[Herbster]

I have received countless phone calls from Bid Clerk and Serivce Magic. I have reviewed the sites and am skeptical of paying for leads. Has anyone dealt with either of these companies recently and was the experience what you expected? Thank you.

 

[ChrWright]

There are dozens of threads on lead services in the forum. The majority opinion being that most of them stink.

I'd start with a search for each--you'll find several at the bottom of this page.

 

[Upchuck]

Tried bidclerk for about 3 months. I thought the biggest problem was that there wasn't much time between the job posting & bid date. I thought a week was short notice to pick up plans, get muncipal specs, put together price, cold call as many GC's that were bidding on project & getting them bid on commercial projects that were $100,000-$150,000 in site work.

There are a few other lead sites that some guys I know use who do municipal pipe jobs. Those site cost about $3000/yr.
They are more in depth & have sections about jobs in planning stages. Those sites also seem to post jobs earlier than bidclerk. I miss the days when my phone was ringing daily with jobs.

 

[CJKarl]

A few days after I set up my website they stated calling me. I'm not interested.

 

[Dumpsters]

Service Magic tends to send the same lead to several contractors, making the lead less valuable. If you do Demo or Roofing, check out a service I'm affiliated with from Hometown Internet Marketing. More "contractor friendly" than Service Magic
Hometown Demolition Contractors
Hometown Roofing Contractors

 

[glees]

I have tried both of those and a couple of other lead sites but have not had much luck with those leads provided by those sites. Right now, I've been using Quozzy.com for a couple months and its been pretty good so far. I saw them at a home show and their commercial on TV so I gave them a try. They don't charge a ridiculous amount and there was a free trial to test it out first. I have been in the business for quite a while and pretty skeptical about these leads sites and there are a bunch of crap out there. Times are tough but I'm rocking!

 

[Mellison]

I used Reliable Remodeler, a similar service.
It was the single most painful experience of my life. And I endured a spinal tap.
STAY AWAY!

 

[RNR53901]

Lead generators

I've been using ServiceMagic for a bout a year now. I finally got quality leads that would answer the phone when I put my monthly spend target below $250/month and tweaked the services that I wanted to cover. I"m a general, so I choose potentially larger project tasks instead of small stuff like repairs on anything they offer.

I tried everycontractor.com and hated every minute. Don't bother.

Buildingpros.com is a new service and they are offering free 6 month trail period. I never received anything in my trial period, so I turned off before my time was up. Maybe if they do more advertising I'd go back for another trial time.

 

[Kenny K]

your website is best and most cost effective lead, go organic

 

[EWB]

I don't plaster large projects and dont have a connection to one, but a costomer insisted on plaster which I agree is an outstanding finish. I posted on bid clerk for a plasterer and got well over 100 e-mails. Now I can't even believe there is 100 reputable plaster companies in my area. Imagine how many responses you would get for a deck contractor? I would spend money on old fashioned advertising.

 

[root69]

bidclerk

i use bid clerk and my email stay full with invites and 90% of what i get is atleast 3 to 4 week lead time to bid, guess it depends on size of job and location. 1 thing i have learned is some contractors like to give u much less time so u have the opportunity to miss things in ur bid, to line their already fat pockets.

 

[kjm_rebuild]

I was on servicemagic.com and it was worthless. I was on for several months and it just cost me time and money. I asked for a refund and they said sorry. They just wanted to send me more leads, leads that were dead ends. They have been calling me for over a year now trying to get me to come back on board.

Their problem is they charge you for a lead no matter what. There was no qualifying the lead to make sure it was credible. Crooks!!

 

[brm1109]

I used service magic for my trash removal business. What a waste of time and money. MOst of the customers wanted things done for slave wages.
Don't waste your time.