What's the average cost per lead for Local Service Ads in Canada?

Plumbing, HVAC, electrical, and similar trades: typically C$25–60 per qualified lead in major metros, C$20–40 in mid-sized cities. Cleaning services and landscaping: typically C$20–45 per lead. Roofing and higher-ticket services: typically C$40–80 per lead reflecting the higher project value.

Legal services (Google Screened): C$80–250 per lead depending on practice area. Personal injury and immigration tend to be at the high end; family law and estate planning at the lower end. Financial planning (also Google Screened): C$150–400 per lead reflecting the high client lifetime value.

The factors with the largest effect: metro (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal price 20–40% higher than Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton, which in turn price higher than mid-sized cities), category competitiveness (more LSA-eligible competitors in the metro raises the effective price), and time of day (overnight and weekend leads typically cost slightly more reflecting higher conversion).

Within an account, the largest cost-per-lead lever is dispute discipline. 12–25% of charged leads typically qualify for dispute (out-of-area, wrong service, wrong number, duplicate). Disciplined daily disputing recovers 70–85% of those — material refund volume that effectively reduces the realised cost per lead.

For meaningful algorithm optimisation, budget at least 10–15 leads worth of weekly spend. For a Toronto plumber with a C$40 average cost per lead, that's C$400–600 per week minimum, or roughly C$1,700–2,600 per month. Accounts running below this floor often plateau in lead volume and ranking because the algorithm doesn't have enough data to optimise.

The realistic ROI calculus: at typical home services close rates (40–60% of qualified leads convert to booked jobs) and typical job values (C$300–800 for service calls, C$3,000–15,000+ for installs), LSA produces customer acquisition costs in the C$50–200 range — usually the lowest CAC in the entire marketing stack for service businesses.