Locating the right company for your Construction project just got a heck of a lot better, we use our years of hands on experience within the construction industry to bring to you quite simply the best method available for matching customers directly with service professionals. Here’s all you need to do:

1. First choose the approximate size of the project.

2. Then select a zip code where services are needed.

3. Next select the proper industry; Residential or Commercial (home or office)

4. Select the Trade that best relates to your project needs.

5. Finally, choose the specialty that specifically deals with the Main aspect of the job. 

Optional search tools include the ability to find Only Union Labor approved companies and companies that are available 24 hours a day for emergency or after hours work.

Once you’ve completed these few questions and options, you will be able to review companies in your area that are willing to work on your specific job, anyone not willing to take on projects similar to yours have already been excluded from the results.

You can view full profiles, photos, even check the company’s credentials using the state licensing board for contractors, all for free and with no obligations. We don’t ask for your E-mail address, there are no passwords to log in; No customer id’s to remember, all we will need is that you allow cookies on your browser so that you’re able to collect contractor profiles and print only the ones you’ve selected. We don’t collect information about our visitors so you will never receive any spam or e-mails of any kind.

Something to know when searching for a particular trade; is that many trades tend to over lap, that is to say for example: if your searching for some one to seal in cracks in concrete masonry. You can certainly find a quality professional in Waterproofing. But did you know that you could also find some one willing to help in Masonry contractors, Painting contractors, Coatings/ Epoxies and Foundation contractors?

Each of these specialty contractors seem qualified for the task, it’s when more detail about the project is involved that the choice becomes more important. Say in this example the cracks are along the foundation of your home allowing moisture to ruin the painted concrete walls in the basement. Who would you call? Many people would choose to call a painter, after all a good painter will make things look like new, However; only a foundation contractor will be qualified to address the bigger issue: Why the cracks appeared in the first place. Cracks could be the first indication of a failing foundation.

This is one reason why it is important that you meet with contractors from different Trades, in this example it might be a good idea to meet with two painting and two foundation contractors this way you benefit from a second opinion in either situation. In critical situations, particularly where you get conflicting work scopes and/or into high dollar amounts, hiring an inspector is a good idea. The best inspectors typically don’t do any of the work themselves, an often will keep references to good contractors to themselves to remain objective.

And if you feel a bit overwhelmed, remember you can always count on General Contractors to handle projects involving multiple trades; they can advise you of your options and hire the right people for the job. Just make certain to get 3 bids any more than that and you may just be wasting someone’s time. 2 bids are acceptable if the cost for either is reasonable, the project is small or you’ve found a contractor that meets all your needs and high standards for a reasonable cost. 

Why it works:

Because unlike the phone book that only asks; what? And Where? We get into your search a little deeper. Phone book directories are useful for its variety; dentists, pawn shops, collectibles it’s all in there but when it comes to specific areas they are not the best alternative. Well known, yes and that’s important, however often it doesn’t justify the cost of placing an AD with them.

Ads could run for $500.00 a month in some markets with a solid one year commitment. They offer Dozens of configurations and pricing plans, including free Ads. But do you think they could charge $500.00 per month if the free Ads worked? No, often online ads will not appear strictly in alphabetical but by who pays more, in some respects that makes sense, right? You get what you pay for and you don’t have to name your painting company AAArdvark paints to get business. But what if there was a better way?

At Servicetrades.com we believe there is; for both Contractors AND Consumers. By charging everyone the same price for listings and giving them the same opportunity to compete for your business. Our system is set up to rotate the top spot to the bottom of the results list after every visit so everyone gets top billing at some point. We believe that this levels the field for those companies who would be at a disadvantage if we were to use an alphabetical structure. First come first serve is not fair to those companies who hear about the service later than others but are no less interested, and charging more for the top spot is out of the question because it doesn’t result in better service, that’s just what the other guys do to make more money.

