I subscribe to Angie's List. We found our new HVAC people that way after our old HVAC people flaked out on us. I've also read reviews before buying appliances from a mom & pop store and before we got the house insulated. In all cases, it's good to see what kind of things people have praised or complained about, but I take all the reviews with a grain of salt. I found it to be pretty useful as one tool, but I think you still need to do a lot of due diligence and call around, ask lots of questions and make yourself as knowledgeable as possible on your own.

Do you have access to a neighborhood list serve? If you do, that's a good place to ask for referrals.

We ask the neighbors!

For painters, I walked into my local paint store (not big box) and asked for referrals.
For an electrician I use a major electrical business that works in my area For a plumber, I'd go to a local plumbing supply store and ask for a referral (again, not big box)
Never been unhappy with the guys that were referred....... and I'm one that expects good work after having spent many years remodeling homes.

We have Angies List...and it can run either way. We found our kitchen remodel company through it and were happy...not happy at all with painters, who got high marks on AL, very happy with guy who did a new stair rail. Asking neighbors can be dicey too....our friends went with a neighbor's recommendation for their bath remodel (over our kitchen remodel guy who I sang praises about and they saw firsthand the great work he did) and had to threaten to take him to court via certified letter in order to get him to complete the job. AL might be a good place to start and resource, but it's not the last word in good contractors, etc...

I'm using Angie's List. So far, I found a great electrician. We also found a great HVAC guy through the local business supply store. He had no clue that he was recommended by that business. What has been a surprise so far is how different the estimates run for pretty much the same work.

DH goes to the gym and has found many good professionals there for us to use...I figure they've got to be ambitious to work full time and go to the gym. They also have to be reasonably smart and informed on their health as well as forward thinking....

I agree with asking the neighbors. Also, in conversation with local dentists, doctors, dry cleaners etc. that you frequent you might ask them who they use.
My husband just hired an outside painter. He happened to see him doing work and like what he saw.

I used to subscribe to Angies List. I needed a lot of large oak, etc trees trimmed so I tried a couple from there.

I got about five quotes and although the ones on AL seemed to know what they were talking about (I think!), their prices were a lot higher.

I went with the cheapest for that --so what if they cut a branch too short-it will grow back!

You may not want to let the potential contractor know that you saw them on AL--I would not doubt if they increase the price because of that.

Why would AL contractors charge more?

Angie's list doesn't have much info for small businesses in my area.

We have a neighborhood facebook page and people are always asking for opinions about everything from doctors to cess pool pumpers. You hear the good and bad.

If that's not an option, I'd try asking neighbors and other locals.

Angie's list doesn't have a lot of local listings or information here in my smaller coastal town, but my sister in law in a larger city has used it with good results, although there have been a few exceptions too that didn't turn out as well as she had hoped.

Since I live where everyone knows everyone or knows someone who does, my suggestion would be find one trades person through an associate, neighbor, store referral (in my case its often extended family). If they work out and you are pleased, ask them for names and numbers. Chances are your painter will know a good and fair plumber, that plumber will have worked with a favorite electrician and they'll be happy to 'play it forward'.

I just last week asked my plumber for the name of someone who could update my new-to-me sprinkling system, and he called back with a number for me of man he thought would do quality and honest work. I trust my plumber, and will call for that estimate...

I've had best results from personal recommendations--my book club also operates as an unofficial clearinghouse :). A repairman tip got my dryer up and running 2 weeks ago. Just signed a contract to have a brick driveway done based on a colleague's good results. He lives in my neighborhood and I give him rides home so saw his and was impressed. A PTA colleague passed along a rec for her housepainter. The contractor for my bathrooms first did my SIL and MIL's. I passed on a thumbs up for my kitchen contractor to both the colleague and SIL and he did both theirs too. Etc.

I was thinking the other day that you know you are a middle aged homeowner when you have "people". As in, I have a painter. I have a driveway guy. I've got a good HVAC man. I have a window fellow. I've got a lot of men in my life for being an almost-30-years happily married woman!

You have my sympathies.

It took me years to find a plumber. I finally found a firm that won a Contractor of the Year award from Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. In keeping with my "If it's good enough for Air Force One, it might be good enough for me" approach, I sent the firm photos of my miserable washing machine hookups. The estimate was accurate, and the results were superb. I now ask for the particular person who arrived by name.

