Why Home Improvement Contractors are Migrating to ServiceWhale

Why does any living thing migrate? The answer is fairly simple, when an environment becomes less attractive, animals will relocate to a more hospitable location. It’s a journey driven by a need for resources. Whether that animal is a mammal, a fish, a reptile or a human, they will respond to signs that tell them it’s time to move on. More and more we have seen this sort of behavior among contractors. Laugh if you want, but it’s true.

Home improvement contractors depend heavily on leads. There are many ways in which a contractor could acquire them including word of mouth, advertising, and through home improvement lead generators and services. With the exception of word of mouth, these methods can be costly as well as somewhat ineffective.

Less Attractive Environments

As a industry professional, I’m sure you are familiar with, and have likely used, at least a couple of the dozens of lead generators that exist out there for home improvement contractors. It’s a love hate relationship. Some are better than others, but they’re not cheap. One lead could cost as much at $100 (yikes!) and as many as 10 contractors are all competing for a single homeowner’s business. The odds are not in your favor and hundreds of dollars and hours are wasted. The bottom line is that when you’re paying for leads that are also being sent out to your competitors, you are essentially paying for the chance to bid on a job.
Angie’s List (AL) is one of the better known sites that industry professionals have flocked to in the past. It’s free for a contractor to belong to AL; however, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a cost associated with it. To be seen at the top of the results list, you must have a lot of reviews with an A rating or purchase advertising (you must be offering a discount to do so). Your free listing could cost you a pretty penny.

HomeAdvisor (HA) is another well known site which matches homeowners with contractors. Their service requires the contractor to sign up with them and then charges for leads. The cost varies depending on type of service and location. Although HA does allow you narrow the leads you receive by specific services and areas or pause incoming leads, the price tag can be pretty high.

It’s Time to Move On

The signs are all there. Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor are useful sites, I am not trying to imply otherwise, but the high cost and lead competition leave many contractors discouraged and searching for other resources. Wouldn’t it be great to get free quality leads? Who wouldn’t want that, right? Well now it’s possible. ServiceWhale is different than other home improvement platforms. There are no upfront expenses for contractors, no fees for homeowners, leads are free, and it uses a cost per acquisition model. But wait, there’s more. On ServiceWhale, homeowners get instant custom quotes from local service providers by way of our patent-pending quoting technology. Contractors just pre-load their pricing policy for their services and we’ll do the rest. Every quote can be reviewed before committing to a project, so there is never any risk. Contractors are able to deliver accurate prices for large home improvement projects without an onsite visit, imagine all the time and money saved!

The leads delivered through our service are higher quality too. The days of running around only to give estimates to price shoppers with zero intention of having the work done are over. The Homeowners that use ServiceWhale already know the price and have expressed an interest in the contractor’s service. Each quote generated on our site saves approximately three hours of the provider’s time and upwards of $300 after factoring in lead costs, wear on vehicles, gas, tolls, and miles. It’s no wonder that 90% of contractors who learn about ServiceWhale sign up. It’s a no brainer!

If you’re ready to join the flock or would like to learn more about the benefits of signing up with ServiceWhale, please visit our website.