jobtrio.com: A New, Free Tool for Homeowners and the Construction Industry

Santa Barbara, CA, February 27, 2009 --(PR.com)-- This February, a new type of web site will be launched which connects construction contractors with their clients. “Our goal was to create a very low cost advertising tool for contractors and a great, free resource for home owners and project managers,” says Brett Vernon, CEO of jobtrio.com, headquartered in Santa Barbara, California.

Jobtrio.com is a free service that allows users to browse over 250,000 listings of contractors, or quickly search for a business by name, location, or specialty. Jobtrio.com features candid customer reviews and in-depth profiles so that it’s easy for home owners and project managers to find great construction professionals. “Contractors tend to be self-sufficient and frugal. The modern home owner likes to make informed decisions before they spend their money, and they get most of their information off the Internet,” says Josh Groves, President of jobtrio.com. “Our site is a bridge between these two groups of people.”

But, jobtrio.com is not solely aimed at connecting home owners with contractors; it has many features which are clearly intended for use by construction industry professionals. For instance, search results can be sorted by union and non-union labor, and you can quickly look up the cell phone number of a specific employee in a specific department. “We want contractors to view jobtrio.com as an undeniably valuable asset to their business,” says Vernon.

A 2008 study conducted by Yahoo shows that 59% of homeowners use the Internet to find the right construction contractor for their projects. Jobtrio.com eliminates the financial and technical hurdles which prevent most contractors from taking advantage of all the exposure offered by Internet marketing. While other web sites act as a middle-man, charging the contractor for every potential lead, or charging the consumer, jobtrio.com connects the customer directly with the contractor of their choice. The end result is a more satisfied consumer and a more profitable contractor.

Both Vernon and Groves have experience as construction contractors themselves. Vernon, a 28 year-old former Navy SEAL and business college graduate, worked as a general contractor alongside his dad and brother. Groves, a 30 year-old systems engineer, worked as operations manager for a building automation company. To help them realize their vision for jobtrio.com, they enlisted Louder Design from Pasadena, California to head up the software development efforts, a firm composed of Microsoft and Yahoo veterans.

"We are trying to present all the means for making the right decision when choosing a contractor," says Vernon. “We really just want to bring clarity to contracting - clarity that benefits everyone.” When jobtrio.com launches this month, Basic and Premium profiles will be available for purchase at $15 and $20, respectively – a quarter of the price their competitors charge. As Groves puts it, “The jobtrio.com product sells itself. And that was always our goal: to give contractors a great marketing tool at a fair price.”

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