Recently, Wray Ward-ians have been buzzing about Porch.com; our Connections team describes it as Houzz for contractors. I decided to take a closer look to see what the hubbub is all about.

Porch.com is a network of over 1.5 million home improvement professionals from across the country offering more than 250 categories of services. It’s an easy-to-use platform that connects homeowners who are actively seeking home improvement projects with professionals in their local area.

Created by Matt Ehrlichman in 2013, this fast-growing network is empowering the connection between homeowners and professionals. Ehrlichman’s intention was to create a site that could serve as the sole destination for organizing “inspiration, project data and word-of-mouth referrals.”

Porch.com’s Best Tools and Features

• Easy Access to Local Professionals and Comprehensive Information – Finding a local plumbing professional that services homes in my area was quick and easy. The site provides a comprehensive overview of the professional including how many homes they have worked on, typical project costs, years in business and a heat map of work done in the user’s area. Additionally, the site recommends other “featured” professionals for consideration and serves up content from the Porch Advice Blog that relates to the service being researched.
• Customized Experience Plus Home Improvement Records – The "My Home" section of the site allows users to maintain a record of their home improvement activity; the platform also pulls in public permit data, which shows the work done previously on the house. Users can also add their own projects for a comprehensive look at all the home improvement projects undertaken on their home.
• Inspiration – Similar to Houzz, users can browse photos of projects uploaded by professionals and save them to a scrapbook for future project planning.

Benefits for Homeowners

Porch.com is a great tool for homeowners because it provides a one-stop destination for researching local home improvement professionals. What really sets it apart from other sites like Houzz is the ability for homeowners to “claim” their home and maintain the home improvement project history for their property. Other benefits include free word-of-mouth reviews and planning tools.

Benefits for Home Improvement Professionals and Marketers

Porch.com offers a quick and easy way for home improvement professionals to establish a web presence and showcase examples of work that may attract consumers. The site also features Quickbooks data integration, allowing professionals to quickly and easily add project history and pricing to a business profile. The site also features an analytics platform that provides insight into competitive pricing, profile views and the number of jobs completed in a given business area. And, premium profiles allow professionals to enhance their profile with features such as zip code ownership, additional branding in project searches and dedicated contact forms.
Porch.com is still a fairly young database; now is the time for businesses and marketers to get in on the ground floor. Have you used Porch.com? Leave your comments below.