Angieslist Stinks! A Better Way to Find Repairmen

Do you have a house that requires lots of upkeep? Or maybe you just need a plumber, electrician, roofer, landscaper or any kind of repairman.

Years ago you could go to Angieslist and type in electrician with your zip code and see a list of all the electricians in your area with reviews. Awesome! Unfortunately the service changed to where you have to fill in what you’re looking for and they send you people (who have paid for the lead). In my opinion, this sucks!

If you have similar frustrations with Angieslist and you are looking for an alternative, here’s what I have started using instead.

How to Use Nextdoor for repairs

Unlike Joanna Gaines, my husband is NOT a super handy, fixer of all. I need help about once a month.

The worst thing about Nextdoor is that you have to set up your own profile using a real address and email. You can’t just go in and look around for information. Despite that, it’s worth it. You can turn off annoying notifications that give you notifications about suspicious package stealers, which there are a lot.

To find a repairman, put what you are looking for in the search bar. Recently I needed a pest control person. I searched pest control and the same name was recommended in my small neighborhood eight times.

I used NextDoor t to find a plumber, a gate repair person, an exterminator and a tile person. After I found a few people that I liked I took the time to review a few people that I’ve had experience with (good and bad).

There aren’t hundreds of reviews for each person, but I believe the cream floats to the top and the best in each category have reviews.

nextdoor vs angieslist

The added benefit that Angieslist didn’t have is that you can message the reviewers and ask questions. If someone leaves a written a review, you can ask message them a question about their experience. The response time can vary depending on how they have their profile set up in Nextdoor.

The problem with any great platform for independent reviews is that the creator wants to profit from them. This was the fate of Tripadvisor too. It used to be so great! But now it is just a platform for them to sell tours. You can’t see all of the great information that used to be so widely available.

For now Nextdoor is the best resource out there for finding honest reviews of repair people.

Using Task Rabbit

If the repair you have doesn’t require a licensed plumber, or licensed electrician you can also use Task Rabbit. I found the greatest handyman using Task Rabbit. So great that now he comes to my house about once a week.

If you find someone good you can hire them directly after you’ve tested out their work on Task Rabbit.

Review Your Favorite Repair People

Most repair people (unless they work for a large company) are entrepreneurs. They have to be skilled and run their own business. It can really help them if you put your feedback out there for others to find.

don’t use the big companies

I’ve had experience with the large companies in my town. They are the ones with the branded vans or trucks all over town. I’ve had many of them come to give me a bid on fixing this or that. In my experience, they seem very professional, but their prices are so much higher than using independent people.

I’ll give you an example. I moved into a new home and I made an appointment with the person that had recently installed the HVAC to come look at an electrical problem with the outlets. This company, who I won’t mention, offers annual service contracts.

These companies in my experience are a total rip off. They bid $5000 to fix my small electrical problems where the independent person I hired was $1200. It costs money for custom vans, I get it, but are they really so much better?