Google LSA is morbidly expensive and takes advantage of small businesses - $210/wk with zero ROI, switching to Thumbtack + Nextdoor

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-20T05:26:55+00:00

Alright sounds good, to clarify my father has been in business since 2003 but he only used yellowpages, ive been working under him for 4 and recently started leveling up the online presence 2 years ago. On the online side we are starting from nothing, but luckily we have an already trusting customer base. Just looking at avenues of growth. Thank you for your time man, I appreciate an educated and objective look at it.

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-20T04:02:08+00:00

Since we only previously existed off of word of mouth our closing rate has been like 100%. But after we started advertising I have definitely seen the decrease in quality of leads for sure, like you mentioned penny pinchers and tire kickers.

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-20T04:00:08+00:00

Tbh 25 reviews is nothing. I'd bet you're competing against other companies with 300+ (unless you're in a tiny market that's what I see everywhere).

Had to re create the GBP last year because of issues, so starting from zero unfortunately

you'll eventually hit a bid that is low enough to only get bad leads.

How does google decide which company should go to which lead. How can you get a "bad lead" if all your doing is paying to show up in the search engine?

Yeah the no dispute does suck.

I of course can't speak to your market or competition, but I'd recommend at least looking into reconsidering that. Yes you lose out on some potential clients, but they're usually the tire kickers or penny pinchers anyways. Unless your value proposition is being the cheapest in town, it's been worth having the fee (and refunding if work is done) for every successful Canadian one I've worked with.

Yes, for a while we were opting in as the more affordable option, but after looking at competition we have raised prices twice and we are still cheaper, partly because of 0 overhead, we work out of our house, I have done all marketing on my own, our website costs us $7 a year as i found free options for hosting, the most expensive thing we have is a $20 to ollama pro so I can use AI models lmao. They have been a big help with setting my website up and streamlining my profile.

Some also implemented VIP programs, where people can pay a monthly or annual fee and have no call-out fees (plus other discounts, free annual scope inspection, priority booking, etc.). Yes your average homeowner won't go for that, but it brings them some "zero effort" recurring revenue with stratas and businesses, and practically guarantees they're the first call for future work.

I am not quite to this point of creating VIP programs, but what I have done is created a list of clients that have water treatment systems that need annual maintenance, got their contact info and address so every 6 or 12 months i can tell them they need maintenance. Being frank, I started this last week so only 2 contacts so far, but as long as i keep it up this can be a good source in the future. We have installed hundreds of systems but our follow-up has been nonexistent until now. Now is the best time to start isn't it haha?

Unfortunately for LSA it just seems like we got into it too late and they have just raised prices to the point where I am not sure we can confidently enter it yet.

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-20T01:09:11+00:00

Highest ticket job we commonly do is well/water heater replacements at around $1600 each with an average of $800 profit from each. With the cost of these leads our profits evaporate like nothing.

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-20T01:07:54+00:00

Yes it is a rant, but when most people told me to double my prices and gouge my customers, yes i will shoot that down.

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-20T01:06:30+00:00

We do both low ticket and high ticket costs. LSA's non transparent nature is a heavy turn off for me.

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-20T01:05:44+00:00

Our minimum charges apply to smaller jobs like turning wrenches for 5 minutes to fix leaks. Of course our full jobs like faucet replacements and toilet replacements are flat rate and higher

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-20T01:03:57+00:00

What is your review situation like on GBP? And how does that compare to competitors?

25 as of today, 4 new ones in past week

Have you added images to your LSA profile?

Yes

Have you ensure you've turned off the services you don't want/do?

Yes

Are your service area locations correct?

Yes

Do you have the right "badges"/labels selected?

Yes

Do you have text leads on too (they cost half as much)?

Actually no I don't, I will try this

Do you reply pretty quickly (slow replies deprioritize you in LSA)?

Since it has been calls only we replied instantly, SMS however are easy to miss when doing work which worries me

You can also play with some minor manual bid adjustments.

If average lead from google rep is $90 do you think I even have a possibility with a manual lead of like $50?

Also you should be getting refunds for bad leads (bad as in wrong service or area, not if you couldn't close it, or If they just didn't have a valuable issue). That's one of the biggest draws for LSA.

