Introduction

Homeowners searching to hire licensed contractors for home improvements have found exceptional convenience in working with online marketplaces featuring deep resources in the relevant skills. It saves them the time and effort of looking for the installer, remodeler, or renovator that fits the bill. Instead, the assumption is that iconic brands like HomeAdvisor have done the heavy lifting to weed out the best in the field. Therefore, referrals (recommendations) carry weight and provide the customer with the peace of mind that the job, once completed, will meet the highest expectations.

All this sounds fantastic, but unfortunately, it doesn’t always transition according to plan. Whenever humans are in the mix, processes can go amiss, and flaws appear against the odds. So, even with professional marketplaces, we may hire contractors relying on the latter’s due diligence, only to find the work quality failed against the hype. For example, the job wasn’t finished according to the promised schedule, left incomplete, or reflects shoddy craftsmanship. 

In the best of contractor projects, things sometimes don’t go to plan.

When things go wrong, and after exhausting all appeals to the relevant contractor, the next obvious step is to go back to the marketplace and complain. More pointedly, find out how they can get the referred contractor to finish the job as intended. In some cases, when the project is significantly botched, you may require the marketplace to step in and repair matters – even compensate you for damages. We looked at ten online platforms promoting pools of contractors to see what insurance and assurances customers get when accepting their recommendations – if or when they ultimately go off track.

“Insurances” and “Assurances” from contractor marketplaces.

There’s a crucial difference between the two concepts, but both are vital success ingredients. Marketplaces differ in the “assurances” they offer – a significant step away from insurances – but in many cases, as effective (if not more so). To be precise, assurance pertains to the effort and detail a platform will go to in helping the customer, short of monetary compensation.

Contractor referral platforms are not all the same. At first glance, they may look like the ideal solution, but they’re not. You’ll find that marketplaces thrive in certain specific skill categories, but sometimes fail miserably in others (even though they advertise the ones they fail in.) Second, they apply different due diligence standards, from “nothing” to “in-depth.” In other words, they’re either ready or not to stand behind their recommendations with hard cash recompensation for unacceptable quality. The latter is at the crux of this article, so we’ll show those that do and those that don’t. Generally, insurance (and assurance) willingness aligns closely with due diligence injected into the resource pool.

Therefore, while a marketplace’s objective should be to make life easier for the homeowner, we advise you research marketplace competency and not just accept their credentials at face value.

This article will give you comparative insights to make the task of marketplace selection successful. As the homeowner, you want a customer journey that’s seamless, smooth, and uneventful with a professional project leader. 

So, we’ll help you to locate the best of ten marketplaces, representing powerful backup (background checks, insurance, assurance, or all three) to erase potential frustration and monetary loss. The idea is to avoid scam artists, half-baked or never completed projects, dealing with contractors with no local office, and worthless warranties and guarantees.

HomeAdvisor and Angi

IAC owns these iconic companies. The pair are independent, competing with one another, yet are almost identical. As a homeowner, you don’t pay for their services that run across virtually any home improvement vertical you can think of.

Contact them and, almost instantaneously, look forward to contractors connecting with you for the project you have in mind. The bottom line is that HomeAdvisor and Angi sell your information to their numerous member contractors, each one of which comes to your attention with uniform marketplace due diligence. This  means a criminal background check, meeting all local work compliance, and a credit. Also, it includes seamless online appointment arranging, and a “Happiness Guarantee” against shoddy work, and possibly even damages if that doesn’t work.

A Happiness Guarantee is not straightforward. To understand what this translates to in practice, we recommend reading the HomeAdvisor and Angi company’s terms and conditions to understand exclusions and limitations. Nonetheless, assurances of fast action to right the ship are impressive throughout.

For example, a homeowner recently contracted a plumber to help repair a dishwasher through Angi. Things went wrong. So, on hearing the homeowner’s complaint, Angi posted it for all to see on the contractor’s Angi page and gave the latter two weeks to rectify things:

Note A: In the intensive competitive environment that Angi creates, an ugly review on one’s resume is equivalent to exclusion from further job opportunities.

