If you buy leads on Thumbtack, you pay for the lead whether or not you win the job. That makes follow-up the cheapest place to make more money. You've already paid to get the homeowner's attention. The question is how many of those paid leads turn into signed jobs.
This guide is a plain follow-up routine you can run from your phone, built for small contractors and handypersons in California who don't have an office manager.
Thumbtack doesn't charge a membership fee. Pros pay per lead, at a lead price they set, with a weekly budget cap. Thumbtack also limits how many pros a customer can contact early in their search, so on a typical request you're competing with a handful of other pros, not dozens.
Two things follow from that:
Your first reply should go out as soon as you can, ideally within the hour during working days. Keep it short and end with a question the homeowner can answer easily:
A good first message sounds like a person, not a template: "Hi Maria, thanks for reaching out about the patio slab. Is it roughly 12 x 20? If you can send two photos of the area, I can get you a price today, or I can stop by Thursday afternoon."
The most common reason leads die is that they're spread across Thumbtack messages, texts, voicemail, and a notebook. Put every lead in one place with:
That last line is the one that matters. A lead without a next-step date is a lead you'll forget. Our guide on how to track contractor leads walks through a simple setup.
Homeowners compare prices, but they also compare how professional the estimate looks. Send a written estimate that lists the scope, materials, price, and timeline, rather than a number in a text message. If you're working in California, also read how to write a construction estimate that wins the job, which covers the state's home improvement contract rules.
If you need a tool for this, estimate and invoice software lets you build the estimate from the client and job you already logged, so you aren't retyping anything.
Most pros follow up once, then give up. A simple schedule works better and doesn't feel pushy:
| When | What to send |
|---|---|
| Day 0 | First reply with a question (Step 1) |
| Same day as visit or photos | Written estimate |
| Day 2 after estimate | "Any questions on the estimate? Happy to walk through it." |
| Day 5 | Offer a choice: "I have openings next week on Tuesday or Friday. Want me to hold one?" |
| Day 10 | Close the loop: "Should I keep this open, or did you go another direction?" |
The last message is important. A lot of homeowners will answer it honestly, and "we went with someone else" is useful information. It tells you to stop spending time on the lead and helps you see which jobs you lose and why.
At the end of each week, go through your open leads and mark each one won, lost, or still open with a new next-step date. After a month or two you'll be able to answer questions that decide whether Thumbtack is worth it for you:
If you also buy from Angi, compare both sources the same way. Our Thumbtack vs Angi for contractors guide shows how.
Follow-up doesn't stop at "yes." Convert the accepted estimate into a job, track your receipts against it, and send an invoice when the work is done. A clean paper trail from lead to invoice also makes it easy to see your real profit per job after lead costs.
JobTelesis is a simple contractor CRM for small California contractors. You log each lead as a client, turn it into a job, write the estimate, and send the invoice from the same record, with receipts and reports alongside it. If you're comparing options, see our Thumbtack alternative page and our contractor CRM for California page.
Try JobTelesis free for 14 days. After the trial, the Basic plan is $35 a month. Start your free trial.