A referral network for home pros
The trades your neighbors already trust.
Porchlight turns word-of-mouth into an actual directory — organized block by block, not by ad spend. Contractors build one honest profile; neighbors find them through people who've actually hired them.
Why block by block
A referral only travels as far as trust does.
Most directories rank contractors by review count or ad budget — strangers rating strangers, at national scale. Porchlight starts smaller on purpose: a circle is a real neighborhood, and a pro only gets in because someone in it already hired them.
From there, the profile — and the reputation attached to it — is theirs to carry into the next circle that invites them.
Street
Illustrative — one circle, three invited pros
How it works
Three steps, in this order — never skipped.
The sequence matters: nobody buys their way onto Porchlight, they're brought in.
01
A neighbor makes the first introduction
Someone who's actually hired a contractor invites them to Porchlight and vouches for the work.
02
The pro builds one honest profile
Trade, service area, years in business, and license & insurance basics — filled in once, shown everywhere.
03
Requests route through the circle first
New jobs reach the pro through neighbors in that circle before a listing ever opens more broadly.
For contractors
Get hired without buying the lead.
- 1Skip the ad spendNo per-lead fees, no bidding against three other contractors for the same job.
- 2Reputation that compounds locallyDo good work on one street, get introduced to the next one over.
- 3One profile, every circle you're invited toYour license, insurance, and history travel with you — you don't rebuild it each time.
For neighbors
Hire who your street already hired.
- 1See real local historyEvery pro in your circle is there because a neighbor brought them in.
- 2Ask before you bookMessage the neighbor who hired them — not a stranger's star rating.
- 3Start your own circleNo circle on your block yet? Founding one takes one good referral.
Circles
What a circle looks like once it forms.
Join as a contractor
Build your profile once.
This is a working preview of the profile flow — fill it in to see exactly what neighbors in your circle would see.
- Takes about two minutes
- License & insurance are self-reported, then verified when a circle invites you in
- Saved on this device so you can come back and see your preview again
Your profile preview is ready
Here's what a neighbor in your circle would see.
I need a service
Tell your circle what you need.
Post a request and it goes to pros already trusted in your neighborhood — before it ever reaches a stranger.
- No account, no spam calls from ad-buying contractors
- Requests are visible only inside your circle
- Saved on this device so you can check back on it
Your request preview is ready
Here's what pros in your circle would see.