Construction lead generation companies in the UK: what each type actually sells you
Three very different products get sold under the name "construction leads": planning-application data, shared directory enquiries, and done-for-you exclusive lead generation. They suit different builders, and mixing them up is an expensive mistake. Here's what each one really is.
Search "construction leads UK" and page one looks like one market. It isn't. Glenigan, Barbour ABI and Planning Pipe sell databases. Checkatrade and MyBuilder sell shared homeowner enquiries. Services like ours run ads and deliver booked phone calls. All three call the thing they sell a "lead", and the word hides the difference until you've paid.
This guide separates them properly, including where our own service sits, with our cards on the table. If you want the wider picture on where leads come from in the first place, start with our construction leads pillar page.
Ads run in your name, enquiries qualified on your criteria, an AI booking agent that books the phone calls. Every lead is yours alone.
Established extension builders who want a predictable pipeline
Fixed price per lead, agreed before anything goes live
01
Planning-data platforms: a list of projects, not a queue of customers
Glenigan, Barbour ABI, Planning Pipe and BuildAlert dominate the search results for construction leads, and they're serious products. What they sell is early project intelligence: planning applications, project values, timescales, and the contacts attached to them, usually across commercial as well as domestic work. Constructionline often appears alongside them, though it's a slightly different animal: a procurement and prequalification register that connects accredited contractors with buyers, rather than a planning database.
Used well, this data is genuinely valuable. A groundworks firm can see every approved development in its region before the main contractor has appointed its supply chain. A subcontractor can time its approach to the exact week a project needs its trade. That's why these platforms exist, and why firms with business development teams pay for them. Pricing varies by platform and coverage; typically it's a subscription, and you'll need to ask each one for a quote.
Here's the catch for a small extension builder: a planning application is not an enquiry. It's a record that a homeowner, developer or architect asked the council for permission. Nobody in that record asked to hear from you. To turn the data into work you still have to find the right contact, ring or write to them cold, compete with everyone else who saw the same record, and do all the selling yourself. If you don't have a person whose job is working that list every week, the subscription buys you a spreadsheet you never open.
Best for: contractors and subcontractors chasing commercial contracts and tender opportunities, with someone dedicated to working the data. Wrong tool for a builder who wants homeowners asking for a quote.
02
Shared-lead directories: real enquiries, split several ways
Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Bark and their peers sell the opposite product: genuine homeowner enquiries, no cold contact needed. The trade-off is baked into the business model. The platform makes more money by showing the same enquiry to several members, so you typically quote against other builders for a lead you paid for, and on a £50k extension every losing quote costs you an evening of survey and pricing work. Fees vary: memberships, per-lead charges, credits, depending on the platform. For small, fast jobs the maths can still work. We've compared the main platforms one by one, along with the exclusive options, in our guide to Checkatrade alternatives.
Best for: small, quick jobs and builders who want volume without commitment, and who can live with quoting against other trades.
03
Done-for-you exclusive generation: our category, cards on the table
Full disclosure: this is what Unlimitely sells, so weigh this section accordingly. A done-for-you service sits between the two models above. Like a directory, you get real homeowner enquiries rather than a database. Unlike a directory, the ads run in your name, the enquiries are generated for you specifically, and nobody else ever sees them.
In our case that means Meta ads that reach homeowners planning an extension before they get to a shared quote list, qualification questions built on your criteria (budget, job type, timeframe), and an AI booking agent that texts every enquiry the moment it lands, keeps following up, and books qualified homeowners into a phone call. You take the call, quote, and win or lose on your own merits, not on being the cheapest of five. One builder per 30-mile radius, at a fixed price per lead agreed before anything goes live. The full mechanics are on our how it works page.
"Leads mean nothing. Only revenue. So we build a system that builds revenue." Lewis Ford, founder of Unlimitely
Best for: established extension builders who want a predictable pipeline of exclusive, qualified enquiries and would rather take booked calls than work a database or a shared inbox.
How to choose between them
Match the product to your situation, not the other way round.
You chase commercial work or subcontract packages. Look at the planning-data platforms, not us. If you have someone who can work a project database every week, Glenigan or Barbour ABI will show you opportunities no directory ever will. Trial the data for your region before you commit to a subscription.
Your bread and butter is small, fast jobs. A shared-lead directory can pay its way, because quoting costs you minutes. Track cost per job won, not cost per lead, and be ready to leave when the numbers turn.
You're an established extension builder who wants the diary full. Shared leads punish you hardest, because every lost quote costs an evening, and planning data leaves you doing all the selling. Exclusive generation is built for exactly this situation. That's our category, so test the claim: ask any provider, us included, who else gets the same lead, what qualification actually happens, and what you pay if the leads don't come.
You have more time than budget. Run your own ads and follow-up. It's a second trade and the learning curve costs real money, but everything you build is yours.
Want the exclusive option, without the DIY?
We build and run the whole system for one extension builder per 30-mile area. A free strategy call tells you straight if yours is open.
What do construction lead generation companies actually sell?+
Three different products get sold under the same name. Planning-data platforms like Glenigan and Barbour ABI sell access to databases of planning applications and project information. Directories like Checkatrade and MyBuilder sell homeowner enquiries that are shared with several trades at once. Done-for-you services like Unlimitely run ads in your name and deliver exclusive enquiries that go to you alone. They suit different builders, so check which product you are actually buying before you compare prices.
Are planning application leads worth it for small builders?+
Usually not for a builder doing domestic extensions. A planning lead is a record that someone applied for permission, not a homeowner asking to be contacted. You still have to find the right person, make contact cold, and do all the selling. That workflow suits firms with a sales team chasing commercial contracts and subcontract packages. A small builder is normally better served by enquiries from homeowners who have already asked for a quote.
What is the difference between a lead generation service and a directory?+
A directory collects enquiries on its own platform and shares each one with several member trades, so you quote against other builders for the same job. A done-for-you lead generation service runs advertising in your name and sends every enquiry to you alone. Unlimitely, for example, runs Meta ads for one builder per 30-mile area, qualifies each enquiry on the builder’s own criteria, and its AI booking agent texts the homeowner and books qualified ones into a phone call, at a fixed price per lead agreed before anything goes live.
Leads that are generated for you, and only you
Book a free strategy call and find out if your 30-mile area is still available for exclusive extension leads.
Unlimitely