Same homeowner, different math. The structural difference between shared and exclusive leads determines your real cost per job.
Every roofing lead service has to choose between two distribution models. Either each lead is sold to multiple contractors (shared) or each lead is sold to one contractor with the others locked out (exclusive). The choice has nothing to do with the underlying lead quality — it has to do with the lead service's revenue model.
For the contractor on the receiving end, the choice matters enormously. The same homeowner produces very different unit economics depending on which model surfaces the lead.
The same homeowner's form fill is sold to 3-4 contractors simultaneously. Each contractor receives the lead and races to make first contact. The homeowner gets 3-4 calls within an hour. Whoever gets there first usually wins, but the price-sensitivity dynamic kicks in fast because the homeowner knows other roofers are quoting.
The contractor's cost per closed job is dominated by close rate, which is structurally capped because of the competition. Per-lead price is the smaller variable.
The same homeowner is sold to one contractor. The other contractors who would have received the lead in a shared model are locked out for a defined window (30-90 days at Roffy). No race, no price war, no homeowner fatigue from multiple roofer calls.
Per-lead price is usually higher (the service has to charge more to make the same revenue with one buyer instead of four), but close rate is structurally higher because there's no competition. Cost per closed job depends on the spread between those two effects — for most contractors the close-rate gain dominates.
Shared vs exclusive isn't a marketing claim — it's a structural difference that shows up in three independent effects:
Whether the exclusive premium pays off in your specific business depends on your sales motion, your average job size, and your close rate on shared leads today. The structural argument is real; the magnitude is contractor-specific.
Shared leads can work for contractors with low handling costs, mature lead-routing systems, and the ability to respond within minutes. If your contact-to-call time is under 5 minutes and you've automated initial qualification, the close rate ceiling rises and shared can be competitive.
For most independent roofing contractors without dedicated inside sales or paid SDR teams, exclusive leads produce categorically better economics.
Ask the service. Reputable providers publish this. If the service can't or won't tell you how many other contractors received the same lead, assume it's shared — that's the default marketplace model.
Some services offer 'semi-exclusive' (e.g., 2 contractors per lead). The economics fall in between but closer to shared than exclusive in practice. Below 5 contractors per lead, the math starts to work for the contractor; above that, it doesn't.
Yes — providers selling to one contractor instead of four have to charge more per lead to make the same revenue. But the higher per-unit price is overwhelmingly offset by the better close rate, which is why cost per closed job tends to be much lower.
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