Home Improvement Contractor Reviews: Customer Satisfaction Surveys

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How do you know which home improvement contractor is best for you? Finding trustworthy, unbiased sources of information can be tough. Contractors only publish customer testimonials about their best jobs and, of course, they’ll only refer you to their happiest customers for references. That’s only natural. But what about all the other jobs a contractor has done? How do they measure up then?

At Home Town Restyling, we are open and transparent when it comes to our home improvement contractor reviews, even if the feedback is sometimes critical. The most effective tool we’ve found in getting this kind of feedback is by offering a customer satisfaction survey on EVERY job and reporting the feedback to you, the customer. The company we use is Guild Quality and they have been gathering these unbiased, detailed reviews from actual customers for the home improvement industry since 2003.

We find this process is essential for improving our business and providing a great overall customer experience. The surveys provide:

  • Independent reviews from actual customers – no need to sort out the fakes, the trolls or the professional review writers
  • An opportunity for customers to provide frank and honest feedback without awkwardness or fear of hurting the feelings of the sales rep or the crew
  • Specific, detailed survey questions about performance covering everything from communication skills to cleanliness to construction quality and expertise

While other online review sites provide good information, their data often comes from either the happiest or least happy clients. This kind of data doesn’t give you a complete picture of the whole business. By contrast, Guild Quality offers detailed surveys to every Home Town Restyling customer and reports customer feedback here so you can get a more complete idea of how we’re doing.

Of course, we also recommend checking with several other sources when looking for a contractor: friends and colleagues, the Better Business Bureau, Angie’s List and even state regulatory agencies to research if a company has had past complaints. But even taking those steps won’t give you a complete picture of the work done by any given contractor.

One of the most important things to check on is how the home improvement contractor hires its labor. Do they have a transient crew, traveling from job to job, with high turnover and sketchy background checks? Or are the crews made up of locally hired, full time employees who call the area home and take pride in their work? You will be sharing your home with these crews for the duration of your project. A contractor is only as good as the crew it hires so it’s important to ask these questions.

Online reviews websites like Google+ or Yelp can give you some insight into the kind of work a contractor does. But these popular review sites are vulnerable to people who want to abuse the system by leaving phony or paid reviews. You can avoid many of the worst types of fake reviews by sticking with reputable industry sites like Angie’s List that ensure only actual customers can leave reviews.

Home Town Restyling is a full service home improvement contractor with licensed and insured crews on staff for professional installation. Stop by our showroom or contact us today for more information. You can also download your FREE Guide, Iowa Contractor Comparison Guide – How to Make Your Remodeling Project a Success for more tips on hiring the right local contractor.

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