HomeAdvisor

What: Site to find leads for jobs as a handyman, electrician, plumber, general contractor, landscaper and other building-related trades

Expected pay: Varies by the job

Husl$score: $$$$$

Requirements: Be over the age of 18 and have a credit card

Where: Nationwide

Review: On the surface, it seems like a reasonable idea. You pay $350 annually for a “pro” subscription to list your services on the site, which brags that it has 500,000 service requests per month and some 164,000 professionals in its network. The site then send you leads for jobs that match the type of work that you do. The first red flag is raised when the site doesn’t specify just how much you might get charged per lead, saying that the costs “vary based on service type and location.” And, although a lead is never a guarantee of a job, hundreds of contractors have complained about HomeAdvisor’s leads to the Better Business Bureau, which inexplicably gives the site an A+ rating — despite noting that 93% of the company’s reviews are negative. The crux of these complaints, which are shockingly consistent, is that Home Advisor’s leads are bogus. The leads, that (according to the complaints) usually cost $20 to $30 each, lead to disconnected phone numbers; consumers who say they never asked for home help; or consumers who are looking for a service that the contractor doesn’t provide.

In addition, when you sign up for HomeAdvisor, you’re giving them permission to hound you — even if you’re on the Do Not Call registry or have asked them not to contact you in the past — to market to you, in addition to (of course) contacting you about leads. If HomeAdvisor offers a special deal that would make you work at a significant discount to your normal rate, the site’s terms and conditions say you need to accept that job anyway. This sounds like a miserable deal to us. SideHusl suggests you advertise your services on a local (and, importantly, free) website such as CraigsList or Nextdoor. If you’re just getting your home improvement business going, Takl may also be a better alternative. 

What their users say (From the Better Business Bureau)

From a contractor in TX…Don’t waste your time or money signing up for HomeAdvisor. Horrible leads and poor customer service. I won’t bore you with too many details, but my story is basically the same as the rest of the hundreds of negative comments on here. Amazing how the BBB can be bought…and HA still has an A+ rating with 37 positive reviews out of 577 (at time of this post). Wish zero stars was an option. $800-1000 lesson to check these scams out a little more thoroughly next time. Lesson learned. Good luck!

Hello im a contractor and i really had the bad experience with home advisor spent around 1000 dollars for fake leads or people that dint want to be bothered . They over charged in leads not the price they mentioned when you first join.i would not recommend this to anyone

After starting with Homeadvisor we discovered that we were being sent incorrect phone numbers, numbers of people who did not want to be contacted at all. We receive leads with no way to contact them but are still charged over $20 for each lead that we cannot contact. When we turn off the leads they come back on and we get leads without knowing about it. It’s a good way to lose a lot of money with little to no return.

I just signed on with Home Advisor this month. I did this because the salesperson was very knowledgeable and answered all of my questions and the service sounded like it would help our new business get started. I understood that leads would be credited if I could not get in touch with the lead or for other various reasons, including, if I had my leads turned off and I got them anyway. Well, they have credited some, but not all and when I told them about getting the leads while my leads were turned off, they said that I turned them back on a minute after I turned them off. This is not the case. This happened two times when my leads were off and I looked to make sure they were off and they were. When it first happened and I tried to call them while it was happening, I was on hold for over 20 minutes and had to hang up before speaking with them. Then it happened that same night. Anyway, an “Engagement Advisor Business Customer Care Team” person by the name of Debbie W********* just called me and she informed me that sometimes leads would be credited when I couldn’t reach the lead, and sometimes they would not be credited in that instance. She said, “That is the nature of advertising. It’s not perfect.” Well, I told her that while advertising isn’t perfect, what people say and inform you of when they sell you something, should be perfect.

They claimed to be able to send more business to me, but the only people calling are from Home Advisor. They have sent me numerous false leads resulting in hours of lost revenue. I removed myself from both their calling list and their email list, but they keep calling and emailing. Wish I never spoke to them in the first place.

