed cleanup at the end of the month, when the oldest leads may already be past day 30.
What loses you credits
- Rating every lead Satisfied the day it comes in, which closes the door on a credit.
- Waiting past 30 days to claim a junk lead.
- Calling a lead junk because they didn't book, when a buyer who shopped around is still a real lead.
- Rating the same lead twice, since Google keeps only the first rating.
What gets money back
- Rating a repeat charge from the same number Dissatisfied, with Duplicate as the reason, the day you spot it.
- Sending every call under 30 seconds to one person, who listens to it before day 30.
- Rating a booked job Very satisfied right away, which tells Google to send you more leads like it.
- Holding good ratings until the 30 days pass, since a good rating sent early ends that lead's chance at a credit.
Check the short calls first. Across our home service accounts, 20% of phone leads never became a call of 30 seconds or more. Google still took our ratings on leads up to 58 days old, so a good lead can wait out the credit window and still tell Google what kind of leads you want.
Past customers can cost you twice
A happy customer who loses your number will search Google the same way a stranger would, and you may end up paying for that call.
Google's 15-day rule only covers customers you're still talking to. Once 15 days go by with no calls or texts between you, their next call can count as a brand new lead. On our home service accounts, Google charged 67% of the callers who came back through Local Services ads 30 or more days after their last lead as new leads.
Fix it at the end of each job, while you're still there. Ask to save your number in the customer's phone under your business name and your trade, so a search for plumber in their contacts turns you up. Then send a short thank-you text from your business line that night, which puts your number at the top of their messages.
Hi (their name), it's (your first name) with (your business), and thanks for having us out today. I saved our number in your phone, so when your (part) starts to (warning sign), call me first.
Will do. Thanks again!
What it costs to have us run it
Open Spots Local is $997 every 4 weeks, plus a $1,997 build paid once, or $0 on the 13-cycle plan. What Google charges for your leads is separate from our fee, and you choose the weekly cap.
We pay Google and take last week's exact charges from your business bank each Monday, up to the weekly cap you set. We add nothing on top. We bill every 4 weeks, so a year is 13 bills, and every price we charge is on our pricing page.
Our system rates every charged lead at Google by the rules above, and a person on our team checks the unclear ones before the 30 days run out. Open Spots Local carries our Lead Guarantee: A set number of Local Services leads, in trades and states that have a number. Your proposal prints the number for your trade and state, and what happens if you fall short.
If you're weighing Local Services against Search ads, our Local Services vs Google Ads study compares the two inside the same businesses. Our Local Services Ads guide covers setup and ranking step by step.
Is your lead price under control?
Answer four quick questions. Your answers stay on your own device.
Do you know your cost per charged lead for the last 30 days?
Does someone check every charged lead before 30 days pass?
Do you answer most calls live during your business hours?
Do you save your number in each customer's phone before you leave the job?
You've got the habits that keep lead cost in check. Keep the weekly review going, because any lead you don't dispute within 30 days stays charged.
You're partway there. Start with the first question you answered No, since each one is a habit you can put in place this week.
Start with the checklist below, and block out one hour each week for your Leads page, so you catch the bad charges while there's still time to dispute them.
Your weekly lead check
Tick each one off as you go. Your ticks stay on this device.
0 of 5 done
Talk it through with Miguel
If you'd like a second look at what your leads cost, book a call with Miguel. He'll ask about your trade, your town and your weekly budget, and walk through how you check your charged leads today.
Questions people ask
How much do Google Local Services Ads cost per lead?
It depends on your trade and your town. A charged lead cost $49.02 on average across the five accounts we run, in the 30 days to October 20, 2026, and in spring 2026 our home inspection account paid $19.28 per billed lead while our plumbing account paid $56.40.
Do you pay for every call from a Local Services ad?
No. You pay for valid leads, and Google screens out spam and repeat contacts on its own. A missed call counts only when it comes in during your business hours and the caller holds on past 20 seconds.
How do I set a budget for Local Services Ads?
Multiply the leads you can handle each week by your lead price. Google recommends a budget for at least 10 leads a week on Maximize leads bidding, and a month never costs more than your weekly budget times 30.4, divided by 7.
Can I get money back for a bad Local Services lead?
You can ask for a credit by rating the lead within 30 days of the call. Google makes the final decision on every credit, and a credit shows up on your account balance later, not on the day of the call.
What does it cost to have Local Services Ads managed?
Ours is Open Spots Local, at $997 every 4 weeks plus a $1,997 build paid once, or $0 on the 13-cycle plan. What Google charges for your leads is separate, and we add nothing on top.
See how we run Local Services Ads for trades
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