Homeowners are increasingly going online to find contractors for their home improvement needs. There are several reasons and benefits to online searches. They save time, can research from the convenience of the home, don’t have to deal with a salesman coming to the home to get information and they can request services specific to their needs. The economy is also influencing consumers to obtain many bids to insure that their dollars are wisely invested.

About 6 years ago there were not many online contractor referral sites designed to match homeowners with contractors. Today it seems like there is a new one popping up every month.  The basic premise of the concept is to help homeowners find and meet qualified reputable contractors to bid on their home improvement projects. The contractor referral sites always claim that they are only sending 3-4 contractors who are qualified. This may have been the case in the past however today this is not usually the case. The sites promise the contractors qualifed leads for a fee. The contractor is expecting the homeowner to be qualified. Qualified means ready to do work with the approved contractor of choice and the homeowner will be available for a face to face appointment to discover what they need and want. Then the contractor will provide a estimate for consideration.

Most referral sites send the homeowner requests to more contractors than they claim. The sites are usually only concerned with selling leads to as many contractors as possible.This results in many contractors calling the homeowner who quickly becomes inundated with too many people to see. I have personally experienced one contractor referral company selling the lead to over 12 contractors. The homeowner said they had know idea that they would get so many requests. The contractors are charged for the referral even if the homeowner doesn’t see them. 

In addition, these sites do a poor job of checking out the contractors. Last fall a new contractor referral site was found by a contractor client and they asked me to check it out. My client was looking for a way to see more homeowners. He was hesitant however due to poor service from three of the major contractor referral sites. I researched over twenty contracting firms listed on the contractor referral site and only found three who were legally registered with their state to do contracting work! You can check out contractor referral services track records at www.contractortalk.com under the lead generation thread. 

You may find this interesting. Did you know that many contractor referral sites claim they have contractors who are registered with the Better Business Bureau and this is suppose to mean they are good companies?

Here is the challenge with a BBB listing. The BBB is a for profit agency. They make money selling their memberships. Many homeowners think the BBB is a government agency, which it is not. Some companies listed with the BBB are outstanding, however the BBB does very little to insure that a contractor listed with them is reputable, pays their bills and subs, has the proper insurance, doesn’t have tax issues, is properly insured and so on. The BBB is more interested in selling memberships to increase its revenue.

The best way to find a reliable contractor is through referral. Checking out your contractor is well worth the effort. In future posts I will list some of the best ways to check out a contractor to avoid a bad experience.

There are very few reliable contractor referral sites for homeowners to choose from. If you must use these sites you may wish to speak with other satisfied homeowners who have used them to insure that the service is what they claim. If they refuse to give you referrals then I suggest you look elsewhere or be prepared for numerous calls from contractors you don’t have the time to see and you cannot be sure they are qualified.

mark the coach

Mark Paskell provides renovation coaching services to homeowners seeking to hire contractors.