Our sponsor banners and top ads are created for material suppliers and local merchants whose services benefit both customers and contractors, same goes for our affiliate program. In the rare industries where there are less obvious local merchants specifically dedicated for that trade we will open it up to National franchise businesses. This decision is based on visual and practical purposes and not meant to imply that we endorse one business over another.

Our plans start at $9.95 per month and don’t include any sign-up fees, or start-up cost. We have no long term contracts or early termination fees; simply put we must earn our members business. That means to stay in business this site has to remain on the cutting edge of search technologies, we’ve started by providing tools No one else has (we have cataloged 100’s of similar websites and no one brings the same tools we started with) our background in commercial Properties construction as a General contractor have given ServiceTrades.com an edge over the competition, one we plan on expanding and improving on. In fact version 2.0 at the time of our initial launch Early 2008 has already begun. We continually seek opinions from businesses in each specialty trade, on ways to improve and add to our content/ categories. We plan on strengthening our look by listening to our members and visitors; we encourage suggestions and welcome criticism to bring you the best site possible.

We are predicting two things: first, that we have just changed the way contractor search websites do business; imitation they say is the sincerest form of flattery but we just find it amusing. (We will keep a close eye on who changes what in the months to come: Additionally we will retract and post apologies by name to any company who can prove that they used our tools first; it must be in a registered copyright form. from any government in or outside the US). And second that once we are “felt” by the industry companies there will be a change in the cost of their Ads; you will not see a $500.00 per month advertisement for contractors anymore.

Who it works for: 

Homeowners; who are looking for more than contact information and a fancy Ad, people who want to be matched with the right professional.

Property owners/ Managers; who either purchase new property or acquire managing duties out side of their familiar area of business will benefit from this site, as well as project managers seeking competitive bids from quality local contractors.

Contractors; who are seeking help outside their particular field or service area. Often times a large corporation or department store will have one General contractor or developer work on multiple stores across the state even across the country, in cases such as these that contractor will seek out the local help. Qualified quality trade professionals ready for hire.

Workers; Tradesmen looking for work will be able to find companies that are hiring by looking through the results profile on the “message board” we encourage businesses that are hiring to post a “now hiring…must have…”  in this area, also used to attract I customers to view their Full profile with posts like “20% off install with the purchase….” Or “free…”

It works better than:

The phonebook (for Contractors):

From a cost perspective $9.95 a month can’t be beat, but we understand that it is not just a matter of cost but one of return. So we developed a system that gives you, the service provider more flexibility in your coverage area, your not limited to the cities in a “package” you can opt to select only parts of towns or cities with multiple zip codes where you know your business will do well. For example take commercial contractors there are many cities where zoning restricts the construction of hi- rise and Industrial buildings to a small area, what good will having an entire city if it’s outside your choice of business. It would be best if your able to place your services where it counts (commercial districts) and over multiple cities. Our smallest package has the ability to cover a huge area and we have set up a way for you to view the population of each selection.

At $9.95 just one $500.00 profit from a project resulting from your Ad will pay for the next 4 years on Servicetrades.com. And the quality of the calls received by the contractor Are better because they will be within the parameters your company sets. (Location, project size and service). The ability to modify your profile 24/7 as many times as you want. You’re able to truly market your business with actual job site photos and full descriptions of each, full profiles allow you to get your message across and let the customers know who you are as a business. No more having to make a decision at the end of the year to continue with the service or not because of contracts and early termination penalties; that choice can be made at any time, and with no penalties or fees of any kind.

The phonebook (for Customers):

Servicetrades.com gives you full profiles, You’re matched to the right professional; You can research the contractor license with the state licensing board within the site, no more having to thumb through pages or call to check if someone will come for an emergency repair, No more calling around for contractors interested in a very small job, our tools have done the work for you; results only show people who don’t mind and are set-up for this type of work.

The phonebook (for everyone):

Millions of tons of paper are used to create the books. We believe this will soon change, but the sooner the better.

