# Getting ratings of local contractors **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 29, 2021, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436 "2021-10-29T02:09:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/1 "2021-10-29T02:09:17Z")
I need to hire an electrician. How can I get ratings of ones I can find? Usually, I get recommendations from friends. But the electricians. my friends use are all too busy to take on new customers. I used to look contractors up in Angie’s List, but now they just seem to ask for all your info and recommend contractors. I’m not looking for them to sell my name to a lot of people, I just want to look up other people’s ratings of electricians whose names I found other ways. Or hell, get a list of electricians from them that I can browse through, not just have them give me someone. Once upon a time people used better business bureau, but it’s a scam that companies pay to get good ratings. Anything else? ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/2 "2021-10-29T02:54:14Z")
I like [Yelp.com](http://Yelp.com). ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/3 "2021-10-29T03:34:36Z")
I found an electrician, plumber and handyman on Nextdoor. I had made a note of the names I kept seeing over and over through the years. But If you search for electrician under Businesses, you can pull up threads of recommendations. All of the ones I’ve used live in my area and had dozens of recommendations. It worked out great for me. I recently used the plumber for the third time in a couple years. I had my first experience with the handyman last Saturday and he was awesome. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/4 "2021-10-29T14:29:39Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > I like [Yelp.com](http://Yelp.com). Hmm, my experience with Yelp is that it’s full of useless restaurant reviews (“i liked the burger”). But maybe my “tastes in electricians” are more basic and more like those of my neighbors than my tastes in food. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/5 "2021-10-29T14:31:45Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > I found an electrician, plumber and handyman on Nextdoor. I had made a note of the names I kept seeing over and over through the years. But If you search for electrician under Businesses, you can pull up threads of recommendations. All of the ones I’ve used live in my area and had dozens of recommendations. It worked out great for me. I recently used the plumber for the third time in a couple years. I had my first experience with the handyman last Saturday and he was awesome. I posted on next door asking for recommendations of “an electrician you like who is taking new customers”. So far, i got one name, with no text, and a response by someone who says, “I’m an electrician and I’m free this week”. I was hoping to vet those two names. Is there a way to search nextdoor for other comments about them? ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/6 "2021-10-29T15:01:39Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Hmm, my experience with Yelp is that it’s full of useless restaurant reviews Yelp has quite a lot of other stuff, too. I like that the ratings are similar to Amazon’s. Look for the **most** ratings with the highest scores. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/7 "2021-10-29T15:16:48Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I used to look contractors up in Angie’s List, but now they just seem to ask for all your info and recommend contractors. They’ve changed their business model – they were bought by HomeAdvisor, which merged the two services, and rebranded them as “Angi,” and are, as you note, now mostly just a matchmaker for contractors (which is how HomeAdvisor worked). ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/8 "2021-10-29T16:03:10Z")
Ah. Thanks. I will just remove them from my list of possible places to check, then. Too bad, that was a pretty good resource, with a lot of somewhat detailed information about which contractors did what. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/9 "2021-10-29T19:58:14Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Is there a way to search nextdoor for other comments about them? You can put their name in the search bar and it will pull up threads that mention them. I’ve found that asking for recommendations usually doesn’t work very well and can attract contractors who might not really be qualified. What you want are the posts where someone was impressed enough to start a new thread with a recommendation. Those are the ones that lead to “Oh yeah! We used John Brown and he’s great!” follow-ups. So search for electrician and look for those threads. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/10 "2021-10-29T20:06:32Z")
Yeah, so the electrician who answered my request on Next Door is currently looking to contact me, and may be my only “live” lead. Maybe I’ll try him for a small thing and see how it goes. Too bad, I really liked the last guy I used, but he flat out told me he’s too busy, and is only doing work for regular customers. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/11 "2021-10-29T20:25:53Z")
Don’t know your feelings on Facebook, but often there is a neighborhood page where people ask for and get recommendations for stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/12 "2021-10-29T20:29:34Z")
Which you should then use to search for the word ‘electrician’ instead of asking, since literally the exact same question (“need a recommendation for an electrician? TIA”) probably gets asked a dozen times a week and gets the same answers each time. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/13 "2021-10-29T21:06:53Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Don’t know your feelings on Facebook, but often there is a neighborhood page where people ask for and get recommendations for stuff like that. I use Facebook a little, but my Facebook friends aren’t neighbors, and my neighbors aren’t Facebook friends. I don’t think that’s going to help. I’m really frustrated that Angie’s list is dead, since I used to rely on that for references. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/14 "2021-10-29T21:15:38Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > Hmm, my experience with Yelp is that it’s full of useless restaurant reviews > > Yelp has quite a lot of other stuff, too. > I like that the ratings are similar to Amazon’s. Look for the **most** ratings with the highest scores. So, this guy isn’t in Yelp at all. Sigh. I wonder if he’s actually an electrician. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/15 "2021-10-29T21:33:13Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’m really frustrated that Angie’s list is dead Not dead - just consolidated with Home Advisor. Both of them have always been crap, though. Now they are double crap. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/16 "2021-10-29T21:49:18Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I use Facebook a little, but my Facebook friends aren’t neighbors, and my neighbors aren’t Facebook friends. I don’t think that’s going to help. You can still join a neighborhood group, where is what k9bfriender was suggesting. Go on facebook and search for “[your city] town hall”.\* If that doesn’t pop something up, just search for your city name and see what does populate, not everyone uses the ‘town hall’ name for their facebook community. In any case, it’ll be full of people that you don’t know but all live right in your area, so if you need recommendations for an electrician or a restaurant or whatever, someone should be able to help you. \*That’s town hall, not city hall, the page will be full of members from your city, but not affiliated with the city itself. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/17 "2021-10-29T22:38:20Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > So, this guy isn’t in Yelp at all. Sigh. I wonder if he’s actually an electrician. On my Nextdoor, there are several guys who recommend themselves on any post that is looking for help with home repairs of any kind. They might be good workers but I’ve never seen a neighbor recommend them. The best ones don’t need to solicit. They get their jobs by honest reviews by the community. It probably helped me that I’ve been on Nextdoor for years and took note of the “rock stars”. I haven’t used the electrician for a few years so I don’t know about his availability in these crazy times but I only had to wait a week for the plumber, which was fine since I didn’t have an emergency. If your guy doesn’t have any other recommendations besides his own on Nextdoor, I’d be cautious. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/18 "2021-10-29T22:43:07Z")
Angi isn’t bad, and I wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand. Like Yelp, you see reviews from (presumably) real customers. AFAIK, they don’t sell your info, at least I’ve seen no overt sign that they do. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/19 "2021-10-30T02:03:37Z")
I can’t figure out how to find reviews. All i see is a questionnaire of your project, and an offer to get bids on it. How do you find the reviews? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436/20 "2021-10-30T03:46:05Z")
You see a list of possible contractors and their reviews after you enter your job requirements. They send your job to some of them, who may respond, but you also see others and can send them a message if you want. The contractors do not get your address or other contact info unless you give it to them I’ve generally used a combination of Angi and Yelp reviews to select the most likely options. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-ratings-of-local-contractors/953436.md?page=2)