Looking for a trustworthy contractor?
If you are looking for a reliable contractor, you don’t want to simply trust online reviews. There are now companies out there who you can pay to write positive reviews for businesses (scary!) and we all know that family and friends can spike reviews, so be cautious trusting these.
Furthermore, when I looked into Yelp, I found that negative reviews can be hidden by Yelp, and if you don’t look closely someone who has had complaints can look completely clean. Yelp also has had lawsuits by customers who complain Yelp puts pressure on them to donate to keep good ratings. I have lost faith in Yelp, too.
I also don’t have much faith in the BBB and have written about that over the years as well.
And I tried Angie’s list and was highly disappointed. When I hired a major window company to install new windows and they committed fraud against me, I naturally gave them a negative review. But guess what? It never showed up. Another expert I hired through Angie’s list came at a high price and tried to double the bill after the work was completed because I suspect he got away with it often. He didn’t realize I knew our state laws and knew such practices were illegal. He quickly retreated and that ended my experiences with Angie’s List.
I’ve even tried the recommendations of good friends only to find they were not aware that they had been taken.
So what can you do to aid yourself in finding a good contractor?
I highly suggest typing in the contractor’s name that you are interested in, and adding the words “complaints”.
I did that this morning weeding through a list of roofing contractors and one of the best rated showed up as being under federal investigation for fraud by the FBI. That’s no small investigation and immediately removed that candidate from my list. Had I not done that, this contractor looked really good!
Contractors can also pay companies to remove negative information that comes up in search engines as well, so remember that. The more homework you do on an contractor, the better your odds will be. I try to turn over every stone possible when seeking someone to hire because there are no guarantees.
Finding trustworthy people today to do service is truly challenging–even for me! It’s very easy to promise to do a good job, but have things change quickly without the homeowner ever being the wiser.
I bet if you did the following, you might get better results … tell the prospective contractor that you’ll only hire him if he allows himself to be video taped answering several of your questions. You go back and study the tape, and you’re good to go?????
I found that my biggest mistake when asking friends for referrals is asking them WHY do they ‘recommend’ the contractor. I’ve found that to most, ‘recommend’ means they have used the person once … regardless of how good/bad they were. Unbelievable.
Once we find a contractor who has done good work for us, we ask them if they know others that they work with from a different field, electrician, plumber, carpentry, etc. That seems to have worked well too.
Another great idea that’s worked for us is to break down the job into different pieces. For example, a french drain. It sounds all technical and unknown but alas, 90% of the job is digging a trench and filling it back up. So we first got a bid on the full job, and they ranged from $3500-$5000. Then we got a bid from someone just to dig a ditch (sounds like $10-$15 an hour to me tops). We bought the pipes and gravel ourselves (so they couldn’t mark them up 35%) and then hired someone else to do the ‘knowledgeable’ assembly, and then got the ditch diggers back to fill in the hole. ALL for about $1000!!!!
One of the other things to also avoid would be the “chuck in a truck” contractor. They are small, independent, and accountable to no one. Their guarantees last about as long as you see their tail lights pulling out of your driveway. Look for warranties. Look for places that have reviews that show that even if there is a problem, they have good customer service that will actually make good the deal they have with you. I feel blessed that my husband and I have found a mechanic that comes highly recommended that actually IS good. We use them, my brother uses them, and his friends use them. It is family owned and reputation means a LOT to them.
What has worked well for me is to put a message on my neighborhood email list asking for a good plumber (or whatever). Usually several neighbors will respond with different details and I can choose from name and follow up with a neighbor about how their job went.
Some people give basic referrals just because they used the guy once; others provide more useful details about the work and how it was completed. I know which neighbors I trust and who is more savvy, so that goes into my choices, too.
It’s not foolproof but so far I have been extremely pleased with the contractors and it has worked well.
Yes I emailed my work colleagues for recommendations on a dentist and a lawyer. I had the chance to ask questions about their recommendations. Thankfully both of them worked out well.
I have found what you described on rating sites to be absolutely true, repeatedly.
I once had a negative experience that I posted to Yelp not show up. Not only did the experience serve to cost me both time and money, but, after sharing with friends in my small community, found that others had had similar negative experiences. Those I talked to had used them for the same reason I had- they were directed to the business due to a, “free,” service contract that came with the purchase of their appliance.
Even when with much effort I managed to speak with a higher up at the original large retail business their advice was to buy a brand new appliance from them.
Conveniently, for them, the delay (months) brought about by the servicing company they contracted with provided just enough time for them not to have to replace the product via warranty.
What floored me was others who experienced this did in fact purchase completely new products from them when placed in this situation.
In my county court records are online. I looked up a heavy equipment guy I was working with, and he had a full page of judgements and several arrest.
I work in public relations and I have clients who are approached by Yelp and other sites to purchase a membership package and when the client tells them “no”, they begin getting harassing phone calls and threats of “bad reviews”. The calls are nonstop and many of them have received bad reviews which don’t match any patients or customers that they know. There needs to be transparency in who is leaving the review.
Call Mr. Handyman. They are a national franchise with over 100 locations. Their guys are all bonded, insured, background checked and drug tested and their employees, not subcontractors. Their pricing is very straight forward.
Call Mr. Handyman. They are a national franchise with over 100 locations. Their guys are all bonded, insured, background checked and drug tested and their employees, not subcontractors. Their pricing is very straight forward.