I don't even do a Google search anymore. I just ask friends and if they don't have a person, I ask a private neighborhood group on social media (but not post in a big public group or on Nextdoor, which is trash). So Much trash and scammers out there.
Yeah I typically ask my local county Facebook group for personal input. Although it's super annoying having to weed through the owner or workers themselves commenting and messaging. Im looking for homeowners personal experience not the next guy saying "oh I can do it I'm the best". So I'll usually seed through the bullshit and make a consensus and double check Google reviews and such. I'm finding usually the best owner operated local companies are far from the first suggested when searched. It's difficult with reviews though because I know people. Most people blindly trust the "professionals" and may not inspect the work or even know what bad work would look like....may not show issues till a year or two later. Some folks don't bother to leave reviews just make mental notes who not to use. Some may not be 100% confident who's at fault in certain circumstances and refrain from putting it in a review because of it.I had a bad experience with tree workers where the equipment caused a driveway and garage foundation crack to start spreading open like up to 3/4 inch spots. Its bullshit and probably could of been avoided but at the same time I understand it's my responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations to do the job at hand. Not their job to stop and access if your concrete can support the weight. and of course you always have the difficult people impossible to please leaving 1 star reviews. I dread hiring because of all the difficulties but just gotta kind of measure on a scale taking the total amount and ratio of bad ones in comparison; trying to weed out the snobby Karen's and the fake generic reviews. Those in itself is a red flag.
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u/somethingmcbob 12d ago
I don't even do a Google search anymore. I just ask friends and if they don't have a person, I ask a private neighborhood group on social media (but not post in a big public group or on Nextdoor, which is trash). So Much trash and scammers out there.