It's gotten to a point where I now prefer contractors (hvac stuff, plumbing, electricians etc, but also a carpenter and a stained glass restoration guy I needed a few months ago) who do not have a website; if they've been in business for 5+ years or so, they are most likely getting enough work from referrals to not need having to spend money on a website. And those getting their work from referrals are the ones you want (usually).
I've been involved with a contractor who relied exclusively on internet leads (nobody in their right mind would recommend him) and much of his time was spent giving quotes for low value work that rarely materialised into an order.
Most people using the internet for sourcing a tradesman, in my experience, are those looking for the cheapest price or just fantasists and time wasters.
I think most consumers expect a contractor/tradesman to have some kind of web presence but it really should be just a brochure type site and/or blog. The best work is almost always going to come from word of mouth referrals.
I found my doctor, dentist, plumber, roofer, landscaper, and am currently looking for an electrician online. All through: google and Angie's List.
I immediately excluded anyone who has no website, and will continue to do so. It just means you don't care about your business, if I have the choice I'll also exclude people who have no online reviews.
The only time I myself could be described as a "time waster" was with the landscaper, but in fairness that was because they were completely booked up until the following season.
The whole thing seems like an age issue, people who grew up with the internet use the internet to find places and services, people who didn't still open a Yellow Pages and dial the biggest advert.
I second the Angie's List recommendation. If you go with only people who have an A rating and many reviews, I've never gotten poor service. Also, when you think about the hundreds or thousands you could lose with a bad contractor, the annual fee for access is a drop in the bucket.
My fiance and I have good and bad experience with Angie's list. The plumber we hired from Angie's was excellent, but the painter was bad, had to repaint everything ourselves again. But we had good lock using Nextdoor to find an excellent painter.
My wife and I recently (under a year ago) moved into a house in an area that was totally new to us. If it wasn't for Angie's List we'd have been screwed. Really great website there for people new to an area, absolute bargain.
We received a couple of referrals from our otherwise excellent realtor. One turned out okay, but we could tell immediately that one was going to be bad and didn't go with him.
I used to use yelp to find the best-reviewed contractor in my area. However, that's no longer a tenable strategy, because in my opinion, those contractors are flooded with easy and profitable requests and have no need to prioritize a schmoe like me. It's genuinely hard to get top-rated contractors to give me the time of day.
Once it took me 2 weeks of trying a guy, waiting for him to not reply, trying the next guy, waiting for him to cancel my appointment, trying the next, etc.
I tried picking one at random, and I got a couple of jamaican stoners with super-charming accents who did a shitty job and then poured paint thinner on my lawn (poisoning the area for about 3 years) while cleaning their equipment.
You don't have to do "internet deals" to have a presence online. Just list your key contact information, services you offer, and pictures of your previous work (if applicable).
It doesn't need to be fancy, you just need to exist.
But why? If he can be completely booked up with solid clients just on word of mouth alone, why even bother with an internet presence?
Hell, that describes me and I'm nowhere close to being a home contractor - I haven't applied to a job the traditional way in 7+ years, and all the jobs I've worked have been via my network.
This is preferable, since I don't have to deal with tire kickers or companies that lowball me - my network filters that - and the quality of jobs that get put in front of me are all pretty high quality.
Casting the net wide and slapping your contact info everywhere is one way to do it, I'm not sure why there's the belief that this is somehow necessary, or even better than the alternatives.
> If he can be completely booked up with solid clients just on word of mouth alone, why even bother with an internet presence?
If he can be, don't, but is that realistic for most businesses?
If you legitimately don't need business leads then don't do a website, but also don't do the Yellow Pages, or the local paper. But being in such a position is rare and a privilege.
"But being in such a position is rare and a privilege."
It's not so rare as you might think. Of course I only started learning about this once I (accidentally) got introduced into such a 'network' (it's not an organized or sinister plot, just something that organically grows). Plus yes it's only the best who can work like this; which are exactly the ones you want to find. Which was the point of my original post: not having/needing an internet presence signals being high quality, in 2016. It's the chumps that need to shell out the money to the web design firms and SEO guys and 'lead generators' and bidding sites (you know, all the 'elance for plumbers' sites - I know it's the wet dream of most geeks not having to pick up a phone ever again any more, and getting job quotes via email, but it's a sure way to get the bottom feeders...).
Anyone who operates on "a word and a handshake" is presumed to be a scammer. If you don't believe in it enough to put it in writing, I am not going to believe in it.
I wouldn't go so far as to avoid them if they have a website. However, my own opinion is that if you need a locksmith or a plumber, go to the good-old-fashioned Yellow Pages. Look for someone local, and LOOK FOR THE LICENSE NUMBER. If you're sufficiently paranoid, check up on that license number before calling them.
