How LHCM Compares to the Alternatives

Deciding how to market your contracting business? These honest comparisons show how building owned, exclusive channels stacks up against the common alternatives.

Read all eight comparisons and one pattern repeats. Lead marketplaces like Angi, HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack sell the same lead to several contractors, so you pay to race your competitors to the phone. Directories like Houzz and Yelp charge for placement in a crowd of lookalikes. Generic agencies apply the same playbook to a dentist on Monday and a landscaper on Tuesday. DIY costs the least in cash and the most in the hours you should spend running crews.

The alternative in every comparison is the same: build channels you own. Your website ranking for your services in your cities, your Google Business Profile collecting reviews, your ad accounts with your data and history. Owned channels cost more up front and compound for years, and every lead they produce is exclusively yours.

That is the honest trade-off: marketplaces rent you demand at a rising price, owned channels build an asset. Companies doing $800K+ a year are usually past the point where renting makes sense.