No, but in the Atlanta area I use Service Magic and Kudzu. They are free services.

nyc_sod..thanks for that information. I was unaware that there were free services. I don't think there is one in my area. I am in Massachusetts. If anyone is aware of a service in this area, I would love to hear about it.

thanks :-)

I've used Angies List for a number of projects. I liked all but one contractor I contacted. We hired our landscaper and architect from the list and haven't been disappointed. We didn't get so lucky with the electrician. One was quite rude and the other, who we REALLY liked, booked the job (a big one, $10K), then didn't show up on the first day. When I called him, he said he was so busy ("Angies List has been very good to me", he said) that he wouldn't be able to get to my job for months. I had already been waiting for 2 months and thought I was on the schedule with a start date. I didn't hire him but I know he'd have done a great job. I love the list.

That is great to hear cheri. You wouldn't happen to be in my neck of the woods would you? So, it sounds like you feel you have gotten your money's worth from the list.

I think to have access to this type of resource is really,personally, I could really use in my life. We have had problems with contractors and finding contractors. We don't usually find ourselves in the position of knowing someone who just had work done and was happy with it, so that doesn't leave much for a way of finding someone reliable. I know that years ago, you could ask the local hardware store etc. but now, no one wants to make a recommendation. They don't want to favor one contractor over the other and with the big box stores, etc. they don't always know who is good or not plus they are offering services themselves.

I am happy to hear that you have had a good experience with the list. That is encouraging.

:-)

We are remodeling an old farmhouse bit-by-bit, and have used Angie's list through the whole process. There have been a few cases of contractors not returning calls, but for the most part, we have been very happy with Angie's List. Contractors who are at the top of the list do seem to get a lot of business in our area, and for that reason they want to stay at the top of the list. It's been a good investment for us!

We've used Angie's List in both the Minneapolis/St. Paul area as well as Chicago. We've been very please with all the trades people that we've chosen through them. I felt it was well worth the annual membership - we were members for 3-4 years.

This year I discontinued our membership because we've now got a good group to work with on projects.

I was using Servicemaster too until I found out the companies pay to be listed...that was a slip of the tongue by a contractor...I since signed on to Angie's List and am very satisfied.

I am delighted that I found Angie's list before we got too far into the process.

I signed up for a one-month trial and got so much good advice right away that I did not mind paying to renew for a full year.

When I joined, I had just been given the name of a flooring installer, so I checked him out on Angie's list. Our first contact with him was very positive and it matched other glowing reports on the list. We did not feel need to look any further.

When I needed a granite fabricator, I started with Angie's list. You can sort listings by overall grade (not just current grade). I read all of the D and F ratings first so that I would have some idea of what can go wrong. There really are some horror stories out there!

I then went to the top of the list and found 3 highly rated companies. When we visited the first company, we again were very pleased to discover that our own experience matched the positive ratings. We picked the top company and so far are very happy.

We are mid-way through the process. The wood was delivered this morning and the granite templating also happened today. I won't do my final reviews until the work is completed in another couple of weeks, but every step of the way with these two businesses has been very positive.

I also checked a couple of other companies (glass, door installers, etc.), and our less-than-impressed first contacts matched the mixed reviews on Angie's List.

At least in our area, the price of membership has been worth every penny.

Well, I am very surprised to hear from so many people with experience with the list. For some reason..well, maybe because I had not heard of it before...I thought it was not well known. I am very glad to hear such positive experiences with it and I am going to look into it more.

Thank you all very much! :-)
pm2

I've been a member since 2003. I look up everybody and have had good experiences with it. Sometimes it help narrow down contractors. I was looking for somebody for a small landscape project so I crossed off companies who's projects ran in the tens of thousands. :)

Angie's List has been expanding its coverage for years, so it's possible it's new in your area. I've subscribed for years. The subscription cost is not inconsequential, but I figure it's trivial next to what it can cost to fix the bad job done by some bozo contractor or service provider. There also are deals, sometimes, if you sign up at a home & garden show, etc. In all the people I've hired from the list (into a few dozen, I think), there's been only one clinker. I'm pretty happy with 'em.

I was on Angies list and dropped my membership quickly. I had a negative experience with one of their companies listed and posted as such. Angies list then sent my information to the company (name, address etc) even though they explicitly state they will not divulge your personally identifiable information. Well, they will. To anyone you complain about. The company then proceeded to leave a very nasty comment about ME on the list. When I called Angies list to complain they said it is their job to protect the companies on their list from unwarranted complaints (which mine was not!).

We used Angie's list to locate an electrician and a furniture refinisher. I n both cases we selected the contractors based upon ratings and feedback. Both contractor did great work at reasonable prices. Getting quality contractors is well worth the price of Angies List

Service Magic is a company that sales lead any where from $10.00 a lead up to few hundred a lead, the send any where from 1-5 contractor to your home , and charging up to 5 times the fees. :)

The only think you need to have to be qualified is License and Insurance.