The contractor acted quickly, and Angi removed the negative comments when the customer signified job completion. The happiness guarantee worked out fine on assurance backup alone. We discovered, however, that if there had been zero or inadequate contractor reaction for the size job in question, Angi wouldn’t have offered monetary compensation. In short, assurances were fantastic; insurances were simply non-applicable.

Note B: Insurance compensation, however, may have kicked in for a more sizable project. That’s why reviewing terms and conditions is vital.

Directorii

Angi and HomeAdvisor are substantially larger than Directorii, a marketplace that promotes a vast pool of US and Canadian local contractors in around six groupings that cover roofers for any situation (in almost every subcategory, including residential, commercial, flat roofs, and metal, to name a few). They also embrace contractors offer ing replacements, repairs, and new construction for gutters, sidings, HVAC, windows, and home improvement remodeling (kitchen, bathrooms, and whole house.)

Directorii’s assurance guarantees are second-to-none. They bend over backward to rectify misunderstandings or work that the homeowner perceives as below par. Other outstanding features in their marketplace protocols include a relatively compelling (up to) $20,000 insurance per job for shoddy work defects created due to Directorii recommendations.

Also, Directorii conducts a detailed due-diligence check that at least matches Angi and HomeAdvisor. Most impressive is the company culture that’s significantly nurturing to its paying members. It expresses a mission to see them succeed. It generally results in homeowners fielding relatively fewer interviews for a project, but each demonstrates stellar skill and reliability qualities.

Thumbtack

The Thumbtack service is homeowner free, with a simple process, whereby you post your project on the Thumbtack site. Then, the company sells your information to its paying member-contractors. Finally, you get bids.

Here are the Thumbtack differences versus HomeAdvisor, Angi, and Directorii: There’s no background check whatsoever. Therefore, don’t look to the marketplace for support or compensation in the event of poor job quality impacted by criminality, iffy creditworthiness, non-compliance, and defective licensing.

Unsurprisingly, Thumbtack offers no guarantees of work quality. However, many customers only want a lead and take on the due diligence responsibility. If that’s you, Thumbtack’s okay. The million dollar question is why when, for the same effort and no fee, you can do better with the three alternatives described above?

Answers: Well, one reason is that the platform offers contractor services that others don’t. Examples include house cleaning, local moving, babysitting, wedding officiants, and catering, to mention a few. A second reason is that, in some instances, contractor reviews are easy to access and assess.

Bark.com

Bark, launched in 2014, is free to homeowners and similar to Thumbtack in that there is no due diligence, fallback support, and guarantees and Warranties.

Bark offers activities that don’t traditionally find a place under the Angi and HomeAdvisor umbrella. For example – robust expertise in the IT and cybersecurity contractor arena.

Nonetheless, if you are willing to spend time reviewing and researching candidates, good connections are likely to occur. The compelling features boil down to Bark being best-suited for smaller jobs that cover a wide range of activities. Also, projects that are uniquely ahead of most in the home digital and IT arena, but also involve DJs, entertainers, bands, techies, and handypersons.

Bark is not a marketplace likely to attract large reputable roofing, gutter installation, and home renovation contractors.

Porch

Porch is free to homeowners like all the others described above. This interesting marketplace model positions itself somewhere between HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack for providing customer peace of mind.

Here’s the thing – it professes to do due diligence in some areas but not everywhere. Therefore, we advise verifying if your local jurisdiction qualifies or not for a thorough contractor analysis. Irrespective of whether they do or don’t offer integrity evaluation, there are no monetary guarantees behind Porch referrals. However, the company has a strong BBB affiliation. Consequently, it implies an assurance process to remedy faulty work, thus giving customers confidence in recommendations. Another feather in its cap is a Lowes’ endorsement. This massive do-it-yourselfer chain promotes Porch contractors to their shoppers.

So, although there’s no insurance and some twists and turns to travel through in selecting the right entity for the job, the assurance overlay looks solid.

Houzz

Houzz is a valuable referral source for home remodelers and improvements. The platform makes it easy to build contractor profiles alongside reviews and compelling advertising. Put it all together, and browsers get an integrative impression of possible project leaders.

Houzz provides interactive apps, thus allowing homeowners and home improvement businesses to create and build on visualization ideas. Interior designers, professional remodelers, and architects take to Houzz like a duck to water. Also, contemporary construction contractors specializing in things like metal roofing love the niche created by Houzz.

