Thumbtack · tree services
Tree leads on Thumbtack come in two kinds: the limb on the roof after a storm, and the trimming someone wants done this season. Both are charged the same on arrival, and both arrive while you are up a tree.
Built for ~20-second replies · Partner API, no scraping
After high wind every request says "urgent", and every one of them has already been charged. Answering them in the order they arrived, hours later, means the real emergency waits behind a hedge — and books the company that replied from the truck.
Thumbtack collects the job type and, often, a picture of the tree. It does not tell you whether a bucket truck can reach it or how close it stands to the lines. One question about access in the first reply is worth more than the photo.
Large oak lost a big limb in last night's storm, it is resting on the garage roof. Another one looks cracked. Need someone out as soon as possible, what would this run?
A limb resting on a roof is one I treat as urgent — the risk is what it does when it shifts, so keep people and cars clear of that side. The cracked leader on the same tree is worth assessing on the same visit rather than as a second job. Is there driveway access to the garage side, or would everything be carried around? Once I know, I will confirm the price and the earliest I can be there.
Demand patterns, seasonality and what wins a job are the same whichever platform the lead came from — we cover that on the page for tree services. This page is about what Thumbtack specifically adds to it.
One extra job pays for hundreds of leads. That is the whole argument.
Yes. Urgency is scored before any reply is written, so a tree on a house behaves differently from a request to shape a hedge next month, even when both say "asap".
That is where it earns its keep. The fiftieth storm lead gets the same twenty-second reply as the first, on exactly the day you are paying for fifty.
No. It does not promise or offer an arrival time unless you write that promise into your instructions yourself, and then it repeats exactly that; it asks when the customer is available, leaves confirming to you and never books a slot. After a storm your schedule changes by the hour, and it does not make promises for you. If you connect your Google Calendar, it can suggest a time that is open there — and still says you will confirm it.
Every Thumbtack lead already cost you money. Make sure each one gets a reply.
Start free trial