This is ayran with ayran’s home improvement LLC and this home adviser is a rip off .. when they sing you in the so no matter if you get the estimate or not they will charge you. And they will send you false leads .. that there not ready to do work . I still don’t know why there still in business I could come with something like this but my Conscious will not allowed me to .. I don’t know why with a company with so many negative still working this is bull shiet .so to all of the contractors please look at there review before you do anything.

I have been with Home Advisor since October 2017. There has not been an return on the investment. After returning lead calls in less than two minutes on average, I have discovered more than half are no connection or wrong job task calls. When informing Home Advisor about this no refunds are ever given, they state that since the call rang through I would be charged. Stay away from Home Advisor and spend your advertising money through a more reputable service.

I’m a small General Contractor, Remodels and New Home Construction. I was busy when I signed up. I was given $400 worth of Leads, the $400 worth of free Leads cost me over $1500 for leads that had nothing to do with what I did. Or the poor homeowners had been overwhelmed with phone calls from contractors. So I finally had my account paused and was promised a credit but not a refund of the $100 leads that were not qualified leads whatsoever. Instead was given 4 leads that expired before I un-paused my account. This is a SCAM for contractors. Homeowners and Contractors don’t waste your money with these guys. They need to be investigated. I don’t know how this is legal.

They have stolen over $560.00 from me in the past 2 weeks. Customers set appt with my company, I confirm, and a day or so before the appt., Homeadvisor cancels the appt without letting myself or the customers know. When I request new appt with the customer, or a refund of the money homeadvisor took from my company for the leads, they refuse! That is nothing short of theft.

I own a small contractor business in Richmond TX. This service is a waste of money, definitely no return on investment. Example: Last 2 leads I received has nothing to do with my business. Homeowners select incorrect category; however, I’m charged with a lead fee. I called HomeAdvisor. They decline reversing lead charge. The good leads they seem to farm out to 3 + companies. Just beware of service.

I was with HomeAdvisor for a few months. I paid their yearly subscription and the leads started coming in. I have paid around $300 in lead fees since I have been with them. Out of all that I was able to get 2 jobs. All the leads they are sending me are people that are not serious. I had about 3-4 leads that the phone number was wrong. After I get a bad lead I request a lead refund and then they say I have maxed out my requests and am now am ineligible to receive anymore. I finally said screw this and called them to cancel my account. They also said I owe $49.52 for leads they sent me. I told them that I want a refund for those leads b/c the info they provided was wrong. They said they are not able to refund since I am closing my account. I demanded to speak to a super visor and finally after arguing with the guy he transferred me to a voicemail. Of course have never heard back. Take it from me and the other negative comments on here and put your money into different advertising.

Do NOT give Home Advisor your credit card!! In fact, don’t sign up with this company at all. They practice deceptive advertising and have unethical business practices. I had to make a special trip and go in person to my bank to get a refund on a lead on which the company had promised me a credit, then charged me after all and refused to give me that $30 back. All this despite the fact that the zip code was incorrect and was actually well outside my coverage area (a generous one h our travel radius). Furthermore, I had signed up because of an email in which Home Advisor claimed they’d had 19 “recent” requests for my specialty, and yet, in one month, I got ZERO leads in my coverage area, which is a booming metropolis of over a million people. So, all I can figure is that they were either lying or their definition of “recent” must cover a period of over a year. The most infuriating thing, though, even beyond the lack of leads, was being charged for a bogus lead outside my coverage area, being promised a refund, then being charged on my credit card anyway, and being told I could only have an “in-house credit,” i.e. a credit against future (presumably non-bogus?) leads. They were very apologetic but “that’s just our policy ma’am.”

All I wanted to let you know that if you are a Contractor out there, HomeAdvisor is not as good as you think they are. They will deplete your bank account before you even could get one job. I signed up for only one week and it cost me $500 without any deals. Some leads are not even within my job descriptions and/or customers already had too many call that sent from either HomeAdvisor or someone else, to the point that they would not accept any more bids from me. They gave me no chances. I asked for the refund and they refused to refund all my irrelevant leads that they have once sent to me. Please be alerted before you sign up with them. Good luck!

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