Hey guys,
I’ll be self-employed in a couple of weeks and am still working on places to get good leads from. I have a lot of contacts in my local community that I believe will eventually help me find leads to good work but being that I’m starting out fresh I’d like to get my name out there in as many places as possible.
Has anyone used any of the online “find a contractor” type websites to get leads? Are they worth it? Which are the good ones? Do the lead to decent work or crap work?
I saw one put together by JLC in partnership with ServiceMagic.com. JLC is a good publication so I’d like to think that this service would also be good. Does anyone have experience with this one specifically?
Replies
never used them but they keep sending me leads....I'd also be interested in seeing if it pans out for anyone.How much you make or costs you in the end.
Hey.....can't hurt.
Be led
a...
The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
Depends on what kind of work you want to do. I always stayed away from anything that would cause multiple contractors to be bidding or estimating on the same job. Too much time waste and we charge for consultations.
I still get leads from some local thing here-but I know that 7 other contractors all get the same lead. Not sure who's getting them, but you can bet there's precious little profit involved in them after it's filtered through 5 contractors and lowballed. Those systems function is primarily for the shopper-and shoppers involve less profit.
My guys get a lead-and don't compete with each other, and usually by the time they are doing a paid consultation, we pretty much have the job. Other quotes either don't arrive or aren't trusted. But we're doing pretty specialized work.
I see those catalogs of contractors as spam and a nuicence. I have never had a problem bumping them out of the #1 spot in google.
L
I used Improvenet a few years back and didn't like them at all.
They charge you a lead fee depending on the amount of the job plus a % of the total job. What I found when using them was that most leads didn't pan out and you still had to pay for the lead.
I would get maybe 1 job from 20 leads so I found myself spending to much time on leads that were no good.
They would also send leads that I didn't request and I would have to spend time on the phone with them just to clear the charges up.
Was it worth it, no way. Will I use them again, nope.
Bottom line is if you do good work and you charge what the market will allow you will get leads from your customers and these leads are worth more money than you will ever spend on a company like Improvenet.
ServiceMagic works the same as Improvenet so I would think you will have the same problems with them.
busta :0)
Hey Penley,
Remember that kid in school who always got straight A's-but never did any homework? I was that guy... I lied... I studied until 3 most nights. I lied again when I first started in business. I told everyone that all my leads came from word of mouth-I didn't actually know anyone in the beginning.
I don't do any proactive marketing Penley- The magazine articles, the free home shows and the 15 million hits a month to the website all come from word of mouth.
And if you believe that...I have some land that you really need to buy ! ;o)
L
I signed up with servicemagic about a year ago. I have payed them $289.00 in the last year, and have not gotten a lead that panned out. They will be dropped from my expences this year.
I don't know about online per se, but I know something about referral services. If the company has a good brand reputation and marketing, and their deal with you works for you, you should consider signing on. It can be really helpful when just starting out on your own. At any point in the life of your private company, the referrals can level out the slow spells.
As HOs we maintain an inexpensive annual subscription to a service club, even though we now have the business cards of many good tradespeople. It has been brilliant for odd jobs that are urgent or emergency. It's a real time-saver when starting cold to find, say, a plumber or electrician and don't have referrals to one. We like that theres a central office who answer the phone 24/7 (so you don't have to).
A lot of the service club clients never ask for more than one quote. They say, 'I need my eaves done' and whoever is sent by the agency gets the job. Others will request three quotes but then never go beyond the referral service for a fourth. They then feel content that they've done their homework. Even odds of one in three is better than one in infinite. So, you could waste your time less often than on your own.
Finally, we've given repeat business (and sealed-deal referrals) to several of these tradespeople directly. After all, they arrive in vans and shirts emblazoned with the names of their real companies and don't seem to have to hide that. Some are doing extra evenings and weekend stuff on top of another job, while building a happy customer list for when they go out on their own.
Hey Hack... you should probably fill in your profile and let us know who you work with. Credentials please.
L
Profile data were requested. I've added location and non-trades occupation.
Hacknhope comes from a family story about a frustrated shop teacher. I meant it to sound like a husband and wife pair, but it is the wife posting 99.9% of the time. -- I've been accsed of being a bad husband ;-) -- And to be clear, we are both hacks of equal measure.
Neither of us have professional affiliations in construction and absolutely no credentials, but a little experience - mostly from getting it wrong before logging into breaktime. We do have some actual pros among our circle of friends - most of whom we can't afford. I also seem to be the unofficial researcher on building science, materials, how things are supposed to be done, etc. on behalf of a growing network of colleagues and friends who are deep into homes, renos, additions, decorating and very small-scale speculation.
