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Tuesday, January 21st
Houzz is an all-inclusive company with services to help people come up with ideas to build and maintain the home of their dreams and furnish it. They have grown into a community of millions of homeowners who shop their website and find contractors through them too.
Contracting is not their focus
Although contractor-finding is an option through Houzz, it's not their main product. Almost anyone familiar with this company likely bought a new rug or dining set through them, not hired someone to fix their roof.
Home remodeling only
Houzz' contractor-finding tool is typical of what you'll find anywhere else: enter your project location, answer questions about it, and get connected with pros for free. They say there are over 2.7 million professionals available through their site and over 100,000 people are connected with a contractor each month. However, we noticed that the options for services all revolve around home remodeling and design. If you just need some trees removed, a water heater installed, or your driveway leveled, Houzz isn't going to cater to that.
Bring your ideas to life
If you're in the market for a remodel, Houzz might be a good option if you need design work. As part of your contractor search, you can find someone to help your ideas come to life if you're starting over with part of your home or business. This is the bread and butter of Houzz.
Keep your communications organized
Once you choose what type of project you're going for, you let Houzz know the square footage, price range, and timeline. You'll be shown a series of pictures you can select that highlight the style you're going for. These match you to designers who created and completed the projects you see. From there you can browse your options by reading reviews from other customers, seeing photos from their projects, viewing awards they've received and more. You can message them directly and make notes about your conversation. In addition, the site allows you to track the status of your conversation in case you're working with multiple designers and need to keep things straight.
See active licenses
Houzz doesn't outline the credentials required for professionals to be listed on their site, but you can see that the contractors have an active license, how long it typically takes for them to respond, and what unique tools they provide to help with your process (like 3D visualization).
Reviews primarily for furnishings
Houzz has an "A+” rating from the Better Business Bureau and overall good reviews from customers. The tricky thing about this is that almost all of it is in regards to the home furnishing side of their business, not their contractors. You can see customer reviews on the individual contractor profiles (if they have any), but outside of that, it's hard to say how useful their matching tools are.
Just average for most contractor-type projects
What Houzz focuses on, it does very well. But, since Houzz mostly caters to remodels and not day-to-day maintenance issues, they've earned an average rating from us. They're just not well-rounded enough to really rank with the higher-ranked services on our list.
Every homeowner knows that as the years go by, house repairs and projects never end. Not everyone knows how to fix or build everything required to keep a home beautiful and fully functioning. And even if they do, does anyone really have time for all that? Whether it's patching a roof, pouring cement, fixing the plumbing, or bringing a remodel to life, you'll probably "need a guy” to help you out.
Contractors are a great option for home repair and upkeep solutions because you can find one who's an expert in their field and work with them directly to get the job done. You can sidestep big companies that often take longer and charge higher fees. Contractors make their own schedules, have their own equipment, and can work with you on pricing rather than having to charge what a big company might.
Looking online to find a contractor has become very popular in recent years. Scouring the newspapers or looking for yard signs is long a thing of the past. Today there are companies whose sole purpose is to connect homeowners with handymen skilled at all types of crafts. But among these companies there is still a wide variety of features, checks, and services that you should be aware of.
It's important that you're able to build a relationship with your contractor enough that you feel comfortable having them in and around your home. Finding a contractor online allows you to vet your prospective handyman (or woman) by checking their business license, reviews, pricing, previous projects, and more. Using the right platform to find a contractor will give you peace of mind that you're in good hands and will get your job done professionally and efficiently.
There are quite a few companies to help connect you with contractors, so we have provided important information for you to consider when deciding who to go through:
Top Consumer Reviews has reviewed and ranked the best sites to find contractors for hire. We hope this information helps you find the right person to take care of your home projects!
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