It depends where you live. I live in a major metropolitan area and Angies List, though not comprehensive, has really helped a lot. I joined after having a series of horrifying experiences with workman. Everyone I've hired using Angie's has been very good to amazing.

I will admit to having a bias against Angie's List. I sent them a complaint once when they were advertising on Gardenweb because with every click of the mouse--to open a new thread or close one already read--their ad popped up and had to be manually removed. After the complaint, AL bombarded my email box multiple times per day to the point that I had to block them altogether.

I use Consumers' Checkbook (checkbook.org), which is available for most sizable cities. I have used it to find a plumber (no complaints), an electrician (stellar--but we were his last job before retirement!), new HVAC (great service), a peridontist (excellent), an auto mechanic (very pleased), and tree removal (but we went with the guy who serviced a neighbor--seize the day!). Like arlosmom, I take the review comments with a grain of salt, but overall the service has been extremely helpful.

I recently went through a home renovation and have got contractors reference from construction and home improvement resource. Really it's a good resource to find professional contractors.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home Contractors

We have a contractor neighbor (painting, tiling, bathrooms & kitchens), and also an electrician in our neighborhood, part of the association. However, they can't do everything.

Once I was at an open house, and the RE agent said he has a lengthy list of contractors that he has used. So, when our normal routes could not get us someone to work on mortar, I contacted him and he referred us. So, RE agents are another good source.

A vote for Angie's List here. I've found some really good people. As far as 'contractor lists' from a commercial source (not people who have actually used them like the real estate agent example) I would never use those, because I do not know what the criteria for being on the lists are. What if they just pay a fee to be put on a list?

Also, I have taken the time to put reviews on Angie's list. While it is true that one pays for a subscription, I also think that unless people contribute with their reviews, it won't work the way it is supposed to work.

I just joined Angie's list, well a couple of weeks ago.

There aren't many contractors in my area that come up on searches, but I did use a plumber and was very pleased. It may have been more expensive than calling someone out of the yellow pages, but I've gone that route too and not always with good results. I've also gotten recommendations from neighbors and been very unhappy with the service.

Because the search results are so scattered on angie's list, what I finally started doing was going through my yellow pages and then checking out the names on Angie's list and with a google search for reviews.

I especially read the D & F grades on AL to see how the company responded to the negative review. There was one contractor who had mostly A reviews, but about 10% D&F and he was really surly in his responses to those reviews. And since a lot of the negatives were about his attitude, I figured they were right and marked him off my list.

There's also homeadvisor.com, but its search engine is worse than Angie's list and only has about 5 hits per search, and at least 3 are totally irrelevant, like getting a roofing contractor when the search term was drywall, or the contractor states in his profile that he works in a certain area and it's not my area. And I haven't found a way to go on to the next 5. With them, it's those 5 or nothing.

I started to sign up for red beacon from home Depot, but hesitated before putting in my phone number, so did a google search on reviews for them and I backed out. The bad reviews were mainly from contractors on contractor forums. With redbeacon, you fill out a form for the work you want done, and they send out the request to several contractors who do that work, and then send you quotes for the job. But one of the options on the form, for size of job, is "I don't know" and there is a comment box to explain the job, but it is optional. I was hoping to get reviews for contractors and then pick a couple to come do an estimate. There's no way a decent contractor will bid a job sight unseen, and I wouldn't want one who did. That's pretty much what the contractors' complaints were too. That and they have to pay redbeacon 25% of the contract amount, which makes me wonder how inflated the bid would be.

In the area where I live, there is one Whataburger and two gas stations. Around lunch time, there are a lot of workmen at both places, and I have jotted down info from the signs on their vehicles so I can check them out.

I have had great luck with recommendations from my local lumber yard. They know these guys personally since they are in and out of the place picking up supplies.

Also met and have used a great handyman for the last 10 years after we saw him working on a neighbors house and my husband went over and introduced himself. He now does all of the small jobs for most of us in our small neighborhood!

We've found wonderful tradespeople at our local Fire Station. Many firefighters work in a trade on their days off. If you have a job needed to be done, and are flexable with time demands, its a great place to find a handyman.

ML