Thumbtack can be a fast and easy way to get customers and grow your business. In fact, for some people, it has enabled them to start a business in the first place.
But should you use this lead generation service?
I’ve talked to several pro handymen who consistently generate quality leads through Thumbtack, but when you read online reviews, it’s like Thumbtack is out there killing babies or something. People are pissed (as you can see from the 70+ comments at the bottom of this page).
So who should you trust, and most importantly, should you use it to generate leads for your business? That is the ultimate question I’ll answer in this article.
I’ll talk about the controversial issues around Thumbtack, the pros and cons of using it, how much you can expect to pay for a lead, and tips for maximizing your results if you decide to sign up and test it for yourself.
Common Complaints From Thumbtack Pros and Contractors
Complaint #1 – Big jumps in the price of leads
This happened first in 2017. Thumbtack announced a new feature called “Instant Match.” As this new feature rolled out, the cost of leads increased significantly.
In one review on ConsumerAffairs.com, a Thumbtack pro said, “I sent a message to 2 different customers that would have normally been $8-$15 each only to discover (once my card had been charged) that those two bids now cost me $65.”
Another reviewer mentioned that leads that used to cost $3-$15 now cost $55. Assuming those reviews are accurate, that’s over a 700% increase in the cost of leads.
But wait just a second.
When I dug deeper, I found out that most leads don’t cost anywhere near $50 or $60. In fact, many handyman jobs cost less than $10 per lead. Those higher-priced leads in the complaints are most likely for large contracting jobs like kitchen remodels and home additions, where honestly, $50 for a lead is reasonable.
Has Thumbtack raised the price of leads? Yes, they have. But leads are still a bargain, especially when compared to Home Advisor.
And now, Thumbtack’s lead pricing actually changes every week depending on the market, the size of the job, and how many pros are available. This is similar to how Uber adjusts their prices based on demand.
If you are worried about lead prices, don’t. One good thing about Thumbtack is that you can see the prices of leads before you ever pay for a single one. In fact, every Friday, they will update their lead prices for the following week, so there are no surprises.
Complaint #2 – Too much competition
Another complaint is that too many pros are allowed to compete for each lead. According to some reviews online, there used to be a maximum of three to five pros submitting bids on a job, and now there could be as many as fifteen bidders for a single job.
Thumbtack does limit competition, however, as part of their “Quality Commitment.”
Currently, they limit the number of pros a customer can contact to five in the first four hours of a customer searching for a pro. So, assuming you respond quickly to a lead, you will be competing with a maximum of five others, and often less.
However, after that four hours, it opens up to more pros. According to Thumbtack, this is “to make sure customers can find a pro,” which makes sense.
Complaint #3 – Accounts being deleted
If you read the fine print in Thumbtack’s Terms of Use, you’ll learn that Thumbtack can deactivate your profile without warning and at their own discretion.
So let’s say you’ve been on the platform for two years, built up a solid profile with dozens of five-star reviews, and depend on Thumbtack to keep your schedule full. If Thumbtack doesn’t like something about your profile or if you fail to follow their terms, they can shut you down.
Unfortunately, this has happened to several people who rely on Thumbtack. Based on reviews on BBB and some comments below, it seems like account deactivation usually happens as a result of failing to pay for leads or issuing a chargeback with your credit card. Thumbtack has little patience for people who don’t pay up.
Unfortunately, once your account is deactivated, it can be difficult to get it back up and running, which could cause problems if you rely on them for business.
Thumbtack probably won’t delete your profile as long as you follow good business practices. They don’t have a good reason to. But it’s still risky to place the well-being of your company in the hands of another business.
Complaint #4 – Poor-quality leads
Low-quality leads are a complaint that you see with all lead generation services, and thumbtack is no different. It’s a problem that isn’t easy to solve with digital marketplaces.
Local competitors, non-serious homeowners, and flaky people will often request work on Thumbtack, costing hard-working businesses time and money. These “fake” leads get annoying and expensive.
Thumbtack will issue refunds for certain types of bad leads in certain situations, but not always. Many people have complained about not being reimbursed when they felt like they should have been. They’ve even gone as far as describing Thumbtack as a scam.
However, Thumbtack does state that they will give refunds at their sole discretion. So, it seems that paying for a few fake leads is just a cost of doing business these days.
But is Thumbtack effective?
Look, if Thumbtack didn’t work for handymen, contractors, house cleaners, and dozens of other service providers, it would quickly disappear. But it hasn’t. Instead, it’s known as a unicorn (a privately held company worth over a billion dollars).
In 2019 Thumbtack was valued at a whopping $1.7 Billion. It’s been consistently growing over the last decade with no signs of it slowing.
Anytime you read online reviews on sites like BBB, and all you see are bad reviews, understand that happy customers aren’t leaving reviews. Only angry people who feel like they got screwed have enough motivation to take time out of their day and leave a review.
There could be a hundred delighted pros for every negative review you find online. Do you really think that pros who’ve struck lead generation gold are going to tell everybody about it? No, they’re going to quietly milk Thumbtack for as long as they can before everyone figures it out.
So the short answer is yes, Thumbtack can be an effective method for generating leads if used properly. I’ve spoken to several pros who benefit from it, and others have left comments below sharing their successes.
Should you use Thumbtack to grow your business?
Honestly, it depends. I don’t personally use it because I can generate more than enough leads through my website (and those leads are free).
However, I recommend Thumbtack to many of my readers and clients who are just getting started because it’s a great temporary solution. Buying leads is good for the short-term while you work on longer-term marketing strategies like building an online presence.
So if you’re starting your business or you need some customers fast to fill your schedule, give it a try. Test it. Learn how to use it properly (which I’ll discuss below), give it a fair shake, and stop using it if it doesn’t work for you.
Simple.
Don’t be like many people I’ve seen that are so scared of being scammed that they won’t try anything and end up leaving money on the table as a result.
However, I have a word of warning…
Here’s what to AVOID
The only problem with using services like Thumbtack is when they are your sole method of getting new customers. Relying on services like this leaves your business exposed in a way that can crush profits if anything changes. And things inevitably change (like the increase in lead prices, for example).
View Thumbtack as a tool for getting leads quickly while working on other marketing methods that you have more control over.
