[matt6781]

So I have read some of the old posts here about the Blue Book construction Network but would like some fresh input. We provide services for small-mid size demo and site work but our Niche is On-Site Crushing and Recycling.

I was receiving teaser leads which have expired and now they want us to sign up to continue. I was not familiar with the site so I originally blew off the emails as spam. I ended up following through on a bid. I did not get the job(general did not) but they were a legit company that emailed plans, followed up to with me to review etc..

Wondering what I may be missing out on I met with the sales rep yesterday to listen to the pitch. After explaining all the benefits she wanted a 2 year contract.. I tried for a short trial run with full access with no luck. She eventually knocked contract down to 1 year at $280/Month. Told her I would be in touch..

Google search has lead me to some some Rip off reports as well as satisfied customers. My biggest concern is I want valid leads specific to a couple service categories, within a reasonable distance. Do they filter this as promised or will they send anything from painting- demolition bids on the entire east coast..? I feel this may be a valuable tool to make initial contact. Most companies aren't interested in your service sales pitch until then need something,so phone calls and knocking on doors doesn't always work either..

What is everyone's thoughts? If utilized properly is this a valuable service or are they the only ones benefiting from your contract?
If you reply -please explain your personal experience..good or bad.

Thanks!

 

[RocknRollPewPew]

TheBlueBook.com Network

You can list your company for free and receive invitations from GC's on the network. My company is based in NJ and has licenses in NJ, NY, PA, DE, MD, and GA, so we get at least 8 bid invitations per week from GC's in the NE tri-state area for our drywall/framing and electrical divisions (we're trying to pimp out workers in those divisions for small-scale work for whenever we don't have a big project going on).

I try to make it my personal policy to send out at least 1 estimate per day along with my daily duties (if for nothing else but to keep my take-off skills sharp). This has been going on now for about 3 months. UNFORTUNATELY, this has yet to yield any projects awarded to either the GC that I send my estimates to or to my company.

While I absolutely LOVE using theBlueBook.com to find sub-trades for our own projects, I must admit to being a little disappointed in not having gotten any positive results from all of the estimates I've sent out. Even if I was coming in high on my numbers, you'd think that I'd hear back from at least 1 GC that I sent my estimates to.

TLR - No, from personal experience, theBlueBook.com Network membership isn't worth the investment, but I'm still hoping for things to turn around once spring/summer come around and things pick up for everyone. If you're still curious, just stay on the free membership and receive bid invitations from GC's.

 

[Alldayrj]

Wasnt worth it for me. I was looking for masonry, concrete, landscaping. Everything was massive projects i couldnt handle. That aside, you just get an email with plans and you're on your own to figure it out. I've gotten a few calls where people we're interested in meeting and walking the site etc but those we're few and far between. Most just want an email response price for a job you have never seen. Not how i like to work. Also bluebook doesnt even come close to ranking on google so you wont get leads that way. That have to be actual bluebook users

 

[kbenz]

My opinion, Unless you are a large company with estimating depts and such don't bother. I agree 100% with Alldayrj

 

[Asphalt365]

We are using Bluebook for leads. So far we have only tracked 1 lead from it. We are getting a higher ROI with Google Adwords. We are using it to filter though jobs and get contacted by GC's and using it as brand awareness but it is costly.

 

[Andrade]

Any updates on this subject? I have the local sales rep emailing me about meeting with him, some of the bids on there are in my field but I like taking on smaller projects, advice?

 

[kbenz]

Any updates on this subject? I have the local sales rep emailing me about meeting with him, some of the bids on there are in my field but I like taking on smaller projects, advice?

I am a one man show. I do smaller jobs too. Bluebook was a waste of money for me. $150 a month for 2 years, never got one job.

 

[Andrade]

I am a one man show. I do smaller jobs too. Bluebook was a waste of money for me. $150 a month for 2 years, never got one job.

Thanks for letting me know, I'll avoid them. I did have a good year with HomeAdvisor but I am also getting tired of them and the tire kickers.

