Never in mine In life I thought I would own a home, but I was fortunate enough to close on my first home last fall. But when I moved into my new space—after nearly a decade of renting in New York City—I was overwhelmed with anxiety. Everything that went wrong in the house was now my wife and I’s responsibility to fix. Is there something wrong with the boiler? Find someone who can fix it. Do you have water damage? Find someone who can fix it, fast.
I’m a bit handy around the house. I recently got one smart thermostat and smart shades, I painted several rooms, and I successfully used the California patch method to repair some holes in my drywall. Most of these experiences start with watching various YouTube videos (HomeRenoVision is excellent). But being there a lot of of the jobs that I don’t feel comfortable with. That’s true Thumbtack enters.
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
It’s like Yellow Pages and Uber merged into one app, built for homeowners, where you can find and hire a professional near you for almost anything you need done around the house. There are vendor reviews from other customers with photos of the work completed, and you can chat and book with these experts through the app. Thumbtack has been around as a company for over fifteen years, so its database is huge: there are 300,000 local professionals in the US. Best of all, the app is free; the company charges professionals a matchmaking fee and doesn’t put any pressure on you to pay them through the app.
Today, Thumbtack is unveiling a new version that evolves the app from a way to find home professionals to a project manager for your home. I’ve been playing with the new update this past week; he becomes alone iPhone now with Android in a few months, but it already gives me some more peace of mind.
One task at a time
The previous owner of my house left several business cards and brochures for plumbers, roofing specialists and the like in a few drawers. For some of the initial work I wanted help with, I tried googling these people’s details and researching local handymen, but it was hard to get an idea of how much a project would cost if I hired them , and whether or not I should hire them. they would be reliable. Then I remembered it was my home inspector who recommended Thumbtack.
Since then, I’ve used the app several times over the past few months. I hired an electrician to install new outlets and my security cameras. I’ve had a number of people come in to move and install a washer and dryer, replaster baseboards, and even mount a TV. Thumbtack was created for homeowners, but there are certainly a few things that renters will find useful too, like help with assembling furniture, assembling gear, or moving.
The app does a great job of automatically completing my questions and pointing out the terms used by industry professionals. Thumbtack product director Alexis Baird says the new update also takes advantage of Metas Llama 2 large language models to better map your searches to professionals, who can use more precise terms and correct language in their profiles to showcase their expertise.