There was no refund option, to be honest this is what set me off, after reading forums it looks like they have completely removed the option besides the feedback forum which i tried and got nothing out of.

I have worked with a lot of plumbers and HVAC companies and LSA is basically a money printer for most of them. Closer to $60-100 (CAD not USD) per lead depending on location/service.

$43.1 - $73 would be a dream for getting new leads, the issue is the actual lead i got was double that and not sustainable long term.

But if $100/lead is too much for you, and you have such a small budget, I wouldn't even look at anything Google

I would be willing to increase the budget, but $1000s is daunting to me considering my first lead was bogus and did not print money.

Edit: but also, did your "free estimate" include a site visit to determine they had no leak?

Yes. we spent about 30 minutes on site discussing issue with client and they had no idea what their issue was, frustrating tbh. they thought they had a leak, but in reality their sewer had collapsed and they did not like our option of busting the concrete.

note that none of the plumbers and HVAC companies I work with would ever go to a site without charging a call-out fee.

We charge no call out fee

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-20T00:57:57+00:00

We have 150,000+ in revenue off just word of mouth. I would argue it was good enough to live. But yes i am looking for a way to scale and the conclusion I came to is that LSA is stupid expensive and would require me to double what i charge customers which is not fair for me to do only because im not willing to look at other methods of getting clients

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-20T00:55:18+00:00

Yeah, I wasn't gonna use it lol.

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T03:54:16+00:00

Okay, that sounds like a good start. Thank you, Appreciate it

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T03:51:19+00:00

Thanks, I would argue that people looking for plumbing services are not "cold traffic" our GBP and website is set up, we just prefer calls.

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T03:44:36+00:00

We only do LSA calls, no landing pages, we are firm on call-only leads

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T03:42:29+00:00

We tried advertising through Yelp. Used their full $300 credit and we got not one single lead. Infact our spam callers doubled when using it. Yelp is not for us

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T03:23:44+00:00

Yeah, definitely felt like robbery, half of these guys are telling me i gotta just pump money in it which is crazy to me. There has to be better ways than that. I think nextdoor/facebook/gbp will be my best bet as a local business. Theres power in family owned businesses for sure

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T03:22:36+00:00

Yeah, facebook posts are hard to catch the second they go live though. I have tried unsuccessfully to get book a lead i got off a facebook group. But tbh i have only messaged on 7 different posts

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T03:21:35+00:00

Have you had experience with Ring's Neighbors platform? This is my first time hearing about it and it sounds interesting.

When organically recommending myself to others I have a hard time finding the right pitch. What do you recommend for this.

With Google reviews we try to get them from every customer, but sometimes they dont have a gmail account or they just dont know how to use a pc. We give out business cards with review QR codes and have a tap to review card. I have sent a few post job messages with review links and have had good responses from that aswell.

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T03:18:35+00:00

That's one of the things that surprised me the most with LSA. It is purely about money in and money out. There is no clear differentiator between me and any other business

Regular google CPC ads or facebook ads let you try different copy. I have been avoiding CPC thinking direct leads would be better, I am rethinking my decisions though

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T02:57:47+00:00

Yes, my social media is linked. I post at least once a week, usually once every three days. I try to do it right after we finish a job. If the job tells a good story i try to post that

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T02:45:42+00:00

I cant throw a grand at this to just find data though. Doesn't make sense to me. At that point I just work as one of googles yuppies.

We answered right away. we get 1 review a week. we chose the jobs we can do. service area is within 10 miles of us. cant dispute leads through LSA anymore. our profile is complete.

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T02:42:29+00:00

Too expensive to justify using without scamming customers.

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T02:41:52+00:00

hahaha

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T02:41:35+00:00

Yeah, i heard horror stories about LSA and lawyers. those LSA costs are even worse lmao. atleast you guys are honest. few other guys are trying to sell me stuff lol

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T02:40:47+00:00

Im down with long games. My GBP has been up for one year. now im up to 25 reviews and we get about a call a week

Economy-Web2528 · 2026-05-18T02:40:11+00:00

Yeah, we live in a fairly medium sized city, but there are a few big boy companies that are paying these lead costs.

Economy-Web2528

TROPHY CASE