HomeStars: how pros pay for leads, and what the Professional User Agreement says

HomeStars is a Canadian directory and review site for home service pros: renovators, roofers, electricians, cleaners, and dozens of other trades. A homeowner posts a job, and HomeStars' own site describes matching that job to pros nearby, who can then show interest before the homeowner picks who to talk to.

Reviews are a central part of the pitch. Each pro carries a Star Score built from homeowner reviews, and HomeStars markets a separate Verified badge for pros who complete extra screening on top of the standard signup. The review system is what a homeowner sees first, so a pro's history on the platform, good or bad, travels with every future job.

HomeStars' Professional User Agreement lays out two ways to get a Lead for a posted job. A pro can select a "Shortlist Me" style option and add themselves directly, or they can respond to the homeowner and hope to be added to that homeowner's own shortlist. Either path only produces a Lead, and a fee, once the pro is actually Shortlisted.

The agreement is direct that this is a limited spot, not open bidding: "We limit the number of Professionals that are Shortlisted for a Job." HomeStars does not publish, on the pages we could read, the exact cap, so a pro should assume they are one of a small number in the running rather than the only one. The agreement also states, in capital letters, that HomeStars gives no guarantee of any particular result, volume, or quality of Leads, and no guarantee that a homeowner will ever hire the pro or pay them.

The standard plan is pay as you go: HomeStars charges a fee for each Lead, and that fee is set by the job's likely size, category, and location rather than a flat rate across every job. The fee becomes due the moment the pro is Shortlisted, whether they chose themselves or the homeowner chose them.

A pro can instead subscribe to what the agreement calls a Discount Package: a monthly fee paid up front in exchange for Credits at a discount, which are then drawn down against the per-Lead fee as jobs come in. Either way, HomeStars reserves the right, in its own words, to set and change the Fees, the Fee structure, and the payment terms at its sole discretion, and a pro is expected to check the platform for updates rather than being notified individually of every change.

HomeStars' agreement sets a hard default on refunds: fees paid are non-refundable and non-creditable, and a pro has no right to a refund for any reason. Any refund HomeStars does choose to give arrives only as a Credit toward future Fees, never as cash back, and that Credit itself carries an expiry date, defaulting to 12 months from the day it was issued if no other date is posted.

The agreement also protects HomeStars' fee directly through a Non-Circumvention clause: a pro cannot exchange contact details with a homeowner outside the platform, including by directing that homeowner to the pro's own website, specifically to avoid paying the fee tied to that job. Interest of 1.5% a month, compounded, applies to any Fees left unpaid past the invoice date.

HomeStars can end the agreement for convenience, in its own words, "for convenience or for any reason or for no reason and without liability," though it owes a pro at least 30 days' advance notice in that case. If HomeStars instead ends the agreement for cause, tied to what it calls an Event of Default, such as failing a required re-screening, that termination can happen immediately with no notice at all.

Content a pro shares on HomeStars, including photos and any public reviews they respond to, is licensed to HomeStars on a non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide basis. That license survives a pro closing their account, and the agreement is separately clear that using the site never hands a pro any ownership right in HomeStars' own platform or its content.

HomeStars fits a Canadian pro who wants job requests without first building a website or an ad account, especially in a trade where homeowners lean heavily on reviews before hiring a stranger for work inside their home. The Discount Package option can also make sense for a busy pro who would rather budget a flat monthly amount than track a fee on every single Lead.

What it costs long term is control. The homeowner relationship starts on HomeStars' platform, the pro cannot legally redirect that first contact to their own site to save the fee, and HomeStars can end the relationship for any reason with 30 days' notice. A pro building a search presence they fully own does not carry that risk, though it takes longer to produce a first job.