Angie’s List aims to inspire and encourage members who live in and work on historic homes. In addition to giving homeowners a great source to look for qualified help, we sponsor the annual Old House Rehab Award to recognize those who spend their money and time on historic homes that were once considered eyesores of the neighborhood.

The Angie’s List Old House Rehab Award is given in conjunction with Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. The foundation recognizes Indianapolis-area projects that exemplified their owners’ commitment to maintaining and improving Central Indiana buildings a neighborhoods.

Angie’s List members Lee Smith and Mark Webb of Indianapolis took the top prize for a homeowner rehabilitating a home following preservation guidelines. Their two-story Arts-and-Crafts home was once a half-burnt shell and a magnet for criminal activity in their Meridian Park neighborhood, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.


The couple purchased the home in 2006 for $26,000 and spent two years, more than $300,000 and countless hours of hard work to turn the structure into a neighborhood envy worthy of the Angie’s List-sponsored award.
Wayne Olander of  highly rated Indianapolis architecture firm Arteffects Architectural Interiors designed the restoration.

“We’re flabbergasted that small-time investors and rehabbers like us can win an award like this,” Smith says.

It's health report drive time!

If you submit eight health reports on Angie's List, we'll send you a free iPod shuffle.

Just make sure to get your reports in by June 15th. We've seen some great reports so far--keep them coming!

Bill, the CEO of Angie's List, recently visited a classroom full of curious second graders to explain his job. He brought along a couple Angie's List employees and some sock puppets to help him present.

As an Indianapolis-based company, Angie's List is familiar with the thrill of "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing"--the Indianapolis 500. While I don't exactly follow racing, sitting in the stands and watching the cars fly by at 200+ miles per hour is an incredible experience.

For the second year in a row, Angie's List is getting in on the action. This year we'll be teaming up with Sarah Fisher Racing and sponsoring her in-car camera.


I'm absolutely thrilled to be supporting Sarah. She's a great role model for young people, and this 500 will be a record-setter for her: It's her 8th Indy 500, the most starts in the 500 for a woman.

Sarah qualified 21st and will start Sunday’s race from the outside of Row 7.

Want to watch?
The 2009 Indianapolis 500 will be telecast live in High Definition (HD) at 1 p.m. (EDT) on ABC. Keep an eye on Sarah!

The New York Times had a great article on Saturday: Even to Save Cash, Don't Try This Stuff at Home.

The article talks about how the slowing economy has prompted some homeowners to reach out of their comfort zones only to yield disastrous results. From collapsing ceilings to botched hair-dye jobs, people are spending considerably larger amounts of money to rectify their attempts to save money.

On Friday, I was trying to get in some R&R at my family's lake house, when the tank of the toilet started spewing water everywhere.

Since we'd just had the carpets cleaned, saving the carpet and not flooding the house were crucial. And since "Fixing Geyser Toilets" is not on my personal list of "Things I am Able to do Well," I called Angie's List.

Funny: I didn't have an Angie's List membership in the area where my lake house is, which the call center was quick to point out (even I don't get special treatment).

Attempting to figure out how to quell the toilet on my own had "disaster" written all over it, so I stayed on the line with the call center, gave them all the necessary information so they could do my research for me and got names of reliable plumbers in the area.

Twenty minutes later, I had a plumber at the house ready to work. He even had slippers so he wouldn't get the carpet dirty! He did the job, did it right and there’s no trace that he was ever there. Except for the lack of flooding…

That is much more than I would expect--and light years away from what I could've done myself. Ever.

Sometimes it pays to pay.

If you're in the Columbus, Ohio, area, stop by Cup o' Joe in German Village tomorrow between 1 and 2:30 for a cup of coffee and a chat. I'll be waiting!

The coffee is on Angie's List, so all you need to bring is conversation!

Hope to see you there!

Cup o' Joe in German Village
627 South 3rd Street
Columbus, OH 43206

The Internet has changed the way people search for everything – from finding a phone number to hiring a pooper scooper.

Yes, pooper scooper.

A few years back, we were getting so many requests for pooper scoopers that we made it a stand-alone category on Angie’s List. Never in a million years would I have guessed that one. Before we moved all of our reviews online in 2001, it was a lot more difficult to learn the patterns of how our members searched. Now we see trends right away and can adjust for them.

Which brings me to my question – if you’re not an Angie’s List member, how do you search for contractors and doctors? Do you Google "Austin Handyman" or do you check sites for "Veterinarians in Austin" or "Plumbers 78710"?

Where do you start? What do you type in? How do you know you’re hiring the best person? 

Peter La Porta just released his second book, titled Who hired these people?

Chapter 19, "Tired of lousy service?" is all about Angie's List: How much emphasis we put on getting honest, accurate reports from the real-life experiences of our members; the pains we take to weed out self-reporters or people out to "stack the deck" in favor or against certain companies; and that the contractors or doctors being reported on have the ability to respond to reports so that members can see both sides of the story. He includes a personal anecdote as an example of the type of service Angie's List can help members avoid.

It's always nice to find out you've got such great cheerleaders!

Lately I've been in the news promoting ways to cut back on monthly expenses. With a few smart questions and a little know-how, most people can save quite a bit of money. Check out this great video from NBC New York for more.

My last post about medical gag orders received a fantastic amount of feedback from readers.

Since the most recent issue of the Angie's List Magazine and the most recent List-en! podcast continue to cover the issue, I expect to see more comments coming in.

We've certainly heard a wide spectrum of feelings on the issue, from doctors, nurses and patients alike.

What about you? Get in on the conversation: Are medical gag orders OK in your book, or do you think they violate your right to free speech?