Be Careful Who You Hire to Work on Your Home! 

Never click Google Sponsored Links

Even if I recognize the name when I search for something like this, I never NEVER click on a link if it is labeled as 'Sponsored'. Drill down to the same link that's not sponsored. The search engine won't make any money on your click and it helps prevent targeted ads. Also, when I do pick a site to get info or help from, I always search for their contact info. It's amazing how many legitimate looking sources there are that have no actual building or contact info. If you notice that, run...and keep searching.

I am a former contractor. My recommendation, if you have zero personal connections, is to go to visit local supply houses and ask the guys at the counter who they would recommend. Then have at least three of those leads come out to look at your job. Because you are asking the counter guys for something, not buying anything, make it worth their while to talk to you by bringing food. Don't go early during the morning rush, go late morning and bring donuts. Or go late mid afternoon and bring a pizza. You'll get a lot more information this way.

Most dangerous part is changing doors. When I changed mine I bought them from company with good reputation but I also bought own lock and installed it myself and camera in doorbell after workers left. When I checked camera one day I was shocked. I saw one guy from that company who worked at mounting door tried to get into my home, he tried to open lock but since key didn't worked he fled. I called to police and gave them evidence (video from camera) but I didn't pressed the charges. I was suprised when few weeks later I got call from procurator's office to come there to sign papers that would allow to use my video as evidence in case against that guy and his boss. Seems that company had shady buisness, because few months after each installation of door they were breaking into clients homes and houses to steal. Unfortunetly the came to prey upon my home too quick :)

Talk with neighbors or friends for a referral. Make sure the contractor is licensed and bonded by going on your states website, usually L&I. If materials are delivered to your project, make sure you get a lien release from the suppliers. This ensures suppliers won't come after you for payment for said materials.

“I decided to look up their location and go talk to them in person.” This is something I would do - since I hate talking on the phone. Many businesses are surprised when a customer walks in, when all their appointments are handled over the phone. Side note - I ordered some custom made steel grates (long story) and I called to place the order bc I had questions. When he took the order and asked for my shipping address, he was surprised when I said I would just come pick them up. They don’t really have a front office, but the guy called me when they were ready, and I drove an hour out to the shop, and he gave me a tour of the facility.

I needed an electrician once. I just put it in a community Facebook group what I needed and a guy who is the father of this kid I went to high school with answered. He showed up when he was supposed to, did a good job. I was happy

My parents once hired a contractor named Gordon. My dad saw his van, and thought it would be a good idea. Gordon was an absolute terror. He was creepy towards me and my younger sister, cleaned his paint brushes off the neighbours house, left paint residue in the bathroom sink, missed up any paint job, oh, it was awful. My dad wanted to pay him for what he did and hire someone else. Gordon started screaming and being hostile. I also did some digging of my own, and couldn’t find a website or even a Facebook page for that that guy. My parents called the police on him from how bad he was.

I'm going start a business and just call it Powell and Sons!! I'm getting free nationwide advertising!!

This is the equivalent to trying to hire people to do your doors or siding through Lowes. The people who get hired through that are so horrible. We finally got our doors done and they installed every door incorrectly TWICE. Siding has been delayed so many times over because the doors and the siding people calling out that we've been calling out left and right and now we have to pay extra for the longer wait. It sucks cause we've been trying to get the house done after being devastatingly hit by Hurricane Ian. I think hiring through Lowes is a bigger scam in itself.

I got put into one of these when I searched for a window contractor to help me repair 3 windows. Just. Repair. Never did find a window contractor that repaired windows, but oh boy did I get a million window replacement companies that would LOVE for me to replace all 23 windows in my house, and anything less than 10 windows and they wouldn't take the job! I ended up getting some glass cut, a whole bunch of silicone, and doing the job myself. ....I still get calls from people in India asking if I'm interested in window replacement services, almost 2 years later.

You should do a video on Google sponsored links. They almost always have scams. Or always shady sites.

I moderate a neighborhood group on FB, and watching your videos helps me weed out members and posts that are scammy, so thanks for that. Our default setting is EVERY post has to be preapproved, and once we learn someone is a legit neighborhood resident we preapprove their posts. But one rule we have is that NO ONE can self-promote/advertise/spam the group. That protects a lot of our members from contractors that are looking to prey on group members. If someone asks for recommendations, then people can provide them, but again, no one who's actually a contractor is supposed to answer.

