Expensive leads for cheap jobs

McSwain_here_ay3

Under my category of Pressure Washing , there are several prices they recommend you set. One of them is the price to pressure wash a generic driveway which has a competitive price of $126. This turns out to be too low to do most driveways by the way. I had my max lead price set to $40 which is a good bit for a lead in my opinion but when I matched with a customer, it auto paid the $40 for the lead. Then when reaching out, she was looking for $125 driveway job for a 3000 square-foot driveway. It’s not reasonable and I want to know how to avoid auto paying for jobs like this at that $126 price point.

Matt

Hey @McSwain_here_ay3 I agree, this is a major issue with Thumbtack and how it prices leads/jobs. It assumes a lot without really delving into the real job. I have paid $60+ for jobs, when the persons budget was less than $500 (my minimum job is $2800), so it ends up being a waste of both our times. I think they need to do a better job vetting the customer to give us Pro's the best opportunity for success here. The only way I have figured out is to put your minimum fee in your name (tacky, but effective), or to spell it out in your bio, but most clients don't read any of that. The easiest way is to set you maximum lead price lower, but I get why you wouldn't do that in fear of missing out in bigger jobs.

platypusrex256

I agree this is a huge shortcoming of this website. Thumbtack takes a huge 10-50% cut of jobs that you aren't even guaranteed to get. If you close 1 out of 10 leads you buy, you're basically turning your entire paycheck over to Thumbtack.

And when you contact support they just give you some condescending drivel.

chilogm1

Estimated cost

$165

If your estimated price changes, let your customer know before the job.

Paid

$85.43

• Instant Book job

You paid $18.17 less than your max lead price of $103.60. 

1. Booking canceled
2. Sat, Sep 16, 12:00 PM

This where im sitting at after client didn't accept quote and cancel the booking request