I recently decided to try the online lead generator service Home Advisors, to see if it could get my business some good leads since I'm slow this fall. So far I've had 5 leads, 2 of which could be decent additions, but the rest of which were people not sure about what they want, and just want to get a sense of cost or a "blueprint" for permitting...
What are other people's experiences with this service? Worth it for the leads?
gruen
Oct 29, 13 8:34 am
I've tried similar services. I think generally you are wasting your time and money. The clients are tire kickers who are looking for a cheap price on blueprints, like you said. I can't really give an accurate price w/I seeing the project, but I have to give a price and pay to see the project.
bklyntotfc
Oct 29, 13 9:52 am
I've used Home Advisors on and off for a long while. Most of the leads are dead ends - people looking to repair their stoop, or spend $5,000 (fees and construction) to renovate a kitchen. But if 1 lead out of 20 turns into a commission, it's probably a good investment.
The first time we used them(2005-2007), things worked out fine. Lots of bad leads, but enough good ones that it was definitely worth while.
The second time (2009-2011), it was a bust. There were literally no good leads to be had. How much of that was due to the recession? Lots probably, but after a while I decided to stop using them.
If you do use them, one tip - the home owners creating the leads pay nothing, and don't realize that by hitting the 'create lead' button they're costing 3 or 4 architect's $50 each. So people will just be checking out homeadvisors to see how it works, and will create leads with false addresses, false e-mail addresses, etc. The second time we used them, I'm guess that 50% of the leads were bogus. Homeadvisor allows you to report a bogus lead, and they'll refund the lead fee - I never had them object to a lead I challenged - but it's on you to report them.
I suspect that a good amount of homeadvisor's revenue is generated by bogus leads that architects and contractor's don't bother to get refunds for.
geezertect
Oct 29, 13 10:17 am
I wonder how many of these leads are created by other architects who are trying to gauge the level of competition and learn what others are quoting for fees and estimates. Back before Craigslist, a lot of help wanted ads with anonymous box numbers were fishing expeditions and not legitimate openings, particularly ones that wanted you to send your resume, references and salary history to an unknown post office box.
Jefferson
Nov 6, 13 4:18 pm
So far I've actually done ok - more than half my leads have led to work. Half of those the clients are only looking for the minimum permit set. One other is a house addition and another is a clinic. They've also reimbursed 3 of my leads that seemed fake (never answered the phone, email got bounced, etc). Seems they may be improving their service.
tops
Aug 19, 15 12:12 pm
Any updates regarding HomeAdvisor.com service? I am contemplating on using their service to get new work but I am afraid of the bad reviews I have read online. Are there any similar service that could provide leads? Thank for any help.
bklyntotfc
Aug 19, 15 12:58 pm
We used them in the mid-2000's. Got several good projects from them, mixed in with 90% leads that were too small for us to be interested in. But the commissions from the good leads more than paid for the bad ones.
Tried them again in '09/'10. Nothing but leads for very small projects which would have had tiny fees. Stopped using them after about 4 months of that.
I agree with those above about bogus leads. There are lots of them. HA was good about crediting us back the costs of bogus leads - they have a submittal form on their website, and they never rejected one of our claims. Some bogus leads were obvious - a street address that didn't actually exist. Others you couldn't be sure if the person was just ignoring your efforts to call/e-mail them. We basically took the attitude that if there was any hint at all that the lead wasn't legit, we asked for a credit. For example, if there was just a generic voicemail box, as opposed to "hi, you've reached x", bogus. We'd send e-mails w/ read receipts - if the e-mail wasn't read, bogus, person listed on lead didn't match property owner's name on public online records, bogus etc.
People paying for those bogus leads, as suggested, is probably a very significant portion of HA's revenue, so buyer beware.
I recently decided to try the online lead generator service Home Advisors, to see if it could get my business some good leads since I'm slow this fall. So far I've had 5 leads, 2 of which could be decent additions, but the rest of which were people not sure about what they want, and just want to get a sense of cost or a "blueprint" for permitting...
What are other people's experiences with this service? Worth it for the leads?
I've tried similar services. I think generally you are wasting your time and money. The clients are tire kickers who are looking for a cheap price on blueprints, like you said. I can't really give an accurate price w/I seeing the project, but I have to give a price and pay to see the project.
I've used Home Advisors on and off for a long while. Most of the leads are dead ends - people looking to repair their stoop, or spend $5,000 (fees and construction) to renovate a kitchen. But if 1 lead out of 20 turns into a commission, it's probably a good investment.
The first time we used them(2005-2007), things worked out fine. Lots of bad leads, but enough good ones that it was definitely worth while.
The second time (2009-2011), it was a bust. There were literally no good leads to be had. How much of that was due to the recession? Lots probably, but after a while I decided to stop using them.
If you do use them, one tip - the home owners creating the leads pay nothing, and don't realize that by hitting the 'create lead' button they're costing 3 or 4 architect's $50 each. So people will just be checking out homeadvisors to see how it works, and will create leads with false addresses, false e-mail addresses, etc. The second time we used them, I'm guess that 50% of the leads were bogus. Homeadvisor allows you to report a bogus lead, and they'll refund the lead fee - I never had them object to a lead I challenged - but it's on you to report them.
I suspect that a good amount of homeadvisor's revenue is generated by bogus leads that architects and contractor's don't bother to get refunds for.
I wonder how many of these leads are created by other architects who are trying to gauge the level of competition and learn what others are quoting for fees and estimates. Back before Craigslist, a lot of help wanted ads with anonymous box numbers were fishing expeditions and not legitimate openings, particularly ones that wanted you to send your resume, references and salary history to an unknown post office box.
So far I've actually done ok - more than half my leads have led to work. Half of those the clients are only looking for the minimum permit set. One other is a house addition and another is a clinic. They've also reimbursed 3 of my leads that seemed fake (never answered the phone, email got bounced, etc). Seems they may be improving their service.
Any updates regarding HomeAdvisor.com service? I am contemplating on using their service to get new work but I am afraid of the bad reviews I have read online. Are there any similar service that could provide leads? Thank for any help.
We used them in the mid-2000's. Got several good projects from them, mixed in with 90% leads that were too small for us to be interested in. But the commissions from the good leads more than paid for the bad ones.
Tried them again in '09/'10. Nothing but leads for very small projects which would have had tiny fees. Stopped using them after about 4 months of that.
I agree with those above about bogus leads. There are lots of them. HA was good about crediting us back the costs of bogus leads - they have a submittal form on their website, and they never rejected one of our claims. Some bogus leads were obvious - a street address that didn't actually exist. Others you couldn't be sure if the person was just ignoring your efforts to call/e-mail them. We basically took the attitude that if there was any hint at all that the lead wasn't legit, we asked for a credit. For example, if there was just a generic voicemail box, as opposed to "hi, you've reached x", bogus. We'd send e-mails w/ read receipts - if the e-mail wasn't read, bogus, person listed on lead didn't match property owner's name on public online records, bogus etc.
People paying for those bogus leads, as suggested, is probably a very significant portion of HA's revenue, so buyer beware.