When homeowners are looking for reliable, unbiased reviews of remodeling contractors and other service providers, the first place they often turn is Angie’s List, an online compilation of reviews that rate businesses in more than 500 categories.


What is Angie’s List? The website provides unbiased ratings and rankings of businesses so that consumers can find reliable contractors in their area. It is primarily supported by membership dues paid by consumers. Angie’s List was founded by Angie Hicks in 1995 and has been growing steadily across the nation since then. They recently celebrated their 1 millionth member.


How Does it Work? Consumers give businesses grades from A to F and provide comments explaining their grades. The site encourages them to describe the project/work that was done and detail the outcome – whether positive or negative. Companies are rated for: price, quality, responsiveness, punctuality, and professionalism. Anonymous reviews are not permitted. The Angie’s List staff screen all the reviews before they’re posted to prevent companies from reporting on themselves or their competition. The site’s members log about 40,000 reports a month.


What Do Members Get? Once you’re a member, you can log in and search for local listings in any category. You will get a list, starting with those businesses that received an A from consumers. You can read all the comments, positive and negative. Companies are permitted to respond to reviews, so you can get both sides of the story on a negative review. Each business’s page on the Angie’s List website also provides contact information, licensing data, which services they provide, a description of the company, and a link to the company’s website. If you see a business you like, you can send them an email right from the Angie’s List site. You can also search for a specific company if you are doing research on its reliability and quality. If you choose an Angie’s List contractor and have trouble, Angie’s List offers a complaint resolution service. Members also receive a subscription to the Angie’s List magazine and email notification of special deals.


Do Businesses Pay? Companies with an A or B rating on the site are allowed to advertise discounts or sales for Angie’s List members (a benefit of being a member). However, they do not pay to be listed on Angie’s List and they are not permitted to change the contents of their reviews. Since the process is member-driven, the site puts the consumer in charge. You can decide which businesses you are interested in and contact them through the site. The site does not control which listings you have access to. One indicator of the site’s reliability is that many businesses use Angie’s List. Real estate agents use it to find contractors and contractors use it to find subcontractors.