/ hiring
How to Get Quotes From Local Pros Without Calling Around
Write the job once and pick which of the matching pros near you get it. The ones who want it reply with their price. You compare, ask questions in chat, and hire. Nobody gets your address until you pick them.
The short answer: on Gig, switch the search box from Find someone to Get quotes, describe the job in a sentence, and check the draft. Gig lists the pros near you whose services match and who take job requests, and you choose who gets it. Each one can answer I'm interested, with their own price and a note, or Not for me. You compare the replies, message anyone with a question, and tap Hire. Your exact address stays with you until you choose someone. Gig takes 0% and never touches the payment.
The usual way to get three prices is three phone calls and one callback on Thursday. Here the people who want the job come to you, with a number attached.
Search, or ask for quotes?
The same box has two modes. Find someone is search: browse profiles and message the one or two who look right, which is better when you want to read reviews first (the signals worth reading are in how to find local help near you). Get quotes is better when the job is specific, you want prices to compare, or you need more than one person, like two people for a move.
How it works, step by step
- Describe the job. On the Search tab, tap Get quotes. Type what you need, or use the microphone. You can browse Gig without an account, but sending a request needs one, because it goes out under your name.
- Review your request. Gig uses AI (Anthropic's Claude, disclosed in the privacy policy) to turn your sentence into a draft: title, details, when, budget, and how many people. It takes only what you said, and every field is editable before anything is sent.
- Set the basics. When: ASAP, Today, Tomorrow, or Flexible, plus a part of the day. Where: your area and how far out to look. Budget is optional; leave it blank and pros name their own price. People needed goes from 1 to 10.
- Pick who gets it. Under Who gets it, Gig lists the matching pros near you, each with a tick. Untick anyone you'd rather skip, or use Select all and None. Tap a name to open that pro's profile before you decide. Two switches change the list: Include GigFlex workers adds people open to any work nearby, even without a listing for this job, and Can be done online adds pros who work over video, wherever they are. The send button says how many pros it's going to. If nobody near you takes requests for that kind of work yet, it says so, and offers to try a wider area.
- Compare and hire. Your request lives in Inbox under Jobs, with counts for Sent, Seen and Interested. Each interested pro shows their price for your job and their note. Tap one to see their full profile, then Hire or Decline.
If your notifications are off, Gig asks whether to turn them on after you send, so you hear the moment a price comes in.
Hiring opens a first message to that person with the job title, the timing, and the address if you added one. You can edit it before it sends. From there it's an ordinary Gig conversation. Once you've hired as many people as you asked for, the request is marked filled and the others are told, politely, that you went with someone else.
What pros see, and what stays with you
| Detail | Pros who get it | Only you |
|---|---|---|
| The job | Title and details, translated into their language | The exact words you first typed |
| Where | An approximate area and the distance | Your street address |
| You | Your public Gig profile, the same one anyone can open | Who else received the request |
| Terms | Timing, your budget if you set one, people needed | Every reply and price, side by side |
Ask before you hire
A price is only useful if you both mean the same job. Each interested pro has a Message button, so you can ask whether supplies are included, how long it takes, or whether they've done this exact thing before. If you settle on a different number in chat, the pro can edit their price on the request, and you're notified when they do.
The FTC's guide to avoiding a home improvement scam (opens in a new tab) says to get multiple estimates, and adds a line that applies here too: don't automatically choose the lowest bidder. A written estimate, it says, should cover the work, the materials, the completion date and the price. The chat is a good place to write those down.
Not getting replies? Widen it, or wait it out
If replies are thin, tap Send to more pros on your request. It opens the same list for the next matching pros who haven't seen it, so you choose again, and it widens the area when the current one runs out. If there's nobody left, it tells you. You can also Cancel request at any time; pros you haven't hired see that it's closed.
Requests don't sit open forever. An ASAP request closes after a day, one for a set day closes about twelve hours after the start time, and a flexible one stays open for a week.
If you're the pro
Quote requests are opt-in. Turn on Job alerts under Profile, in Preferences. It's labeled beta, and you can switch it off anytime. When someone near you asks for something that matches your services, you get a notification, and the request appears in Inbox under Jobs, in Available to you, in your own language.
Two other ways in. If you've turned on GigFlex, which says you're open to any work nearby, a customer can include you even when you have no listing for that job. And with job alerts on, a listing marked Remote can bring requests from outside your area, but only for jobs that can be done online. Either way, the customer sees you on their list before they send, and can open your profile, so keep it current.
Tap I'm interested, set your price (the app suggests one from their budget or your listing; adjust it), add a short note, and send. "I can be there at 3 and bring my own supplies" beats a paragraph about your experience. If they hire someone else, you get a short note saying so, not silence. For setting the number itself, see how to price your services, and for the rest of the first-customer problem, how to get your first local clients.
One thing Get quotes isn't for: advertising what you do. If you type "I'm a plumber, available weekends," the app notices it reads like an offer and suggests adding it to your profile as a listing instead, since quote requests go to pros, not customers. If you're not sure what to list, start with what service to offer.
Write the job once. The pros who want it tell you their price. You still choose, and you still pay them directly.
What it doesn't do
- It can't create pros who aren't there. A request reaches only nearby pros who take requests or are open to any work. Sometimes that's a short list, and the app tells you before you send.
- A quote isn't a contract. It's a price for the job as described. Agree the scope, materials and timing in chat before anyone starts.
- Gig doesn't hold the money. You pay the person directly. That's why the commission is 0%, and why Gig can't refund a payment it never held. Don't pay everything up front.
- It doesn't vet anyone. No background or license checks. More on that in is Gig safe.
- Some requests aren't sent. Anything that looks like a scam, or is illegal, sexual, dangerous or hateful, is refused. Unusual but harmless requests go through. Pros' notes are screened for scams too, and there's a cap on how many requests you can have open at once.
A note on newness: Gig is newer than the big marketplaces, and job alerts are still labeled beta. If the count on the send button is low, searching and messaging pros directly is the honest fallback.
Frequently asked
How do I get quotes from local pros on Gig?
On the Search tab, switch the box from Find someone to Get quotes, describe the job in a sentence, and check the draft. Gig lists the matching pros near you who take job requests, and you pick who gets it. They can reply with interest, their own price and a note. You compare the replies, message anyone with a question, and tap Hire on the one you want.
Do pros see my address when I ask for quotes?
No. Pros see the title and details, the timing, your budget if you set one, how many people you need, an approximate area and distance, and your public Gig profile. The exact address is optional and only you can see it. It goes to the person you hire, in the first message, if you choose to include it.
Does it cost anything to get quotes on Gig?
No. Sending a request is free, replying to one is free, and Gig takes 0% of the job. You pay the pro you hire directly, by whatever method you agree on. Gig never holds the money, which also means it cannot refund it.
What if nobody replies to my request?
Reach depends on how many pros near you have turned on job requests for that kind of work. Tap Send to more pros to reach the next matching pros, which widens the area when the current one runs out, or switch back to Find someone and message pros directly. An ASAP request closes after a day, and a flexible one after a week.
The rest of the decision
Quotes get you a price. Choosing the person is still a judgment call, and the four signals that predict a good job apply to a reply as much as to a search result. For what the app does with messages that look wrong, see the Suspicious folder, and for why there's no fee on top of any of it, how Gig works without one.