Unbiased contractor recommendations

Shovels helps regional commercial and residential real estate developers find general contractors and subcontractors for construction projects. Our recommendations are not influenced by commissions or pay-per-lead fees.

We do things differently

The other guys (Thumbtack, HomeAdvisor, Houzz, BuildZoom) have financial relationships with the contractors they recommend. We don't.

Our recommendations are driven purely by the data.

Unbiased recommendations
We follow the data. So should you. Our rankings are not influenced by commissions or fees of any kind.
Ratings by permit type
Shovels is the only contractor directory that rates contractors by the types of permits they've worked on.
Data-driven by inspection data
Shovels is the only building contractor directory that calculates an inspection pass rate to objectively assess quality.
Construction speed
Shovels is the only building contractor directory that calculates how long a permit took to complete and uses that data to rate contractors.
API and Data Feed
We offer our entire contractor directory as an API or data feed. Incorporate it into your own directory. Build on top of it. Make it even better.
Project performance predictions
Shovels incorporates weather, topography, and census data to find other factors that influence building contractor success.
Constantly refreshed
There's nothing static about construction data. Shovels constantly refreshes contractor ratings and reviews to remain accurate.
Nationwide
We have access to permits in over 20,000 jurisdictions, covering 80% of the US population. Coverage is especially strong in major metro areas.