As a new homeowner, I'm glad I'm capable of doing most home-repair/upgrade work on my own. Whenever I need something big done, like a new roof or sewer work, etc... I'll just count my savings and dish out the extra dough to use a credible, known service, unless I have a lead on a decent independent contractor.

Never click Google sponsored links! More people need to see this video!!!

Don’t ever click on a “sponsored” link oh and Powell and sons are the #1 in my city too in New Jersey,thank you please keep doing what you do❤️

I am in construction and the saying " you get what you pay for!" is 100% correct. Be carful on who you hire don't get the cheapest or don't get the most expensive.

Thanks for showing us how this works!

Ben is hands down the best source for useful content on the internet

I always, ALWAYS, ask on our neighbors page for my area. You get recommendations for local people from local people. You also get told the bad stuff too so you can get a more rounded idea of the work and prices as well as their behavior towards customers.

Lately I go directly on YT looking for D.I.Y. tutorials (for things that I don't already know how to handle), as I'm a reasonably handy guy with a fair bit of tinkering experience. The only things I don't tackle myself are gas lines, centralized heating (at the apartment) and high voltage power connections. When I do need to hire a professional I always ask to see their certification(s) first, as around here the main problem is large numbers of "handymen" posing as specialists in stuff they're not actually qualified for.

Its a nightmare we have the same problems in the UK. 🇬🇧 If you need any work done your better asking family & close friends. Do feel for you so much. Sadly scammers are everywhere. Glad you got your drain sorted. Thanks for highlighting this problem. Please be careful & remember you are loved. ❤🤗

Hello Ben, I am Mr. Powell and I will have one of my sons call you. Thank you.

As many other have already commented, referrals from friends and neighbors work well. We recently needed egress windows in our basement, I answered a Facebook AD but quickly did a shout out to a local neighborhood group to see who had used them. They did a great job, and were reasonably priced.

When we're looking for a contractor/home pro, we either ask our friends and family, or we post to a Facebook group for the nearest town. (We live in a very small town, so we do most of our business the next town over.) I DO use Google, but I ignore anything that says, "sponsored," which is probably why we get legit results. We also tend to use the same companies, once we connect with them and hire them, as long as we're happy with them. My husband and I both really like to support local businesses. It's very important to us that we be able to support and help out our "neighbors!" I LOVE your channel! You're very good at explaining what's a scam and why, and your videos are very entertaining!

This is where that old relic called a telephone book and its "Yellow Pages" came in handy.

I used Angie for a tub to shower conversion. I got tons of calls, and had 5 come out to visit and make me an offer. I settled on one and got the work do. No problems, except I had to block lot of contractors calling in.

Same thing happened to me. I needed a window mechanism repaired. Powell and Sons inundated me with people wanting to replace all my windows. Never did find anyone under "window repair" in Dallas to actually repair my window. I ended up searching for "glass repair" and low and behold found several local owned competent window repair companies. Found out they don't just repair glass, but they make screens and repair broken window mechanisms as well. Never again will I click on "sponsored" bait!

I never realized this was the thing that it was until this video. I always either called up contractors that had done previous work for someone else in my family, referenced a list I got from the service desk at my local mom and pop building supply store, or was referred to me by a separate local contractor that I spoke face to face to. This is just... wow.

I always check the state database to verify that the contractor is licensed and bonded. The state also provides listings of contractors that have had multiple complaints registered against them, are operating without license or bond, or have been determined to have engaged in outright fraud.

I also went down that rabbit hole. After some angst, I just took the job(s) on myself and purchased my materials at a big box store. Saved a TON of money and learned how to do some of these jobs from right here at RU-vid!

my grandfather and i used to goto the customer service desk or the paint desks at home depot or lowes ( like 10 years ago) and those guys usually had card for services around the area, now the only place i can find leads for contractors is ace hardware or other mom and pop places like hole in the wall diners

Something like this happened to me when we were looking for our bathroom to be repaired after our shower valve burst and caused massive damage. I found a contractor that was in my area, highly rated and then it tells me "they can't help me but stay tuned" and What do you know I get a call two minutes later from a completely different company who not only was extremely expensive but what pushy in selling more than I needed, and would not stop calling me despite me telling them I did not need what they were presenting, we only needed the repairs I had outlined originally. They finally stopped calling after I unfortunately had to be stern with them saying we went with someone else to fix our bathroom. But this video literally made me feel so much better I thought it was just me.

