We have all seen the ads on TV or we have heard them on the radio, but how does Home Advisor match you with the correct contractor for your project?
Being a contractor that has utilized Home Advisor for over the past 5 years we have the contractor side of how Home Advisor actually works.
Home Advisor advertises that it is a website that is set up to allow for homeowners to input certain information about their project to then pair them with a list of available contractors. Home Advisor also lets the homeowners know that their service is free to use. Well this almost seems too good to be true. A site that offers to match you with a contractor, in your area, all for FREE!!
Home Advisor is free for homeowners
But it is not free for the contractors that are certified within their network.
When you first log on to Home Advisor, as a homeowner looking for a contractor, you enter your name, address, and then answer questions about what type of project you are wanting to have completed. As soon as you click “Find a Contractor” it sends out your information to all of the contractors that are set up within their network for that particular project. Those contractors are then notified that they have a new lead within their Home Advisor Pro account. It is then up to the contractors to reach out to the homeowners and help them in learning more about the project and getting some pricing put together for the homeowners.
Now this all seems pretty straight forward, but then your phone will start to ring, and ring, and ring. This is something that Home Advisor does not tell you. Home Advisor actually sells you and your project’s information to the contractors. The price can range anywhere from $50 to $150 depending on the type of project. As a contractor, we have learned that the early bird gets the worm, when it comes to Home Advisor leads, because customers, such as yourself, get frustrated very quickly with the amount of phone calls they start to receive from contractors and ultimately will stop responding to them. We completely understand your frustration. We have made the same mistake when we have seen a site that is going to either shop to get you the best price on a trip or the best price on insurance. It is all part of the game that you have unknowingly entered.
Home Advisor charges
Now the price of the lead that Home Advisor charges is not just a value that is applied to the winning contractor, that price is applied to all contractors that reply to that lead. Some contractors sign up for automatically accepting all leads and see each notification from Home Advisor as money being spent without any glimmer of hope or even having the opportunity to talk or help that homeowner. That is why they call and keep on calling to try to speak with you. The contractors just don’t want to see that cost on a project lead be thrown into the trash. So what is being sold as a FREE site for homeowners is actually generating around $500, to Home Advisor, for your information that is then distributed to their network.
Now if you have no references for your particular project or if you don’t feel comfortable doing your own research on contractors, then Home Advisor is a great solution. Just be ready for the phone calls. But, if you are able to spend a few extra minutes and conduct your own search online for your project’s needs then it may be time better spent to find a contractor that is better suitable to help you reach your goal and project’s successful completion.
If you want to learn more about this and other websites, feel free to reach out to us and we can help answer your questions and guide you in the right direction.
