You are paying for leads from a platform. Maybe it is Angi, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, or something similar. The platform sends you a notification: someone needs an electrician. You call the number. Someone else calls the same number at the same time. Or the customer tells you they have already spoken to two other electricians and are comparing prices. You spent twenty dollars on a lead that turned into a race to the bottom.
Shared lead platforms and running your own Google Ads are both ways to get electrical jobs from the internet. But they are fundamentally different models, with different economics, different levels of control, and different long-term implications for your business. Understanding the difference helps you make a better decision about where to put your marketing budget.
How Shared Lead Platforms Work
Platforms like Angi (formerly Angi Leads and HomeAdvisor), Thumbtack, and similar services operate as lead marketplaces. A homeowner fills out a request for an electrician. The platform sells that lead, often simultaneously, to multiple contractors in the area. Each contractor pays for the lead regardless of whether they win the job.
You are competing with other electricians for a customer who knows they are being contacted by several of you at once. Speed matters: contractors who call within the first two minutes have a much higher chance of winning the job than those who call twenty minutes later. Price matters more than it would in a situation where the customer found you specifically. The customer is in price-comparison mode because the platform presented them with multiple options.
The platform owns the customer relationship. The customer found the platform, not you. They may go back to the same platform next time they need electrical work. Your brand received a job, but you did not necessarily gain a customer in the sense of someone who would call you directly next time.
How Your Own Google Ads Work
When you run your own Google Ads, a homeowner searches for an electrician and your ad appears. They read your ad, they click it, they visit your website or call your number directly. They are contacting you. Not you and four other electricians simultaneously. You.
The lead is exclusive. When that person calls your number from your ad, they are calling you because they chose to, not because a platform sent your name along with three others. The competitive dynamic is different from the start.
You also own everything that comes from it. If someone calls from your Google Ad, books a job, and becomes a satisfied customer, they know your company name. They may save your number. When they need electrical work again, they may call you directly without involving any platform. The customer relationship is yours.
The Economics: When Each Model Makes More Sense
Neither model is universally better. The right answer depends on your situation.
Shared lead platforms have one genuine advantage: they are simple to start. No campaign setup, no keyword research, no ongoing management. You pay per lead and some of those leads turn into jobs. For an electrician just starting out who needs jobs immediately and has no time to build a Google Ads presence, lead platforms can fill the pipeline while a longer-term strategy develops.
The cost per job from shared lead platforms is often higher than it appears. If a lead costs 25 dollars and you win one job per three leads, your effective cost per booked job is 75 dollars before any conversion effort. In highly competitive markets, lead prices are higher and win rates lower. Some electricians find they are paying 150 to 300 dollars per booked job through shared platforms after accounting for lost leads.
Your own Google Ads, when set up correctly, typically produce a lower cost per booked job over time, because the leads are exclusive (no competition at the moment of contact), and because the customer reached you by choice rather than by platform assignment. The cost per call from a well-managed Google Ads account is usually lower than the equivalent cost per exclusive lead from a shared platform.
The catch is setup time and ongoing management. Google Ads do not work well without initial setup and continued attention. The first month of a new account is a learning period. Getting to a stable cost per lead takes four to eight weeks of active management.
The Dependency Problem With Lead Platforms
There is a structural risk to building your business primarily on shared lead platforms: you do not own the relationship with the source of your leads.
Lead platform pricing changes. Some platforms have significantly raised their per-lead costs over time. Businesses dependent on the platform had to absorb the cost increase or exit the platform entirely, with no alternative lead source ready.
Platform policies change. Lead quality varies and is subject to the platform’s own policies. If the platform’s algorithm changes, or if the platform prioritizes different types of contractors, your lead flow can change overnight.
Competitors can outbid you on the platform just as they can on Google, but with even less visibility into why.
A business that runs its own Google Ads owns a relationship with Google Ads, not with a middleman. The leads come from Google searches, which will continue regardless of any single platform’s decisions.
Local Services Ads as a Middle Ground
Google’s own Local Services Ads (LSA) occupy an interesting middle ground. They charge per lead rather than per click, like shared platforms, but the lead is not shared with other contractors. When someone clicks your LSA listing and calls, they called you. Google charges you for that lead.
LSA is closer to owning your own advertising than using a shared platform, because the caller chose to contact you specifically. The Google Guarantee badge provides credibility. And the cost per lead in LSA is often lower than comparable costs on shared platforms, particularly for non-emergency searches.
Running LSA alongside your own Search Ads is a combination that covers multiple positions on the search results page while keeping the leads exclusive.
Building Your Own Pipeline
The long-term goal for most electrical contractors is a lead pipeline that does not depend on shared lead platforms. This does not mean abandoning them immediately if they are currently producing jobs. It means building an owned channel alongside them over time, so that dependence on any single platform is reduced.
A business with its own Google Ads producing 15 leads per month, LSA producing 10 leads per month, and a Google Business Profile driving organic calls is in a fundamentally stronger position than one whose entire lead flow comes from a shared platform. Diversification across owned and controlled channels creates resilience.
Getting This Fixed
If you are currently dependent on shared lead platforms and want to build your own Google Ads presence, the transition takes planning. Budget, timeline, expectations for the learning period, and what to do with the platforms while the new channel develops: these are all specific decisions that depend on the business.
This is exactly the kind of strategic setup work I do for electrical contractors. If you want to stop renting your customers, reach out at adnanagic.com/#contact.
Part of the Google Ads for Electricians series, written for electricians who want their ad budget to bring real jobs, not junk calls.
Related Posts
- Local Services Ads vs Google Ads for Electricians: Which Should You Actually Run
- How Much Should an Electrician Spend on Google Ads to Actually Get Jobs
- A Google Ads Audit for Electricians: What Is Quietly Wasting Your Budget
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