You’ll want to do things like building a website, soliciting reviews on websites like Yelp, and doing SEO to get your website to show up on Google so you can generate free leads.
Just like when investing your money, you want to DIVERSIFY where your leads come from to reduce risk and keep your schedule filled all year. That way, if one source of new customers disappears, you have several others that can pick up the slack.
Never outsource your entire marketing efforts to one company that you don’t control. They can change things in the blink of an eye and literally wipe you out. Or, this can force you to lower your prices to stay competitive as the competition grows.
The Details – How does Thumbtack work?
Thumbtack’s goal is to make hiring a plumber, handyman, gardener, dog groomer, or any local service business as easy as ordering products from Amazon.
And I have to say, their platform is brilliant. Here’s how it works.
Customers visit their website or App and search for pros. Then, based on some filters, Thumbtack displays a list of pros to choose from. Customers browse through the business profiles and choose who to reach out to.
It’s basically a search engine with a few key twists.
As a pro, you get listed on the search engine for free. However, once a customer contacts you, you get charged for the lead. You don’t pay to be shown to customers. You only pay when they contact you. That’s a very nice feature.
As a pro, you get to set your “target preferences.” This allows you to define exactly which jobs you want to be shown for and in what areas. That way, you only pay for leads for the exact services you offer in the exact areas that you offer them.
There are two ways you can land new clients on Thumbtack.
Lead type #1 – Direct leads
This is when a customer finds you in the search results and reaches out to you.
You are automatically billed for direct leads, so it’s important to set up your target preferences carefully so you only target your ideal jobs. Otherwise, you’ll end up paying for a bunch of leads you don’t want.
Many of the complaints about getting bad leads are technically the pro’s fault since they didn’t optimize their preferences.
Lead type #2 – Opportunities
There is a tab within the Thumbtack app called Opportunities. This is where you can see customers who have reached out to other pros and are actively requesting quotes for services you provide. If you see any jobs that interest you, you can reach out to the customer through the app. So, even if you don’t get chosen by the customer in the search results, you still have an opportunity to land the job.
The benefit of opportunities is that you can see the cost of the lead before reaching out, and you only pay if the customer responds to you.
Thumbtack Pricing – How Much Does It Cost for Pros?
As with all lead gen services, the answer is that it depends. According to Thumbtack’s website, “The cost of each quote will vary, depending on the value of the job and the number of available and interested pros in the area.” There is no cost to sign up.
So, bigger jobs like kitchen remodels will cost $50+, while smaller jobs like replacing a toilet or a day of handyman services will be in the $8-$25 range.
Essentially, Thumbtack allows the market to decide how much a lead costs. If there are many pros in one area competing for the same jobs, the price of leads will go up. If there are very few, then the cost of leads will go down.
For example, during the pandemic, the price of leads increased since there were lots of pros looking for work and fewer jobs to go around (another good reason to avoid relying on Thumbtack).
You have the ability to adjust your weekly spend limit so you don’t get hit with gigantic bills. You can test the waters with minimal investment.
Are Background Checks Required?
It’s unclear if they do background checks on everyone. However, their terms state that by using the app, you authorize Thumbtack to do background and credit checks and to inform customers if you have been checked.
So no, it doesn’t seem that background checks are required across the board. But, it’s a good idea to get one since it will increase the chances of being hired.
What I like about Thumbtack
- You only pay for leads if a customer reaches out to you directly (direct lead) or if a customer responds to your interest when reaching out for opportunities. This helps reduce a lot of bad leads.
- The platform allows you to get jobs quickly, which is nice if you’re just getting started or need to fill gaps in your schedule.
- You can see what your competition is charging and do market research before starting your business.
- It’s easy to stand out if you put some effort into your profile or are responsive to leads.
- You can see the price of leads before you decide to receive them and fine-tune which leads you receive.
What I don’t like about Thumbtack
- You don’t control it, so you’re at their mercy. If lead prices go up, your profits go down. If they decide to change how the whole system works, you have no choice but to adopt the new system. This isn’t much different than having a job.
- It may force you to drop your prices to compete, especially when demand is lowest and lead prices are highest. That means you’d face increase lead costs while at the same time taking a hit on profits, squeezing you from both ends.
- It can be time-consuming going back and forth with customers or being forced to stop what your doing to respond immediately.
- Thumbtack encourages customers to contact several pros, even when a customer has chosen you from the search results. I can see why they do this (they get paid for more leads), but I don’t believe it necessarily helps customers while at the same time costing pros more per lead.
Thumbtack From a Homeowners Perspective
This review wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t talk about the homeowner’s experience while using Thumbtack. And like any good detective, I spent some time investigating that.
Here’s what they do really well for homeowners:
- Their website and app are top-notch – This is a huge trust builder for homeowners, and while you’re browsing their site, you get the feeling that you are well taken care of.
- There are many pros to choose from – Within seconds of entering a job, I had 3 different options of handymen to choose from, and more came over the following days.
- Pricing is transparent – I knew how much the handymen charged right away.
- It’s easy to communicate with pros – You can message pros directly through the website to answer your questions. From a customer standpoint, this is a great way to get a feel for how well the pro communicates and their style before getting on a phone call.
- Reviews are mostly from verified customers – Just like any online directory, they have reviews, most of which have to be from verified customers, so fake reviews aren’t a problem.
- Pros are responsive – Thumbtack awards pros who respond quickly with higher rankings in search, encouraging them to respond quickly. Also, since pros are paying for leads, it means they are accepting new clients.
Thumbtack makes it really easy to find and connect with independent contractors. The whole process for the customer is streamlined, professional, and easy to use. In fact, I can see myself using it in the future for random services I may need.
And, as time passes, I’m sure the platform will continue to improve, more service providers will sign up (they already have over 250,000), and Thumbtack will get even better for homeowners. That’s nice, but the cost of that convenience is that they will have more control over the industry.
Quick Tips for Maximizing ROI
If you decide to try Thumbtack, here are some tips to help you close more leads and make more money.
#1 – Add a good headshot
Most handymen just put their logo or a picture of a recent job for their profile pic. Don’t do that. Customers want to see who they are hiring. By simply having a professional headshot on your profile, you’ll get 10x as many jobs – which means you’ll pay less to get customers. This is such a simple thing to do. It’s amazing how few do it well.
