Unbiased. Nonprofit. No ads or money from businesses we rate.
Find, rate, and compare home-improvement contractors, health-care providers, repair shops, financial services, veterinarians, stores, dentists, and more than 100 other types of service providers.
Boston area
Chicago area
Delaware Valley area
Puget Sound area
San Francisco Bay Area
Twin Cities area
Washington, DC area
Ratings of Primary Care Doctors, Specialists, and Surgeons
Ratings of Hospitals
How to Find a Good Exterminator
Most pests can be eliminated without paying a pro. But if you have a problem you can't handle on your own (or don't want to handle), we have advice for finding the best exterminators.
How to Get Rid of Cockroaches
The best way to avoid and get rid of roaches is good sanitation. You can also eliminate access to your kitchen and other likely infestation sites by applying caulk to seal cracks and other entry points.
How to Get Rid of Termites
While an invasion of roaches or other bugs is merely unpleasant, termites can actually wreck the joint. Fortunately, the damage they cause spreads slowly, and you usually have lots of time to react before they do grave damage.
How to Find a Good Housecleaning Service
The first step in farming out your chores is to decide whether to hire a company or an individual. Hiring a company has one major advantage: You do not assume the responsibilities associated with the role of an employer, such as filling out paperwork and paying various taxes.
How to Hire an Individual Housecleaner
Many consumers prefer to hire an individual for housecleaning help, rather than a service. But doing your own hiring brings the responsibilities associated with the role of an employer, such as filling out paperwork and paying various taxes.
Guidelines for Managing Household Employees
The National Committee on Household Employment, before it closed its doors, developed a set of standards for employers and their household employees. The guidelines presented here are from its Code of Standards for Household Employment.
Selecting a Lawn Care Service
Kermit the Frog once crooned “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” If you have a lawn, you can relate: It’s not easy keeping things green. Here's how to plot a course, whether you call in the pros or go it alone.
Do Lawn Care Services Know What They're Doing?
The proposals Checkbook's undercover shoppers get from lawn care services rarely agree on identification of weed species, presence of disease, need to correct soil acidity, and recommendations on core aeration.
What Do Lawn Care Services Do?
Lawn care services work with different products and techniques, but the results they promise are similar. Companies usually offer customers a selection of “packages” that include specified treatment plans to take place over the course of a year.
How to Choose a Tree Care Service
On occasion your trees might become shady characters, done in—and perhaps ultimately brought down—by disease or damage or both. Here's how to find a great branch manager.
How to Save on Tree Care Work
Once you have chosen a company that can do the work well, price becomes your primary consideration. Our undercover shoppers found huge company-to-company price differences for the same jobs.
How to Tell If Your Trees Need TLC
You don’t have to be an expert to spot many potential tree problems. Like most plants, trees have ways of indicating distress. Examine your trees several times a year for these signs of trouble.
