GREENSBORO, NC -- Here's a shocker: 52% of US homeowners who have hired home repair, improvement or maintenance service have had problems with their contractor, according to a new Angie's List survey conducted by Harris Interactive among more than 1,200 homeowners. More than a third of them fired or wanted to fire their contractor before the job was done.
The survey revealed that of homeowners who'd recently hired home repair, maintenance or improvement contractors:
• 27% were so unhappy with their contractor they wish they had fired him/her before the job was finished
• 8% DID fire their contractor
o Men were twice as likely to have fired a contractor as women (10% vs 5%)
o Midwesterners (73%) are more likely to say they never felt the need to fire their contractor compared to Southerners (61%)
• Looking at those who actually DID fire their contractor:
o Southerners (11%) are nearly three times more likely to say they fired their contractor than those in the Northeast (4%)
What the contractors did to inspire a desire to fire:
• Made messes and don't clean up – 37%
• Didn't do the job as quoted – 30%
• Showed up late – 29%
• Didn't finish on time – 29%
• Charged more than quoted – 28%
*The online survey was conducted by Harris Poll and commissioned by Angie's List in June 2014 among 1,252 homeowners.