Here’s the takeaway: There are no Guarantees and no assurance processes in place to help in complaint situations. Once you hire, it’s all on you. Don’t rely heavily on reviews and testimonials on this site – prepare to do your due diligence. Items like history, license compliance, local offices, or financial stability are not inside this company’s scrutiny realm.

Yelp

One hundred and forty-seven million visitors annually (and counting) is some following. Why? Because the reviews on this site tend to be reliable, balanced, and significantly more objective than what you can expect to see on Houzz.

Simultaneously, like Houzz, Yelp allows contractors to advertise without any due diligence (unlike HomeAdvisor, Directorii, and Angi). It depends on its reliable review model to give customers the comfort they need to trigger a hire. Again, guarantees, assurance policy, and due diligence don’t enter the picture.

Another thing, this marketplace doesn’t have a specialized feel to it. Any contractor can promote themselves on Yelp (e.g., wedding planners, musicians, and kids entertainers). Moreover, although reviews tend to be accurate, not every advertiser connects to them.

However, you’d think it attracts those whose customers rave about their work quality, making assessment easy

GAF Directory

GAF is one of the country’s primary roofing material manufacturers. It also provides a marketplace for roofers who install their shingles. In most cases, a roof replacement or even a repair can run into thousands of dollars. So, you want to hire wisely because many things in this line of work can go haywire.

Directorii (above) arguably leads this arena, so let’s see how GAF compares. First, GAF claims its directory contains a reliable, resourceful collection of trained roofers to construct using GAF products. Thus, their central claim rests on their customers depending on using a proven, quality brand.

Benefits from the GAF conduct code must take into account a waiver stating:

“Contractors enrolled in GAF certification programs are not employees or agents of GAF, and GAF does not control or otherwise supervise these independent businesses. Contractors may receive benefits… for participating in the program and offering GAF enhanced warranties, which require the use of a minimum amount of GAF products.”

The waiver aside, customers are entitled to a finished roof inspection whenever a replacement or new construction is in the mix. Also, a 50-year Warranty on roof systems with an optional 25 years work quality warranty. Irrespective of the latter, all roof replacements attach to a 2-year work quality warranty. Note – none of this applies to straightforward repairs, where presumably the waiver takes effect if issues arise.

With Directorii, in many cases, customers get GAF “code of conduct” guarantees (or similar for other manufacturers) anyway. Directorii’s exceptional support (see above) is icing on the cake in these situations.

Atlas Roofing

Another roofing material manufacturer promotes a contractor resource pool with substantial shingles warranties. In this case, there are no craftsperson warranties whatsoever, which means it excludes new construction, replacements, and repairs.

Unqualified refusal to enter any work-related disputes underlines the above, notwithstanding that Atlas says their contractors are licensed and approved by them. Apples to apples, Atlas Roofing backup and support versus Directorii and GAF are relatively weak. There’s no way customers should ignore the need to execute self due diligence in the case of the Atlas marketplace

Conclusion

Where clear and defined, assurance protocols are mostly more effective than monetary insurance. That’s because robust support processes solve the problems before it ever gets to claiming damages for defects. Nonetheless, insurance in the equation adds an extra layer of protection and bolsters the brands’ integrity significantly.

Only three companies (all in the home improvement arena) offer Assurance and Insurance (with limitations) alongside extensive background checks around criminality, credit ratings, licensing, and reviews. They are HomeAdvisor, Angi, and Directorii.

One roofing marketplace (GAF Directory) offers Assurance and Insurance (but not on repairs – a massive field of activity). Also, background checks similar to (3) above.

Porch offers Assurance via BBB backing and Lowe’s endorsement but zero insurance latitude10. They do background checks but only in certain areas.

Four companies offer no Assurance, Insurance, or background checking. Notwithstanding, they all have a considerable following, especially Yelp (because they’re strong on objective reviews). They are Thumbtack, Bark, Houzz, and Yelp.

Atlas Roofing offers no Assurance or Insurance. However, it claims to qualify contractors on licensing and creditworthiness and does offer product quality warranties.