If you’re considering a construction sales lead service, Barbour ABI and Glenigan are the two names that will come up first. They hold a ‘duopoly’ over the premium end of the sales lead market, but there are two smaller and more niche providers that have found a space for themselves. They are Builders Conference and Planning Pipe.
Planning Pipe is a recent entry to the market, a newcomer in an industry dominated by firms that go back decades. It was founded in 2009 to serve a specific segment of the market that the big two were overlooking: planning information packaged in a way that smaller firms can afford.
Barbour ABI and Glenigan offer a full range of services, with fees to match. It’s an all or nothing service that works well for larger firms, but that provides far more information than smaller firms can really benefit from. In fact, they actually filter out projects that are judged to be worth less than £100k – too small for the bigger players, but bread and butter to many local builders. In response, Planning Pipe has set up with a simplified fee structure which has dramatically lowered the costs for construction marketers. It’s perfect for companies that are most interested in specialist jobs, smaller builds, or work in their immediate geographical area.
The cost of using the Planning Pipe service is much lower than Barbour ABI or Glenigan – as a rough guide it’s around 80% cheaper.
For that price, it’s obviously less information than you’d get from the big boys, but it’s more than enough for many companies. Planning Pipe has equal access to the half-a-milion planning applications lodged in Britain every year, and processes around 300,000 of them. The main difference is that Planning Pipe doesn’t have the team of researchers hitting the phones and following up projects. It serves only the planning information, and if that’s what you need, why pay more? Many builders and specialist suppliers work from planning stage project leads, including many of the companies we work with at CMS.
Subscribers to Planning Pipe can browse and download projects according to region, value and sector, and use the service to find the sort of work they are most interested in. Coverage is national, but subscribers can opt for a cheaper regional service if they tend to work in one area.
Because it deals with the planning stages, the service won’t be for everyone. If you want to know which option is right for you, why not have a look at our easy guide.
