Inside Roto-Rooter's $90 Lead Math: How an AI Answering Layer Changes Home Services

Roto-Rooter is the largest commercial and residential plumbing and drain cleaning provider in the United States: $899.9 million in fiscal 2025 revenue as a segment of Chemed, coverage reaching more than 90% of the US population, and a network that runs through corporate branches plus 361 franchisees and 72 independent contractors who staff their own phones. It spends $83.1 million a year on advertising, much of it billed per click and per call. The phone is the business.

Its own executives have published the economics of that phone with unusual candor. On earnings calls across 2025 and 2026, leadership reported leads down 7.2% year over year, paid search climbing past half of all leads, a Google Maps visibility collapse from 72% to 24% before a partial recovery, and the CEO's plain summary: 'the phone is not ringing like it did in the past.' The CFO put numbers on every ring: roughly $90 per paid lead, 1.5 to 2 leads per paying job, $150 to $180 of acquisition cost per booked job.

Now set those numbers against how the industry handles the calls it pays for. Invoca's benchmark across 60 million home-services calls found only 55% of callers reach a live person, and on the calls that connect, staff ask for the appointment only 44% of the time. ServiceTitan's data across 3,000+ trade businesses puts the average booking rate at 42%, collapsing from 61% at the morning peak to 21% after 6 PM at large shops, and 9% at small ones. On weekends, 41% of calls go unanswered entirely.

The exposure is sharpest exactly where the brand is strongest: emergencies. A burst pipe at 11 PM calls whoever answers, with drain clears at roughly $220 and sewer and excavation work running $1,500 to $5,000 and beyond. When 60 to 65% of the leads ringing the line were bought at $90 each, an unanswered call is not an abstract miss. It is spent budget dialing the next provider.