Lead generating Companies (for contractors):

These companies will sell you memberships and then sell you Leads based on the size of the job, (the bigger the job the more money they want) plus as if that’s not bad enough they will sell a lead multiple times to other contractors. And to top it off; nothing is guaranteed not even the contact information. Amounts fluctuate from month to month with no limit and you will likely purchase the leads when you need them the most; meaning your low on work, that isn’t the best time to gamble on whether or not the lead is good. You’ll be competing with other low on work companies that give out bids with hidden costs just to score the project…. doesn’t look good for honest businesses with detailed upfront prices.

Lead generating companies (for customers):

You describe your project based on 20 questions (half you need to be a contractor yourself to answer and the other half not applicable, redundant or ridiculous) and within 48 hours you will receive no less than 4 quotes!? Based on a description!?!

No, as a General Contractor in charge of estimates I could or better yet; never would give a bid sight unseen, (not even for my best customers where everything about the building is known because we’ve remodeled it for various tenants over 15 years) in all likely hood the estimates will change once the project is started. Another possible scenario; you’re waiting for a reply only to realize after two days and a phone call by you that there was no interest in your very small project.

Or (if it’s a big job) you have to deal with too many calls after youve changed your mind and decided to not go ahead at this time or already awarded the job to one of the first bidders.

Door to door advertising (for contractors):

The cost of printing a nice AD can run you about as low as .60 for each flyer plus delivery costs. Assuming the nice fellow doesn’t throw ¼ of the flyers in the bushes or leaves a stack large enough for a small town next to the community mailboxes of each condo or apartment. The cost can still add up fast, sure it gets seen by a lot of people even if they never use your services it gets your name out. But too many variables and has a very limited range. Professional services delivered by the US Postal service will guarantee that it’s being delivered but it’s widely regarded as “junk mail” for a reason, and it comes with a significant cost And it also has a very limited range (unless you’re Carlos Slim….Just Google him). With Servicetrades.com $9.95 would get you accessible in over 250,000 households in cities like Los Angeles or New York, Boston, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco. And with our $24.95 plan (the largest we offer at this time) you can be accessable to well over 1.5 million people in these heavily populated cities. You can verify the population of an geographic coverage area for yourself by filling out the membership form located under “get listed”.

Door to door advertising (for customers):

Each customer will make up their own mind about what they think about the piles of advertisement that comes to the door, but we are betting that it is not more efficient than using the internet.

Advertise using your own website (for Contractors):

The cost of developing your own plus the cost of maintaining the site is definitely more than $9.95 per month plus you’d still have to promote it (in and out of the popular search engines). We do believe it’s a good idea for contractors now to have a website; it’s a great way to tell people about whom you are as a company, getting listed with servicetrades.com will be a good way to funnel more customers to your site.

Because we will put a huge percentage of membership fees collected back into advertising and search engine optimization Servicetrades.com will be better positioned than most independent sites.

Posting individual websites for contractor’s (from a customer’s point of view):

Not polluting the environment with paper is great, (assuming they don’t use junk mail to promote their site) but there is such a thing as cluttering the net, have you seen the results pulled for “local contractor” it is in the millions who has the time to visit more than a couple of sites. Wouldn’t it be easier if they were all relevant to the project in mind, and all in one place? I mean if you type local plumber in your web browser somehow you end up with adult content in your results! We are looking to be the best Contractor/ Real Estate site on the net where once you’re in our website, if you search for a local plumber all you get is qualified pipe fitters ready to work.

Free service listings

We’ve all seen these companies who offer a free listing, sometimes right next to their paid plans, or claim that their profit comes from advertisement. But we also know of companies who start out free to boost their memberships and then decide to start charging once they reach a quota. On occasion the service itself is not the motivation for the business; the developers hope to sell to a larger company once it reaches a certain point, leaving the members subject to new terms. 

We believe that the best way to handle this situation is by joining both, if it’s truly free then heck why not? Two for the price of one, and if there are any surprises with the other company then you’ll find comfort in knowing that our rates haven’t changed.

Our fees enable us to promote, improve and position Servicetrades.com into becoming a popular site for construction and real estate services bringing more business and value to our members.