HomeAdvisor: Are the Painting Leads Worth the Cost?

Do you own a painting company, but find most of your time is spent trying to generate new business? HomeAdvisor is a popular shared lead service many painting contractors use to capture new repaint leads at a reasonable price. But before you start throwing your hard-earned cash at this service it’s important to be aware of the pros and cons.

HomeAdvisor Pro (now part of Angi) and other shared lead services help home service contractors generate new business online. Since most of your customers will pick three or four contractors to gather estimates from, it’s important that your painting business is easy to find online. HomeAdvisor provides your business with the access to reach these homeowners while they are at this crucial stage in their decision-making process.

But let’s start with a basic question…

The short answer is, maybe.

The first thing to know about shared lead generation companies, like HomeAdvisor, is they charge you for painting leads whether or not the customer ever signs a contract. Pursuing a shared lead service means trusting that the money you make from their leads will offset the cost.

If you’re located in a high-population area with a lot of competition, shared lead sites will almost always underperform. Why? Because your leads are also sent to every other registered painting business in the area, aka your direct competition. But if you live in a rural area with little competition this service may produce requests worth investing in.

HomeAdvisor, like every other shared lead service, wants you to believe that they sell quality painting leads in your location that, in turn, will boost revenue for your business. We can put that claim to the test with a bit of research.

Positive reviews of HomeAdvisor focus on their ability to bring in large numbers of leads. Some contractors credit HomeAdvisor Pro with boosting their reputation, and helping them to find new business and grow their network.

Contractors pay once for every lead they accept. If that one-time cost leads to a signed contract, and that customer refers your business to a friend, you could potentially generate multiple leads after only paying for the initial contact.

Many contractors report frustrating experiences with HomeAdvisor. While it’s common knowledge that most shared lead sites produce inconsistent results, HomeAdvisor is actually under investigation by the FTC for overstating the effectiveness of its services.

Let’s review some other issues commonly reported by others…

There are countless reports for home service contractors that HomeAdvisor is reluctant to provide refunds for fraudulent leads. Many other contractors report issues with hidden fees and misrepresented charges.

Some contractors report issues with lead quality, or leads that are simply not relevant to their business.

For example, if a lead for repainting an office building was sent to a residential painting company, that lead would not likely translate into a paying job, even though it’s technically a painting lead.

Remember, shared leads are just that, they’re shared. Since the leads HomeAdvisor sends you are not exclusive to your business, you might find that a deluge of calls from other contractors have already turned them off, or they have already accepted a bid for the job.

The biggest problem with shared leads is they typically end up being low-quality, or hard to close. Typically, even if you get someone to book an estimate you’ll find you have to bid down your rates to close the job. Additionally, since most of these leads go cold within minutes, you may end up paying for multiple leads before getting someone on the phone. This all leads to lower profit margins and more headaches down the road.

Where do you think HomeAdvisor gets most of their leads from? If you said Google, you’d be correct. HomeAdvisor, like many other shared lead sites, invests heavily in Google Ads.

So, rather than paying a large for-profit corporation to capture a lead only to share them with your direct competition, why not just invest in Google Ads yourself?

Consumers tend to prioritize the success of the contractors in doing their jobs rather than the cost-benefit analysis of HomeAdvisor itself. After all, HomeAdvisor’s marketing is right there in its name — they’re a Home Advisor.

The key here is the customer doesn’t care where they get their painting services from, only that it produces good results.

Rather than paying for leads, which essentially equates to renting your business from someone else, invest in your business instead. You can do this by expanding your digital reach online through a well-optimized website, social media campaigns, email marketing, paid search, and more.

If you’re ready to ditch the hassle of chasing down leads and paying to leave voicemails for cold contacts, give us a call. Here at Base Coat Marketing, we take a holistic approach to marketing your painting business online by only capturing leads that are exclusive to your business. Ready to get started?