Woah ! This sure was very interesting. I needed to know this. I made a mistake trying to use Angi this year. Never again ! We ended up hiring a local contractor for thing we needed. I must say I was slightly worried about things after we gave the down payment. It took many months between the handover and the project starting. Thank goodness he was a honest guy and did what we wanted. Thanks 👍

thanks for sharing. There was a huge warning recently in my neck of the woods. People knocking on doors pretending to be looking for someone while looking around, or asking if you need help with something, while they have people working the network. This old thing is back again.

Thank you Ben. I stopped using Angi a while ago. Same as Home advisor. Using Yelp now. After talking to maybe 3 Yelp people from the site, per job, I was able to find good quality, nice guys to do the work. Ones who made totally great estimates with pictures detailing exactly what and the cost. And show up on time!!!

My grandma got ripped off by this scam last year they took a deposit started the work and never came back only to find out later they weren’t even licensed. Thank you so much for making videos like this

I feel your pain! Can't even make a payment over the phone without it getting intercepted by a scammer. Trust no one and ask question's. Smart man ❤

Oh....FUDGE!!! I'm laughing so hard I almost spilled my coffee grounds, making a hot drink!!! I actually stopped the video to write my comment. I'm so glad I happened upon your amazing video this AM. This video should be blown up and shown on every news channel, and weekly for... forever!!! You have just taught me sooooo much. But I instantly knew before you finished your sentence that your poor cell (and you too!!) had blown up. I'm now going back to watch the conclusion of this suspenful tale!! Thx much for sharing and trying to help others. May God bless you. 🙏🕊🐾

I had a similar experience when i was buying a used car and i was looking for a vehicle inspection service to look at the car first. In the end I looked at it myself as i know a little about cars and then took it to a family run repair business that has been run by the same family since the 1930s. But I had to wait 2 weeks to get an appointment, luckily it passed inspection after I bought it with just wear and tear on the rear brakes which was a reasonable cost to fix.

I love when you expose these sleazy practices.

Love your videos man, very entertaining. keep up the good work. Keeping these bad people off of our virtual streets!

I am a part of Home advisor / Angie's but as a Computer tech . When someone needs a computer repair or service we get a notification about a requested service. Sometimes it is a Market match which means I am the only referral or the other kind where everyone else gets the lead and the 1st person to get the job from the customer wins. We are then charged a fee for getting the referral. I did not know they are doing shady stuff to give us those leads. I might have to cut ties with them now. Thanks for the video.

I am always gun shy on ads that sell a specific service when I can’t find out just exactly where they are located and it’s this reason you covered besides who knows who is going to show up to actually do the work

Everyone knows you dont click on the "sponsored " link's 😂😂😂😂😂

Great video! I've been re-watching all your videos until your uploads they are amazing.

Exact same thing happened to me in Western WA for deck railing bids. I got the same "We can't help you" message and then immediately got a few calls from Angi/Home Advisor contractors. Feels REALLY deceptive; I won't make that mistake again.

I recently had to have some pluming done. I went to Angi and it was horrible. Not one plummer would come to my area. I finally called a hardware store and they gave me the name of someone local. When doing home improvements go to a Hardware store and ask them.

I am a local service provider, and the amount of calls I get from places like this that wanna sell me leads is ridiculous. Probably at least one to two a week. That doesn’t even include the ones that are just trying to sell me Google ads.

WOW wee...yeah I never use those Angi things, they scare me. I do one of two things, I get referrals from my neighbors and ask how they got them. Or I do a search like you did for someone local, read their reviews and cross reference those reviews. My Neighbor did the Angi thing a while back, hired these guys out of no where to do some kinda work in his back yard. The following night his garage got broken into and "someone" stole ALL his tools.

Always contact your Secretary of State to see if your contractor's license is current. Run them through the Better Business Bureau. Do a local court search to see if they have any small claim court cases.

Used Angi's List once... Had a job I needed to get an estimate for and they provided 3 contractors who scheduled appts with me. A day or so before the scheduled date (I had all 3 scheduled on the same day at different times) one of them cancelled without any follow up for a reschedule. On the day of the appointments, both of the other two just didn't show up and there was no follow up from them either. Gives decent contractors that are trying to make a living a really bad name..

