Free tool for service businesses
Ad Spend Waste
Calculator
Find out how much of your monthly ad budget is getting wasted on bad targeting, weak ads, and leads that never get called back. Then see what that adds up to over a full year.
- No signup needed
- Answers in seconds
- Built on 2026 benchmarks
Your numbers
Rough guesses are fine. Move the sliders and your results update as you go.
A well-run roofing account in 2026 runs around $120 per lead and closes about 28% of them.
Everything you put into Google, Facebook, and Instagram ads each month.
The calls, form fills, and messages your ads bring in. Not sure? Take your best guess.
What one new customer is worth to you (a single job, or their first year with you).
Out of those leads, how many turn into paying customers.
Wasted ad spend
Your cost per lead is already at or below benchmark. Nice work. Now let's talk about scaling.
Revenue left on the table. That's the extra business you'd win by closing leads the way top shops do (around 28%).
Your cost per lead
$120Cost per customer
$667Return on ad spend
0.9xYour close rate
18%100% of your budget working
Right now every $1 you spend on ads brings back about $0.90. You're losing money before a single job is booked, and tightening up your targeting and follow-up is the quickest way to turn that around.
Book ConsultationThink these numbers look bad?
The real ones are usually worse.
Everything above is an estimate. Hop on a quick call and we'll pull your actual ad data, find exactly where the budget is leaking, and show you the fastest way to fix it. No pitch, no pressure.
Book ConsultationHow we crunch these numbers
Cost per lead is your monthly ad spend divided by your leads. We hold that up against a 2026 blended benchmark (paid search and paid social) for your industry. Anything you're paying above that benchmark counts as wasted ad spend, because a tighter account would have gotten those same leads for less.
Revenue left on the table is what you'd add if your close rate matched the businesses that follow up fast. Companies that call a new lead back within five minutes are far more likely to win the job.
In a 2025 CallRail survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, 82% said they'd call a competitor when a business doesn't pick up. CallRail, 2025.
Return on ad spend is your revenue (customers times average value) divided by what you spent. The account grade blends how close your cost per lead and close rate are to benchmark.
These are ballpark estimates meant to get you thinking, not a promise. Your real results depend on your offer, your market, the season, and your creative. Want the exact picture? Book Consultation and we'll dig into your actual account.
What counts as wasted ad spend?
Any budget you pay above the efficient cost per lead for your industry. If a well-run account gets leads for $75 and you're paying $120, that $45 gap on every lead is money going to poor targeting, weak creative, and untuned bidding rather than into your pipeline.
How much should a local business pay per lead?
It depends on the trade, but most local service businesses in 2026 land between $45 and $130 per lead on blended paid search and paid social. Roofing, legal, and medical sit at the higher end; auto, fitness, and landscaping sit lower. The calculator uses an industry benchmark to compare against your number.
Why does follow-up speed matter so much?
Because most leads go to whoever answers first. Businesses that call a new lead back within five minutes are far more likely to win the job. In a 2025 CallRail survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, 82% said they'd call a competitor when a business doesn't pick up. A slow or manual follow-up quietly throws away leads you already paid for. CallRail, 2025.
Want the full picture for your company?
Get your free Leak Map: a personal report on where calls and leads slip, with a dollar figure and a fix list.