#2 – Respond to leads quickly
Think about it. Customers are using Thumbtack to save time searching for a pro. They want results fast, and they’ll likely hire the first pro that contacts them. Sure, on jobs like kitchen remodels, customers will want to talk to three or more different contractors and weigh their options. But on smaller jobs, they just want to hire and move on.
Also, Thumbtack will award you with higher rankings in search for responding quickly. It even states on Thumbtack’s website that faster responses will significantly increase your odds of converting a lead into a customer.
#3 – Prune your service offering
Once you’ve bid on 25-50 jobs, go back and look at your history to see which leads turned into customers and which ones didn’t. You’ll probably notice a pattern. Certain types of leads will never turn into customers, so change your settings and stop wasting your time bidding on those jobs. Conversely, you’ll find that certain jobs have a very high closing rate. Double down on those.
#4 – Get Some Reviews
To show up in the search results, you must have at least one review. Higher reviews also boost your rankings in search and give you the opportunity to become a Top Pro, which gives you a nice badge next to your profile, letting customers know you are a great person to hire. Online reviews are essential on all digital marketplaces, so some effort put here will pay off.
Quick Thumbtack facts and stats
- Thumbtack was founded in 2008 and is a privately held company.
- Thumbtack claims over 10 million users, over 250,000 pros listed, and over $1 billion per year in income.
- Thumbtack has approximately 500 types of services in categories such as home services, wellness, events, and even lessons.
- Thumbtack has a 1.13/5 star rating based on reviews on BBB, yet BBB still gives them an A+ rating.
Conclusion
Thumbtack can be a great tool to help you fill your schedule, jumpstart your business, or gain access to customers you wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach. Just don’t rely on it as your sole source of leads because you don’t control it.
Test it, see how well it works in your area, and if it works, great. If not, stop using it.
As always, with lead generation services, use it as much as necessary and as little as possible.
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Very informative. Thank You
Your welcome!
Hello Dan- Great info. I use Thumbtack and you are right on the money with your review. I have been on for 2 years, and the platform has changed; not always in the pros favor. Nonetheless, it is a good tool to have in your wheel house. Thanks again!
Handy Lance
Thanks for the input Lance. I appreciate the comment.
Thumb tack raised the price per lead to $80.00 for most skilled home improvements
Kitchen/Bathroom/Decking. Try to go with my own website/ old school word of mouth.
link not working for report
Thanks Scott! Fixed it.
Nice article Dan. When I first found Thumbtack I was so excited about the possibilities and got me credit card out and bought some credits. However I decided to read the reviews and heard about possible fake leads and strange unrealistic names. After noticing the names were very odd, I decided not to use it anymore.
Fortunately my business is doing really well and my schedule is pretty full at the moment.
Fake leads will always be an issue. Luckily you don’t have to worry about them though because you don’t need lead gen services.
Hi Dan. I’ve been using Thumbtack since I started my business in March. I’ve also used Home Advisor (total rip-off) and Google AdWords. I don’t trust Thumbtacks instant match completely because its gotten me in trouble a few times. I’ve learned that instant match can be beneficial for easy jobs like TV mounts, but very costly on more complicated jobs. I also use Google AdWords to generate leads. It cost less, but I also don’t get as many leads. Overall, you need to be smart about any lead generating service.
Ya, Compared to Home Advisor Thumbtack seems to be a lot better. Glad to hear you’ve found options that work well for you.
He is right. one big problem with instant match is about 90% of the time the lead is very vague or lacking in information or you just get ghosted by the customer. Customer ghosting is the biggest downfall to the site. ive lost almost 2000.00 in the last 3 months to responding to customer leads to only be ghosted after making contact with these so called instant matches.
I used Thumbtack when I first started to help get my name out.
It was a little expensive to send 10 quotes and maybe land 2-3 jobs.
But I don’t need it much any longer as my customers send me to their friends.
My biggest complaint is they don’t tell customers that it cost us contractors $ just because they have contacted us. some customers call everyone and then never hire.
Thanks for sharing your experience George.
No, they sure don’t that’s why I started letting customer’s know after I send them a quote, I’ll send them a message letting them know that the pros are charged to please only message me if they’re interested in booking.
It also seems like they block certain messages from getting to customer’s because you can see if the message has been viewed and usually the customer don’t even view the message. I don’t get it.
Waste Of Money. I tried Thumbtack for several years and never booked a single client. When I explained that some of us don’t want to give our services away at ridiculously low prices and I wanted them to ask potential clients if price, reputation, length of time in business, or something else was most important to them. It never happened and I was kind of ignored. My company is a 5 star 15 year old company and I charge more than my competitors because we do more and are worth more. There’s no way for us to know whether or not the person inquiring is looking for the lowest price, or the highest quality. Actually now that I think about it. Total waste of money unless you’re the lowest priced quote. People flock to my business from everywhere except Thumbtack.
Good to hear a different perspective. Thanks Tom!
Thank you for the review. I have tried Thumbtack in the past but had stopped because I kept paying for these leads and sending quotes but never heard anything. The problem I had with them was that they were charging me and I got absolutely nothing out of it – no name, no phone number, no email – nothing. I could only sit and hope that someone would call me back. They NEVER did! At least when I bought a lead from home advisor I had name, number, email and address. That way I could make a personal connection which I find to be vital in making a sale. It sounds like they may have changed some things since I had used them though so they might be worth a try for someone who needs to fill their schedule. Thankfully that is not a problem I have much any more.
We have found Thumbtack to be useful as we were starting up – we have gotten some really good clients from the web site. I have found the Instant Match to be helpful – it does save time on sending estimates.
However, I do recommend turning off instant match for bigger jobs like painting or remodels – I too, like mentioned in the article was burned in the first few days on a $70 lead that would have been much less with their old system – and it was a lead that I would have NEVER spent $70 if I had known the cost.
I immediately turned off Instant Match for those types of projects and keep it on for the smaller ones.
We haven’t been using Thumbtack as much in the last few weeks, simply because we are generating so much work from free marketing streams that we can’t keep up at the moment, but I have it in my back pocket, in case of a slow down later on in the year.
