Your Personal Home Manual ~ Connect To Expertise And Answers To Everything Home
Your Personal Home Manual ~ Connect To Expertise And Answers To Everything Home

Our History - Our Beginnings
And What Happened Next?

Our history begins with our mission!  From the very beginning, these basic, but important words describe what we have set out to provide for both the homeowners in our communities, and the service professionals in our network!


Quality       Trust       Safety       Ease

What Inspired This Business?

From the time I was a little girl, I would often hear my dad say, as he would shake his head, "There's always something!"  Sometimes he would say this out loud, and sometimes it would just be under his breath. He told me that as I get older, I would understand what he was talking about.


He was right!  As I got older I began to comprehend the realities and responsibilities of owning a home, a car, and raising a family!  He was definitely right!  There is always something!


The question is, what can we do to make, at least the responsibilities of owning a home easier and less stressful?  I knew there were many others asking the same question, so trying to answer it and to answer it the very best ways possible, was my inspiration!  I hoped to reach and help many thousands of people like me.


Diana Herzan, Founder, The Service Guide

Happy contractor

Our Beginning

In Minnesota in 2004, The Service Guide started as an idea!  The idea was to help local homeowners connect with quality local service providers.


The bigger idea was to help reduce the stress in this inevitable step for homeowners each time they would need help with home projects and repairs.


That turned out to only be the beginning!

Keep reading...
Happy couple
​Our Next Step
As long as we put ourselves in the Review Business, we decided to go all-in and developed a service with, you probably guessed it, integrity and transparency as it's foundation.  We thought, without these elements, what would be the point?

Big Change in 2008

Dial back your history and remember the year 2008.  Customer Reviews were getting a lot of attention and were picking up steam online.  There was a good reason for it.


Customer Reviews shared information that served as a strong indicator of quality, competency, experience and character of a business; all elements that build trust for the customer.


You're catching on, just as we did!  In 2008, The Service Guide made a big change to our service and added a Customer Reviews feature along with a community building membership feature.

Keep reading...

​Here is what we learned next and how we responded

Diana pondering next to a Trust Meter

An "a ha" moment that shaped the company

Several years into the company, I realized that the homeowners that were using my service valued the same principals.  Ironically, as much as great service providers and saving time were desired, it wasn't what mattered first.  Instead, they needed confidence about their decisions, which meant they needed to TRUST themselves, as well as service providers they would ultimately choose to help them.


Any way we framed it, it was TRUST that mattered first and still does!

Everything we do points to the same place >
That people are looking for TRUST first and foremost!

From that point forward, our model has stayed true to our mission!  We had been helping homeowners connect to expert service professionals, and now also to content, information, and an education, all based on that needed element of TRUST.


Consumers prove (and we are sure you know what we mean!) that TRUST is established in different ways and over time.  A variety of experiences and information together help cement that confidence necessary to move the needles forward on any customer's mental trust meter.

Our Goal:
To curate TRUST BUILDING information for our visitors

Serotonin signals safety in our brains

Why does TRUST BUILDING information matter?  How does it help you?

Trust Building information helps us because we all have our own mental TRUST METERS working for us, even when we don't realize they are there.


Human nature dictates when it is okay that we move forward, and when we cautiously stay back.  Human beings naturally stay back when they are unsure of safety, and proceed forward once safety has been confirmed.


The same instinct takes over when we are looking for someone to help us, or when we need to make important decisions.  In these processes, it is intuitive to try to eliminate vulnerability.  To do that, we need trust building information to signal safety and trust.


These signals give us the coveted confidence and comfort levels we need, the assurances that bring closure to a decision-making process and allows us to make choices we need to make safely.

Our process helps you simplify yours!

We know at some point, that you will be trying to learn and discover information to help you make decisions about home projects and repairs.  These decisions will not just affect your home.  They will affect your wallet, as well. 

Happy young couple

Reliability

Reliability of content matters!  We know the impact information you find can have on your research process and ultimately on the outcomes of your projects.  That's why we take the time we do to curate the best content and experts so you can be sure the information you are processing with is some of the best information you can get.

Expertise

The experience and knowledge of people who help you matters!  The experts in our Service Provider Network who have helped provide content, answers, and advice, have proven themselves to us, been vetted by us, and have confirmed their best interests align with ours, YOU!  When you receive advice or solution ideas from our experts, you know you can trust them.

Quality

Quality of content matters!  As a consumer, navigating your way through information only counts for you if you can rely on its quality!  To us, content quality reflects accuracy, relevancy, and transparency.

Today, one of the best resources homeowners trust!

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