Duuude… I hate thumbtack. Nine times out of 10 I’m competing with some uninsured guy with a Troy Bilt pressure washer and an expanding hose in his 1970s S 10 pick up willing to do just about anything to get his next fix. Even if that means washing an entire three-story house for $99. Most people on Thumbtack in my area, at least, are price shoppers. Not value shoppers.
The 4 customers I have gotten through thumbtack were absolutely awesome and they left great reviews. But that was after like 40 bids.
Everyone has something that works for them in their area I guess, but in Kansas City, for pressure washing companies, Thumbtack isn’t one of them.
These are the kind of jobs the $99 guy here in KC is doing. And then we get a call to “fix it”… except no one likes hearing that you pressure washers do irreversible damage in the wrong hands.
Well, this thread got interesting, lol. So heres my take. All of these services…Angies, Thumbtack, Home Advisor, etc., have their place. I currently use all of them to varying degrees. When I started my business, we did nothing but gutter cleaning and we used Thumbtack exclusively. Our return was excellent. The landscape of Thumbtack has changed quite a bit so we very rarely use it these days.But Angies List? I love it! Ive made TONS of money from that site. Home Advisor? Profit margins are a bit slimmer as compared to jobs from other sources but still worth the money for me. A lot of the leads I get from there get no replies from other contractors so its a huge win for me. Someone above mentioned that all their competition hates HA so it works for them. Seems to be the same case for me. I build the cost of the lead into my quotes and its never an issue. I also understand the perspective of @Innocentbystander, from the perspective of somoene who has been in business for a long time and whos phone rings almost by itself. Of course this is a point that we all hope to get to and hopefully we all will, but in the meantime, these companies in question are just a part of our marketing puzzle.
I’m on my 2nd month with HA. I started off getting 15 plus calls a week and most of them wanted some kind of painting and/or staining which I don’t do. I was also the first to call almost every time. That being said it took me 3 weeks to get my first job. It seemed that time after time when I was first to call I would give them a quote and they would always say, I want to see what the other companies are offering first and I never get that call back. I then took painting off my list and I now get 2 to 3 calls a week. I usually get the “Let me see what the other companies are offering” still. Maybe I don’t have the right speech or doing something wrong if some of y’all are doing that well. I’m to the point that I may cancel HA unless y’all have something that may help win the business.
Canceling isn’t as easy as you think. If they have access to your credit card they will bill you indefinitely and now your phone number is linked to them also. They had to change their name from service magic because of the bad publicity and attorney general complaints. They are definitely bottom feeders.
I just want to vent my anger at Home Advisor, many leads are from people who don’t know how to sign up, it’s people looking for work, not clients. also they charge so much for leads and give you a hard time when you request a refund. im talking 63 dollar dud leads.
The WORST part is scam robo calls you get EVERY DAY, I know for a fact it’s from HA because I used to get these calls before, but I got a new google voice number and put it on Home advisor instead and BOOM daily calls only from that number, many of which actually tell you theyre looking for work to be done at their hosue but they are in canada or w.e.
My competitor in my town, who happens to be a good friend, said he uses HA but it’s a joke. Told me not to do it … I feel like if it was so worth it, they wouldn’t charge over 300 dollars for it upfront, but just for each lead.
I would never spend money on home advisor mainly because of there reputation. But I have a painter that we do a good amount of work for that thinks it the holly grail and gets tons of work from it . He looked confused when I asked him how many fake leads he gets. He said none what are you talking about fake leads . It weird how it’s works great for some and completely BS for others
Same @florida_condo_cleani I’ve had two people completely condemn them and say they’re scam artists, but ONE guy who I know in my town uses them for his cleaning business and he swears they are awesome and get him allot of work. But then again, he does crime scene clean up… suicides, murders, and other stuff. Of course in my area theres a huge demand for that type of stuff and he seems to be the only one offering that service so I think that’s why hes killing it on there. Lol
I’m having this same discussion in the Housecall Pro fb group. I can’t figure out why it works so great for some and it’s total dog poo for others. It’s no secret that I love HA, but I think I figured out the main thing that matters:
Your local market saturation of contractors using it.
Other than that, they sell it as a magic bullet, which it’s not. I love it. But I think I’m the only one really using it in my area for pressure washing work. In the last 6 months, I’ve asked if the person I call has gotten any other calls. It’s mostly a big fat no.
And I think that may be the only real reason I’ve tremendous success with it.
I tried to get into forensic clean up because there is only one guy around that does it. Al you need is a lisence and a strong stomach. Unfortunately they don’t offer the licenses when I called the state department. Basically he said you need to know a guy that know a guy. And endless I do I’m not going to get one . Then told me have a good day and hung up the phone . Probably for the best since I don’t have a strong stomach
Your probably rite about the amount of competition. I’m glad it works for you are the leads $22 were your at . They call me at least once a week pretending to be a customer for a minute before they pitch the hi we’re home advisor and we have customers in your area LOOKING FOR YOU !!!
hear if you use it for concrete work its half price