Good call Allan. I think in general paying for leads for larger jobs isn’t a good idea. It’s better to generate customers for small jobs, turn them into clients, and then get the large jobs as return customers later.
Great article Dan,
Thumbtack is a great service, good features etc. To your point, don’t rely upon it solely for leads. It’s a great start up site to get the rest of your marketing going and it’s also good for quick fill ins.
Keep up the good work.
Larry Towner
I’ve tried similar services and found that they were clueless as to the geography and were sending leads from an hour or more away. Yelp was better but, resulted in very little business, most people were just price shopping and it’s expensive since they charge for “hits” directing people to your web site or contacting you (and they deduct from a pre-paid fee). Most of my business comes from Nextdoor Neighbor, my website, Google Business, Facebook, referrals & friends. A good reputation and fairness are the keys to success for me.
Dan,
You are spot on with this article. We have several contractor clients that use a variety of lead generation sources.
As their accountant we see a mix of results. Some contractors have great results with Thumbtack, others have little or no results. it depends on what they specialize in doing.
We are always amazed at how much more cash flow and profit our Handyman clients generate. It seems the ones with a pleasant easy going personality do well with Thumbtack.
Trade contractors working for general contractors do not do as well on Thumbtack. Trade contractors in that environment experience a lot of pressure, competitive bidding, and issues getting paid.
Over the course of time they tend to become a bit combative. Not the best fit for working with homeowners who want someone they can work with and have a feeling of trust.
Wow, great insight. Thanks so much for sharing a completely fresh perspective Randal!
Has anybody experienced being hired and then the client not showing up or canceling? I am being charge to be hired and then they turn around and cancel or just simply don’t show to appointment they booked.. I am a massage therapist.
Do not use thumbtack! They overcharge for leads and don’t care to change it for our better. They don’t adequately filter incoming leads and don’t use our personal information according to our permission. Horrible company!
Thumbtack Survival Guide:
• Make sure to read the FAQs and the small hyperlinks. Prices are hidden in these areas.
• Don’t engage a lead until you 100% understand the costs. We paid $60 for a single chat communication.
• Only buy leads with phone numbers and stay away from all leads where the phone numbers don’t match up with the business zip.
• Check the leads to be sure the area code matches the business location (use online directories).
…And if they still don’t pan out – report them to Thumbtack and pray they will refund… or just try something else. 🙂
I’ve started a business in bookkeeping that helps clients organize their books, I don’t however prepare their taxes. Thumbtack knew this because I stated in my profile that I did not do taxes. They, however proceed to send me tax clients and I accidentally sent a quote to one. This mistake was obvious and I clearly wanted to keep using their service. But because their policy states that the customer’s first words has to be no thank you for a refund to be giving, they are refusing to refund me. The customer also made a mistake in responding is embarrassed because of the whole ordeal and won’t talk to me. All I really wanted was this mess to be cleaned up, but they continue to refuse because it’s against policy. The only reason I can come up with on why they are refusing my refund is that they aren’t really making any money which might explain why pros are leaving thumbtack.
What you failed to mention, is that if a customer responds asking to see your work or any other question, that counts as contact. So you can be charged for a lead, just from that contact. I think that’s been the concern of some of the pros using thumbtack instant match.
A year ago, Thumbtack was quite useful to me as a pro. I haven’t found it so since June, when the system switched to charging for leads.
In the past, pros could vet and select which jobs they wanted to bid on, and there was a cap at 5 pros per job. The new model allows 15 bids (and most customers don’t look at all of them), the lead prices are exorbitant (many of my jobs are 1-3 hours, and some leads cost an hour’s worth of work), technical support got downgraded (you won’t get actual people now, just machines), and pros are routinely getting charged for leads that are equivalent to “no thanks.” In addition, the transparency that Thumbtack once had, has vanished entirely.
Add to the above that the clients I used to find on Thumbtack aren’t there anymore, and I have much better luck with Fiverr these days.
I actually don’t believe that half of the lead from Thumbtack are real. They give you so many leads a day that I have to say some of them are fake. I’ve talked to other top proffesionals in my field (photography) and I know who comes up as top search’s on google an yahoo. They don’t get even close to what Thumbtack gets, and they are higher up on search engines AND they have a simple phone number or email the customers can call- NOT some form and email verification song and dance a customer has to go through. Very, very suspicious.
I’ve heard they used to be good but I think this has become a bit of a scam.
I kind of disagree with this article. I have used Thumbtack years ago when it was good. You could use credits and bid on jobs, max of 5 pros. If you didn’t get hired, they would refund your credits back. Pricing was good. I was on a few minutes ago and it has gotten ridiculous. A small job for window cleaning was going to cost about $26, wether you got hired or not. The least charge I saw was $16. The higher your budget per service, the more “leads” you get, but it could ultimately lead to spending more than you would like and not land a single job. Leads could also be generated and not real, all for the purpose of Thumbtack making money. They have gotten greedy and I don’t find it as the best option to find work.
I come at it from the professional service provider side. I used thumbtack for a year or so and in that time the policies have DRAMATICALLY changed. it used to be that if a “client” didn’t respond within 48 hours, you would get a refund on the fee you paid for that lead. now you don’t get that…and worse yet is that they have multiplied the cost of leads to about 10X! It is insane!
The worst part….are you ready for this?: is that now, if you read their terms an conditions, they monitor your email and text messages for “quality” – now i am not just talking about emails you send via their app – i am talking about YOUR EMAIL and YOUR PHONE. Basically they are invading your privacy and you must allow them to do it if you want to use their “service”
Borderline Fraudulent, if not illegal.
STAY AWAY!
Mark,
I would be most interested in learning how you came to the conclusion that Thumbtack by engaging in monitoring their pro’s emails and texts represents an invasion of privacy if a subscriber has agreed to terms of service ?
While, Thumbtack and sites like it are a great way to get started, the author is right in that the best long term strategy is to build out a site and get it ranked organically. this is what my company does. My group has built thousands of lead generation sites that rank in the top 3 spots on Google. It’s by far a better strategy. If you want more info, email me. chad@stickeelabs.com
This article reads like thumbtack support wrote it. Are you an employee? Read the reviews online people. Thumbtack used to be awesome. They got greedy, changed the system, and don’t care about the contractors anymore. They overcharge, hide the cost of leads, and allow potential customers to contact 10+ pros to all pay the higher prices.
