HomeAdvisor
A United States online marketplace and lead-generation service for residential home-improvement, repair, and maintenance work.
Last updated November 4, 2026
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Overview
HomeAdvisor is a United States digital marketplace that helps homeowners identify and contact professionals for repair, maintenance, remodeling, improvement, and other residential projects. Its operating model combines online project requests, matching and referral tools, professional listings, customer reviews, and informational resources such as cost guides. Rather than functioning primarily as a contractor that performs work itself, HomeAdvisor generally serves as an intermediary between consumers seeking projects and local service businesses seeking prospective customers. The brand began in 1998 as ServiceMagic. Its early proposition was to use the internet to organize a fragmented local-services market: a homeowner could describe a job online and receive introductions to service professionals instead of independently searching through directories or relying only on personal referrals. Over time, the service expanded its categories and added profile information, ratings, reviews, project guidance, and tools intended to help consumers compare providers. The brand name changed from ServiceMagic to HomeAdvisor in 2012 as the company sought a clearer association with residential advice and home projects. HomeAdvisor became part of IAC's broader local-services portfolio after IAC acquired ServiceMagic in 2004. In 2017, HomeAdvisor combined with Angie's List, another consumer-oriented home-services platform, to create ANGI Homeservices. The combined company brought together HomeAdvisor's lead-generation and matching model with Angie's List's membership, ratings, and local-services heritage. ANGI Homeservices later adopted the corporate name Angi Inc., while HomeAdvisor continued as a consumer-facing brand within the portfolio. The platform's business has historically depended on relationships with service professionals. Contractors and other providers can receive consumer leads, maintain business profiles, and use digital marketing or customer-acquisition tools. Homeowners can request assistance across categories that include general contracting, plumbing, electrical work, heating and cooling, roofing, painting, flooring, landscaping, cleaning, moving, and remodeling. Availability, screening procedures, pricing, and the exact customer journey can vary by location and service category. HomeAdvisor's role in the market has also generated scrutiny. Consumer complaints and regulatory attention have focused on lead quality, the way consumers understand connections with professionals, recurring or subscription-related charges in some service offerings, and the clarity of marketing and disclosure practices. These issues are relevant to the wider lead-generation industry and should not be treated as evidence that every transaction or provider on the platform has the same experience. The company and its parent have maintained that their services connect homeowners and professionals, while continuing to adjust policies and disclosures over time. Today, HomeAdvisor remains a United States-focused home-services marketplace brand under Angi Inc. It operates alongside other Angi-branded services and participates in a broader strategy centered on digital customer acquisition, local professional networks, and technology for home projects. Because the parent company reports consolidated operations and has changed branding and product structures over time, standalone financial and operating figures for HomeAdvisor are not consistently available.
History
HomeAdvisor traces its origins to 1998, when it was established as ServiceMagic. The company entered a market in which homeowners often found contractors through offline directories, local advertising, referrals, and classified listings. Its internet-based approach allowed consumers to submit descriptions of prospective projects and receive connections to service professionals. This model made the company both a consumer discovery service and a customer-acquisition channel for contractors. IAC acquired ServiceMagic in 2004, adding it to a portfolio of online businesses focused on local services and consumer transactions. Under IAC ownership, the service developed a broader digital presence and expanded the types of work represented on the platform. It also built tools and content intended to reduce uncertainty around home projects, including provider profiles, ratings and reviews, category information, and estimates or cost guidance. These features supported a marketplace proposition but did not eliminate the need for consumers to evaluate providers independently. In 2012, ServiceMagic adopted the HomeAdvisor name. The rebrand gave the platform a more direct association with residential projects and advice, while retaining its central matching and referral function. HomeAdvisor subsequently became one of the more recognizable online brands in the United States for finding professionals in categories such as plumbing, electrical work, roofing, landscaping, painting, heating and cooling, cleaning, and remodeling. A major structural change occurred in 2017, when HomeAdvisor combined with Angie's List. The transaction created ANGI Homeservices, a publicly traded company intended to unite HomeAdvisor's large-scale lead-generation model with Angie's List's established consumer ratings, membership history, and local-services brand. The combination placed both businesses within the same corporate group while allowing their consumer identities and product experiences to remain distinct for a period. The parent company later changed its name to Angi Inc. and increasingly promoted Angi as its principal corporate and consumer brand, although HomeAdvisor continued to operate as a recognizable service. HomeAdvisor's marketplace model has depended on two related audiences. Homeowners use the service to research project categories, request help, and identify providers. Professionals use it to obtain prospective-customer leads and promote their businesses. This two-sided structure can scale efficiently, but it also creates recurring questions about lead relevance, exclusivity, pricing, provider expectations, and the distinction between a platform referral and a completed job. Consumer and regulatory scrutiny has included concerns about marketing claims, disclosure, telemarketing, and the experiences of professionals purchasing leads. The FTC's 2022 action concerning HomeAdvisor's lead representations and telemarketing practices became a notable regulatory event in the brand's history. HomeAdvisor is currently part of Angi Inc.'s broader collection of home-services businesses. Its standalone financial results are generally not presented as a separate public reporting segment, so the brand's current scale, profitability, and market share cannot be stated reliably without brand-specific disclosures. Its continuing role is that of a U.S.-focused online marketplace and lead-generation channel for residential maintenance, repair, improvement, and remodeling services.
