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And plumbers, pest control, heating, HVAC, ....

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-16/private-e... (https://wallhop.io/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2...)

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And where it isn't PE actually buying up local plumbing, heating, HVAC companies, it's "CRM lead generators" using automation tools to build plausible looking websites/phone number presences that look like a real company, fooling people who are searching for plumbing services in $city into calling them, then funnelling the lead to some local company in exchange for a percentage. Worst offender in this category is probably locksmiths.

Yelp has made a resurgence in my opinion. So far I have found a good garage door guy and painter guy. Everything negotiated via texting (phone call first). Make sure when they show up they don’t have an iPad.

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