As long as a garage door works well, it’s easy to forget about it. But when things go wrong and you can’t get out of your garage, your whole day is thrown off, and it’s time to start looking for the right repairman for the job. You can’t just hire any repairman; you need someone who is reliable, on time, and has a lot of experience. 

This is the first step, and maybe the last, for many of us. You type “garage door repair near me” into Google and look at the first few results. A company with a rating of 4.5 to 5 stars may have great service, but the number of ratings a company has is a better way to tell how good it is. When compared to a competitor with only a few reviews, a provider with hundreds or even thousands of reviews have a clear track record of how well they do their job.  

A bad review can be a red flag, but you shouldn’t let it stop you. Try to figure and check out what the main problem was and see what the company has to say about the review. Responding to bad reviews shows that a company cares about customer service, which is a good thing. You should know more about the garage products that they are using as well.  

If you just moved into a neighborhood and are still looking for a reliable carpenter, an electrician, or someone to fix your garage door, chances are your neighbors have already done the same. Even better, if your neighbor is handy and knows a lot, it’s likely that they have a good eye for quality work and can tell you a lot about how well the help they’ve hired is doing. Online reviews can be made up for any reason, but your neighbor is more likely to tell you the truth, as long as you haven’t built a fence on his side of the yard. 

Does the company have a permanent location? Does it have more than one name or only one? Is it a well-known business or a brand-new one? Is there a site for it? Do you get a professional answer when you call the company? It takes time and work to get a good reputation, but it doesn’t take long to get a bad one.  

Many businesses with bad reputations might try to get rid of their past by changing their names or moving to a new place. There are a lot of service companies that will take the money and run without finishing the job, which is a shame. 

Once you’ve narrowed all the things, then list down to a few good repair companies, it’s time to call them up and get quotes. It’s not as easy as just asking, “How much will it cost to fix my garage door?” Companies can set their prices in many different ways. Some will give you an estimate for free, while others will charge you to come to your home.  

Still others will let you in for free if you do business with them. Importantly, good companies stand behind the quality of their work, and they will offer warranties that independent handymen may not. Lastly, if someone is offering prices that are too good to be true, it may be a scam. Be ready to ask questions, like why their price is so much lower than the others.