I’ve been a homeowner since last year and finally decided to join Angie’s List. I’m glad I did: it has saved me potentially thousands of dollars on some plumbing work I need done sometime in the near future. More on that in a minute.
If you aren’t familiar with Angie’s List, it is a consumer review site where user reviews of service companies are aggregated. The kinds of companies that Angie’s List includes range from plumbing to drain cleaning to hardwood floor repair. The value in Angie’s List is that no company can pay to be on the site. There is an option for companies to respond to user’s reviews, which can be insightful. For example someone said that a certain plumbing company “would not do the job; we were willing to pay but they would not take the job.” To which the company replied that the house was essentially a “hoarder” house with bags of trash piling up inside and that they agreed to do the job once the work site was sanitary. Angie’s List also is not a free site; you are required to pay to use the site.
Membership Cost and Options
Besides the basic list that Angie’s List started with, they also offer Angie’s List Health & Wellness: Physicians, dentists, hospitals and more. Additionally you can bundle the two lists when you sign up. If you are skeptical of Angie’s List and the value it provides, you can just sign up for monthly membership, which is $3.75. A full year, as of this writing, is $35.
User Interface and Searching for Companies
Angie’s List has a user-interface that makes it easy to start finding reviews of companies that can help you with whatever problem you may have. When you log into the website, the home page takes a page out of Google’s playbook and has a search box placed in a prominent position:
Once you search, you will be given a list of company’s that match your search keyword(s). Below is an example of what I got when I searched “drain repair.” Notice that there are many ways to filter your search, including distance from your home. Additionally, notice the sort options, which I find particularly helpful.
Reviews
While a nice user interface is nice, the real value in Angie’s List is the reviews. This is the main reason I signed up in the first place. Below is a sample review. My absolute favorite part of the reviews is the approximate cost. As you will read at the end of this post, quotes can range wildly from company-to-company, especially since you are often dealing with problems that you have little background on. These situations can sometimes be time-sensitive and stressful. If you do your research, though, you can find a company that not only does a job for a fair price but does a high quality job and fixes any issues as they come up.
How It Can Save You Thousands of Dollars
Angie’s List has already saved me potentially thousands of dollars. If you aren’t familiar with my sewer issue, I have to replace part of my sewer drain-out. Roto-Rooter gave me an estimate of $7,000 for the repair, and the individual who gave me the quote seemed to be somewhat taking advantage of my new homeowner status and the fact I had little to no knowledge of plumbing systems. Well, we waited it out and two months later our drain-out got clogged again. Through Angie’s List I was able to do the following:
- Search various plumbing companies in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area
- Read reviews by countless individuals of various companies
- See how much companies charged these individuals for various work
- Find a company that specializes in the repair I needed AND had nearly unanimous positive feedback
I was able to find a small business that I trust with an owner who seems to genuinely care about me making the best decision possible. His repair quotes are also half that of Roto-Rooters, and he has not had criminal investigations as they have had in the past few years. Needless to say, I am very happy with the return on my relatively small investment into Angie’s List.
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Sounds interesting. Thanks for the great review!
@MonsterPiggyBank Maybe they will eventually add a service like this in Australia ;) I’m surprised they haven’t expanded there yet.
Good review DC! I’ve seen the commercials, of course, but never knew anyone who used them personally. That’s awesome you’re going to be able to save so much on the cost of the sewer repair. I think the lack of criminal investigations alone was worth the cost of the membership. ;)
@FrugalRules Haha yes, the last thing I want to do is have to get a lawyer and go through that process, though I would have definitely done so if I went with them and felt I got ripped off intentionally. I’m surprised you don’t know anyone who personally uses it, but even more surprising is when I talk to people who haven’t even heard of it. They have really ramped up their TV advertising.
Does it really only cost $35 to join for one year? That seems pretty reasonable!