Thanks for your candour Hack, I'm just up the road from you..
Tough to get anything done in Toronto of late, but if you check the local papers in the ethnic areas you will find contractors to do just about anything for cash and cheap. There's about 30,000 illegal guys mostly from eastern europe working in the Toronto area, so all you have to do is find them to get the job done for about 1/2 price of what it is worth.
Eyebrows raised... ahuh. Why would I announce that so non-chalently? Because our impotent government would rather crush the legitimate tradesmen and allow these illegals who don't pay tax, insurance or permit fees to gut the entire trade in the Toronto area. The more work they do the more obvious the problem gets and maybe someday they will address it.
Sounds like another post.
Anyway Hack, welcome to breaktime. I hope you learn plenty. I'm doing demonstrations at the upcoming Home Workshop show, Mar3 weekend at the National Trade Center... I know Steve Maxwell is there too so if you are interested in the finer points of woodwork, you should plan to attend.
By all means come up and say Hi... My name is Winter Burn.
L
Thanks for the friendly greeting, homey. Ooooh workshop show. If I get there, I'll look for you.
I encourage you to post anew about the legal and illegal labour in the GTA. There are excellent opportunities for really good people to do really stellar work and get paid for it on the legal market. But there's a lot of dicey stuff going on too. Homeowners may not be knowing the risks they're taking with unlicenced and uninsured folk. We've heard many laments from people about how they have a hard time achieving a decent margin when doing things legally, but for me to contribute to that conversation is hearsay. There has to be some corner cutting by the big groups buying up the bungallows at 600k, just to demolish them, and still making a profit on the replacement home. It must take more than volume materials purchase and creative accounting to make that work.
Ahuh, legitimate businesses will always do better, I know my guys do.
When it comes to the guys buying/demolishing expensive properties I can help you get a grasp on why it is feasible.
Take down 3 family homes-put up condos or townhomes and there is huge profit to be made. You can only get so much for a bungalo, but renovating them is not where it is at. Too expensive. Once you factor in the architects, taking apart, alterations then putting it back together and trying to work in some architecture-you may as well build a new 3 story structure for the price. It's just practicality. Easier to build from scratch-exactly what people want to pay for then ever to renovate.
You can take down 3 bungalows and put up 6 or 8 luxury rowhouses and sell them for 3/4-2 mil each. Depends on finish and location.
A friend of mine did one near St.Clair and Avenue Rd... an architect friend of mine designed them. 6 units where once were 3 - 2 story century homes. I know the numbers because I had accepted to manage the project for finishing-before I was lowballed out by a GC who in lieu of pay would supply all the labour and skim his pay.
So... they bought for about 1.2 mil, and these things sold for total of 9.5 mil. One of the Eatons bought the biggest unit for about 3 mil finished.
The math works fine.
When it comes to illegal labour, I'd rather try to keep things positive... and I bet that has been done to death. I missed 3 or 4 years here... still getting a grasp of where you guys are at.
L
hi all been reading for quite a while ,finally responding , first i will introduce myself i am a self employed contractor in CT. framed for 12 years then siding roofing trim commercial supervisor back to self employed then i found servicemagic.com2 years ago while i was slow in the winter.
they ask you everything what areas do you work in carpentry, remodeling,elec,plumb,whatever. I thought it was quite a screening process over the phone. then they check your license and insurance to make sure it is current. when someone goes online to look for a contractor or additions or remodeling serv icemagic.com almost always comes up first
when you accept a bid you hav e to pay a preset fee anywhere from 10.00 to around 60.00 the first job i accepted the lead said remodel a room in mystic,ct, so i accept(that is one bad thingabout it You have to decide which leads are quality or not) well my first job was remodel a kitchen the complete upstairs dwnstairs bath and living room and replace roof and windows on whole house turned out to be a $65k job
i am still with servicemagic and will do what i have to stay with them
this year i did 3 servicemagic jobs my last one was $85K room addition in glastonbury,
as you do jobs with servicemagic your customers can respond and give you a rating only goes to help with more referrals and leads out of 5 star rating im at 4.5
you can also post pictures of your work and post with their permission referral phone numbers, they also are providing financing for customers work the customer can get it all from them
sorry so long but their is some good things to say about them dont know about others but if any one has questions feel free