What is RenovationFind?
RenovationFind exists to bring home owners and contractors together. They have an active, current database of local homeowners who are actively searching for contractors. Homeowners who have ideas to do some renovations, but they don’t know who to hire and where to get their supplies from.
RenovationFind bring homeowners who are ready to hire the best of the best a list of top local contractors, which helps make finding the right contractor for the job easier.
How did RenovationFind Come to Life?
When the massive flooding happened in Calgary in 2013, Keith Riley and his wife Vivian heard about a lot of shady dealings where home and business owners were taken advantage of by contractors (read about how contractors overcharged Calgarians after the flood). It wasn’t easy for people to tell which companies were honest and which were just out there to take advantage of people.
But it’s not just Calgary that has bad apples, you’ll find bad contractors just about anywhere. RenovationFind is trying to rectify that. They launched three years ago in Alberta, and they’ve been growing ever since.
Who uses RenovationFind?
Thousands of homeowners search for contractors using Google and often land on the RenovationFind.com website. Over 10,000 homeowners have joined and as a member, they have access to the database of contractors profiled from over 22 Canadian cities.
Members are primarily homeowners who are actively looking for home services – products and contractors. People who join can be assured that they will find a reputable contractor. They aren’t looking for the cheapest company they can find, they want companies they can trust.
Members can
- Check out the description of the contractor,
- Look through the contractor website and social media accounts,
- See their RenovationFind rating, and
- Look through pictures of each company’s work to give them an idea of what to expect.
RenovationFind does’t hand pick a contractor for a member. They recommend being thorough and getting at least three quotes.
Here’s an example of a member’s experience using RenovationFind:
While at a trade show, a customer spoke about how he renovated a whole floor in his condo using contractors he found on RenovationFind. He used a handyman for the repainting, a flooring company, and bought a new closet. It ended up being a great service for him all around. There were so many moving parts, but all the contractors managed themselves professionally.
How does RenovationFind assess trades and contractors?
They do a series of background checks:
- legal,
- credit,
- complaints,
- insurance,
- WCB,
- BBB,
- and others
They give contractors third party accreditation and let homeowners know they’ve passed these background checks. It’s an ongoing process and if things change, their RenovationFind Rating will change.
The ratings are A, A+, and A-. Companies can display them on their websites or in their advertising. Shoppers look for a third party seal of approval when they’re researching who to go with. Here’s a breakdown of the ratings.
What are the Levels of Membership for Contractors?
There are three tiers of profiles for you as a contractor: Basic, Premium, and Platinum.
A Basic Profile includes:
- A profile on RenovationFind
- Promoted as top rated, most trusted in their category
- Internal brand campaign, banner ads on RenovationFind
- Two homeowner memberships to give out
- Analytics to see how many people are clicking on your website link and the phone number in your profile
You can check out examples of profiles here.
Premium membership includes all the things you get with Basic PLUS:
- External online marketing campaign with retargeting via AdWords
- Your business will be featured on RenovationFind’s social media properties
- Blog articles on the RenovationFind blog written by or for you
- You can also have your blog shared on other company’s blogs
Check out the RenovationFind blog!
The Platinum membership includes everything in the Basic and Premium packages PLUS:
- email campaigns
- print and digital marketing
- a profile on the RenovationFind mobile phone app
- can participate in trade shows and represent themselves at the RenovationFind booth and gain major exposure (the RenovationFind booth usually attracts thousands of homeowners at each trade show)
- Unlimited homeowner memberships to give away
Here’s an example of how a Platinum member used their free memberships to close deals:
Tile and Stone Source International are a platinum member, so they have unlimited homeowner memberships to give away. They use it as a way to help close deals so that homeowners can use RenovationFind to find other products or services they need. Membership also gives homeowners access to discounts from other companies on RenovationFind, so that’s an added bonus too.
How Does RenovationFind Differ From its Competitors?
It is not a review-based website!
Contractors don’t have to deal with damaging or fake reviews. The service does monitor complaints, but they don’t make them public.
They find your potential customers ahead of time.
The fact that they have homeowners as members and are not just a directory of listings is a big differentiator. You don’t see that with any competitors’ business models.
Currently they have over 25,000 homeowner members in Western Canada alone.
They are present at local tradeshows
RenovationFind ensures they have a presence at some of the biggest home and garden trade shows (such as the Edmonton Home and Garden Show) and allow Platinum contractor members to work the booth with them.
They frequently communicate with their members by email and they call contractors on a quarterly basis.
Currently they send out monthly emails to homeowner members in Edmonton and Calgary. These emails include discounts and promotions from contractors.
They are across Canada:
There are 22 locations listed on RenovationFind. They get online traffic from all 22 cities and they’re adding more cities all the time.
What is RenovationFind’s Number One Tip For Contractors to Generate More Leads?
The number one tip is to use their tools! Contact a sales rep and figure out all of the ways you can squeeze the most out of your RenovationFind profile. Sales reps will call you quarterly and they encourage all contractors to reach out to the potential homeowners via emails, blogging opportunities, and banner ads to help you get leads and sales.
What are RenovationFind’s Plans for the Future?
Global domination 🙂 and there are a few things they want to do along the way, like move into different markets.
They also want to tailor and tweak what they currently offer to make sure it stays win-win.
Another thing they’re working on is improving communication between contractors using a newsletter. It can be hard to make partnerships with other contractors unless you’re actively networking. Some people don’t like networking, so they want to make it easier to connect with other contractors.
How To Learn More about RenovationFind?
They can fill out their online contact form, send an email to garrett@renovationfind.com, or give them a call at 1-800-576-8998.
You can also check them out online on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.