Your phone buzzes: a new lead, kitchen faucet replacement, two towns over. You tap it, you are charged, and so are up to four other plumbers looking at the same screen. Next month the statement arrives and you cannot tell, honestly, which of the jobs you did came from that app, which came from the website, and which came from the woman at church who tells everyone about you.
Lead marketplaces are not a scam and your own website is not magic. They are two different purchases, and the mistake is treating them as the same thing with different prices.
What you are actually buying
On a marketplace you are buying an introduction, usually a shared one, at the moment of demand. Angi's own help center describes the mechanics for its leads product: each homeowner request is matched with no more than five pros, you are charged "as soon as both you and the homeowner show interest in connecting", and once matched you are charged "whether or not you open or respond to" the lead. Its billing FAQ says lead pricing "varies based on task, homeowner location, and demand for the work", against a monthly budget that a single matched lead can push you past. Thumbtack also charges per lead, with the prices shown inside your own account, so the only figures worth trusting are on your own statement.
On your own website you are buying the whole relationship. The visitor searched, found you, read your work and filled in your form. Nobody else got the message, and when they need the water heater in three years they search their email for your name, not an app.
Who owns the customer
The platform holds the relationship, collects the review on its own profile, and will happily introduce the same homeowner to five other plumbers next time. You did the job; the platform kept the customer.
A website customer is yours: repeat work, referrals, the review on your Google profile. The second and third jobs cost nothing to acquire, and that is where a service business makes its money.
What the FTC had to say about it
In January 2023 the Federal Trade Commission ordered HomeAdvisor to pay up to $7.2 million over what it described as false, misleading or unsubstantiated claims about the quality and source of its leads, including claims that leads concerned people who were ready to hire and about the rate at which leads converted to paying jobs. HomeAdvisor is an Angi affiliate. The point is not that the leads are worthless; it is that nobody but you can tell what they are worth.
How to tell which jobs came from where
- Marketplace leads arrive in the marketplace app. Count the leads you paid for, the jobs you won from them, and the revenue. Divide the month's spend by the won jobs, not by the leads. Cost per lead is the platform's favorite number; cost per won job is yours.
- Website leads arrive by email and in your quotes list. A form submission with a subject line like "Quote request: water heater" is a website lead by definition.
- Phone calls, ask. "How did you find us?" at the end of the first call, written in the notes.
- Referrals, write them down. The channel you are not paying for, and the one the marketplace takes credit for when you do not record them.
After three months you have a table with four rows, and each row has leads, won jobs, revenue and cost. Usually the marketplace fills a thin calendar fast and gets more expensive per won job as the website and referrals grow; shrink its budget as that happens rather than switching it off on principle.
Running both
Marketplaces are a reasonable way to buy a full calendar in year one; the website is what makes year three cheaper than year one. In Webkio a website lead comes in through the quote request form, emails you, lands in your contacts and sits in a quotes pipeline where you record what you quoted and whether you won, so the website row of that table fills itself in. Getting the site found is the work described in local SEO for a one-location business, and the reviews that make it convert are covered in how to get more customer reviews.
FAQ
Are Angi and Thumbtack leads worth it for a contractor?
They can be, especially early, and only you can tell. Measure cost per won job, not cost per lead, and compare it with your website and referrals every quarter. The platforms' own quality claims have been challenged by the FTC; your statement and your win rate are the data.
Who owns the customer on a lead marketplace?
The platform holds the relationship and the review, and will introduce the same homeowner to other pros next time. A customer who found your own website is yours for the repeat work and the referral.
How do I track which jobs came from my website?
Website quote requests arrive by email and in your quotes list, already labeled. Record won or lost against each, ask callers how they found you, and write referrals down. Four rows, once a quarter, is enough to see where the money is.