5 Things Homeowners Check Online Before Hiring a Contractor
You think homeowners hire the cheapest contractor? Think again. They hire the contractor they trust the most. And in 2024, trust is built online before you ever shake their hand. Here are the five things every homeowner checks before picking up the phone.
1. Your Google Reviews
This is the first thing they look at. Not your website, not your Instagram. Your Google reviews. They want to see at least 20 reviews with a 4.5 star average or higher. They read the negative reviews more carefully than the positive ones. And they notice whether you responded to complaints professionally or ignored them.
If you have fewer than 10 reviews, you look brand new. If you have no reviews, you look sketchy. Get this number up as fast as you can.
2. Your Website
After reading your reviews, the homeowner clicks through to your website. They spend about 7 seconds deciding whether you are legitimate. In those 7 seconds, they are looking for: Does this look professional? Can I tell what services they offer? Is there a phone number I can tap?
If your site looks like a high school project, or worse, if you do not have one at all, they hit the back button and call your competitor instead.
3. Photos of Your Work
Homeowners want visual proof that you do good work. Before and after photos are incredibly powerful. They do not need to be professionally shot. A clean, well lit photo from your phone of a finished kitchen, a repaired roof, or a freshly landscaped yard does the trick.
No photos? The homeowner is going to assume you either do not do good work or you have something to hide. Neither is good for business.
4. How Fast You Respond
This one catches a lot of contractors off guard. The homeowner does not just judge you on the quality of your response. They judge you on the speed. If they submit a form or leave a voicemail and do not hear back within a few hours, they have already called someone else. The data backs this up: leads contacted within 5 minutes are 21 times more likely to convert than leads contacted after 30 minutes.
5. Your Presence on Multiple Platforms
Homeowners are doing their homework. They are not just checking Google. They are looking you up on Facebook, Yelp, Angi, Nextdoor, and the Better Business Bureau. They want to see a consistent presence with real customer feedback across multiple platforms.
You do not need to be everywhere, but being on at least Google, Facebook, and one industry directory like Angi or HomeAdvisor creates a sense of legitimacy that a single Google listing cannot match.
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