Homeowner Survey Summary
We surveyed our homeowner clients, here’s what they told us.
In 2021, we surveyed 100 homeowners. Mostly past foundation inspection clients in the Bay Area (85%), plus some New York connections (15%). We wanted to understand what homeowners actually struggle with when it comes to home repair and maintenance.
The timing matters. This was before ChatGPT. Before AI-powered search became mainstream. Before homeowners could ask a chatbot to diagnose their foundation crack or explain what a fair price looks like for a new sump pump.
When you look at this data now, the most obvious thing is how much the information landscape has shifted. Google dominated as the first step in 2021. Today, I’d expect many of those Google searches have migrated to AI assistants—people asking Claude or ChatGPT “is this crack in my foundation serious?” before they even think about calling a contractor.
But the underlying problems haven’t changed. And that’s the real story.
The #1 Challenge: Finding Quality Contractors
This wasn’t close. Finding trustworthy, quality contractors was the dominant response when we asked about the single greatest challenge homeowners face.
The quotes tell the story:
“Finding affordable and trustworthy people for repair is my greatest challenge. There are many repair or maintenance projects that require a specialist. Looking for recommendations and then waiting for call backs is time consuming and not always fruitful.”
“Finding a reliable and honest company to help me with right assessment and fixes.”
“Finding someone I can TRUST who is capable of doing good work, not going to upsell me, not going to overcharge me.”
Knowledge gaps came second. People don’t know what’s wrong, what’s serious, or what fair pricing looks like. DIY fears ranked third—homeowners want to fix things themselves but worry about making problems worse.
Other challenges included cost estimation, diagnosis, time constraints, and project prioritization. But the contractor trust issue dominated.
How Homeowners Solve Problems
We asked what steps they go through when something breaks.
Google was the clear leader, with nearly 40% starting there. Friends and family second. Then DIY attempts, contractor quotes, Yelp, YouTube.
“First is Google to see if I can fix it myself, if too complex or out of my skills set, I got a gift home insurance that will come and take a look/fix for $75.”
“Experience (I know how to handle most repairs), followed by research (Google & YouTube), followed by referrals & quotes. By now I know several realtors, property managers, and contractors who I trust to give me a good referral or a fair quote.”
The pattern is triangulation. Homeowners don’t trust any single source. They Google, then ask friends, then check Yelp reviews, then get multiple quotes.
One respondent laid out their full process:
“Reference from friends, Google, Yelp, call for info and schedule consultation meeting, evaluate quotes, refine/negotiate quote and pricing, confirm, schedule, follow progress through completion and final payment.”
That’s a lot of work. And here’s where I think AI changes things. That research phase—the Googling, the YouTube videos, the forum posts—can now be compressed into a conversation with an AI assistant that synthesizes information instantly. The contractor selection problem remains unsolved, but the information-gathering burden has shifted.
The Trust Gap
We asked directly: How confident are you that contractors are providing objective advice?
The responses clustered into a few camps. About 25% said they’re not confident at all. Another 20% said they only trust contractors they already know personally. A smaller group trusts referrals or contractors with strong reviews. Only about 5% expressed confidence in contractor advice without qualification.
Here’s what that actually sounds like:
“I always assume they are selling me on more than I need, which is why multiple quotes is critical.”
“It’s tough to feel confident in a contractor as you don’t really have the industry knowledge to know that they are doing their job with quality, efficiency and with a good price.”
“Not confident at all. As a woman under 40, I fear being taken advantage of.”
“50/50. Can’t trust reviews on Yelp. Prefer to speak to a friend or a reference and get a direct referral. Most I do not trust.”
To be clear: this isn’t a story about contractors being bad. There are plenty of excellent, honest contractors who do great work at fair prices. The issue is information asymmetry. Homeowners can’t easily tell the difference between a good contractor and one who’s going to overcharge them or recommend unnecessary work. So they protect themselves by getting multiple quotes, asking friends, and staying skeptical.
That’s rational behavior in a market where the buyer has less information than the seller.
The Nightmare Stories
We asked about nightmare home repair experiences. Most people had at least one.
The themes were consistent: contractors disappearing after taking deposits, jobs that dragged on far longer than quoted, costs ballooning without warning, and quality issues that required rework.
“Yes, the first contractor we hired to redo our kitchen went missing, found out he beat his wife up and ended up in jail, we lost our down payment and had to start over with a new contractor.”
“So many!! One contractor got the 10% down payment and never came back. Another took 3 months to finish a job that would take 1 week.”
“We had a $30K estimated job that ended up being $110K. We expected it to go over and also understand there’s only so much that can be predicted before you start digging, but it still sucked.”
“Roofing company charged us $15k for a repair, only to spend another $7k a year later. Later found out the man we worked with was fired for taking money from the company.”
Not every story was dramatic. Some were just frustrating:
“Not really understanding what’s involved in things like engineering, foundation—stuff that seems complicated enough that I could end up overpaying and not knowing it...”
That last one gets at something important. It’s not always about getting ripped off. Sometimes it’s just the anxiety of not knowing whether you’re making good decisions.
What This Data Tells Us
Four years later, the core problems remain the same:
Trust is the central issue. Not cost, not availability—trust. Homeowners don’t believe contractors are acting in their interest. This isn’t a problem that more Yelp reviews solve.
Information asymmetry is real and persistent. Homeowners don’t know what’s wrong, what’s serious, or what fair pricing looks like. They’re operating with incomplete information against people who do this every day.
The current process is exhausting. Multiple quotes, cross-referencing reviews, asking friends, researching online—homeowners work hard just to feel slightly less exposed.
AI has changed the information game. The research and diagnosis phases that dominated 2021 behavior are now being compressed by AI assistants. Homeowners can get instant explanations of technical issues, price ranges, and what questions to ask contractors. The contractor selection problem persists, but homeowners are showing up more informed.
The opportunity isn’t another contractor referral service. It’s not another review platform. It’s giving homeowners access to independent, expert information—the kind of knowledge that lets them make confident decisions without feeling like they’re walking into a negotiation blind.
That’s what we’re building.
Really sharp insight on how AI compresses the research phase but leaves the trust problem untouched. The information assymetry framing is spot-on because thats exactly what drives that exhausting multi-quote behavior. Had a plumber quote me $12k for something another guy did for $3k last year and there's just no easy way to know which one was telling the truth without basically becoming an expert yourself.