Sick of wasting time on carpentry leads from crappy sites like Angi

Man, I'm so over these lead gen platforms for cabinet installs and trim work. I sign up thinking I'll get solid jobs, but half the time it's homeowners wanting me to match some IKEA quote for custom oak face frames. Wasted a whole afternoon on a lead from Angi last week, drove out with my Festool track saw ready, and the guy ghosts me after I show up. It's like they're farming our time to boost their algo or something. Someone in the Contractors Network FB group was ranting about this too, saying it's killing small shops. Switched to just yard signs and word of mouth after that, but damn, the industry's rigged against guys like us doing real woodworking. NGL, feels like we're all getting screwed by these middlemen.

Try running your own Google ads targeted at 'custom cabinet builders' - set a $50 daily budget and use call extensions, pulls in way better than those aggregators.

Same here brother, feels like every lead site is just a scam to suck our time.

These platforms are destroying the trade, forcing us to chase ghosts instead of building.

Angi and Thumbtack are the worst, full of lowballers and no-shows.

Fight me, but HomeAdvisor isn't all bad if you filter for commercial trim jobs.

Haha, got a lead once for a 'deck repair' that turned out to be a birdhouse. Drove 45 min for that crap.

I feel your pain, lost a full day last month to a similar no-show on a door install.

Post your work on r/woodworking and link to your site - organic leads from there have been gold for my shop.

Tried door knocking neighborhoods with new builds, but inspectors are sticklers on code here, slows everything.

Don't touch those sites, had a guy sue over a 'bad lead' - nightmare.

Focus on networking with realtors for remodel referrals, skips the BS entirely.

Every damn time, these leads make me wanna quit and go back to just hobby woodworking.

Frustrated as hell with the same crap, burned $200 on premium leads that went nowhere.

Yeah, I'm pissed too - stick to local FB groups for carpenter referrals, way more reliable.