VA Horizon vs Building an In-House Canvassing Team
Building an in-house canvassing team means paying $10 to $20 an hour plus a $20 to $30 per-appointment bonus and 1% or more of gross on every closed job, then hiring, training, and managing turnover in a market that had 259,000 open construction positions as of April 2026, up 25% year over year. VA Horizon skips the payroll and the hiring funnel: $300 one-time setup, then $199 per booked, double-confirmed appointment.
$300 setup + $199 per booked appointment.
VA Horizon vs An In-House Canvassing Team
| Decision Point | VA Horizon | An In-House Canvassing Team |
|---|---|---|
| What you're building | A finished, booked appointment you buy per unit. | A department: hiring, training, routing, payroll, and management, before the first appointment gets set. |
| Cost structure | $300 one-time setup, then a flat $199 per booked appointment. | Base wage of $10 to $20 an hour plus a $20 to $30 bonus and 1% or more of gross on closed jobs, paid whether a rep sets zero or five appointments that week. (source) |
| Hiring pipeline | No hiring required to start. | Recommended process runs a five-stage funnel ending in a live door-knock ride-along, since reps who cannot survive that do not survive the job. (source) |
| Labor market you're hiring into | Appointment supply is not tied to your local hiring market. | Construction needed to add roughly 349,000 workers in 2026 and had 259,000 open positions as of April, up 25% year over year. (source) |
| Management overhead | Zero management. VA Horizon runs qualification and confirmation. | Someone on your team owns routing, coaching, discipline, and turnover, on top of running the roofing business itself. |
| Ramp time | Appointments start at your published rate from week one. | A new canvasser needs the full hiring funnel plus field time before becoming reliably productive. |
What to verify before choosing either option.
Payroll runs whether or not doors convert
Hourly base pay of $10 to $20 an hour accrues on every shift, plus a $20 to $30 bonus and 1% or more of gross on closed jobs. A flat per-appointment price only charges for the completed outcome, the same paid-per-outcome logic behind the 25% to 35% exclusive close rate industry benchmarks report versus 8% to 20% for shared marketplace leads.
You're hiring into a tight labor market
Construction needed roughly 349,000 additional workers in 2026, and open positions hit 259,000 as of April, up 25% year over year. Finding and keeping canvassers competes against that same shortage.
The ride-along funnel is the real cost
A commonly recommended hiring process runs five stages ending in a live field test, because reps who cannot handle a real door-knock roleplay do not last. That is management time before a single appointment gets booked.
Turnover resets the clock
Every canvasser who leaves after a few weeks means restarting the hiring funnel, in a market where qualified trades labor is already scarce, per the 259,000 open positions figure above.
Match the choice to your bottleneck.
Choose an in-house canvassing team when
You run canvassing as a core, ongoing storm-market operation, already have a canvassing manager and routing software in place, and want direct control over who is on your customers' doorsteps.
Choose VA Horizon when
You want appointment volume without owning payroll, hiring, and turnover risk in a tight labor market, and you'd rather pay a flat rate per booked appointment than a wage that runs regardless of outcome.
VA Horizon vs an in-house canvassing team, answered.
What does it cost to run an in-house canvassing team?
Is it hard to hire canvassers right now?
How long does it take a new canvasser to become productive?
Is VA Horizon cheaper than hiring canvassers?
What happens if a VA Horizon appointment does not show?
Skip the payroll. Buy the appointment.
Book a 15-minute call. We map your service area and criteria, confirm the $199 per-appointment rate, and give you a start date inside the week.
Recommended next steps