How Thumbtack leads actually work
Thumbtack has its own rules, and FirstQuote is built around them rather than around a generic inbox.
A direct lead goes to several pros at once. The customer sits there watching replies come in and usually hires whoever answers first with something useful. Both halves matter: fast and empty loses to slower and specific, and fast and specific beats everything. FirstQuote is built to be both on every direct lead, including the one that arrives while you're under a sink.
The request comes with the customer's own answers. Thumbtack asks the customer what they need before the lead reaches you. A move date, a roof age, a square footage, a "this weekend if possible": FirstQuote reads all of it before the first reply goes out, which is why the first message can sound like a pro who already understands the job instead of asking what they need. On Thumbtack, asking what they need tells the customer you didn't read the request.
The first phone number you see is masked. The number attached to a new lead isn't the customer's own line. FirstQuote quietly picks up the real number as soon as Thumbtack releases it, and if the customer types a number into the chat, that one wins over whatever came with the lead. That's also what makes the live call transfer possible when the job is ready.
Photos come with the request too. When a customer attaches pictures, FirstQuote looks at them before answering, so a photo of a water heater leaking at the base gets a reply about that water heater.
Jobs-board opportunities are yours only once you claim them. This is the honest limit of any Thumbtack auto responder, ours included. An opportunity on the Jobs board isn't attached to your business until you claim it in the Thumbtack app, so nothing can answer it for you before then. Claim the ones you want, and FirstQuote takes the conversation from that point.
Your own replies take over. The Thumbtack app is still yours. Type a message there and that conversation becomes yours alone, with any scheduled follow-ups cancelled. No double replies, no AI talking over the pro.
Each business has its own switch. Two brands or two locations means two Thumbtack connections, two sets of instructions, and two on/off switches, so one can be running while the other isn't. Both live in a single account.
It answers messages, nothing else. FirstQuote doesn't answer your phone line, doesn't claim opportunities for you, and doesn't put jobs on your calendar. It makes sure every direct lead gets a real, specific reply from your business, and hands you the ones worth your time.
The race you're in on a direct lead
The request comes in at 4:50 on a Friday while you're loading the van. You see it at 6:30, after you've unloaded, and by then two other pros have answered and one of them has a time lined up for Saturday morning. You didn't lose that job on price or on skill. You lost it on the hour and a half you spent finishing your day, and on Thumbtack that's the normal outcome, because the customer already did the work of describing the job and is now just waiting to see who read it. The broader case for answering fast is in speed to lead. What's specific to Thumbtack is that the race starts with the customer's answers already in your hands, and the pro who uses them first wins.
From a Thumbtack request to a job on your phone
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Connect Thumbtack once. Sign in to Thumbtack, approve the connection, and pick which business it belongs to. It takes a couple of clicks and uses Thumbtack's official partner integration, so your replies land in the customer's thread as messages from your business, with nothing that looks like a third party stepping in. The step-by-step is in connecting Thumbtack.
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A direct lead lands and FirstQuote has it immediately. There's nothing to refresh and nothing to check. The lead is in front of the AI before your phone has finished buzzing.
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It reads the request before it answers. What kind of job, how soon they want it, the details about the property. That's the difference between "Hi, how can I help?" and "Happy to take a look at a 40-gallon gas water heater leaking at the base. That's a standard job for us, and we can normally be out next day."
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It gets the real phone number. As soon as Thumbtack releases the customer's actual number, FirstQuote has it, and a number the customer types into the chat is kept over the masked one.
The rest is the conversation FirstQuote runs on every lead source: a reply written from your instructions (what you do, what you don't take, roughly what you charge, how you talk), the one or two questions you'd need before quoting, follow-ups on your schedule if the customer goes quiet, and a text, email, or call to you once the job is ready. Leads that were never a fit get a polite decline, and you aren't charged for them. The features page covers all of it, and automated follow-up explains the follow-up schedule.
Try it on your next direct lead
The way to find out whether this works for your business is to let it answer a handful of real Thumbtack leads and read what it said. Your first 5 qualified leads are free, no card required. After that you pay per qualified lead, billed weekly. There's no monthly subscription, and leads that weren't a fit don't count.
The next direct lead that arrives at 4:50 on a Friday gets an answer at 4:50, one that mentions the details the customer typed in. That's usually all it takes to be the pro they hire.
How it compares
| FirstQuote | Replying yourself | |
|---|---|---|
| A direct lead sent to several pros | First specific reply, in seconds | Whenever you're off the job |
| The customer's intake answers | Read before the first reply goes out | Skimmed later, if at all |
| The masked phone number | Real one picked up as soon as Thumbtack releases it | Looked up by hand |
| Jobs-board opportunities | Answered once you've claimed them | Answered once you've claimed them |
| A request at 4:50 on a Friday | Answered at 4:50 | Answered at 6:30, after the van's unloaded |
| Two businesses on one account | Each with its own instructions and its own switch | Two apps to watch |