Homeowner research

The post-search homeowner: how finding a contractor changed, then vs now

Last updated: September 19, 2026 · 6 min read

Say you run a roofing crew out of Waxahachie. Same crew since 2019, same yard signs, 63 Google reviews. Back then a name from a neighbor plus a decent star count got you the call. This year the same neighbor's referral gets typed into ChatGPT, checked on Facebook, then Apple Maps, and the newest review the homeowner finds is from March.

How did homeowners find a contractor before all this?

Mostly the way they do now: they asked someone. The difference was what happened next. A few years ago the check was one stop, a Google search and a look at the star count, maybe a listing on a home-services site. Nobody was typing a contractor's name into a chatbot.

We don't have a clean dataset from that period that lines up with today's surveys, and we're not going to invent one. The hard numbers below compare BrightLocal's 2026 survey with its prior-year survey, and the 2026 Adobe Express TikTok study with its 2024 figure. The earlier period is described from how the trade worked, not from a chart.

What changed in the last two years?

Nearly everything about the check, in one year of data. BrightLocal's 2026 survey found 71% of consumers check reviews on Google, down from 83% the year before.

The gap didn't vanish. It moved. The same survey found 45% now check reviews through ChatGPT or other AI tools, up from 6% a year earlier, which puts AI third behind Google and Facebook. Apple Maps nearly doubled to 27%.

In one year, the check on a contractor spread out and got stricter

The bar for what counts as good moved too. BrightLocal found 31% of consumers will only consider a business rated 4.5 or higher, up from 17%, and 68% need at least 4 stars, up from 55%.

32% now want a review from the last two weeks, up from 20%, and 74% put most weight on reviews from the last three months. Fresh matters more than it did.

Search left Google's front door as well. The 2026 Adobe Express study of 807 US consumers found 49% have used TikTok as a search engine, up from 41% in 2024, led by Gen Z at 65% and millennials at 49%.

That 45% AI figure is probably soft as a lead number. Checking a review through ChatGPT and getting a roofer from ChatGPT are different things, and the 11% below is the one to plan the year around.

What did not change?

The referral. Roofing Contractor magazine's 2026 homeowner journey study, run with Owens Corning and myClearInsights, found 74% of homeowners find a roofer through word of mouth and 62% go back to a roofer they used before. Search engines sit at 50%, social media around 25%, and AI search at 11%.

Three quotes is still the rule: 66% of homeowners get three, 27% get several, and 1% take the first one. Proven experience and certifications decide the tiebreak for 46%, strong reviews and testimonials for 20%.

The neighbor still wins.

Where does the homeowner check a name now?

In more places, and on a phone. BrightLocal found consumers check an average of six review sources. SociallyIn's 2026 research found 34% use Instagram and 23% use TikTok to discover and vet neighborhood contractors.

And the AI engines read the same sources the homeowner does. BrightLocal found 82% of consumers read AI-generated review summaries, and those summaries are built from your Google reviews, your Facebook page and whatever else is public. One thin proof file used to be checked once. Now it's checked six ways, by people and by machines.

What this means for a contractor

Keep the referral machine running. It still brings in three of every four roofing leads.

Assume the name gets checked in six places: Google reviews, Facebook, Instagram, Apple Maps, an AI answer and your site. Each one should show something from this quarter.

Treat 90 days as the shelf life of a review. WorkBrag modeled estimate: a shop doing 12 jobs a month gets about 1.7 reviews a month asking when it remembers, and about 5 a month texting every job, or 20 versus 60 a year. This is the job WorkBrag does for you: one text after the job, the review and the video come back, and the clip is posted for you.

Give the AI something to cite. A current Google Business Profile, an active Facebook page and a customer video are what the engines find when a homeowner asks them for a roofer.

Methodology

Third-party figures come from BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey compared with its prior-year survey, the 2026 Adobe Express TikTok search study of 807 US consumers compared with its 2024 figure, Roofing Contractor magazine's 2026 homeowner journey report with Owens Corning and myClearInsights, and SociallyIn's 2026 contractor social research. The chart pairs each 2026 figure only with the prior figure the same source published; no earlier values are estimated, and the picture before 2024 is described in words only. Figures marked as WorkBrag modeled estimates are projections built from those public benchmarks and our own launch assumptions, not measured results. We will replace them with measured data from live accounts and update this page.

Frequently asked questions

How do most homeowners find a contractor in 2026?

Word of mouth, at 74% for roofing according to Roofing Contractor magazine's 2026 study, followed by a contractor they used before at 62% and search engines at 50%. Social media sits around 25% and AI search at 11%.

Are homeowners using ChatGPT to check contractors?

Yes, and the jump is steep. BrightLocal's 2026 survey found 45% of consumers check reviews through ChatGPT or other AI tools, up from 6% a year earlier, and 82% read AI-generated review summaries.

Is Google still where homeowners check reviews?

Yes, but less than before. 71% of consumers check reviews on Google, down from 83% a year earlier, according to BrightLocal, and Facebook remains second.

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