There are an amazing number of options and resources to be found online for any need or curiosity. For example, finding repair services used to be a task for a phone book and word of mouth. This allowed disreputable repair and contracting firms to persist, damaging lives through unethical business practices and poor workmanship. But, now if you need something like foundation repair in Dallas you can type in a search for “Dallas foundation repair companies” and find yourself inundated with a list of potential companies. You can then examine their websites, see who lists what information, where they’re based and how long they’ve been in service.
You can also search for people’s comments about their experiences working with a specific company. For construction and repair companies the comment section is a bit different than for a product. People will know when a product works perfectly (generally) and might take the time out of their day to comment. For construction and repair people tend to only comment negatively, or not at all. So it’s an acquired skill but you want to learn how to read comments, if they exist. Essentially you look for patterns of behavior and things that suggest a lack of ethics. If you don’t find any negative comments for a repair company you have a winner. Unlike other products not finding any comments at all isn’t a warning flag.
Something like a foundation repair company isn’t going to scream out to consumers that it needs a review. So when you search on Yelp or other sites that aggregate consumer reviews it’s important to keep in mind that a place not appearing is better than finding negative comments for one. Think back to the last time you had something repaired, was the company professional and courteous? If yes would you be able to write a review more complex than: “Did job and left”.
Remember the internet does let you find your options for things like “Dallas foundation repair companies” but it’s an imperfect system. You might not find many or any reviews for some companies. This is especially true for business to business groups that aren’t working with private home owners. Use the internet critically, use the websites the companies have, examine their clientele, and the reviews posted. Use all of the information, don’t just rely on the posted reviews or lack thereof.
