Finding an honest contractor these days

[pinkytoe]

Replaced a toilet this morning and $1000 later we have holes in the wall to find and patch a leak that was discovered and are told we need remediation services pronto to address any mold. That entails removing sheetrock, tile, tub etc - checking for asbestos, probably many more thousands. We learned that our insurance does not cover "seepage" so the hunt to find contractors begins. There are a zillion companies offering the remediation services but their online reviews are either horrible or almost perfect. This will all be out of pocket and we are beyond much of our DIY days so how to find honest people these days? Tried the local FB group and just got a bunch of handymen saying they could do it.

[iris lilies]

For small jobs. I don’t know.


I just know that we absolutely loved our general contractor. He did a difficult renovation, and during Covid, when all of his subcontractors were booked up because everyone was having work on their house done and yet building materials were in very short supply.

That is unusual in this day and age to find someone who will do a renovation of an old house, do it to DH’s satisfaction and even allow DH to hang around and do part of the job.
I think you’re asking the right question, get someone competent and respected. It doesn’t matter how much it costs because the good guys like that have five times as much work as they can take on. You aren’t going to get “cheap, good, fast” Work, you can easily afford “good “so go for that.

One of the measures of a problematic handyman/small contractor is if they can come to your house right away, then you know they’re not busy. Hmmmm…red flag.

[rosarugosa]

I'm sorry you are dealing with this, Pinkytoe. We had quite a time finding a contractor who was willing to take on our kitchen remodel. In the end it was just plain luck that a FB friend (former employee of mine) shared her brother's business profile and I saw that kitchen remodels were listed as one of the things he did.

[Rogar]

I've been a member of Angies, formerly Angies list, for a long time and have found some good contractors from their ratings and reviews. They've updated their format so I'm not sure how useful it is anymore since it's been a while. They have a free access and a ten dollar a year membership. I think some people use google and yahoo reviews for various services. That said, a good contractor for that sort of immediate work is probably hard to find and i'd suppose are booked up into the near future. Sorry for your problems, that sound like an ordeal.