How Many People Are Searching for Contractors Using AI (ChatGPT, Perplexity)?

More homeowners and businesses are turning to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI tools to find plumbers, roofers, electricians, and contractors. How many, exactly? Real studies are finally putting numbers to it. Here’s what the data shows, and why it matters for your business.

75% of ChatGPT users use keyword-style searches for local services

A Search Engine Land report (January 2026) summarized a user-behaviour study where people used ChatGPT to find local service providers. The study (by Sagapixel) observed real users as they searched for things like dentists, healthcare, and aesthetics, all local, transactional intents analogous to “find a plumber” or “best roofer near me.”

Across the observed sessions, 75% included at least one prompt that would be categorized as keyword-based. People weren’t writing long conversational questions; they were typing short queries like “dentist 11214” or “good plastic surgeons in brooklyn 11214 area,” the same kind of behaviour they’ve used on Google for years. So when we talk about “how many people search for contractors using AI,” a large share of that behaviour is still keyword-driven. That’s good news: the keyword research and tracking you already do for Google still apply to AI search.

45% of sessions were one-shot: no follow-up

The same study found that 45% of sessions did not include follow-up questions. Users asked once and moved on. When they did add a second prompt, 34% of the time it was simply “more results.” So the idea that “everyone is having long conversations with ChatGPT” for local services is overstated. For contractors, that means: your job is to show up in that first answer. If you’re not in the initial AI response, you often don’t get a second chance.

ChatGPT search: 80 million clickstream records (Semrush)

Semrush analyzed over 80 million clickstream records from the second half of 2024 to see how people interact with ChatGPT and where they go next. Key findings:

• ChatGPT as a traffic referrer is growing fast. In early July 2024, ChatGPT sent traffic to fewer than 10,000 unique domains per day. By November 2024, that number had passed 30,000 domains per day.
• 46% of ChatGPT queries used the web search feature. When users turn on search, they’re often looking for fresh or local information, exactly the kind of query that leads to “plumber near me” or “best roofing company Winnipeg.”
• When search was enabled, average prompt length dropped to 4.2 words, very similar to traditional Google searches. So again: people are using AI like search, with short, keyword-style prompts.

So “how many people” is partly answered by scale: ChatGPT reached 566 million unique worldwide visitors in December 2024 (Semrush .Trends). Even a small share of that using ChatGPT to find local services is a big number, and that share is growing as more people adopt AI as a starting point for discovery.

Perplexity: 30M+ monthly users, 780M+ queries per month

Perplexity is built for search-first behaviour. Industry estimates (e.g. Exploding Topics, Business of Apps) put Perplexity at around 30 million monthly active users in 2025, with 780 million+ queries per month. That’s up from roughly 4 million MAU in late 2023, a period of huge growth. A meaningful portion of those queries are local and commercial (“best electrician,” “roof repair cost,” “plumber near me”). So when we say “how many people are searching for contractors using AI,” ChatGPT and Perplexity together represent a large and growing slice of discovery.

How AI systems choose who to recommend (and why studies matter)

Studies that analyze how LLMs cite businesses (e.g. Search Atlas on “near me” and local citations across OpenAI, Gemini, Perplexity, and others) find that semantic relevance (how well your content matches what the user asked) drives who gets recommended, often more than classic SEO signals like domain authority alone. So the contractors who show up in AI answers are the ones with clear, structured information: who you are, where you serve, what you do, and content that directly answers the questions people type into ChatGPT and Perplexity.

What this means for contractors

The studies point to a few clear takeaways:

• People are using AI to find local services, and a lot of them are still using short, keyword-like prompts. Your existing keyword strategy (e.g. “plumber Winnipeg,” “roof repair cost”) stays relevant.
• First answer wins. Many users don’t follow up; they take the first set of recommendations. Being cited in that first response is critical.
• ChatGPT and Perplexity are real referral sources. Traffic from AI is growing. Optimizing for “get cited by AI” (clear entity, service + location content, schema, reviews) is no longer optional if you want to capture this audience.

Where BASolutions AI fits in

We use real data, including studies like these, to shape how we structure sites and content for contractors. If you want to show up when people ask ChatGPT or Perplexity for a plumber, roofer, or electrician, we can help you get there. Get in touch for a free audit and we’ll show you exactly where you stand in AI search.