Google Local Services Ads Cost for Contractors: Leads, Credits and Real Prices

Local Services Ads charge per lead: a call, a message or a booking request that comes through the ad. Google decides whether each one is valid. The rules that matter most to a contractor are about phone calls.

The missed-call rule is the one to plan for: a call you miss during your business hours can still be charged. Answer the phone, or set your ad schedule and Business Profile hours to the hours someone can pick up.

Google does not publish a set price per lead. Its help page says “Lead prices may vary depending on your location, the job type, the type of lead, or your bidding mode”.

You control spend in two ways:

• Bidding. With manual bidding, “Max per lead (Manual bidding) : Manually set your own bid limit, which is the most you’d pay for a lead.”
• Budget. You set an average weekly budget, and Google caps the month: “The exact formula for the monthly max is average weekly budget x 30.4 ÷ 7.”

Watch the lead-to-job step. If many leads are for jobs you do not do, see the credit rules below: Google no longer credits those.

Google reviews charged leads and credits some of them automatically. Two rules decide what you get back:

Because a lead for a job type or an area you do not serve is no longer credited, the settings are your protection. List only the job types you want, keep the service area to the zip codes you will drive to, and pause job types that bring the wrong calls. Use the lead feedback in your account for anything that looks like spam.

Before your ads run, Google checks the business. “The process varies by business category and location and may include background, business registration, insurance, and license checks, and minimum review requirements.” “Businesses aren't charged for the background check.”

The badge has changed. Google says “we're simplifying our advertiser badging by launching a single badge for all advertisers.” The old Google Guaranteed and Google Screened badges are replaced by Google Verified, and “Google will be discontinuing the Money Back Guarantee associated with the Google Guarantee badge.” If your marketing or your website still promises the Google Guarantee, update it.

• Have your license, insurance certificate and business registration ready before you apply.
• Allow time for background checks where your trade and area require them.
• Get your Google reviews in order first; some categories have minimum review requirements.

Since Google publishes no price list, the most specific public figures come from agencies that manage Local Services Ads. 99 Calls publishes cost per charged lead by trade from its own clients’ accounts. It is one agency’s client data, not Google’s and not a market survey, and it moves month to month.

How 99 Calls calculates it: “Total LSA ad spend divided by total charged leads over the last 3 months (or the last 12 months for industries with limited recent volume), computed separately for each industry across 99 Calls' LSA client campaigns.” The ranges are its 10th to 90th percentiles. For roofers, the same company also lists $87 to $143 per lead on its roofing leads page, measured over a longer window, so the two roofing figures do not match exactly.

The gap between the trades is the useful part. A roofing lead costs more than a painting lead, which fits the size of the jobs. Compare any figure with your own average job value and closing rate, as in the example above.

Google is moving Local Services Ads advertisers to a new campaign type. Its help page says “Google is migrating businesses to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals in a phased approach.” The first group is:

“August 2026 (Phase 1): Select United States home and storefront service providers, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control, and moving.”

Google Ads Help, Supported business verticals for Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals, checked November 11, 2026.

The same page has a reference directory of sub-verticals that migrate in Phase 1, and it lists “Home Services Painter” and “Home Services Flooring Pro” as well as roofers. The next group, “Late 2026 (Phase 2): Expansion to broader advertiser cohorts, including service-area businesses (SABs) without physical storefronts”, covers many contractors who work from home or a yard rather than a storefront.

What to do now: write down your current cost per lead and lead volume by job type, so you can compare after the move; keep your verification, license and insurance current; and read every account notice about the transition. The help page sets out the timeline and categories. It does not list lead prices for the new campaigns.

Local Services Ads suit contractors who want calls and can answer them: you pay per lead and Google does the screening. Search ads give you more control over keywords and landing pages but charge for every click. Many roofers and painters run both. For the search-ads side, see Google Ads costs for roofers, and for every channel side by side, how each advertising channel charges. Local Services Ads are one form of paying per lead; pay per lead against a monthly retainer compares that model with a flat fee.

