I swear to god I'm using local business first for my household repair issues
I used one of those big name plumbing business chains to fix my issues with a drain that would not unclog even with the most hardcore liquid drainer stuff. Nothing worked and I knew I had to bring in the experts.
First visit - they cracked a pipe. To be fair it's an old house and luckily they did not charge for the visit but they did have to charge me $500 to replace the pipe on the 2nd visit. (they did replace with PVC which the guy who did fix the issue said was a good upgrade).
Second visit was to replace the pipe, still no working drain. Mind you I have one bathroom. It's just me, tub can make do for washing hands and brushing teeth.
Third visit - an hour later they still can't get rid of whatever is preventing the water to drain. The good news was no charge but they want to bring in experts. All I see is how much will this run me if they have to rip out my pipes to find the stoppage and fix the issue. This will get expensive.
So a friend recommend a local plumber. One visit and $149 later I have a working sink.
Seriously, I should always go local. About 5 years ago I had the same issue with bugs and the chain group just kept spraying and never fixing the issue. The local guy came in and the issue went away in 3 months and that was 5 years ago and never saw a bug since then.
Use local. They aren't trying to run up your bills. They just want to know you'll call them first next time you have an issue and give out their number when a friend needs a recommendation.
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They don't know how to run a business or keep records and they feed you bs. Like when we asked the plumber to blow the dirt out of the lines because the city put in a storm drain on the other side of the street. He told us our problems were having galvanized pipe in an old house and we needed to replace it so he could scam us for three grand. He hadn't been under the house anyway! Didn't know what kind of pipes we had. Spouting bullshit. We live in the country and literally can't find competent house repair. No national chains. Sites like Angie's list are useless because there are no listings for most kinds of businesses.
Another plumber refused to do what I told him so I didn't pay him and he got mad. I told him to put in a dedicated line for the washing machine because it would spin and erupt out the John on the other side of the house.
He also wanted to dig up my 40 year old camellia tree and kill it. That is a really quick way to get on my shit list. Mess with my plants. My grandmother planted that camellia tree.
In Houston I had a local business put in a new line and found out later it just drained out into the dirt and didn't go into a city drain or anything else. Then they disappeared.
Plumbers dig a trench in the yard and look busy but don't do anything.
I would like to get my air ducts cleaned and nobody will drive out to my house. They all say it is outside their territory. Same thing with finding a competent roofer. Got a leaky roof with a widow's walk--flat top in the center. When it rains hard the ceiling leaks from the roof and attic.
I thought people were hungry and wanted to work. I thought the economy was bad. Why is everyone here lazy and incompetent?
We had three different tree services come out. EVERY one of them said they would call or come back with an estimate. Not one of them followed up.
The worst ones are the driveway guys, IMO. It is hard to find a trustworthy one and if you do, they are out of business the next time you need them. We are kind of out-of-the way, too.
Right now I'm trying to find a window-cleaner. 
Good luck with that!
