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Terri´s Blog
Terri Gruca - WCCO  The Service Guide featured on WCCO-TV
Terri Gruca attributes her interest in consumer reporting to her upbringing. Terri is one of five children, and claims her parents were the "Masters" of making money stretch. She´s turned her interest into a career and will now share her tips with you.
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Finding Reliable Contractors
Typically the busiest time of the year for contractors is the summer. But that´s not the only trouble you can have finding someone qualified to do work around your home. It can take a lot of effort to check out a contractor and make sure they´re reliable.
It´s why Diana Herzan created The Service Guide.com. The free site lists contractors who are licensed, insured, bonded, have good records with the Better Business Bureau and have no enforcement actions with the state of Minnesota.
Right now there are about 170 contractors and 330 different categories on the site--everything from landscapers to painters to snow removal. The contractors pay to be on the site. But Diana tells me they have turned away contractors who wanted to pay, but didn´t meet the qualifications.
Each contractor´s record is checked out quarterly. Diana also says her company calls the businesses to see how reliable they are at returning phone calls and answering questions.
"Not returning a phone call, believe it or not, is the number one complaint consumers have when doing business," said Diana. "So we test that to make sure that´s real and it actually happens."
The Service Guide.com also offers a discount card which can save you as much as 5% on work by any of the mentioned contractors. The card itself is free. Diana says the company just keeps information on the customers who get it so they can better determine what kind of services they may need to provide in the future.
How to Recover Money from a Bad Contractor Deal
Many times getting money back from a bad contract deal can be difficult. You can sue contractors in small claims court, but I´ve heard many cases where people even after winning judgments, are unable to collect any money.
The state of Minnesota has a recovery fund set up that can help. That fund is designed to pay people who have been wronged by contractors. Each contractor pays into this fund. There are some catches with this. The state limits how much you can receive and the state decides whether or not your case qualifies. But if you´ve had a problem it´s another way for you to possibly recover some money. To see how to do this go here.
Best time to schedule service
Back in November I put together a story about the best times to hire people to work around your home. You can find that
here.
Helpful Links
MN Department of Labor
Building Codes and Standards
Residential Building Contractors
License Lookup
Enforcement Actions Against Contractors
MN Secretary of State
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