Daily Home Renovation Tips

We have written previously on our greatest concern about any type of home renovation or home maintenance activity; namely, the reliability of the contractor (s) performing the work in terms of quality, cost effectiveness, integrity, etc.

We came across a service we had never heard of previously called Angie’s List, which has been in operation since 1995 per the information on it web site.

What first caught our attention was on the Buzz page of their website referencing positive references by PC World, Martha Stewart Living and Money Magazine, among others, as well as customer quotations. Frequently you see for-profit organizations only provide customer quotations.

So, what is Angie’s List? It is a web site providing consumer reviews and ratings of service companies and health care professionals in, per the site, over 250 categories including plumbers, painters, landscapers, handyman, dentists, and more. Members have access to the reviews and ratings and, just as importantly, are the same ones who provide the reviews and ratings of services they received.

The ratings are based on price, quality, responsiveness, professionalism and punctuality.

Angie’s List seems to have very high participation rates. Per the web site more than 650,000 consumers use Angie’s list with members submitting 50,000 reports each month.

How does Angie’s List function, financially? Well, it’s not through companies paying to be reviewed. Per the web site a business, large or small, is added to the listing when a member of the web site submits a report.

Part of the site’s revenue is derived from some service companies advertising in Angie’s List’s monthly magazine and on the actual web site. However, per the web site “those companies must be highly rated by our members, meaning they have to have an overall grade of A or B. Their advertisements are displayed on Angie’s List in the form of exclusive coupons and discounts for our members. Service companies are not obligated to advertise, nor does their decision to advertise affect their Angie’s List rating. Further, if a company’s rating falls below a B grade, we revoke their advertisement.”

Another part of their revenue is generated from membership fees. There is both a monthly and an annual payment plan. With the annual payment plan, the web site states that there is a 110% money-back guarantee if the member is dissatisfied with Angie’s List service. Of course, more details are on the actual web site.

What I like about the service Angie’s List provides is not just an accumulation of consumer reviews but that each review submitted is said to be reviewed by staff to guard against service companies writing their own reviews and ratings. As well, as an ex-auditor I am encouraged that this review process was itself examined in 2007 by BPA Worldwide, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1931.

We have finished now most of our major home renovations. I wish I knew of Angie’s List before we started. We would have had more confidence in choosing the different contractors we actually used.