If you’re a tradie in Australia, you’ve almost certainly been pitched a lead marketplace like hipages, and you’ve probably also been told to try Google Ads. Both can bring in work, but they’re built on very different economics. Here’s an honest comparison.
How lead marketplaces work
Platforms like hipages let homeowners post a job. The platform matches that job to a handful of local tradies in the right category, and each tradie who wants to quote pays for that lead, whether or not they win the work. Fees vary by trade and job size.
That model has real upsides. It’s fast to start, it needs no marketing know-how, and it can fill a quiet week.
How Google Ads works
With Google Ads, you pay when someone searches for what you do and clicks your ad, and that lead comes straight to you. It isn’t sold to anyone else. You also keep control of your account, your targeting, and the whole customer relationship.
The key difference: exclusive vs shared
The biggest practical difference is this:
| Lead marketplace | Your own Google Ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Is the lead shared? | Usually sent to several tradies | Exclusive to you |
| You pay | Per lead, win or lose | Per click, then you convert |
| Who owns the customer data | Largely the platform | You |
| Price trend over time | Tends to stay or rise | Can fall as your account improves |
| Brand building | Builds the platform’s brand | Builds yours |
| Speed to start | Very fast | A few days to set up properly |
A simple way to compare costs
The number that matters is the cost per booked job, not the cost per lead. Here’s an illustrative example, with made-up figures to show the logic:
- You pay $60 per shared lead and win roughly 1 in 4. That’s about $240 in lead costs per booked job, plus any membership.
- With Google Ads you pay $12 per click and about 1 in 8 clicks becomes a call. That’s roughly $96 per call. If you convert 1 in 2 calls into a job, that’s around $190 per booked job.
Your numbers will differ, but the principle holds: when leads are exclusive and your account is well tuned, the cost per job tends to come down over time. With shared leads you’re competing on price and speed against others who got the same lead.
When a marketplace still makes sense
I’m not anti-marketplace. They can be useful when:
- You’re brand new and have no reviews or website yet
- You need to fill a quiet week quickly
- Your trade has low search volume in your area
The risk is depending on them entirely. If a platform changes its pricing or rules, your pipeline changes overnight, and you don’t own any of that audience.
Why many tradies end up building their own lead flow
Over time, the tradies who do best use marketplaces as a top-up and build their own sources:
- Google Ads for immediate, exclusive leads
- Local SEO and Google reviews for free leads that compound. My local SEO guide explains how
- Automation so every enquiry gets a fast reply and follow-up. See my automation guide
That gives you leads you own, at a cost that improves instead of rising.
What to do next
If you’re currently spending on a marketplace, add up what you paid last quarter and divide it by the jobs you actually won. That’s your real cost per booked job. Then compare it with what a well-run Google Ads account could deliver. My guide to Google Ads costs for tradies gives realistic ranges by trade.
I run Google Ads for tradies with no lock-in contract and full account ownership. Book a free strategy call and I’ll run the numbers for your trade and area.