Shared leads vs your own lead source
Renting leads, or owning where they come from?
Marketplaces like Angi and HomeAdvisor sell you leads. Your own site, ads and Google profile bring leads nobody else gets. Here is the honest difference, including what marketplaces do well.
- Fair to marketplaces
- Only claims we can source
- Leads from your site go to you only
Tell us about your business
Reply within one business daySide by side
Shared marketplace leads vs your own lead source.
Qualitative on purpose. Prices change, and we will not quote a platform's prices we cannot source.
| Side by side | Shared marketplace leadsBought from a lead platform | Your own lead sourceYour site, ads and Google profile |
|---|---|---|
| Who else gets the lead | Often other pros in your area, sent the same request | Nobody. The homeowner contacted you |
| Speed to lead | A race. The first pro to call usually gets the conversation | Still matters, but you are not racing other pros for the same person |
| Whose brand the customer found | The marketplace's | Yours, with your reviews, photos and name |
| Cost structure | Typically a price per lead, whether or not the job closes. Check the platform's current terms | You pay to build and run the source. With our plans, part of the bill moves with leads and closed jobs |
| How fast it starts | Fast. Leads can arrive as soon as your profile is live | Slower. Ads can be live in weeks, local search takes months |
| When you stop paying | New leads stop | The site, the content and the rankings you built stay yours |
| What you learn from each lead | The contact details for the leads you buy | Where each lead came from and whether it closed, in one record you keep |
Shared marketplace leads
Bought from a lead platform
- Who else gets the lead
- Often other pros in your area, sent the same request
- Speed to lead
- A race. The first pro to call usually gets the conversation
- Whose brand the customer found
- The marketplace's
- Cost structure
- Typically a price per lead, whether or not the job closes. Check the platform's current terms
- How fast it starts
- Fast. Leads can arrive as soon as your profile is live
- When you stop paying
- New leads stop
- What you learn from each lead
- The contact details for the leads you buy
Your own lead source
Your site, ads and Google profile
- Who else gets the lead
- Nobody. The homeowner contacted you
- Speed to lead
- Still matters, but you are not racing other pros for the same person
- Whose brand the customer found
- Yours, with your reviews, photos and name
- Cost structure
- You pay to build and run the source. With our plans, part of the bill moves with leads and closed jobs
- How fast it starts
- Slower. Ads can be live in weeks, local search takes months
- When you stop paying
- The site, the content and the rankings you built stay yours
- What you learn from each lead
- Where each lead came from and whether it closed, in one record you keep
The fair version
What each one does well, and where each one hurts.
Shared marketplace leads
Angi, HomeAdvisor and platforms like them.
Works for you
- Leads on day one, even with no website
- A brand many homeowners already know and trust
- Nothing to build and nothing to maintain
- Useful to fill a gap in the schedule or test a new service area
Works against you
- The same request often goes to other pros too
- You win by calling first, not always by being best
- The customer found the platform, not you
- The leads stop the day the payments stop
Fits best: Owners who need work this month, have no site yet, or want to test a new area before investing in it.
Your own lead source
A site, local search, ads and a Google profile in your name.
Works for you
- Leads come to you and nobody else
- Every lead builds your brand and your reviews
- What you build keeps working after a slow month
- You see the whole path from search to closed job
Works against you
- Slower to start, especially search
- Takes investment before the first lead arrives
- Needs someone to keep it running and measured
- You still have to answer fast and close the job
Fits best: Owners who plan to be in their market for years and want leads that do not depend on a platform's rules.
Speed to lead
Fast matters either way. On a shared lead, it is the whole game.
On a shared lead
Several pros get the same homeowner at the same moment. The homeowner usually talks to whoever calls first, so every minute you are on a roof costs you the job.
On your own lead
Nobody else was sent the request. Speed still matters, a homeowner who waits keeps searching, but you are racing their patience, not three competitors.
How we handle it
Elevi alerts you the moment a lead lands, with where it came from. AI Lead Response can answer after hours and book the appointment so the lead does not go cold overnight.
Owned sources, named clients
What owning the source has looked like.
Published with each client's name. Nothing aggregated, nothing anonymous.
- 5 hrs
- From launch to first inbound lead, Blue Arrow Roofing
- +327%
- Organic clicks (12 mo), BHR Construction
- +456%
- Organic impressions, BHR Construction
- $12M+
- New leads generated, BHR Construction
Buying leads today?
Tell us what you spend on them and how many close. We will tell you what it would take to own that source, and whether it is worth it for you yet.
Questions owners ask
About shared leads and owning your source.
Are Angi and HomeAdvisor a bad idea?
Should I stop buying marketplace leads?
Are the leads you bring exclusive to me?
How long does it take to build my own lead source?
How is speed to lead handled?
What does owning my lead source cost?
Are you affiliated with Angi or HomeAdvisor?
Angi and HomeAdvisor are trademarks of their respective owners. Frontend Horizon is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Descriptions of marketplaces on this page are general; check each platform’s current terms.
Frontend Horizon, Dallas, TX
Your site should be paying for itself. Let's find out together.
Take ten minutes with us. You will leave knowing where your site stands and what we would do first, whether or not you hire us.
- Monthly retainer
- Pay per lead
- Pay per close
- A written read every Friday