Looking for contractor forums? You’ve come to the right place.

This is the complete list of the best contractor forums available right now. Whether you’re looking for a construction contractor forum, a home remodeling forum, or you’re an independent contractor looking for a forum where you can fit in – this list will show you your best options.

If you go to forums to get help, advice, or to learn… then you’ll love this.

Jump To What You Need:

• Contractor Forums
• Drywall Forums
• Paint Forums
• Electrical Forums
• HVAC Forums
• Plumbing Forums
• Carpentry Forums
• Snow Plow and Landscaping Forums
• Construction Equipment Forums

Contractor Forums (General Contractors, Remodelers, Independent Contractors, etc.)

Here’s a compilation of the best communities of home builders, residential contractors, independent contractors, and more.

BeThePro 

Be The Pro (BTP) is a forum for residential contractors, independent contractors, etc. where you can earn points for the questions you ask, or the answers you give.

How do you spend those points?

Well, they have corporate sponsors who have graciously given items to forum members in exchange for points. And trust me, some of the stuff is pretty cool. They’ve got everything from Bosch Tools, to Skilsaw (sweet right??), to RAM trucks, Blaklader Work Wear, and tons more.

Some of the other bonuses are: blog posts and articles written by professionals, a regular newsletter that you can get access to, and construction news coming in from around the world. BTP boasts about 10,000 Pros on their forum, so it’s big enough to get the help you need and good diversity of input, without being overwhelmingly large.

Advice to new members: introduce yourself, and jump right in! This is a really accessible forum from our perspective. Things seem pretty good there, and I think you’ll  have better “bang for your buck” as for as points go than most threads. Meaning, your points can be redeemed for either better things, or more quickly. I’d also advise

Benefits: We’ve been a part of that community for a while- an we recommend it. It’s no secret that some of the contractor forums out there can be kinda rough, so BTP stands out in how friendly the place is to engage with. In fact, they even let their corporate sponsors engage with the Pros in specific threads, so you can give companies like Bosch Tools your feedback, request new tools, etc. The sponsors are always looking for feedback and input, so the last cool thing about BTP is that you have a chance to give some feedback or suggestions to the brands you wear, use, and love. You can even earn some of our online construction courses there.

Contractor Talk

Ahh ContractorTalk. It stands apart as probably the largest forum for contractors and pros to be involved in, boasting more than 120,000 members. It’s also got a reputation as being (at times) a little rough around the edges.

From what we’ve seen, it’s sort of a badge of pride or something boasted about or well known by contractors in the industry. If you give a bad answer, or ask (what some perceive to be) a dumb question, they’ll let you have it.

The advantages here are that you get straight talk, from some really solid Pros who know what they’re talking about. The downside… it can be intimidating for new guys or gals, and you can find a few spats or head butts through the threads. I’m sure this is fairly normal with any forum, but like I said, this one has a reputation.

Similiar to BTP, you are able to earn points for every interaction on Contractor Talk, able to be redeemed in their “rewards” section.

Advice to new members: definitely stop in and say “hello” and introduce yourself in the introductions thread. They take that pretty seriously. Where we were able to jump right in to BTP without really skipping a beat (it did help that we were sponsors there), we got chewed out or looked at as suspect out the gate for not introducing ourselves in CT. Also, READ THE THREADS CAREFULLY . If you don’t want to get chewed up or busted on, just take some time, do some research, read the threads carefully, Google answers to your question, then post on the thread.

The times I’ve seen some newer guys get reemed, is because they didn’t read the threads carefully, asked repeat questions, or just asked about silly things they could’ve googled.

Benefits: this is not your typical contractor forum. These guys and gals pride themselves on being more knowledgeable on modern marketing / SEO / etc. and they demonstrate a pretty solid knowledge of those things. You’ll also benefit from a number of service professionals there (designated such by a badge under their username). These members aren’t allowed to expressly sell their services to you, but are allowed to give you input, answers, and help- and if you like what they’re saying, you can check out their businesses or hire them for more help.

Roofer’s Coffee Shop

Sound like a strange name for a forum?

Well, maybe it is a bit unconventional, but this resource for Roofers has been around for years – and they’re working to add even more cool features.