They have basically forced me to go elsewhere to find leads.
I have no affiliation with Thumbtack.
12 months ago a roof replacement quite was $13.36. Now a roof replacement quote is $75. Tire kickers are making it totally useless to use this site.
We have used thumbtack for a couple of years for landscaping. They use to be real reasonable with quote prices , $2 to $6 for grass cutting. Then they started getting sneaky with their wording and hiding pricing ,( use to email you your bill, now you have to search for it). Got charged $15 for a normal yard grass quote . I called they made some lame excuse. Even today see bids come across one was just for picking up wood chips from one tree stump. Thumbtack wanted $45 . They have gotten greedy .
Hi Dan,
Well put-together report. A buddy of mine told me about Thumbtack, and I naturally read our review.
Your site is nearly letter perfect. However, if you can edit, may I suggest you replace “hole” in the sentence after the bullets of “Thumbtack From A Homeowner’s Perspective” to “whole.” You see what I mean.
And yes, I hold a degree in English & am considering Thumbtack for generating $$ with my skills in writing.
I have been a user of Thumbtack for my Pro Photography for 3 years and I quit last week. Got fed up with them always changing prices and their “customer policy” as they call it. The higher leads (that are worth more) are the ones that cost a lot and their instant match have more drawbacks such as you cannot specify your own budget. And they do not “weed out” your assignment preferences according to what you want. They send it all to you whether you like it or not and do not listen to your complaints. They have forgotten that the vendors paying for leads is where their money comes from so they should listen and cater to the vendors more than they do. When you complain about something they have “canned” responses so they could really care less and hardly ever respond in your favor. If they bill you for something that you need a refund, you are just credited to the cost of that refund. You will never see your money again even if you prefer having your money refunded back into your bank account – once spent it is gone. It is full of cheap price searchers, not for the pros so I’m done with them.
Thumb tack is not going to help you build your business. Low, low, deep down low, quality leads. Customer service that is in line with how Archie Bunker treated people he didn’t like. Lead quality smells like two week old milk left in the sun. This is a reflection of their good side. Cole Brittner is my rep. So that is a bummer.
We work with quite a few current and former uses of HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, and Networx. Some report being happy with the service, and some continue to use those services in conjunction with the exclusive organic leads we provide.
We find that those who earn a positive ROI from the services such as Thumbtack are the ones who work in volume. They make very small returns off of each job but have the manpower to take on multiple jobs at once. They also are professional contractors who have very high close rates.
What each of these services has in common is that they are built to serve the consumer, not the contractor. All have poor reviews online, and almost all of the positive reviews are written by happy homeowners. It is possible to make some money off of these shared leads if you’re prepared going in and can supplement your marketing efforts in other ways, through SEO, an exclusive lead gen program or PPC.
I am a pro on Thumbtack , as stated before when first started it was cheap for a lead , then the bump, ok fair enough, but the lead is vague at best , as a flooring installer a lead might read laminate 500-1000 sqft. thats it i need to know how many rooms? is there existing to remove? furniture? subfloor condition? not to mention. Thumbtack would put a price of about $100 on this job . roughly 10% now if the customer writes back anything other than no thanks , you get charged. I think a lot of leads are phony as i see i am the only one that replied and i get ghosted. Thumbtack will not build you business but seems to pray on contractors that are looking to fill in between jobs, to add insult to injury they will most likely lose the fee when they need the $ the most.
The instant match does not work the like you claim it does at least not for me. I get a message that Mr. X wants to hire me and it costs XX.00 to respond to him. I agree then get a message that Mr. X wants to know my availability, I respond and that’s the end of it. I believe that if you pay for a lead you should get a telephone number which used to happen about 25% of the time but 0% now. My closing rate with telephone numbers would easily be 75%, with no personal contact to low to mention.
I work with Thumbtack almost a year they charge me for fake customer they send me a customer who responding to hire me then I’ll reply they said they hired someone else and I had some customer when I lead the customer said no tanks again they charge me I called them they try to explain I’m wrong .I am the small business and it’s not right they said if you don’t want it we can close your accounts I think they try to robbing the small business .
I gave them plenty of occasions to fix the lie. They let a client (probably a scammer or fake account) tell about my business.
He left a 1-star review after he lied about hiring me
He said he “hired” me, and he never did, I never got paid I never even knew his name I just told him I wasn’t doing the type of work he required
But thumbtack trusted him and with no prove confirmed that I was “hired by him” (that is not true and when asked them to show me prove they said they don’t need any) and consequentially he was able to review me one start!
When I never had any interaction with him other than telling him I couldn’t do his type of job.
(and thumbtack was able to read out correspondence and confirmed to me he was not the type of job I was filtering with for my leads!)
Not only they made me automatically pay for his lead because he lied about the type of job and made me spent 30$! But they allowed a person I paid 30$ (a fake person) to rate me over a service I never gave!?
and I spent 1 hour with your customer service to be told it was okey he can lie about me I need to answer him in the review, and they didn’t want to delete the fake review (nor give me back the money obviously, but that is their standard business).
You guys ever thought that the fake clients are actually thumbtack associates with one job and that job is to create these fake leads and respond to bids to rip us off?
My company had consistantly had a 4.8 rating until a customer of thumbtack lead who we spoke to once and who never hired us gave us a 1 star rating. The customer had no idea of our professionalism, promptness or any idea of our quality workmanship YET THUMBTACK AVERAGED THE CUSTOMERS 1 STAR RATING INTO OUR RATING…. THE CUSTOMER LIED AND SAID THAT THEY HIRED US. The customer lied to Dumbtack and dumbtack SAID THAT IT DIDNT MATTER ,we never met the customer and only spoke to them briefly once, we advised the customer that we would call them back and they agreed, we tried several times to no avail….. dumbtack charged us for the lead and lowered our rating. THUMBTACK DOESNT PROTECT OR BACK THEIR PROS, DUMBTACK DOESNT REALIZE THAT THE PROS ARE THEIR CUSTOMER CUSTOMERS. WATCH OUT BEFORE YOU SIGN UP FOR THEIR SERVICE. I SENT MANY LOWBALL PRICES TO TEST IF LEADS ARE REAL. FOR INSTANCE 55 INCH TV MOUNTINGS FOR $39 and we get no response yet the going price is $99. WHATS THE DEAL DUMBTACK????