 

[kbenz]

go with the free listing. it's advertisement

 

[bidtobuild]

We are a remodeling company here in Georgia, we have tried almost all pay to bid services and none were worth it.
Thats why we started CONTRACTORSBIDTOBUILD.COM, a free community for georgia contractors and subcontractors. Contractors post their project and can access subs from the members page, and subs can create a company profile to advertise themselves and search our jobs section.
And we have a rating system to keep everyone accountable.
Check us out, completly free, by contractor for all contractors.

 

[jeffnw]

I am a one man show. I do smaller jobs too. Bluebook was a waste of money for me. $150 a month for 2 years, never got one job.

Same. Didn't get a return.

 

[PhotoBen]

Does anybody know, how the information about companies, their projects, pictures, etc. appear on bluebook.com? Does one have to upload the info, or do they go through business web sites and copy the info to bluebook?
Thank you very much!

 

[rdt212]

This company is crooked and desceptive at best

Wish I'd have read this sooner. Just got screwed by these people myself a few months ago. Tried to cancel since the program was sold to us under false pretenses. They told us they were seeing over 100 leads/bidding opportunities per month in San Diego County in our industry. I've seen 5 so far, and 0 have been for our industry. Now that I've asked to cancel, they sent a request to close my account and have asked me to pay the remaining two year obligation in a lump sum. These people are crooks.

 

[cwatbay]

I finally got through my 2 year deal at $220.00 per month. Not really worth it to me because we don't have a dedicated estimator for jobs. It is competitive and they need your bid ASAP.

I have kept records of all the GC contacts that contacted me, around 4200 requests in 2 years. Only answered 1 because we are that busy.

Yes, it's a 2 year contract and it's pretty much solid on the conditions.

I called every month for the last 4 months to make absolutely sure that we are at the end of our contract with no renewal.

 

[Vizilok]

Blue Book Network is the most useless platform for product services I ever signed up for. They lure you in by showing how many GCs specify your product in their projects, they make enticing promises, create a beautiful profile. In reality, all it is the monthly ZOOM meetings where 2-3 GCs talk about their projects and 150 potential subs have 30 sec each to introduce ourselves. Then, you start receiving a bunch of very untargeted emails from hopeful deceived small businesses hoping to recover some of their money. The service costs us $906 /month for "access" to only East Cost and Florida projects. We paid to Blue Book Network already $2700 with ZERO ROI and ZERO connections. When you try to call the project key person listed in the platform, it is either unreachable, or they do not care if it is a cold call, to you introduce yourself as a Blue Book Network member. The platform does not provide any relationship culture or respect from peer members.

 

[KenD]

We have been a member for about a year. This business is a SCAM. they offer nothing more than a way for GC's and subcontractors to connect and flat out lie about the opportunities they can create. First, GC's DO NOT even have to be paying members to post the job they have or are bidding on. You ever heard the saying, "If it's free then it isn't worth anything"? Well a GC who posts for bids from subcontractors has nothing invested and can therefore ignore, lie, and waste every subs time and Blue Book doesn't care and won't do anything about it. While I understand that is expected in this industry, we should not have to pay $810/month to have our time wasted. You would also think for that type of money that Blue Book would work for us, and wouldn't require 100's of hours of my time to work their network in order to try and get our monies worth. Oh and my business, which does custom low voltage solutions(Smart Home, network CCTV,etc) depends primarily on Single Family Homes, which there are virtually none of on Blue Book, something our Rep Michael Calabio, and his boss, Ken Rickerman, failed to tell us when they lied to us to get us to sign up. We have tried for months to lower the cost of our plan and also cancel our contract and have been told by both people we are not allowed. After speaking the the central customer service, we were told we should of been able to lower our plan to as low as $100/month and then a supervisor, Chris Fendl, promised to get us out of out contract, which was just another lie. STAY AWAY from this business.

 

[parkmechanicalservic]

was considering joining but after reading all the negative remarks I am hesitant to sign up