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Review: Porch.com – Do You Need a Profile on Porch.com?

Porch.com, the latest entrant to the consumer home repair lead-gen / picture-fest/contractor review website space has a number of things going for it, some confusing aspects to the site and some great opportunities for contractors.

About Porch.com via TechCrunch:

Porch is a Pinterest-like platform for home design and improvement that also connects you to professionals who can make the designs and reconstruction a reality in your own home or apartment. You view other neighbors’ home projects, see their actual project costs, and decide on the right professional by seeing friend endorsements.

The good… 

1. Right now, there probably isn’t a lot of competition in your market
2. Advertising on the site is very aggressively priced
3. This is a site your company can grow with over time

The ugly…

The homepage is a bit confusing in how they lead readers (Mrs. Jones) into finding contractors. This is something I think the guys over at BuildZoom.com do much better. I think just having a search box is a better user experience. Remember, always keep it simple!

I am not a fan of the pricing component. I think Mrs. Jones will put too much emphasis on price and not enough on quality. Honestly, I think the first site that can develop an algo that measures price as a percentage of overall quality will win this space. 

The I’m not sure…

They promote the fact that “We never rank professionals based on who’s paying us” but then say that with their paid profile you will be “Featured on the Porch home page for neighborhoods you have worked in” which sounds like paid placement to me. Again…if anyone from Porch wants to clarify, please do.

I LOVE the social engagement, social monitoring and crowd-sourcing the site uses to recommend contractors, and this will only improve as the site grows. This is another case of be in on social early or get left at the station!

In the end, I think having even a paid profile on Porch.com makes sense to most contractors right now. Being the first mover on these types of sites before they get too crowded is a good way to maintain margin and grow your business.

 

 

 

2 responses to “Review: Porch.com – Do You Need a Profile on Porch.com?”

  1. Jennifer Riley Simone Avatar
    Jennifer Riley Simone

    The rise in price -oriented home improvement sites like Zillow Digs and Porch perpetuate the idea that what home remodelers do can be scaled to a commodity. Your point about quality vs price is very important in the decision about who to hire. As a full service design/build remodeling firm, it would be unreasonable to compare our prices to a one-person contracting outfit. Yet these sites that emphasize price leave out those service details. I applaud Houzz.com for leaving out the costs of projects, and focusing on design and function. Also, I believe the number of neighbors who would be willing to share with the internet what they paid for their remodel is limited – therefore limiting Porch’s model. Before signing up, contractors should consider if they want to support the philosophy behind these kinds of sites.

    1. Darren Avatar
      Darren

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Jennifer!

      The pricing component is going to be a sticking point on the contractor side for sure. And who knows what Mrs. Jones is going to do, is she going to inflate the price to make it more “expensive” or go the other way and talk about what a great deal she got. Either way, contractors will have to contend with that aspect of the platform if they want to play.