Finding a reliable contractor for homeowners is very difficult. Traditionally, you found them via word of mouth (your neighbor hired a plumber who did a good jo

Finding a reliable contractor for homeowners is very difficult. Traditionally, you found them via word of mouth (your neighbor hired a plumber who did a good job; your cousin the carpenter recommended a roof guy; etc)... you don't need a large network to get some useful information, but AngiesList helps you expand that network by providing more reliable reports from real experiences (i.e., not so easily gamed by sock-puppetry on "free" review sites). Also, finding a contractor is often about avoiding bad vs. discovering the good.