Google doesn't do enough to scrutinise sponsored links

The same scams happen with locksmiths. They pretend to be a local company but it's a ton of fake yelp pages for the same call center.

This is the first thing I can relate to. I just dealt with a similar site, Empire, while trying to find quotes for my company.

You know it's gonna be; Pleasant day when Mr. Green uploads a new video first thing in the morning!!

My city has a Facebook group and I tend to ask for recommendations there. I've had quite a bit of work done on my house and they've all been recommendations from others in the area and the work has always been top notch.

I usually check the maps area of google and don't check out anything under "Sponsored", unless they have yet another non-sponsored listing. I also check for phone number and address and reviews with the BBB.

thank you for all your hard work Pleasant green you are truly a lifesaver

My dad has a business in vegas and he uses go daddy and Facebook market place . He's gotten so much work he's booked until July of next year that's with his 13 man team of professionals that Can do everything from electrical to building on a addition to your home and everything you can imagine. We started the business in 2003 with a bunch of non professionals professionals but now my dad has qualified individuals that are masters in the trades

Even this..😮 people this days.😓 makes me confuse the location be vigilant guys. Thanks ben!

Is the general contractor in the Chicago area that has been in business for 18 years? I've seen the sad changes within the industry regarding Angie home advisor and the like. About 15 years ago we were approached by both Angie and Home Advisor which was then called Service Magic about how they could grow our business by giving us qualified leads for a fee. I tried this service for up to 6 months before I canceled and boy is that a process trying to get canceled. After I was finally able to cancel, I kept on getting emails and other marketing from other companies ask me to join their networking group only to find out it was Angie 's. List. Thanks for the video as always. All the best to you and your team.

I recently had a room remodel. I asked around to see if anyone of my friends knew of someone reputable. I'm completely happy with the work done though we did run into a couple of hiccups requiring a new wall replaced. I was shown the problem of course and agreed to the price increase.

Wow, as a contractor / service provider, this is just way too messy. I'm used to my customers calling me for help. Imagine if I needed to rely on one of these referral companies to send me leads and then have to make a bunch of "cold calls"

You make my day when i see that you have uploaded a video

I live in a county of 15000. I personally know 3 general contractors, 2 electricians, 3 plumbers, 2 HVAC contractors, and 1 landscape contractor. Pretty much got it all covered, although we are hiring a contractor from a neighboring city to remodel our kitchen because the of a poor experience with the local one.

I install security systems. Cameras to card access and everything in between. We do have a site however we don't advertise and only work off of word of mouth. We are extremely busy to the point we had to start hiring. Word of mouth is powerful.

the same thing happens with locksmiths or florists weirdly enough tends to just be a company who contracts self employed or small businesses but is essentially a big directory like just eat or uber eats but they pretend to one local company basicly a big monopoly then they assign jobs based on locations.

This is exactly why I'm so reluctant about calling anyone for anything repair. It's such a crap shoot and so hard to know if you're hiring the right company.

I had this happen when I tried to get quotes for moving. The harrassing calls started immediately and didn't stop for months, including texts. I literally had to block each of them. One or two companies spammed me from multiple phone numbers even.

For local contractors I've found the best place to look is still the good ole phone book. I just needed a furnace repair and google was worthless for anything local. The phone book had at least 50 companies listed.

Angie's list is hard quartered here in indiana - she didn't like it when our elected officials passed some bills an threatened to leave- we laughed an told her to go - she didn't - any body out there want her please take her - please

As a service provider / residential contractor in Florida you don't necessarily need to be online. You can make a darn good living off of Word of Mouth referrals mailing postcards and adds in the paper. Also I say this as a 33-year-old male so it's not like I'm some Boomer that can't figure out how to use the internet. Trade shows/home shows are another good one if u can afford the booth.

I’m in a real estate investment group and a contractor group on FB and if I need someone I go to one of those groups and either search or ask for a recommendation. And from getting a bid from a guy who does drywall and painting I was referred to the guy who I am meeting this morning to tile a bathroom. And I work with someone who has companies that do roofing, siding, windows, and gutters. And if they don’t do it, many times they know someone good and reasonable like an electrician, HVAC, etc. yes, I’m blessed to be surrounded by the people I am.

