Homeowners are familiar with Angi’s and Home Advisor for customer reviews and ratings on companies who provide home and garden products and services, but there’s more to consider than just customer satisfaction when you want to improve or maintain your home by allowing people on your property.
There are specific online searches and government services that can be used to check the financial and legal health of companies, as well as their competence – all which can affect how well it can deliver what it promises.
Here are seven of those options to consider as you evaluate companies with whom you would like to do business.
Read: Tips To Update And Customize Your House
Sunbiz.org – Search a company name or owner name here, and the website will include how many years a company has been open for business and who owns it. Use the owner’s or “registered agent” name to conduct other searches below. Companies often lie about how long they have been in business.
Trade Associations – Trade associations keep businesses up-to-date in their industry. They also issue awards to top companies that are active members. But many small businesses will misrepresent their memberships as “current” when they haven’t paid membership dues for sometimes, years. Verifying trade association claims by a company is a great way to test their honesty.
News searches – Use Google or other search engines like privacy-protected Duck-Duck-Go to find out what’s been made public through the news about a company. Enter in the company name as you know it from a business card, flyer or other point of contact, and add the word “news” as your last keyword. All kinds of articles can potentially pop up, covering the company’s latest hires, new owners or managers, mergers and acquisitions, new locations – even lawsuits or bankruptcies.
Legal searches -You can also enter a keyword search by using the company name and using the word “lawsuits” after the company name, in lieu of the word “news.”
For unpublished lawsuits, key in your county name, then add the words “clerk of court” and the website for your county courthouse will pop up. Click on a search for public records, enter the company’s name under the “business” tab (not a personal name with date of birth required), and any lawsuits will be listed and explorable. Keep in mind that companies are sometimes unjustly sued.
Offender.fdle.state.fl.us – The FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) Sexual Predator and Offender System lists active sexual offenders and predators by county and by name. Many home improvement companies, from roofers to general contractors to landscape companies, hire independent workers without conducting background checks.
Indeed.com – This employment website, like Glassdoor.com and a few others, gives homeowners insight into how happy employees are with the company being researched. It’s difficult to know which complaints – or praises – are authentic, but some reviews are specific enough to give insight.
Better Business Bureaus – These non-government entities are located throughout the U.S. and report on BBB members and non-members alike. Complaints on their websites are likely always legitimate from the unhappy consumers’ standpoint, but it’s interesting to note how many companies successfully rebut consumers’ complaints. Considerable detail is often provided in BBB complaints, providing more insight for prospective customers. BBBs also work closely with State consumer agencies and attorneys general.
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