How do you go about finding people to work on your house?

I've been going off of recommendations. I love the contractor I used for my bathroom reno's however, it seems he went back to his country and has decided not to return. However, here is my problem.

I called someone that came highly recommened to me, he came to the house, I showed him what needed to be done (I'm only looking to paint) and explained we were hoping to get this done quickly. He told me he'd have an estimate to me within the week because he was busy on another job. Fine... I understand that.

It's been over 4 weeks now and nothing. I haven't been pushy at all and waited until almost 3 weeks had passed to call and ask for the estimate. He told me he wasn't done with it and to give him another week. Now it's more than a week and still nothing.

I REALLY need to get my house done this summer. I'm just hesitant to just go through the phone book and pick someone.

Re: How do you go about finding people to work on your house?

so you only need painting done? I have the # for two painters at home. both have been recommended to us (by MIL & close friends) we haven't personally used them yet though. let me know if you want the #'s. I always try to hire via recommendations......sometimes if you go off of price alone, you never know if their quality of work isn't the greatest.

Re: How do you go about finding people to work on your house?

Thank you.. I don't live in NY though.

I guess my post was just more of a vent then anything else. I'm just so frustrated. I knew I was going to let this guy do the work based on our meeting, his ideas and that he came so highly recommended (I've also seen his work). I just wasted almost 5 weeks at this point when I could have been looking for someone else.

Re: How do you go about finding people to work on your house?

Try this website. I think someone here suggested it over Angie's List. I've been looking into it and I like that they check out the people included in their service. We made some inquiries on alarm systems and both contacts called promptly after getting the lead. I did suggest it to a friend though, and for their roofing work they found some numbers no longer in service. But at least it's a bit more selective than the phone book.

www.servicemagic.com