Thumbtack runs a bidding marketplace. Roffy sells each lead to one contractor exclusively. Here's the math on how that changes your unit economics.
Thumbtack is one of the most popular home-services marketplaces in the United States, with deep penetration across small-business categories including roofing. Its model is bid-based: contractors send personalized quotes to homeowners who submit project requests, and homeowners pick from the responses.
Roffy is structurally different. Instead of bidding on shared homeowner submissions, Roffy generates leads from NOAA storm-event data and AI vision scoring on satellite + Street View imagery, then sells each lead to exactly one contractor with a 30-90 day lockout. There's no bid war, no race-to-the-door, and the lead source is upstream of any homeowner form fill.
Thumbtack has nationwide coverage. Roffy is currently in 18 metros across the storm belt. If your service area is outside the Southeast hurricane corridor, Tornado Alley, the Phoenix monsoon belt, or the I-95 storm zone, Thumbtack may be your only option until Roffy expands.
Thumbtack also serves non-roofing categories — small repair jobs, gutter work, general home services. If roofing is only part of your business, Thumbtack's breadth has value.
Roffy wins on the same three dimensions it wins against any marketplace: exclusivity (no bid war), storm-driven lead source (homes that need roofs, not random project requests), and upfront roof condition data (so the call opens with a real conversation).
The structural argument: when you're not bidding against three other contractors on the same homeowner, your close rate ceiling is removed. That close-rate gain is large enough that the higher per-lead price on exclusive leads is dwarfed by it.
Pull your last 90 days of Thumbtack spend. Calculate total cost, contacts made, jobs closed, and total revenue. Compute cost per closed job. Then compare to Roffy's published per-lead economics (roughly $4.50-$8 effective per lead depending on tier) using your historical close rate as the conservative baseline. If your local Thumbtack market is dense and your bidding process is automated, Thumbtack can still pencil. For most independent shops, exclusive economics win.
Generally yes. Thumbtack's quote-based model fits sub-$5,000 jobs well because the bidding process is efficient at that scale. Roffy's economics work best for full roof replacements where the close-rate gap matters more per job.
Yes. Many contractors run Thumbtack in markets Roffy doesn't yet cover, or for smaller repair work. Track close rate and cost per closed job by source separately and shift budget toward whichever produces better unit economics.
No. Roffy leads aren't competitive — there's no other contractor pitching the same homeowner. You can work the lead on your own schedule within the 30-90 day exclusivity window. The race-to-the-door dynamic that makes Thumbtack stressful doesn't exist in the Roffy model.
Exclusive territory. AI-scored leads. Published pricing. Live in 18 metros across the storm belt.