We like to think of it as less of a “forum”, and more of a resource section or learning community for Roofers. It’s run by a woman named Vicki – and if there’s someone that loves all things roofing more than her, we don’t wanna meet that person! (just kidding 😉 )

Vicki and her marketing director Heidi have created quite the resource section for roofing contractors there. Of course, there’s the standard roofing forum for independent contractors, but there’s also TONS more.

Advice to new members: really take you time and look around… there’s a lot to be involved in. Don’t just add your voice to the forum, take advantage of their educational resources, their newsletters, their roofing picture of the month, and more. Whatever interests you!

Benefits: Well, besides offering a forum… RCS also features a  newsroom filled with guest bloggers, reviews, and tons more. They also have created a Classifides section where you can search for results by region of the US! (we told you there was a lot of stuff here). They also have a HUGE resouce section that’s worth checking out, showing you trade associations, discounts, and lots more. And finally, there’s “The Hub.” Sounds interesting right? It is. It’s an ever-growing resource center for how-to’s, videos, and helpful education for roofing pros and contractors.

Honestly, there’s SO MUCH that this website features- it’s almost stretching it to call it a forum, because a forum is only one part of this website. Definitely check it out and sign up for their newsletter to stay up to date. We can tell you from experience, they’re always working to add more features to the site!

JLC Online Forum

Like Be the Pro, or Contractor Talk, the JLC online forum boasts a large number of users offering up discussions on everything from building science, to technology, estimating and markup, and lots more.

It’s structured much the same as the other larger forums, and seems to have thousands and thousands of members. It’s backed by the very popular Journal of Light Construction – so it’s definitely worth taking a look.

The forum is layed out very well- it’s got a nice, clean look and it’s very easy to find your way through their “Expert Forums.” At the writing of this post, I’m seeing that it’s a pretty extensive forum: each category (i.e. business technology) has anywhere between 1,500 and 5,000 topics, and anywhere from 7,000 posts to 28,000 posts.

Bottom line? That’s ALOT of input from Pros. So jump on and take start engaging with that community!

Advice to new members: start by checking out their FAQ section. This will point you in the right direction to have a successful integration into the community.

Benefits: thousands of topics, thousands of posts from pros, all laid out in a very clean – easy to view – manner.

National Contractors Forum

This forum is powered by UBB Threads. While we haven’t used it ourselves, it looks to be one of the smaller forums available. It boasts around 4,500 members or so. We’re assuming that as with most forums we’ve seen in the industry, the best way to get started is to create an account and introduce yourself.

The topics include everything from careers, to contractor licensing, to landscaping, solar, roofing, and lots more.

For the most part, if it’s a think in the world of contracting, it seems like there’s a thread started for it. Give them a look and see what you think!

Niche, or Trade-Specific forums…

This brings us to the more niche websites, focused on one trade. The advantages here are that while the communities are smaller, you’re talking to people who speak your language, and do what you do.

Here’s the complete list of the one’s we’ve found… just click on a forum to check it out.

Drywall Contractor Forums:

• Drywall Talk – a forum for all things drywall and drywall contractors.
• Drywall Nation Forum
• Taping and Jointing 

Painting Contractor Forums:

• PaintTalk – go here to get your paint contracting talk on.
• Painter Forum
• PDCA Forum

Electrical Contractor Forums:

• Electrician Talk – are you an electrician? Join this community of  tradespeople.
• ECN Electrical Forum
• Electrical Construction and Maintenance Forum

HVAC Contractor Forums:

• HVAC Site Forum– go here to discuss all things HVAC.
• HVAC Talk– another forum for heating, air condition, and cooling.

Plumbing Contractor Forums:

• Plumbing Forums.com
• Plumbing Zone
• Terry Love Plumbing Forum

Carpentry Forums:

• Woodworking Talk

Landscaping Forums and Snow Plow Forums:

• Lawnsite
• Ground Trade Xchange
• Lawn Service Forum
• Gopher Forum
• Plow Site
• Snow Plow Forums.com
• Lets Plow
• Snowplowing Contractors.com

Construction Equipment Forums:

• Heavy Equipment Forum

BROWSE COURSES TAUGHT BY PROS