I was on thumbtack fora year and out of the blue thumbtack requested I do a background check , I built up my business with a 5.0 rating with 25 reviews and as the background check came thru, I was deleted and no way to make a living , they wouldn’t even let me have my reviews, what a operation, you know just because a man was at the wrong place at the wrong time and gets a record that follows him around , the system will not allow that man to achieve anything, keeping us down and out, I can’t even rent a apartment , I guess I’m lucky since I’m at the top level of my trade and don’t have issues , but still and all having a record seems like I’m walking around with cuddies that everyone can see, and thumbtack, if I could find away to sue u ,I’d be all over that but instead of doin that I must get out there and try to find work again
I think Thumbtack has changed now if I get a lead and the customer doesn’t respond to me than I get refunded the money that the lead generated. They changed their business model now because of Pros getting screwed with leads. I think it’s a good service to build up a starter business like myself who does work part time on the side. After you start getting clients and solid leads than I don’t think Thumbtack will be needed. That is up to the individual. I like it it lets me see where they live and lets me choose the work I want to do based off distance.
I used to use them for my wedding photography. After their change in prices I had quite a few scammers come in there and after I reported them I was refused a refund from Thumbtack and they sided with the scammers every single time. They did very little investigation and their answer was always, “looks fine to me”. They found every excuse not to provide a refund. Finally when I chose to exercise my religious beliefs and not photograph a same sex wedding they deleted my profile immediately and stated that was in violation of their standards of code of conduct. When I asked to have an in person review they of course declined. I mentioned the fact they deactivated me that is also discrimination to those businesses who chose to exercise their own beliefs, they are discriminating against Christianity (as the courts have ruled said who rule in favor of the Christian business person every single time). Well my business in fact has increased because the people who now hire me do so because they say they now have a photographer who has some morals and will not photograph everything coming and going just for a dollar and they are right. So thumtack also operates in the discrimination realm of always siding with the customer and always against the business person. I tell everyone I know of to NOT go with them. I have also experienced FAKE leads. Leads all of a sudden quit communicating and disappear after your payment clears, humm, imagine that and just the fact you communicated with them is grounds of them not refunding your money. Never again. I’m done.
As a private chef some of the leads cost half the $ I would make… How do i go about spending less on the leads?
Paying for leads is expensive. If you are going to pay for leads, you need to be able to turn a lead into a long term client so the total customer value far exceeds what you paid to acquire that customer.
Hi Dan, very well written article. I use thumbtack to keep busy while doing higher valued commercial work.
One thing to mention is Thumbtack gets tricky and dishonest. They will charge $11 for a lead and then $28 for a lead with the same exact work. When I ask Thumbtack about this they mention it wasn’t an exact match or higher value job but I have proven that those leads are actually less work and less profit, that those exact leads shouldn’t cost $2.11 for one and $28 for another. they will credit the account but after much emailing and complaining. A tv mounting job that makes $149 shouldn’t be a lead price of $28.
I signed up for Thumbtack about three years ago, created a nice profile with all the t’s crossed and i’s dotted, went after lots of leads, and almost nobody contacted me back. I have to think it’s because I charged a higher hourly rate than most others in my category. In several months on the site I never got one job. Yet I continued to get jobs from repeat clients and referrals from my clients. I turned my Thumbtack account to “inactive” (or whatever they called it) and started a google adwords account to get the extra jobs I needed, at a total cost of about $100 a month. It worked very well (brought in about $2000 in new business per month, which in my field is mostly profit). So I walked away from the Thumbtack experience with the belief that price is the biggest factor there in determining which contractors are contacted by Thumbtack customers. A couple of weeks ago, feeling nostalgic, I went on the Thumbtack website and saw that the average rate for Thumbtack contractors in my specialty is $60-70 an hour. I charge $140 an hour and currently use no paid advertising (not even google adwords any longer). I do predict Thumbtack will wither and die like so many other lead services have, while individual contractors who have carefully and patiently built their businesses one client at a time, by being honest and hardworking and great at what they do, will continue to thrive. [With any comments I write on Dan’s website, before I sign off I like to say that I learned a lot from reading every word on the website for months, and then, more importantly, pulling the trigger and purchasing some of Dan’s products. There are a million little things that, cumulatively, determine any business’ success, but the two most important things Dan got me to do: specialize in one high-paying trade, and build a good website.]
Link not working for report.
By the way, I am enjoying the pricing course so far.
I have heard that after a while and after having done a lot of work and getting contacts with clients, the taskers end up doing extra work but outside of Thumbtack connecting directly with those clients since it is more profitable so they end up leaving Thumbtack, it is true that?
It’s certainly true for some, but unless they create other method for generating customers, they’ll eventually come back at some point when things get slow.
I’m a travel agent and my services are free..so do I put in all the work for quotes on trips as my bid?
How do I do a bid if my services are free?
Thumbtack is TERRIBLE. There isn’t anyone on the other line for customer support. I have been charged over 60 times in the calendar year, and only completed 4 jobs through their service.
I have had a hard time requesting my money back from dead end leads I was charged for.
Also, customers request quotes from multiple pro’s, Thumbtack charges each and every one of those pro’s for the lead, the customer decides to either not do the job, hire from another agency, or simply ghosts on all communication. Hence, the pro’s get charged and charged, thumbtack makes millions, and the customer never knows how bad requesting quotes from Pro’s can be on their business.
If you want to lose money, use Thumbtack. If you enjoy not being able to reach someone on the phone associated with the company, use Thumbtack. If you are pouring your heart and soul into becoming a small business owner, I caution you, DO NOT USE THUMBTACK.
