Both our electrician and builder are small local companies. Unfortunately, they are very good and in high demand, even in communities 75 miles away. Thus our back deck/porch, which needs to be rebuilt, won't have the work started until early October even though the builder was here to look at it and meet with the architect in late July.

But we know that it will be done correctly and well. Given the problems of the deck (and for some more immediate problems) we had an engineer check things out first. Then we found an architect who is very good (don't ask me how -- it was quite accidental), and when we got the architect and the builder together it turned out they'd already worked together!

More expensive that way, but good people in the services and repair industry know the other good people. I must admit, however, that it helps when your insurance investigator is in your wife's quilting group and the daughter of a good friend...you can "pick her Rolodex" for insurance-preferred companies.