Are Angi, Thumbtack and HomeAdvisor leads worth it for contractors?
Paid leads from Angi, Thumbtack or HomeAdvisor can be worth it as a short-term top-up, but most trades do better with their own ads once a website exists to send clicks to. Lead platforms charge per lead whether or not you win the job, and customers often contact several pros. Your own ads, which Social Agencies runs for trades, bring leads nobody else received.
How do Angi, Thumbtack and HomeAdvisor charge for leads?
Lead platforms charge you for each lead or customer contact, and the price depends on the job type, your market and how many pros compete for it.
Thumbtack's help center explains that pros set a price for every service they offer, which is the exact amount paid for each lead, and a weekly budget that caps total spending. Once the budget is reached, leads stop until the next week. Thumbtack says prices vary with the type and size of the job, how many pros are available and the market.
Angi Leads, the pro side of what was HomeAdvisor, says in its own help pages that it connects a customer with multiple service professionals, and that pros are charged for each lead they receive whether or not they win the job. Get the current terms in writing before you sign up, because the price per lead is only part of the cost.
What did the FTC find about HomeAdvisor's leads?
In January 2023 the FTC ordered HomeAdvisor to pay up to $7.2 million over how it marketed leads to service providers.
The FTC said HomeAdvisor had told service providers they "only will receive leads matching the types of services they provide and their preferred geographic area", when many did not, and that its leads "result in jobs at rates much higher than it can substantiate". The order was finalized in April 2023.
None of this means every lead is bad. It means a lead platform's own description of its leads is a sales claim, and your own numbers are the only proof that counts.
Why do shared leads turn into price fights?
Shared leads turn into price fights because every pro on the lead has the same information, so speed and price are the only things left to compete on.
When a homeowner hears from several pros within minutes, the one who calls first and quotes lowest often wins. That rewards the cheapest estimate, not the best workmanship, and it squeezes the margin that pays for permits, licensing and insurance.
Speed still matters on every channel. Harvard Business Review research from 2011 found firms that tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as those that waited an hour longer.
What does running your own ads as a contractor involve?
Running your own ads means paying Google or Meta to show your business to homeowners in your area and sending every click to your own website or phone.
The ads show real jobs: a finished bathroom, a new electrical panel, a water heater installed to code. The click lands on the matching service page with a call button and a short form. Every lead comes to you and nobody else.
Pay the ad budget straight to Google or Meta from your own card, so you can see every dollar spent. Your Google Business Profile runs beside the ads and costs nothing but time.
| Lead platform | Your own ads and profile | |
|---|---|---|
| Who else hears from the customer? | Often several pros | Nobody |
| When do you pay? | Per lead, won or not | Per click or view, set by your budget |
| Who owns the customer record? | Shared with the platform | You |
| What you build over time | Little that lasts | Reviews, audiences and a known name |
How do you move from lead sites to your own leads without a slow month?
Run both side by side, and cut lead-platform spend only once your own ads and profile are bringing leads you can count.
Switching overnight is how a trade business gets a slow month. Overlap the two for a few weeks and compare cost per paid job, not cost per lead.
- Get the website and Google Business Profile right first.
- Start a small campaign showing real jobs in your area.
- Log where every lead came from and whether it became a paid job.
- Reduce lead-platform spend as your own leads grow.
How do you measure whether a lead source is worth it?
Measure cost per paid job, not cost per lead: add up what the source cost in a month and divide it by the number of jobs it produced that were actually paid.
Cost per lead flatters sources that send many leads which go nowhere. Cost per paid job counts only what matters. A source with pricey leads that close can beat one with cheap leads that do not.
Keep a simple log for every lead: the date, the source, whether you quoted, whether you won and the job value. A notebook works; a field service app that records the source works better. After a month, the numbers show which channel deserves the budget.