FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACTS:Hassle Free Home Services

Jim Vagonis 240.832.7159

Jvagonis@HFHSInc.com

NBC4 News at 4:00pm – Contractor Chaos

POTOMAC, MD – I moved to the area from the Midwest about 15 years ago and was somewhat surprised by the way many contractors did business here. Though my career at the time was in IT, I had grown up working on homes and had always felt that was where my interests truly laid. When the tech market turned several years ago I took the opportunity to start a company called Hassle Free Home Services, Inc. in an effort to change the way people think about their homes and the people who care for them.  

In preparing to launch my company, I encountered several common complaints that homeowners had relating to contractors:

• Homeowners were not sure if they needed what was being sold to them
• Pricing seemed to be based on where you lived rather than the nature of the project
• Contractors and staff did not do a good job communicating critical details of the project, leading to mistakes and delays
• Contractors would start a job and then disappear and be unreachable or would escalate the cost of the project due to claimed changes in the scope of the work

All of these concerns point to a critical problem with the way people view the care and upkeep of their homes. When it comes to their families, or for that matter even their automobiles, people have long standing relationships with the professionals who take care of them. They do regular preventive maintenance on their cars but tend to call on contractors to deal with their homes only when things are broken or need to be changed. As a result, they often are forced to deal with service providers with whom they have no relationship and who have little incentive to worry about the long term impact of their work.

I realized that homeowners in general, and particularly in the Washington area where people are so busy, needed something akin to a property management firm to take on the ongoing responsibility for managing their homes. With that in mind, I launched Hassle Free Home in January 2003 and began offering a home management service that provides ongoing routine home maintenance and also manages all of the contractors that are needed to maintain and take care of their homes. We deliver any and all services that are needed to service the home, including plumbing, electrical, HVAC, roofing, cleaning, landscaping and improvements. Most importantly for our customers, we have a vested interested in the relationship and therefore in the quality of the work performed at their homes, either by our own employees or by the pre-qualified list of contractors with whom we work.

I would be happy to answer any questions that you or your viewers may have about hiring a contractor or about the home management concept in general. I also have attached a list of questions your listeners may want to keep in mind when checking contractor references.

You can reach me at 301-294-9444 or by email at jvagonis@hfhsinc.com or see us on the web at www.myhasslefreehome.com.