Thumbtack Review: Contractor Services

Thumbtack helps people effortlessly care for their properties through their modern home management platform. They host over 300,000 contractors on their site and have every service category you can think of. They were founded in 2009 and went through multiple rounds of funding over the years as they continued to grow. In 2021, the company was valued at over $3.2 billion and remains a top competitor in the contractor referral industry.

Easily compare pros

It's unusual for a company to let you browse through their professionals without anything in return. Most of the time we have to spend a lot of time dishing out details about the service we need and then providing our full name, address, phone number, and email. Thumbtack doesn't require this upfront and it's one reason we really like them. By providing just your zip code and the desired service, you can scroll a list of professionals available for hire. You can quickly review their customer ratings, view their starting price, see how many hires they've received through Thumbtack, if they are currently online, and how soon they have availability. This makes it easy to quickly compare your options and narrow it down to a few you might want to contact.

Comprehensive information

If you click on a pro, you can view even more details about them like their introduction, social media profiles, how many employees they have, how long they've worked in the industry, their business hours, scheduling policy, ways they accept payment, and view photos of their featured projects. The information you receive is incredibly comprehensive and will leave you feeling confident about the contractor you choose for the job.

Look for the License Badge

It's easy to view information about contractors, but you'll still need to have your detective hat on before signing up with anyone. Thumbtack encourages users to pay attention to the "license badge" on a contractor's page, which ensures their license has been verified. You should also make sure they have a "background check badge" showing that they submitted a background check.

No guarantees

Thumbtack does not guarantee that everyone referred from their site is top-notch or even meets basic standards that you should require in order to bring someone to work at your home. You'll need to research as much as possible about the candidate before hiring them. Some other useful tips would be to put your expectations for the job in writing with the contractor and the agreed upon payment terms.

Estimate project costs

Based on tens of thousands of projects happening each day through Thumbtack's platform, millions of quotes sent in every year, and over 300,000 pros around the US, the company has compiled a list of cost estimates for your potential projects. This is a great resource we've seen from a few different companies that lets you know what to expect cost-wise before diving into a project. There is a helpful FAQ about different projects as well. This gives you an idea of why costs are what they are and how to possibly save a bit of money.

Popular choice

Thumbtack has an "A" rating from the Better Business Bureau. They have mostly good customer reviews, but every once in a while we run into a red flag about unnecessary charges or shoddy work from a contractor. Overall, people really do like working through Thumbtack and have gotten a lot of help by using their services. We can attest to the legitimacy of contractors referred through this site, so they've earned a good rating from us.

On the Thumbtack website