Thumbtack is an online platform that matches customers with local professionals. Unlike online marketplaces specialized on cleaning services such as Handy, Thumbtack lists several hundreds of local services. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco. With 260,000 active professionals on their platform, services in all major and minor US cities can be booked through Thumbtack.
How Thumbtack works
In a first step, the customer needs to specify the service he is looking for, which can either be entered directly or chosen from one of several categories such as Home (this is where you will find cleaning services), Events, Lessons or Wellness.
Thumbtack Homepage
Next, a sequence of ~10 questions follows. These questions are meant to specify the customer’s need and narrow down the choice of available cleaning professionals.
The first set of questions relates to your home. You will need to provide information on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms to be cleaned as wells as the square footage of your home.
Thumbtack – Booking Process – Home Info
The second set of questions focuses on the cleaning preferences. The customer needs to specify the frequency (one-time cleaning, weekly housekeeping, etc.), the type of cleaning (standard cleaning, deep cleaning, move-out cleaning) and additional needs (fridge or oven cleaning, laundry, etc.).
Thumbtack – Booking Process – Preferences
In the next step, you need to define when the service is needed. You can also add specific instructions for the cleaning professionals, if there are any.
Thumbtack – Booking Process – Time & Special Requests
Lastly, you need to confirm your zip code and enter your email address:
Thumbtack – Booking Process – Zip Code & Email
Now the matching progress is started and the platform identifies suitable local cleaners based on the answers provided.
At this point, cleaning provider profiles incl. the quotes for the cleaning job specified are shown. The customer can find more information regarding the services provided by each cleaning company and scroll through the customer reviews.
Thumbtack – Providers & Quotes
Once a decision is made, you can message the cleaning provider or schedule a cleaning directly by providing the exact address and submitting the booking request.
Thumbtack – Send Booking Request
Thumbtack Prices
Unlike online platforms specialized on cleaning which provide standardized services and prices, Thumbtack aggregates the services of various local providers which determine the terms themselves. Therefore, cleaning prices offered through Thumbtack vary widely.
Hourly cleaning rates can start as low as 20-25 USD, but several housekeeping companies charge significantly more than that.
Training & Insurance
As Thumbtack is only an aggregator for the services of individual local cleaning companies, it is not responsible for the training of the cleaners. As a customer, you should be aware that you will deal with an individual local cleaning company. Some of these companies have well trained cleaning staff, others do not.
Thumbtack does offer a $1 Million Property Protection which covers damages that are a result of the service booked through Thumbtack.
Summary
Thumbtack is a great platform to find all sorts of local service providers including cleaning and housekeeping companies. One of Thumbtack’s advantages is the strong regional coverage. Customers will be able to find maid services and cleaners even in smaller cities, which are often not served by the large cleaning franchise companies or the online cleaning platforms.
Please be aware, however, that the quality of the companies and services enlisted on Thumbtack may vary.
Sam - October 31, 2017 @ 11:34
It was easier then just looking the people up myself but not much. I got 5 quotes and still had to talk to each one. Was hard to pick.
No Customer service to help with problems
Roxy - October 31, 2017 @ 19:31
Loved the experience, we booked a DJ for our wedding. Was easy, we found Roy who really got the party started.
Next time again
Xani - November 1, 2017 @ 08:53
Great experience, janice was very thourough
Ronald D. - November 3, 2017 @ 18:50
So many questions. Tedious process. Cleaning itself was great, however..
Steve - November 16, 2017 @ 22:55
Found a very good handyman through thumbtack a while ago and I wanted to try them again to find a cleaner for my office. Had to switch companies twice already because they were pretty unreliable.
Schlon - November 19, 2017 @ 17:17
I am not really sure if they are vetting anybody on that platform. I love that you can get offers from so many different providers but I am not sure about the quality. And finally deciding on someone is also not very easy. How do they compare. It would be great if they could offer a little more guidance. That would be a real added value
I am not really sure if they are vetting anybody on that platform. I love that you can get offers from so many different providers but I am not sure about the quality. And finally deciding on someone is also not very easy. How do they compare. It wou
Maria - January 5, 2018 @ 14:29
What I really like about Thumbtack is that they connect you with so many different services. We were changing house and had a lot of things to be done in the new house. On this platform we could find someone to paint walls inside the house, someone to transport our furniture and someone to repair a few things. All did their job well and saved me and my husband a lot of work.
What I really like about Thumbtack is that they connect you with so many different services. We were changing house and had a lot of things to be done in the new house. On this platform we could find someone to paint walls inside the house, someone t
Max - January 13, 2018 @ 20:12
I love that this website makes it so easy to find a thousand different services. I already used it to find someone to clean my house, someone to help me with some handy stuff… Very useful.
Audrey - January 23, 2018 @ 13:37
This is a very good way to find handy services! So easy and such a big offer of different services… The quality I received so far was also very good.
Johnny - July 24, 2018 @ 16:10
There are a lot of services being offered on Thumbtack which is great but also makes finding the right professional a little bit of a challenge. I had to answer what felt like a million question to finally get to the suggestions. In the end I found a good cleaner that even did the move out deep clean at a good price!
There are a lot of services being offered on Thumbtack which is great but also makes finding the right professional a little bit of a challenge. I had to answer what felt like a million question to finally get to the suggestions. In the end I found a
Jim - July 26, 2018 @ 15:30
Not a fan of this platform. Too much information and bad customer service.
Cherry - August 13, 2018 @ 17:13
I like Thumbtack because it makes finding a professional so much easier and I don’t have to spend hours on the internet. Of course the quality is not always the same but it is a risk I am willing to take for the convenience that this platform provides.
I like Thumbtack because it makes finding a professional so much easier and I don’t have to spend hours on the internet. Of course the quality is not always the same but it is a risk I am willing to take for the convenience that this platform p