You can find list of contractor like this in your yellow book too, and or you can check your contractor with the CSLB

Angies list sound more promising, as the ones that rate them are us. Myself I heard abut them, but did not check them out yet

Service Magic also sells your phone number (it says as much in their TOS). We're still receiving calls for "related deals" as well as from contractors asking if we still needed to remodel our bathroom (I'm like, "Dude, we finished remodeling our bathroom 6 months ago!").

We're very unhappy with the contractor that we received from Service Magic. They talked a good talk, and sounded good when we interviewed them, but the overall work was shoddy, and we got way overcharged, IMO. I'll definitely look into Angie's List next time.

I signed up for Angie's List and so far it has been disappointing. None of the companies I am interested in has been listed. It doesn't help that in our area there are 2 or 3 "separate" lists...and to access each list you have to pay for each list!

I will probably not renew.

I don't know where you live, buehl, but in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Angie's List is letting us name another city for which we can get reports -- for free. They might offer that deal in your area. That might give you more coverage than you have now.

We used to live in Mpls/St. Paul and had the same experience as Steve. Now we live outside of Chicago, and we can still switch back to search Mpls/St. Paul. You have to call them and they'll do the switch at their end.

Remember, their listings are only as good as the members who send reports!

I checked and nope...if I want DC I have to pay for it! Which means if I want to get access to about half the area I'm in, I have to pay for another membership!

I haven't used it, but my friend in Columbus, OH did and had a terrible experience. The contractor who the List recommended was illiterate-he could not read or write!

I'm in the Boston area and I have used it successfully. they have raised their prices. You can just try the one month trial, and get the names of three people to start, and if it works well for you and you need a lot of work, go for a year.

The list is uneven, in that sometimes they have no/little info for what you are looking for or a company you want to use isn't there, but everyone I have used from there has been really good, so I continue to find it valuable. It also helps to fill out reports to make it better. However, I have not put in a VERY negative report of a company not listed because I was worried about them suing me, Angie's LIst doesn't protect you from that.

I have used:

Yard clean up
painters
chimney sweep/liner
mechanic
locksmith
roofer

all with excellent results.

How could a company sue you for a negative report? They'd have to prove that the details of the report are false/libelous, and I'd assume you wouldn't put anything false in your report.

I've used the list to give a company an F rating already -- for charging us $1600 to replace a water heater. It's amazing -- if you look through every other listing in our area for water heater replacements on Angie's List, the absolute most that people have been charged is $900, with the average being about $600. How we got charged $1000 more than the average, I have no idea. Just us getting ripped off in our ignorance. Hopefully our report will keep someone else from getting the same treatment.

If it makes you feel better rivkadr, I had to replace 2 water heaters in 2 years (basement floods, sigh) and was charged $1000 each time, two different plumbers, different models. (yes it is on blocks now!)

That's one of those things they can really charge what they want, considering one needs hot water FAST.

(I am just paranoid about the negative report because of the contractor I had dealt with. I used BBB to report on this guy, he is unethical and I don't want any more trouble from him. I still may put one in, worded carefully as you say, since I want to warn others.)

I think I'd have been fine with $1000; maybe mildly annoyed, but I could have lived with it...$1600, though is sooo far above and beyond what anyone else has paid for a water heater locally that it's ridiculously egregious. I really could use the extra money that we shouldn't have had to pay, you know?

I was a little worried about putting in negative reviews at first, too, but after having done two so far (I gave a C to a contractor we used to remodel our bathroom), and nothing negative came out of it, I feel pretty good about it. If nobody puts in bad reviews, than it defeats the purpose of Angie's List, after all. It made me feel like I had done something rather than just kvetch about it to friends, and maybe it will help someone else.

I didn't find it very helpful. I found out that they allow the contractors to advertise in their booklet. They look out for those contractors and give them every opportunity to dispute a homeowners claim. I also had the problem that a lot of decent size contractors were not even in their database. My parents were members and had a roofer do a terrible job that was on the list. Their complaint never showed up in the database.

I know people in Minneapolis who used their service and loved it. Other people like HomeStars.com or Service Magic instead--both are free and nationwide. I know AL has been around the longest, but also charges a lot, right?

I read an expose on Angie's list several years ago in one of the national newspapers like the NYT or the Washington Post.

They said that a contractor with a bad rating is encouraged to sign up people that can give them a good report (in other words friends) and then their rating will improve. This seems very contrary to the so called integrity of Angie's List.

There were other things but I can't recall them now.
I would guess that contractors with good ratings get so much business that their rates grow enough to make it profitable to do fewer jobs. But I am not sure that's true. Just a guess.