For me I used Angi and it was awesome but thats on the consumer end. I found the best local guys who were so personable

Wonder why nobody holds google accountable for these frauds.

Mr. Rafone; I'm rather low tech, but I've begrudgingly accepted this whole new interweb/portable telephone thing. I do alot of home maintenence by myself, but when I need a store or service tech, I usually use the yelp service in my city. Thanks for your great videos.

I usually use yelp to find someone for home repairs. A man came to fix my bathtub and he was awesome.

Same thing happened to me when looking for car insurance, and somewhat similar with looking for a house to buy (loan company/mortgage company)

This is where Google fails us. Once a trusted search engine, pay the advertisement fee and use a little tech magic, and POOF, you are the number 1 contractor in [insert name of country]. Google's desire to put revenue above customer safety are driving users like me to other search engines. I'll admit, using less robust engineer means more work on my end but it also means that I don't end up contenting with the issues as Ben did. Even a simple name search comes up with dozens of top hits to sell you background reports. Nope, I just can't remember grandma's zip code, I don't need to find out her seedy criminal history of using margarine vs. butter in my birthday cake.

Voted #1 rule for not getting scammed on the internet: Don't click sponsored links!

Wow This is crazy...we know ben always gets to the point and figure things out would never think of thing like that..epic video thanks so very much for these amazing video to keep us safe..

Andrew, another great tip, Great research. Talk to you soon.. J

I haven’t had to advertise or do marketing. It’s been all word of mouth since I started on my own two years ago. I always tell people to avoid the guys who push the ads and push the quantity of jobs. Take the guy who will do the job right no matter how long it will take and invests more of their profits into other aspects other than pushing out as many jobs as possible. Then save their number or card.

never google, ask your neighbors , never never google ads.

Got the same calling overload when I was looking for an alternative for health insurance.

Video Idea for you: I have been seeing a lot of "Im moving out" posts on facebook buy/sell groups and its always the same types of things, like a refrigerator, ps5, treadmill etc. Its gotta be a scam as they want you to pay upfront as there "away" and then come take a look. But if you look in some of the photos backgrounds ones in a city with buildings, and the others are near a wooded backyard.

This happened to me too😢😢😢

I guess if you really don't like someone and you have their contact information, this would be a pretty cruel way to drive them nuts for a couple of days.

...I grew up with the Yellow pages and to mr that's the best place to start when looking for a certain service.

I've gone through the same, and it is super frustrating. I tend to try and find mom&pop type companies, which are usually poorly marketed. But if I can find a company, and *verify their contractors license*, that has led to much more success, with a lot less internet lead selling games.

I've been subbed to you for a few years, and what wonderful channel you have. you seem like a genuinely good man with the desire to do good deeds, and doing it with a lot of charisma. I would absolutely love to see you do a 1A audit. I would love to see you stand alongside good people like lackluster, james freeman, san joaquin valley transparency.

I'm fairly certain someone as smart and savvy in the world of scams as you wouldn't actually click on one of the sponsored results on Google and expect it to not be a scam. Surely this was all just for the sake of this video, right? 😄

Yeah, I have had this happen. It’s so damn annoying because I have people calling for some unrelated job. Like I wanted a plumber and had window people calling me, as an example. I don’t even own the property I live at. Every time someone called, I would ask where they got my info, and was told, “You must have filled something out online needing (insert unrelated service here).” I would say no, and they would say someone in my home must have done it. I live alone. 😒

Holy crap you solved the question of how my girlfriend and her entire family were suddenly added to this Angie thing we were getting calls past 9pm at night constantly as was her brother, her dad, and her sister all because her dad was looking for somebody to do guttering on the house

Angi is the scum of the earth. You won't believe the effort I had to go through in order to fully get removed from their harassment (mailing) lists. Ended up finding email addresses for at least 5 high level VPs or SVPs, emailed them all threatening to submit a complaint to all 50 attorneys general. Got a phone call less than 30 minutes later from someone apologizing profusely 😂

Not first

This is one of the best scam videos ever. I had no idea. I was going to sign up for Angi but not now. Thank you.

this is the same thing with any kinda of insurance they ask your info then they say someone will call and there theres like 10 companies calling you

I heard that prior to being a jack of all trade, Mr. Powel was a traveling salesman going around the country who, apparently, was very successful with the ladies.