Defaults reflect publicly reported hipages pricing ranges — see the sources at the bottom of this page. Drag the sliders to match your own invoices.
Why the "cheap lead" maths never adds up
Pay-per-lead platforms charge you at the top of the funnel: you pay when a homeowner clicks "get quotes", not when you win work. Three things then eat your money:
- Shared leads. The same job is typically sold to several tradies. Only one of you wins it; everyone pays for it.
- Ghost leads. Tyre-kickers, wrong numbers, "just getting prices for the landlord" — you pay for those too.
- The subscription floor. A $200–$600/month plan is charged before you've seen a single lead, every month, win or lose.
That's why independent analyses put the real cost of a hipages booked job at roughly $87–$300+ — several multiples of the advertised lead fee (ServiceScale, Tradie Card). And with Oneflare shutting down on 30 June 2026, a lot of tradies are re-running this maths right now.
The one-line test: take last month's platform invoice, divide it by the jobs you actually booked from it. If that number would make you wince on a customer's quote, it should make you wince on your own books.
The comparison, side by side
| Pay-per-lead platforms | PropCommand | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly subscription | $200–$600 | $0 — no subscription, ever |
| Cost per lead | $30–$80, shared with other tradies, win or lose | $0 — browse full job briefs free |
| What you see before paying | A teaser; details after you buy the lead | Full AI-written brief, photos, suburb — before you bid |
| You pay when… | A homeowner submits a request | You win the job — flat $5 (founding rate to 30 Sep 2026) |
| Incentive | Platform earns more the more tradies quote and lose | Platform earns only when you win |
Keep the subscription money. Pay $5 when you win.
PropCommand is recruiting founding Melbourne tradies now: no subscription, no lead fees, full job brief before you bid, and a flat $5 per won job locked until 30 September 2026. Founding Member badge for life.
Want the full breakdown? Read How much does hipages cost for tradies in 2026?
Frequently asked questions
How much does hipages really cost per job?
The advertised lead fee is only part of it. Add the monthly subscription (typically $200–$600) and account for shared and dead leads, and independent analyses put the real cost per booked job at roughly $87–$300+. Your own number is simple: total monthly platform spend ÷ jobs actually won — that's what this calculator does.
Why is my cost per booked job so much higher than the lead fee?
Because you pay for every lead, win or lose, and most leads are shared with multiple tradies quoting the same job. Pay for ten leads, win two jobs — each win carries the cost of the other eight leads plus your share of the subscription.
What happened to Oneflare?
Oneflare closed on 30 June 2026. If you relied on it for leads, your realistic options are another pay-per-lead platform — with the economics above — or a flat-fee marketplace where you only pay when you win. That second model is what PropCommand runs.
How is PropCommand different?
No subscription and no lead fees. You see the full job brief, photos and suburb before you decide to bid. If you don't win, you pay nothing; if you win, it's a flat $5 — locked at that founding rate on every job won until 30 September 2026 for Melbourne founding members.
This calculator provides general estimates only. hipages pricing varies by plan, trade and region — figures used as defaults come from public sources: ServiceScale's cost analysis, Tradie Card's true-cost breakdown, and TradieScaler on the Oneflare closure. Check current pricing with each platform directly. hipages is a trademark of hipages Group Pty Ltd; Oneflare, ServiceSeeking and Airtasker are trademarks of their respective owners. PropCommand.ai is not affiliated with any of them.