Porch
What: Porch promises to connect contractors of all stripes — cabinet makers, plumbers, electricians, painters, movers, locksmiths — with clients looking for specific services

Expected pay: varies

Husl$core: $$
Commissions & fees: Contractors pay between $10 – $30 for leads, plus $360 a year, if they want to be "vetted pros" to rise in the search results

Where: Nationwide

Requirements: none specified

Review:
Porch is one of several online platforms that promises to connect contractors of all types — woodworkers, plumbers, electricians, handymen, painters, locksmiths, etc. — with clients. However, contractors complain that the site sends worthless leads, for which they pay anywhere from $10 to $30, depending on the job. And getting a credit for these leads is difficult, if not impossible.

The site promises that if you become a "vetted pro" at an additional cost of $360 that Porch will automatically credit your account if you buy a lead and are unable to connect with the client after multiple attempts. (Specifically, if you call the consumer twice and message twice, with no response, you get a credit. But there are no cash refunds for leads.)

Vetted pros must pass an annual background check that looks for criminal activity. Otherwise, there are no specific requirements. Renewal is automatic.

We attempted to reach several of the professionals that give testimonials on the Porch website. None returned our phone calls. We consider that — and the BBB complaints — a red flag.

In addition, when we tested the site as a consumer, it provided a deceptively cheap estimate. There aso was no way to look at contractor profiles, giving clients no way to direct where your lead was going. In our view, the site's system generates maximum income for Porch with minimum benefit to both contractors and clients.

Better options for contractors can be found with ToolBelt, JiffyOnDemand and the ManagedbyQ partner network.

What their users say (from Indeed)
This is a very nice place to start off as a handyman you make good money per hour it all depends on how many jobs you take that's how much you make you can make a lot of money or you can make a little bit of money it all depends on your experience.

From the Better Business Bureau
Porch.com "baits" its contractors with a promise of great customer service, vetted leads, and a refund policy if anything is wrong. All of that could not be further from the truth. For my company, we are going to look into if there is an avenue for legal action against Porch.com for the thousands of dollars we have wasted over the recent two years.

Porch.com not only sends out fake leads, I have proof that they do. I contacted a customer for painting services that supposedly they needed. I finally got in contact with the person. Their exact words in text form: I don't know who porch is…I did not request any painting to be done. My name is not ***. Its *****. Porch not only had the name wrong but the gender of the person as well. This has happened to me with porch over and over again I have spent over 400.00 in fake leads.

Company is sending bad leads, charging from $10 to $28 dollars for each lead. Most of the time you don't qualify for refunds.

Out of probably 100 leads I was sent I haven't had 1 legitimate customer.

Their "cancellation department" seems to never be available. I tried calling several times at different times of the day. They just kept charging my credit card and giving me the run around. I have disputed the charges and feel confident that they will be removed, but still what company does this?!? I dug into the company and they laid off half of their employees last year…not a good sign. Spend your money elsewhere…

I have requested a refund on the $$$'s I have spent on their so-called qualified referrals only to hear that my requests are denied due to refund policies.

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2 COMMENTS

Noel Carreaga Sr
August 9,2020
I did a job for porch services, and I was told that I would not be paid for my services rendered, because the customer did not want to pay porch services, hence I would not be paid! This is the worst company I have ever had the displeasure of working with, contractors and 1099 workers STAY AWAY from this company they will send you to a job and then if the customer does not pay them, you will have wasted your time, fuel and energy doing a job and never see a dime for your efforts!

REPLY

Daryl Durell
June 17,2022
I would agree with your assessment, I called a "potential " customer from porch.com and he told me that he took a survey online, the ad he answered was "are your windows older than 5 years, you may qualify for free windows " That is a terrible way to get people interested and a terrible lead for a contractor

REPLY

Anthony Fusco
December 28,2022
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I had been with porch and canceled my enrollment as a contractor because the leads were either out of my area, out of my scope of work, or were unresponsive….and those that were sent were far and few between.

They convinced me to sign up for "vetted leads" and that proved fruitless as well.

I asked for my $350 balance/ deposit to be refunded, and they refused.

There are no leads in my area, so I can't even try to spend it down.

