Poll: Professional Services of a friend

weezie825 · January 2013

Would you use the professional services of a friend?

Accountant/Tax Advisor?

Real Estate?

Construction?

Car Mechanic?

DH has 2 frineds that own construction related businesses, but he insists that he does not want to use them in our upcoming remodel. He says that if there is ever an issue, he doesn't want it to effect the friendship.

After getting totally screwed by a previous contractor, I would like to use someone that we know and trust.

So, what do you all think?

Ragdolls · January 2013

Never, never. I would never want to mix friendship and a service relationship. I'm also self aware enough to know that I can be a pretty particular customer. Usually best in my experience to keep contractor relationships professional.

mrs. remy · January 2013

I would have to consider it on a case-by-case basis but generally I think I would be ok with it. I prefer to use people I know and trust and would rather see my money go to them rather than a random company.

We are kind of in a different boat though, DH knows EVERYBODY, and every time something has gone wrong with our house, he's like "Oh let me call so-and-so...he's an electrician/plumber etc." His best friend does all our HVAC work, his other friend just fixed our roof, and actually now that I think about it we have paid no where close to what we should have paid for all of these things, which has really saved us a few times.

mrs. remy · January 2013

Re: the mechanic, I definitely would use someone I know (and we have used his friend's dad on multiple occasions) just because mechanics can be so shady.

TriciaandSean · January 2013

It would really depend because although I don't want to mix friendships with a working relationship in case something goes wrong I also want to support my friend's business.

We had a back patio put in last year and had no problem using our friend's landscaping company do it. It was also good to know they had a lifetime warranty in case we ever had any problems with it.

SarahKate31 · January 2013

My instinct would be no. However, we recently hired our next door neighbor (not really friend, but acquaintance) for our kitchen remodel and it was far and away the best experience we've ever had with hiring someone for work in the house. I still consider it a gamble though.

tbogirl · January 2013

DH used a friend to invest some money with and it became really awkward when his personal life fell apart and he was fired from his company... I just think working with friends in any situation where you may have to hold them accountable is a really bad idea.

JennigoesUSA · January 2013

Real Estate I would use a friend. The other stuff probably not

As far as contractor goes.. I can not rave enough about Power Home Remodeling. They are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

They did our roof as well as windows. From start to finish an amazing experience. And the cost is very competative. Plus they are a big and well known company, you will not get screwed.

mrsbecky07 · January 2013

As a general rule, no. Definitely not for anything money related, and not for something construction-related. Acquaintances? Sure. When we bought our house, my mom's good friend is good friends with a realtor so we went with her (so friend of a friend kind of thing) - but we knew she knew the area REALLY well and bc we had a mutual friend, she was pretty protective of us in some ways.

But I wouldn't have gone with a "real" friend for something like that. It makes it hard to say what you don't like about the work, and if you aren't pleased with the end result, then it can cause a divide in the relationship.

Car mechanic I probably would use a friend though. For some reason that is in a different category for me.

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