Hellobee Boards

Usually referrals. Finding a good contractor is so hard. The guy we hired for our big office renovation (friend of DH's family) turned out to be a pretty big bomb.

Usually referrals from family/friends.

Yelp and referrals

We'd definitely referrals if possible, which is hard since almost everyone we know is a avid DIYer. The one time we actually hired someone, it wasn't a referral, and it was a nightmare.

I use referrals from my realtor.

Referrals, we have a neighborhood list serv, our Realtor knows people and just asking around. Thankfully so far that has worked for all of our needs.

We got a referral from DH's coworker. We went to her house and inspected his work.

Referrals.

Referrals. I feel better about someone using them before and can vouch for their work.

Referrals

Our city has a "Home Owners Club." For a small yearly fee, they match you to one of their pre-screened contractors (you can also get bids from several if it's a bigger job). Instead of paying the contractor directly, you pay the club and they pay the contractor as long as you're satisfied with the work. If you're not, the club sends out an inspector and will mediate the dispute. The contractors aren't allowed to charge more for club jobs than for other jobs, so it works out to be a pretty good setup. We've used it for a small job (ceiling fan installation) and a big job (insulating the attic) and were very happy. We don't have a huge network of friends and family around here to get referrals from, so this fills the gap nicely.