@Holly at ClubThrifty At first I thought you said “unreasonable” haha. $35 is the sticker price, but like I said on the bottom there are promo codes that can make it cheaper. Plus you can save another 20% if you use paypal (on top of any promo codes). It’s very reasonable for the information available on the site.
Nice review DC. I didn’t know it cost so little to join. That is reasonable. It is also good to hear that you easily covered the cost of the membership and nice to hear that you are able to save a ton by using it.
@DebtRoundUp Yeah all in all has been a good experience, and I’m sure there will be many more instances where I will use it.
Great review. I’ve been thinking about signing up for Angie’s List for quite some time.
@SenseofCents Thanks! I would highly recommend it. I put it off for a while and now I’m wondering why the heck I didn’t sign up earlier. Could’ve saved more money by not using Roto Rooter in the first place, their prices are literally TWICE that of the second company I used!
How valuable is Angie’s List if you live in a town of 4,000 and the next largest city is half hour away? With the smaller population there is likely a smaller proportion using Angie’s List and the pool of reviews could come from only a select few.
@willkornbaum Probably still fairly valuable, especially if you are hiring a contractor for electrical/plumbing/etc. I think you’d be surprised. You could always just sign up for a month membership and see how it works?
I remember when Angie’s List first started and I thought what a brilliant idea! We see ads on TV for it all of the time as well. It is important to have a resource that you can turn to when you need things that you have never needed before, such as your case. Good to hear that you found someone that you can rely on and feel good about dealing with. One less thing to worry about.
@TacklingOurDebt Absolutely! I have plenty to worry/stress about, so it’s nice to have a go-to source when emergencies arise.
I’ve heard a ton about it, but I’m not sure I see the value yet for me. If I had a looming, large purchase like you do then I would probably join just to get some good options for repair. As of now, I don’t think we’d really use it, but I will definitely consider it when something larger comes up.
@CommonCentsWealth I’m surprised you didn’t sign up when you guys redid your kitchen! They have a ton of reviews of remodelers.
@DC @ Young Adult Money Yea, we had a personal reference for that one (although I did do my own research as well), so it wasn’t really needed. Also, I’m not sure I knew it was so cheap a year ago or else I may have joined.
@CommonCentsWealth Totally makes sense. I am very happy with Angie’s List and will probably use it for just about anything we have done to our house, plus might look at new mechanics and a few other things.
We just got through a six-week, expensive, frustrating, scam-like experience with a plumbing company and in the middle of it all I could think was “I should have joined Angie’s List before we started all of this.” Of course I didn’t know if that would’ve actually helped – I’ve only seen the ads – but reading this post confirms what I was thinking. Once you’re in the midst of a project, it’s too late to know that a plumber is going to keep finding new ways of making you pay. It’s best to know that before. Lesson learned!
@CareerAvoidance I’m sorry to hear that, I almost had the same experience. I am very grateful for not going forward with the massive plumbing project with Roto Rooter. It could easily have ended up being 4x the price that another company will charge.
I hope that you find a legit plumber for your future projects.
I’ve seen their ads on TV, but haven’t tried them myself. But I really like the idea behind them. I always check reviews, but it can be hard weeding out fake reviews, etc. I definitely think if we did a big remodel project it would be worth the cost. $35 is definitely not a bad price when you think of the cost of hiring a bad contractor, etc. Thanks for sharing your story.
@TheHeavyPurse Thanks for commenting! Angie’s List seems to do a pretty good job of weeding out fake reviews, and they have a lot more reviews (and more information in the reviews) than a lot of the review sites out there.
I’ve never tried them myself. However, sometimes I wish that I had. There have been a few times when contractors out of the phone book have left me high and dry. I went by shiny ads. Perhaps I should join and use references next time.
When we bought out condo one of the first things we did was get a membership at Angie’s list. We didn’t need any work done, but did get some quotes for some cosmetic things. Well worth the money in my opinion.
I think that type of service would be well worth it. They don’t really use that in my area. That is certainly a downside of a rural place, no Angie’s, Craig’s list, etc.