Local Services Ads charge for every lead. Sourci works on the visibility you keep: your website, SEO and AI-search visibility for painting, roofing and coatings contractors.

• Inbound (website fixes, SEO and AI-search visibility; residential and commercial): Foundation $1,950 a month plus $1,000 onboarding, Growth $3,450 a month plus $1,500 onboarding. Inbound details.
• Outbound (researched email outreach to property managers, facilities teams and commercial owners; commercial accounts only): Foundation $2,950 a month, Growth $4,450 a month. Outbound details.

Plans are month-to-month; cancel with 30 days’ notice. No per-lead fees, and your leads are never shared. Ad spend and paid directory placements are not part of either plan.

• 99 Calls, Roofing Contractor Google LSA Cost Per Lead. Checked November 11, 2026. Quoted: “the average Google Local Services Ads (LSA) cost per charged lead for Roofing Contractor businesses is $112.85 (median $106.79) with a typical range of $86.10 to $131.03” “based on 12 99 Calls client campaigns over the last 3 months” “Total LSA ad spend divided by total charged leads over the last 3 months (or the last 12 months for industries with limited recent volume), computed separately for each industry across 99 Calls' LSA client campaigns.”
• 99 Calls, Painting Contractor Google LSA Cost Per Lead. Checked November 11, 2026. Quoted: “the average Google Local Services Ads (LSA) cost per charged lead for Painting Contractor businesses is $46.35 (median $43.87) with a typical range of $35.04 to $52.84” “based on 15 99 Calls client campaigns over the last 3 months”
• Google Local Services Help, How leads work. Checked November 11, 2026. Quoted: “With Local Services Ads, you pay for valid leads.” “You missed a phone call during your business hours and the customer stays on the line for more than 20 seconds.” “The 20-second ring rule applies only to unanswered (missed) calls.” “you won't be charged again for subsequent calls on that lead within 15 days” “Leads are first assessed when the potential customer makes initial contact, and leads determined to be invalid or low quality are not charged.” “Message leads are typically priced lower than phone leads, although that is not always the case.” “Lead prices may vary depending on your location, the job type, the type of lead, or your bidding mode”
• Google Local Services Help, How bidding works for Local Services Ads. Checked November 11, 2026. Quoted: “Max per lead (Manual bidding) : Manually set your own bid limit, which is the most you’d pay for a lead.”
• Google Local Services Help, How to edit your budget. Checked November 11, 2026. Quoted: “The exact formula for the monthly max is average weekly budget x 30.4 ÷ 7.”
• Google Local Services Help, About Automated Local Services Ads lead credits. Checked November 11, 2026. Quoted: “In most cases, credits will be applied to your account balance within 30 days.” “Google no longer supports credits for “job type not serviced” and “geo not serviced” leads.”
• Google Local Services Help, Understand the screening and verification process. Checked November 11, 2026. Quoted: “The process varies by business category and location and may include background, business registration, insurance, and license checks, and minimum review requirements.” “Businesses aren't charged for the background check.”
• Google Local Services Help, About Google Verified badge. Checked November 11, 2026. Quoted: “we're simplifying our advertiser badging by launching a single badge for all advertisers.” “Google will be discontinuing the Money Back Guarantee associated with the Google Guarantee badge.”
• 99 Calls, Roofing Leads for Roofers. Checked November 11, 2026. Quoted: “$87–$143 Local Services Ads · per lead nationwide average”
• Google Ads Help, Supported business verticals for Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals. Checked November 11, 2026. Quoted: “Google is migrating businesses to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals in a phased approach.” “August 2026 (Phase 1): Select United States home and storefront service providers, including plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, lawn care, roofing, pest control, and moving.” “Home Services Painter” “Home Services Flooring Pro” “Late 2026 (Phase 2): Expansion to broader advertiser cohorts, including service-area businesses (SABs) without physical storefronts”

Every outside figure on this page links to the page it came from, checked on November 11, 2026. Prices and terms change; confirm them with each company before you sign.