Thanks Dan for all your help and explanations. It has really helped folks like me starting up.. Apparently Thumbtack isn’t bad as people thought! You just have to be smart to be fruitful on that platform. I was burned for 200 dollars for the first week and got paranoid and called them. They explained why i was charged and what to do in details. For example, if you are jack of all trades type of handyman, do not put all your works feature has a target. Each trade targets you put cost you a money for leads, for instance, if you are targeting, Painting, Carpentry, Remodel, Tile works, Kitchen renovation, All these big projects cost alot and Thumbtack will only send you competitive leads that you have to fight with 3 or 4 other pros to get it.
This is how i set my profile on the platform after the first burn outs.
1- I Target small jobs like tile installation and repair and also drywall repair and installation.
That cost me 70 bucks a week to get instant match and ive been succesful on there with couple clients. After the 70 bucks Thumbtacks wont charge your card till the next business week.
Most important. Set your profile properly. Your facial picture is important, pictures of your work before and after, the process is important. Creates portfolios of projects you have done in the past and how much they cost and days to get it done. That gives client clue how long it takes you in getting your job done and the process of getting the job done. Get at least 8 to 10 reviews from your previous clients.
Always reply your instant match within 10 to 20 mins you got a match, that will always make you be ahead of other competitor in the search results.
Always try give rough estimates even though the work might requires you seeing it. rough estimates give clients the interest more in you.
Always reply the instant match with that kind of work like hey, you’ve found the best tiler, i’m here to save you money while giving you exceptional services that doesn’t mean you are cheap its just marketing tactics. Clients like hearing the word affordable even though you’ll be expensive. Overall be polite and fair. Clients do also pay to use that platform so Thumbtacks is the one winning if you aren’t smart. Trust thumbtacks do send me free instant match without paying! give it a trial while you build up!
Thumbtack is a ripoff, I own a security company and set my leads to within 20 miles of my area (I can not legally even work outside my state) They sent me a lead from New York State and Texas and another lead that wouldn’t provide my an address or location! when I disputed them they sent me a threatening email
“Thank you for your response. After carefully looking into the charges, we confirmed they were legitimate. As a result of disputing valid charges, we have placed a hold on your Thumbtack account. We also provided documentation to the bank to prove the validity of these charges.
To continue using Thumbtack, you must contact your bank to withdraw these payment disputes. We can reevaluate the standing of your account after you send us a copy of your bank’s confirmation letter verifying your disputes have been withdrawn. Please note, we can’t accept a copy of a bank statement as documentation.
Keep in mind, disputed charges can’t be paid back to resolve the issue. You must formally resolve the dispute with your bank. We understand this impacts your business, however, this must be addressed before you continue using Thumbtack. It can take several weeks to withdraw a dispute, so if you’re concerned about losing
I have used Thumbtack for over 6 years and in the past year I get these direct leads, mostly false, as with the old system I would have never sent a quote too. Ex. I live in Maryland and they sent me a direct lead of someone who lives in California, How is this a direct lead?
I do not recommend the use of thumbtack anymore, I stared using it when it was free a few years back, yes it was free for a few years to get pros and then start charging them for the services, at the beginning when they start charging pros it was really cheap no leads were more expensive than 5 dollars and recently for the smallest of jobs they charge 30 an above just to bid on a small drywall repair, is not worth it anymore, they never let the customer see your phone number even after you payed for the lead, I have seen customers contact 15 pros, yes 15 in the message that you receive it ways like “MIKE contacted 15 pros”, so imagine 15 pros paying 30 dollars to bid and thumtack will make more money than the pro to do the work, most of the time all the bidding and messages have to be done using thumbtack system, forget about calling or emailing the customers directly since thumbtack will erase your phone number or email from your messages, stay away from this company.
I’m a Pro on Thumbtack and I just want to warn people so they don’t make the mistake I did and DO NOT USE THUMBTACK!!! Whoever wrote this has obviously never worked for thumbtack! They are the biggest scam company I have ever worked with. I am a pro on there and you DO NOT only pay for leads that you quotes with a customer responds. No you get charged for every quote you send! Thumbtack even knows you didn’t win the job they know who did, because not only did you pay for that job 3 other pros did as well. They will refund a few little bids but the $80 $90 $100 leads you paid and didn’t get you can complain all you want you are not getting it back! I was told they gave me the lead even though the customer never responded that’s might fault I need to do better to win the lead. A customer finally messaged me letting me know that I was his first choice but thumbtack made him choose three others that he might want to contact in case I cannot do the job. I was never given the lead I paid for the lead as well as three other pros were also charged for that lead. The customer luckily messaged me saying I think your loosing business through thumbtack! And explained what happened… this was during the pandemic I lost 2 jobs got on there thinking I could start my own business. Damn I’m in debt with all my charges on my credit card that I just figured I was being charged fairly! My mistake… I paid out more than I made being with thumbtack!!! And they don’t care one bit that people are struggling trying to make a living!
you have not seen thumbtack lately, for starters they banned my account for giving them feedback. they refuse to require customers to leave phone numbers they now auto bill for some leads they may be charging 5 pros for the same lead and the information they give you is vauge example i am a locksmith.
harry T needs a new dead bolt to a locksmith that means nothing ??? what brand what color all these will affect price and they encourge customers to not leave phone numbers and they refuse to use phones also thumbtack sucks
Thumbtack is price-gouging its pros. I’ve been a Top Pro for almost three years and the price of leads continues to go up. I’m paying $30 a lead to earn a *potential* $145 on a job… meanwhile… Thumbtack is charging four or five pros that same $30 and is basically earning the entire value of the job. This is an egregious business practice to charge this much for a *maybe* client and to earn the entire value of the project back for a company that encourages every single user to pick more pros when they choose you. It’s so unfair. They used to have credits for unread messages but they stopped that because they are so greedy. I’m getting my funds drained every month because of this practice, yet I’ve been dependent on Thumbtack for new customers. It’s really a terrible business practice and I really hate Thumbtack. And I’m a Top Pro with a 5-Star rating with -0- negative reviews.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Cynthia. What services are you promoting that cost you $30 per lead?
As a client, what a waste of time. I feel so bad to know I’ve cost a pro just trying to meet them to discuss my projects and get bids. Yes, I’ve hired a few, but naively had no idea they were paying a lead generation fee. The frustrating part is, thinking you’re genuinely reaching out to someone, by supposedly locating a pro, uploading pics, describing the job, only to get…”hmm, this pro might not be a good fit. Let’s find someone else”. I searched the pro in the first place with specific criteria, that would indeed ‘FIT’ the project. After reading this and the comments, no wonder that pro isn’t a fit, probably sick of stupid Thumbtack too!
