Finding Contractors Online, Avoiding Construction Rip-Offs – Part 1
Let’s suppose that you need some sort of major or maintenance done on your home, and you need to locate a reputable, experienced contractor to perform the work. (And hopefully not rip you off in the process)
The traditional advice has always been to ask someone you know for a reference. But as anyone who’s ever tried this will tell you, it’s very difficult to locate a specialist this way. Sure, you can find a specialist handyman… but that won’t help you when your solar panels need repair, or your interlocking brick driveway requires maintenance, or some other very specialized work needs to be performed.
When it comes to construction, the list of specialties can be staggering:
- Plastering
- Plumbing
- Pressure Washing
- Floor Waxing
- Foundation Repair
- Garage Doors
- Home Automation
- Lead Testing & Removal
- Masonry
- Pest Control/Exterminating
- Radon Detection & Reduction
- Basement Remodelling
- Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelling
- Roofing
- Septic Tank
- Stucco
- Water & Smoke Damage
And that’s just to name a few.
The internet has tried to help with this to a certain extent.
Today, there are lots of directories, classified sites, customer review sites, and even search engines. Where each of these methods can be an excellent means of finding and buying most types of products and services, each also has its drawbacks when it comes to recommending a reliable tradesperson.
Service Directories:
Niche service directories offer free advertising, or paid placement. The main problem that consumers face when hiring services through these directories is that you have no way of determining quality.
Often, placement and rank is based or bidding. So the company that pays the most per month will get the top spot on the page.
Of course, this is no indicator as to how good a job they provide, how experienced they are, or how trustworthy they are.
Classified Sites:
Similar to the niche service directories, classified sites have a hard time monitoring quality.
Because they rely primarily on advertising money from the contractors, there is no incentive on their part to turn down business from companies with poor reputations.
This problem is worsened by “free” classified sites such as Craigslist. These sites don’t have the means, nor the incentive to properly monitor and background-check the contractors that they’re recommending. (Don’t get me wrong… I love’s me some Craigslist. I think it’s the best thing ever!)
Customer Review Sites:
Customer review sites were created to address the reputability problems faced by classified sites and service directories.
For example: If you go to a restaurant and don’t like their service, you can log onto one of these review sites and vent your anger.
Although these sites were created with good intentions, they’re still far from perfect.
Because these sites are anonymous, there is a strong incentive for companies to log on and give themselves a good review. At the same time, they have an equally strong motive to log on and give negative reviews of their competitors.
Search Engines:
Thanks to the aggressive efforts of internet spammers, search engine rankings systems have evolved in order to favor reputable businesses over those who use spam tactics to promote themselves. Although a strong ranking might be a good indicator of reputability, it’s still not perfect.
The search engine rank of a company is only an indicator of ONLINE MARKETING ETHICS, and tells you very little about a company’s professional ethics, refereceability, or quality of work. A company with a good search engine placement may simply have hired a good web consultant to promote their service. This tells you nothing about the service they provide.
This is also compounded by the fact that the best and most established companies rely almost exclusively on word-of-mouth lead generation. This means that you might not them online. When it comes to picking a high-quality contractor, you need to empower yourself by maximizing your options.
Also, search engines often accept money in exchange for placement. So although the link at the top of the page may be legitimately ranked, there’s also the possibility that the contractor paid to place the ad in the #1 spot.
Either way, search engine rankings aren’t a 100% reliable way of confirming the reputation of a contractor or construction company.
But there’s good news…
After a bit of research, I did manage to locate a few companies that have come up with some innovative approaches when it comes to solving the contractor search problem.
I’ll cover these approaches a bit more in my next follow-up article.
In the meantime, here are a few reputable web sites that can give you some solid, reliable information on construction and service companies in your local area.
Your house is much too important of an investment to take risks with. Make sure you do your due diligence before hiring your contractor.
Sign up with all 3 of these sites today. I’ll go into more detail about them in my next article.
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