- 2022
FTC enforcement action
[3]The Federal Trade Commission announces an action involving representations about HomeAdvisor leads and related telemarketing practices.
- 2021
Parent company becomes Angi Inc.
[2]ANGI Homeservices changes its corporate name to Angi Inc. and emphasizes the Angi identity across its portfolio.
- 2017
Combination with Angie's List
[2]HomeAdvisor combines with Angie's List to create ANGI Homeservices, bringing the two home-services platforms under one public company.
- 2012
ServiceMagic becomes HomeAdvisor
[1]The consumer-facing brand is renamed HomeAdvisor, aligning its identity more closely with home projects, advice, and contractor discovery.
- 2004
IAC acquires ServiceMagic
[4]IAC acquires ServiceMagic and places the local home-services marketplace within its expanding portfolio of internet businesses.
- 1998
ServiceMagic is established
[1]The business that later became HomeAdvisor begins as ServiceMagic, an online service intended to connect homeowners with local home-service professionals.
Products and positioning
A digital intermediary for discovering residential service professionals, requesting project assistance, and generating customer leads for local contractors.
Online home-services marketplace · 1998
HomeAdvisor homeowner marketplace
The core consumer service lets homeowners describe a prospective project and seek contact with relevant local professionals. Supported categories have included repairs, maintenance, remodeling, renovation, and outdoor work. The platform generally facilitates discovery and introductions rather than directly performing the contracted work.
Provider directory and marketing
Home-service professional profiles
Provider profiles give service businesses a place to present their categories, service areas, experience, and customer feedback. These profiles support homeowner research and form part of HomeAdvisor's broader customer-acquisition proposition for contractors and other local professionals.
Consumer information
Home project cost guides
Cost guides and project-planning content provide indicative information about common residential jobs. They are intended to help homeowners understand project scope and potential expense before contacting professionals, rather than serving as binding quotations for a particular property.
Business customer acquisition
Professional lead-generation services
HomeAdvisor has historically sold or facilitated access to homeowner inquiries for participating service professionals. The offering is central to the platform's business model and has also been the subject of discussion and regulatory scrutiny concerning lead quality, expectations, disclosures, and marketing claims.
Controversies
2022
FTC action over lead representations and telemarketing
The Federal Trade Commission brought an action concerning claims made to home-service professionals about the quality and conversion potential of HomeAdvisor leads, together with allegations related to telemarketing practices. The matter highlighted regulatory risks associated with online lead-generation platforms.
Brand decisions
2021
Adopt the Angi corporate identityStrategyBackground
The parent company sought to simplify its corporate identity and place greater emphasis on the Angi brand across its home-services businesses.
Action taken
ANGI Homeservices changed its corporate name to Angi Inc., while HomeAdvisor continued as a related brand.
Aftermath
HomeAdvisor remained part of the portfolio, but public-company communications increasingly centered on Angi as the principal corporate identity.
2017
Combine HomeAdvisor with Angie's ListM&ABackground
The combination was intended to unite two established digital home-services businesses with complementary consumer and professional-service capabilities.
Action taken
HomeAdvisor and Angie's List combined under the newly formed ANGI Homeservices public-company structure.
Aftermath
The brands operated within a common corporate portfolio, which later became Angi Inc.
2012
Rebrand ServiceMagic as HomeAdvisorStrategyBackground
The company sought a consumer identity that more directly communicated home projects and advice than the ServiceMagic name.
Action taken
ServiceMagic adopted the HomeAdvisor brand for its online home-services marketplace.
Aftermath
HomeAdvisor became the continuing consumer-facing identity for the service and remained associated with contractor discovery and lead generation.
Recent events
Reported
HomeAdvisor partners with Affirm to offer pay-over-time financing[5]
HomeAdvisor announced a partnership with Affirm to offer HomeAdvisor customers pay-over-time payment options for home projects, including projects booked through HomeAdvisor Pay.
Reported
Sprinkl partners with HomeAdvisor[6]
Sprinkl announced a partnership with HomeAdvisor under which Sprinkl customers can use HomeAdvisor's home-service provider network to find local professionals to install Sprinkl systems and address system issues.
Reported
Nextdoor launches Local Partnership Network[7]
Nextdoor announced its Local Partnership Network, with Handy, HomeAdvisor, and Thumbtack as initial partners. The network enables partners to integrate into Nextdoor and connect U.S. members with local service professionals.
Sources7 sources
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