TL;DR
HomeAdvisor (now the pro-facing arm of Angi) charges an annual membership plus $15 to $100+ per lead depending on trade and market, and sends the same homeowner to several contractors at once. The math works for exactly one kind of operator: someone with open capacity who answers the phone in under five minutes and treats disputed leads as a weekly chore. For everyone else, roughly half the spend evaporates into shared, stale, or unreachable leads. Use it as a bridge while you build lead sources you own, and never as the foundation.
Ask ten contractors about HomeAdvisor and you get two loud camps: the ones who swear it filled their first year with work, and the ones who canceled after three months of paying for homeowners who never picked up. Both camps are telling the truth. The difference between them is almost never the leads. It is what happened in the first five minutes after the lead arrived.
Here is the honest math, who should use it, and how to stop it from quietly eating your margin.
What you're actually buying
HomeAdvisor merged into Angi's corporate family years ago; the pro product now runs under the Angi umbrella, and the mechanics matter more than the branding (the full corporate untangling is in our Angi vs HomeAdvisor breakdown). You pay two ways:
- An annual membership fee, commonly reported around $300 a year, which buys you a profile and access to the lead feed.
- Per-lead fees that scale with trade and job value: reported ranges run $15 to $60 for smaller trades and $50 to $100+ for roofing, remodeling, and other big-ticket work.
The detail that drives everything else: a lead is not exclusive. The same homeowner request typically goes to multiple pros, each of whom paid for it. The homeowner meant to hire one contractor. The platform sold that intent three or four times. That isn't a scam; it is the business model, and it means your real cost per job is your lead fee multiplied by however many leads it takes to win one.
The math that decides whether it works
Run your own numbers against this template: at $60 a lead and a 25% close rate (a reasonable figure for a shared-lead platform when you respond fast), a booked job costs you $240 in lead fees. For a $8,000 roof repair, that is fine. For a $180 faucet swap, it is a losing trade. The operators who report success cluster in three conditions:
- High ticket sizes, where even an expensive acquired job pencils out.
- Open capacity, where the alternative to a mediocre lead is an idle crew.
- Sub-five-minute response times. Shared leads decay by the minute; the contractor who calls first wins a disproportionate share. Our follow-up playbook exists because this pattern shows up on every lead source, and it is most extreme here.
the rough share of platform leads contractors commonly report failing basic qualification: wrong area, no budget, browsing, or unreachable. Budget with that number in mind, and dispute what qualifies for credit.
The complaints, sorted by whether you can fix them
Fixable: paying for junk leads without disputing. Leads with wrong service areas, disconnected numbers, or homeowners who say they never submitted a request are generally creditable. The pros who make the platform work treat dispute submission as a scheduled weekly task, not an occasional protest. If you won't do the admin, price the junk into your cost per job.
Fixable: slow response. If your leads go to voicemail, you are donating money to whichever competitor answers. A missed-call text-back or an answering agent changes platform economics more than any bidding tweak.
Not fixable: shared intent. You cannot negotiate exclusivity. You can only pick the platform knowingly, or build channels where the homeowner asked for you specifically.
Not fixable: the profile is theirs. Your reviews, your ranking, your presence on the platform: all of it stays behind when you leave. Ten years of five-star HomeAdvisor reviews transfer to nothing.
Want leads that come to you by name?
We build the website, local rankings, and review engine that make homeowners request you specifically, no middleman fee attached.
Where it fits in a real lead strategy
The sensible frame: HomeAdvisor is a faucet you rent. Turn it on when you need volume this week, and expect to pay retail for it. Meanwhile, build the sources that compound: Google Business Profile and reviews, a website that converts, and Local Service Ads, which are also pay-per-lead but exclusive to you, carry the Google Verified badge, and consistently beat shared-lead platforms on cost per acquired customer. Model your own numbers in the LSA cost calculator, and see the broader channel ranking in how to get contractor leads.
The operators who get burned are the ones who treat the rented faucet as the plumbing. When the platform raises lead prices, tightens credits, or fills your category with three new competitors, a business built on it has no floor.
The verdict
| Your situation | Verdict |
|---|---|
| New business, empty calendar, big-ticket trade, fast on the phone | Use it, dispute aggressively, treat it as a bridge |
| Established, near capacity, decent review base | Skip it; your money compounds faster in LSAs and SEO |
| Small-ticket trade, slow to answer calls | Do not sign up; fix follow-up first, then reconsider |
| Everyone | Never let a rented lead source be more than a third of your pipeline |
Frequently asked questions
How much does HomeAdvisor cost for contractors?
Two fees: an annual membership commonly reported around $300 a year, plus per-lead charges that vary by trade and market. Reported ranges run $15 to $60 for smaller trades and $50 to $100+ for roofing, remodeling, and other big-ticket work. Ad spend math matters less than the multiplier: leads are shared with multiple pros, so your real cost per booked job is the lead fee times however many leads it takes to win one.
Are HomeAdvisor leads exclusive?
No. The same homeowner request typically goes to several contractors at once, each of whom pays for it. That is the business model, and it is why response speed dominates results: the pro who calls within five minutes wins a disproportionate share of shared leads.
Is HomeAdvisor worth it for contractors?
It can be, under three conditions: high ticket sizes so an expensive acquired job still pencils, open capacity where the alternative is an idle crew, and sub-five-minute response times. Established contractors near capacity usually do better putting the same budget into Local Service Ads and their own review base.
Can I get refunds for bad HomeAdvisor leads?
Often, yes. Leads with wrong service areas, disconnected numbers, or homeowners who say they never submitted a request are generally creditable. The pros who make the platform work treat dispute submission as a scheduled weekly task. Contractors commonly report roughly half of platform leads failing basic qualification, so the dispute habit is not optional.
Is HomeAdvisor the same company as Angi?
Yes. HomeAdvisor and Angi merged into one corporate family years ago, and HomeAdvisor now operates as the pro-facing arm under the Angi umbrella. Signing up for both does not diversify your lead sources; it is the same pipe with two labels.
What should I use instead of HomeAdvisor?
Google Local Service Ads first: also pay-per-lead, but exclusive to you and carrying the Google Verified badge, with consistently lower cost per acquired customer. Behind that, the channels you own: Google Business Profile with real review velocity, and a website that converts. Rented leads should bridge to owned demand, never replace it.
Not sure what your pipeline should look like?
Send us your website. The free 10-minute audit shows where your leads leak and which channels would fill the gap, within 48 hours.