Quick Question! – If everyone says they have the best products and services, then can someone tell me, why is it that according to several reputable websites, the biggest complaints from consumers are those that work with home improvement companies?

According to PURGULA, ABC, Forbes, Remodelers Magazine, and so many others are saying the same types of things. “Innovation For Homeowners” states that “Home Improvement and Construction-related complaints were ranked at the top in terms of “worst” types of complaints and ranked second highest in terms of the overall number of all types of consumer complaints.”

Unsurprisingly, Home Improvement and Construction is a recurring top complaint category, as this type of issue often involves significant amounts of money and can cause great inconvenience. Consequently, consumers are more likely to report problems and seek help. Home Improvement and Construction also topped the list of the worst complaints, as the most severe situations can make residences uninhabitable and create extreme emotional distress.

1. Home Improvement/Construction: Shoddy work, failure to start or complete the job.
2. Services: Misrepresentations, shoddy work, failure to have required licenses, failure to perform.
3. Home Solicitations: Misrepresentations, abusive sales practices, and failure to deliver in door-to-door, telemarketing or mail solicitations, do-not-call violations.

Why DoorAdviser PRO?

Simply put, we aren’t salespeople trying to sell you a product or service.  We instead work with the homeowner and find a responsible solution for their home projects.

Not all projects require expensive materials just because of the company that they chose to work with.  Instead, DoorAdviser.PRO takes a different approach to the consumer.  We believe that educating the homeowner on the different products and services is important, but we also care about their financial well-being.

The problem that we see nowadays is that consumers aren’t aware of the long-term effects of paying for a service that has a term of many years just to lower the monthly payments.  From the start, they could have received the same type of products and services at a cost that is desirable.

For example, why put high-quality windows in a garage or three-season room when it’s unheated and not used during the winter; besides the garage?  You wouldn’t; or would you.  A good salesperson can convince you otherwise.  This is where DoorAdviser.PRO comes in.  Our consultants would advise a solution that is responsible and forthcoming; which in return makes sense both in terms of products and terms/costs.

Bottom line, we as a company know that there are some fantastic companies to work with; however, there are some awful ones too.

Be Aware Of These Guys

Researching a company can be difficult, especially for the homeowner.  There is simply too much to look for and finding reviews online are misleading or self-generated.

ProDash.PRO and DoorAdviser.PRO has come up with a small list to watch out for.

1. Research the company’s address.  Why? Because many companies can use rented office space for a few hundred dollars per month.  They can easily get a local phone number from many online VoIP telecommunications companies to look as if they are local contractors.  Many of these kinds of contractors are often found in high-ticket projects like roofing.
2. Storm Chasers. These guys are getting smarter by the year.  One of the easiest high-ticket items is the roofing industry, and the sale is done as long as the insurance pays.  These guys will find hail-damaged roofs that shouldn’t have a claim but talk to the homeowners to set up a claim with their insurance.  This practice is borderline fraud or should I say unethical, but the practice is done.
3. Pushy Salespeople.  Granted, 99% of salespeople in the construction industry are paid 100% commission.  Some that will not take “NO” for an answer are probably not the company that you want to work with.
4. Investor Purchased Businesses.  Sometimes in the construction industry, businesses will be purchased by investors.  The idea of an investor to purchase a business is to be profitable.  And with that said, it may include taking short-cuts on cutting quality control personnel out in the field and where the field managers are now quality control.  This often leads the field manager to accept improper installation just so they wouldn’t have to return to the same customer/job site.  Uneducated customers will usually just sign away as they are completely satisfied.
5. Companies That Pay Their Way To The Top.  These companies will increase the cost marginally of all their products.  This is how they pay for the 5 pm news channels and other marketing platforms that are not cheap.  So, in other words, a window that should cost the consumer $1049 is now $1449 because four hundred is used for marketing.  So a home with ten window installations just made that company four-thousand in marketing.  Multiply that number with more customers, and you’ll see how easy it is to spend upwards of 50k per month in marketing.  Yeah, we all know they’re the best because the TV said so…
6. First Visit Reviews.  The newest trend for companies is training their sales force to get the customer to write an A+/5-STAR REVIEW when nothing was done other than a sales demo.  Customers will write up a review, but at first glance from other customers finding reviews on companies can send a false narrative because it’s done by the sales team and not completed after the job is done.  So in other words, a company that is failing the consumer aspect can quickly get its ratings high again by using its friendly sales team to make friends with the customer to boost the ratings.

Our approach to reputable companies first starts with educating the homeowner.  Finding the right company for the job actually is a benefit for contractors because, to be frank, they do not want to waste their time on a project that isn’t going to benefit the consumer.  Being friends with the salesperson at the time is one thing; but just remember, at the end of the day, it’s business.