OUR STORY

I'm frequently asked, "What made you decide to start this business?"

The answer is simply, family.  To many, a family business means independence, investment, and security.  For several years, my husband and I longed to own our own business.  We investigated franchise opportunities, spoke with friends who had jumped off the corporate wagon and immersed themselves into various ventures, and scanned business classified ads for opportunities.  Nothing caught our eye, and so we continued plugging away in corporate America, daydreaming about one day owning our piece of the dream.   Then by surprise, while planning a small home improvement project, we found our opportunity.

During the summer of 2003 we decided to add a family room to our home.  We had absolutely no idea how much this project would cost, but felt a small room addition would fit into our budget.  First things first - contractors must be interviewed.  We asked ourselves, "How does one find and hire contractors?"  For several weeks we pondered, finally deciding to phone several companies listed in the yellow pages.  That's where the trouble began.  It was a squeeze to find time during our busy days to phone contractors and meet them for appointments.  With as much work as it was just to get in touch with contractors, we wondered if our remodeling would ever be completed.

We met with three contractors.  One arrived 30 minutes late for our appointment, only spent 5 minutes looking at our property. He left quickly, stopping on the way to his truck to hand me a $15 invoice for the estimate visit.  The second contractor we met arrived on time, but trotted across my ivory carpet in muddy work boots.  This visit cost me $100 in carpet cleaning fees.  The third contractor phoned the night before his scheduled appointment to cancel.  He simply was too busy to take on any more work.  However, he did have a friend who was highly skilled and widely recommended.  We met with said friend and found him pleasant and available.  His estimate was by far the least expensive, so we choose him for our project.  After agreeing to the price and work schedule, we provided a 50% deposit on the work and waited patiently for work to begin.

Bad news arrived via phone - our contractor was now unavailable to do the work himself.  He would be sub-contracting the work to a friend.  "Not to worry," he told us.  "The price will not change and the work could start immediately. " This wrench was bothersome, but our urge to have the room completed propelled us to agree to this arrangement.  We asked if our sub-contractor was insured.  "Of course," he answered.  Naively, we did not ask to see proof of insurance.

The sub-contractor arrived, as scheduled.  Two tagalongs arrived with him - his 70+ year old father and 8 year old son.  My knees started shaking.  Words like lawsuit, liability, compensation ran through my head.  "Oh brother, this is going to be an ordeal," I thought to myself.  Our project was scheduled to take two weeks.  It lasted for six and during that time we had several issues and calamities.  Each problem resulted in two disagreements, one with the contractor and one between my husband and me as to who would address the issue.  Usually a round of rock/paper/scissors was used to determine who would confront the contractor.  What drama!  Fortunately, we stayed strong, held our ground, and the work was eventually finished.

On a ten point scale, ten being the kind of work you see in a magazine, and one being the kind of work you did in seventh grade shop class, our job was a three.  Honestly, we paid for a three, and logically should be thankful that we didn't pay more for the project than we did.  The walls are a bit wavy, the trim isn't the right color, and there's a huge buckle in the carpet.  C'est la vie.

Looking back, I'm thankful for the experience.  Without it we would never have understood how difficult it can be finding and hiring contractors for home improvements.  Afterward, we asked ourselves, "How could this have been so hard?"  Friends shared similar stories.  Apparently, many homeowners were going through the same ordeal and worse.  With such an existing demand for a service that could match homeowners with contractors, starting a locally owned contractor referral service seemed like a smart idea.

In March of 2003, Hoosier House Help was launched.  We've never looked back!

Our first office was in our master bedroom.  Convenient, but far from romantic!  After a few months and the purchase of inexpensive office furniture, Post-it notes, a laptop and one multi-purpose fax/printer/copier/scanner, we moved out of the bedroom into an official office, complete with a bulletin board, receipt spike, and rolodex.

Since the beginning, our mission has been clear: to provide a free, high-quality service to homeowners while helping local contractors grow their businesses. We use project managers to coordinate improvements and repairs for homeowners, providing support and communication for all projects from start to finish.  We've helped scores of homeowners with projects large and small.  If you need help finding a contractor for your home repair or improvement, contact us via our online form or phone 877.360.7292.  We'll be happy to get you the House Help you need!