Thumbtack is free for clients, so they in return expected cheap bids. Don’t believe me, try it.
Also, now Thumbtack says absolutely no refunds if the lead includes phone clients #.
Thumbtack has gotten to be just like home advisor. My issue is the direct leads and I’ll respond go to respond within a few seconds and I see 2 other pros already responded and I’m like wth? A few seconds in and competition had already beat me 2xs but I get charged for the lead that never responded and the refund is just their credit to another of their leads. Id like to smack the hell out of the team responsible for the burglary.
Your article lacks accurate data. Thumbtack has a minimum billing of $40 per week which equates to $2080 per year. This is giving me only 1 lead per week. 80% of the leads are trolls or bots. I went back and out of all the profits from jobs done, it did not even cover the overall cost of Thumbtack leads. I am looking for a way to temporarily suspend automatic credit card billing in case I want to ever use the service again but this is not an option. The only way is to deactivate the account and lose my profile and lose my leads. What a dishonest business.
Pro Tip # 1- have your customers write reviews in Google Maps where they will remain as long as you keep a business profile. Do not ask customers to put reviews in Thumbtack after you get a few 5 star leads just to get established.
Pro Tip #2 – if you want to get your business established then try Thumbtack only with caution but be aware they will suck your profits and bill you for garbage leads which you have an 80% chance of being won by a competitor so be sure to quit if you are on it.
Pro Tip #3 – create a website and spend a fraction on Google ads and generate traffic to your website and f*ck the scammers at Thumbtack.
Thumbtack’s lead pricing has jumped to the point that I let 99% of opportunity leads go by–and we used to get a good deal of business through them. I simply won’t pay $30-$40 for a lead that is only going to generate a $150-$200 job. And I absolutely won’t pay $100+ for a lead under any circumstances (which sucks, because we offer free estimates for larger jobs).
My number one complaint is that they are virtually impossible to contact. Our profile is extremely narrow. We do HVAC repair and maintenance only. Still, we get leads for insulation and duct work. I can’t seem to filter them out, so I just delete them.
It is too bad that they have jacked their lead pricing as much as they have. Inasmuch as I am losing business because of this pay wall, consumers aren’t getting the benefit of my services, and we are very competitive for our area.
We are now passing up 99% of all opportunity leads because of the cost. We are also getting inundated with leads outside of our scope of services (we are HVAC contractors and we keep getting leads for insulation and ductwork). We did well with Thumbtack when leads were in the $10 range. At $30 on average, we simply won’t pursue them. This lead service is no longer a resource for us.
Side note
Thumbtack has a 1.3/5 stars, but an A+ rating with the BBB, that is because you can buy the A+ rating from the BBB. I have worked for multiple companies that have paid $100k for that A+ rating.
Another reason I don’t want to use BBB.
I’m a flooring contractor in Florida.Thumbtack was a huge help getting my business going. Lead prices are over $150 for some bigger jobs now. I really can’t complain because those jobs are over $2000. I land the majority of the leads I accept (just showing up for an estimate usually seals the deal). If I didn’t consistently land them it wouldn’t be worth it so I’m sure most installers try it and get discouraged immediately.
Still, the price per lead is so high that I only use it as a supplement. I’ve had leads turned off for 8 months at a time. They’re losing a lot of money by charging so much. If they were still at the $50 per lead range I’d leave it on year round.
I am currently a life coach on Thumbtack and during the pandemic, the lead prices were reasonable between $20-$30 per lead I was averaging at least 3 to 4 a month and doing well it kept me snd my son afloat!
In the last year they have quadrupled their prices and each lead is $100. Most of these aren’t that serious about wanting support for themselves. I am beyond frustrated with the lack of integrity with this company and inconsistency throughout the last year in how they do business.
I am no longer using their services and it’s a shame, but I cannot in good faith continue to use the company that puts its customers last.
I’ve been with ThumbTack for half a year now and am generally not pleased with the service. I’ve only recently connected with my first two clients. The biggest issue I have with TT currently is that while they may be doing a fair job at matching me with clients needing skills located in the geography in which I am willing to work, they totally disregard my schedule. I recently blocked a three week period as “Not Available” and yet they continued to send (and charge me for) direct leads. So I am being billed for leads I can’t follow up on. That is theft in my book. Oddly enough, because I was forced to pay for these leads, I made time to follow through and they became the first leads that actually bore fruit. (did a few days of handyman projects for a rental property owner and am compiling a bid on a small custom built-in cabinet for the other)
When I first signed on, a call was set up to go over TT structure and answer questions. Didn’t have many then. Do now but the number has been disconnected. To way to contact them AT ALL.
besides what clearly look like fake listings, it also seems there are a lot of “clients” that post projects for which they no intention of hiring anyone (get some free advice then DIY) or are only interested in the cheapest way to get a quick fix. Even the rental property owner I worked for asked what would be the cheapest way to replace a cement strip that was only 1″ thick and breaking up. When I told him that just skimming over with another 1″ would not last, he lost interest.
I came across this article while doing research on Thumbtack. We are Wedding Officiants and I signed up with therm a couple of months back and have gotten several direct leads. The first few weeks the cost was around $10-$15 a lead and then they went up tremendously, my last 2 cost over $30 each. I have some competition on there but my closing ratio is 99%. My average price for an hours work is $200 so the profit margin is darn good. I’m working on some serious SEO for my website and will do some Google ads because the average PPC with them is $8.30 for my target keywords. I will continue to use Thumbtack as a secondary source but want my website to be my primary.
smart move
I was a victim of sexual harassment and indecent exposure on a lead that I paid for from Thumbtack. I immediately contacted Thumbtack and posted an honest review at which they immediately removed. They did not honor their own transparency rules, which they completely violated. They immediately removed me from their panel telling me I was discriminating. Very disappointed as I have done quite a few jobs with good reviews to have them cut me after I was sexually harassed and being a straight man you do not get the same treatment as I would have had I have been a woman or a gay person or a transgender.