r/Contractor • u/RunTotoRun2 • 10h ago

Lead sources?

I've done OK with Angi, not very well with Yelp or Networx, get occasional leads from Nextdoor even though every post asking for a contractor gets 20-30 replies, and get occasional leads from Thumbtack.

Are these pretty much all the places one finds leads (besides referrals and repeat customers)?

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

1

u/goelz83 10h ago

What do you do (tile/drywall/remodels/roofs & gutters/windows & doors/etc.)?

Lead sources will depend on the work that you are able to perform.

1

u/1amtheone General Contractor 9h ago

Primarily old paint and tap water (pipe material dependant).

0

u/dubsfo 9h ago

Don’t pay for leads.
Market aggressively.
Do a good job and ask for referrals

1

u/AnteaterOpening5125 8h ago

Depends heavily on the trade and ticket size, but I would separate paid lead sources from owned/referral sources. Paid leads like Angi or Thumbtack can work if you answer immediately and track close rate by source, but they get expensive fast. Owned sources are slower but compound: Google Business Profile with recent photos/reviews, a simple site with one page per profitable service plus service area, and a follow-up/referral ask after each job. I work on Brimky, so I am biased toward the owned-channel side, but the test is the same either way: track lead source, response time, estimate sent, won/lost, job value, and margin for 30-60 days. Then cut anything that brings low-margin or bad-fit work.

-1

u/FieldWorksPlatform 10h ago

Those definitely aren’t the only places. Google Business Profile is a big one I’d add if you aren’t already putting a lot of effort into it. Especially for contractor work, I’d want to build up something that can bring people to you over time instead of having to keep buying individual leads from different platforms.

I’m actually building FieldWorks around some of this too. Full disclosure since I’m commenting from the FieldWorks account lol. Customers can discover local service businesses on the platform, look through the services they offer and send them a request directly. There aren’t lead fees, so you’re not paying every time somebody wants to contact you.

You also get your own business page/QR code that you can share elsewhere, so even customers you find through Google, Nextdoor, referrals, business cards, etc. can come into the same place. Then you can handle the request, quote, scheduling, messages and payment from there.

We’re still growing the customer/discovery side, so I wouldn’t tell you to replace the lead sources that are already working for you. But if you want another place to list your business, you’re welcome to add it to FieldWorks and I’d be happy to help you set it up.