As a professional, I would recommend staying away from this porch, as far as you can. DO NOT GET SUCKED IN. It's worse than signing up for a gym membership. It least those you can cancel and not have to walk away from your money

Arrived on time. Appeared neat and professional snd did an excellent job

Everything was great! Quick install...

Used the HVAC contractor recommended and did a superb job!

EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED, THIS WAS THE FIRST AND LAST TIME I'D USE THEM OR RECOMMEND THEM. HomeAdviser referred Porch.com for a small project - an indoor double door installation, following the referral, they contacted me via text and phone call to schedule an appointment, a date and time they suggested and I agreed to. They then proceeded to follow-up with additional reminder text messages and emails confirming the date and time... all good, I was thinking this is good, two days prior to the scheduled appointment, they asked if the date/ time could be moved out or if I preferred to keep it at the originally scheduled time, which I did - they said ok (meaning keep it at the originally scheduled date/ time) and they'd send me an update the next day, which they did, via text - confirming the scheduled appointment date/ time. HOWEVER, the day of the scheduled appointment/ time, no one showed up and I didn't receive any follow-up call, email, text regarding the status. Therefore I contacted them at the numbers provided - first person I spoke with Mario, who had scheduled the original appointment, confirmed it was in their system and scheduled as planned, he'd contact someone to find out the status; after not receiving an update for about 45 minutes, I contacted Porch.com via their 800 number and was told, "sorry can't help you, it appears no one 'accepted' the work, they'd have the project coordinator contact me", there wasn't anything this person could do. I asked for this situation to be escalated, so I could speak with someone who could explain and assist further, but no one ever contacted me. When the Project Coordinator finally called me, about an hour and half AFTER the scheduled appointment and the first things out of their month was "you HAVE an appointment scheduled for today at 9", which of course, I knew, and they were an hour-half late; I was told they couldn't get anyone to come out and the next available appointment would be more than a week later, I declined with more than a little frustration. The Project Coordinator never apologized for the situation and they never called prior to the scheduled appointment to explain the situation and attempt to reschedule. Had I not contacted them, I would not have received any time of follow-up.

I used a Porch handyman to have some fairly simple stuff fixed around the house. Porch charged me $90 an hour. I needed the handyman to fix a continuous slow leak from the toilet tank into the toilet bowl (no leaks outside the toilet or on the floor). The handyman inspected the toilet but told me he couldn't repair the leak because he did not have an overflow tube which is what was causing the water to continuously leak from the tank into the bowl. The handyman showed me that he adjusted the water level adjustment rod so the water would not rise as high in the tank and slow the leak but not stop it.

That evening, I came home to find my bathroom floor full of water. The water tank was leaking water on the floor. I turned off the water source to the toilet immediately and contacted Porch the next day. The Porch "project manager" contacted the handyman who says he "did not work on the toilet". Every time I asked Porch to take action on this, I got a response that the handyman said he did not worked on the toilet. TOTAL LIE! My toilet was not leaking water on the floor before the handyman inspected it and adjusted the water lever. I asked Porch to send someone else out to fix it, but they said this handyman had to go back out to my house to fix it because they had already paid him for the work. After going back and forth with Porch 16 times, they refused to do anything about fixing what the handyman had damaged! The project manager was super slow to respond every time. He would tell me in the morning he'd look into it and get back to me as soon as possible, but I would not hear from him again until I followed up for a status update in the late afternoon.

Even though I put in the order comments section what I needed done, the handyman couldn't fix three of the more pressing items: he did not have the overflow tube so couldn't fix the original slow leak into the toilet bowl, he didn't have a balance shoe part to fix a window that did not stay open, and he didn't have a long enough ladder to change a high ceiling light bulb. At $90/hour, I would think he would be more professional and preparedespecially since I noted what needed to be fixed ahead of time on the order form.

My advice, use a local handyman who cares about the quality of his work and his reputation in the area where you live. In my experience with Porch, they could care less about standing behind the quality of their work and their customer service is unresponsive and useless.

Great job. Went over and above the help I needed.

No one called what wjhat help no one called why 50

Nice man, easy to work with, fair price...