Angie Hicks: Three Decades of Home Service Know-How

It was a simple but brilliant idea: a resource of home repair and renovation service providers curated by customers, along with reviews. They called it Angie’s List.

Angie Hicks built the foundation of this billion-dollar company, known today as Angi.  She did so by signing customers up one at a time and creating her namesake list of service providers from scratch. It included electricians, roofers, plumbers, landscapers, painters, HVAC installers, and more. It may seem obvious in today’s digital age, but there was very little like it when it started in 1995.   

Since then, Angie Hicks has had a front row seat as the company she co-founded has evolved. It’s grown from a subscription-based newsletter into an online platform that has helped 150 million people maintain, repair, and renovate their homes, and it’s supported the growth of hundreds of thousands of small businesses. 

Trends In Home Service & Repair

Hicks recently shared her career journey with Karen Finerman on the How She Does It podcast, as well as some practical advice for folks looking to do work on their homes.

“People aren’t moving as much as they have historically,” she notes. Some homeowners are feeling stuck due to market conditions, and her advice for them is practical: “You need to think about your today house as your potential forever house, and how you can make that work for you.”   

That means making changes that will serve homeowners best in the long term. “They’re adding an office, redoing a kitchen, refinishing a basement, you name it,” Hicks says.

In addition, Hicks sees people being more mindful about home maintenance, which will save money down the road.  “They don’t want a budget surprise,” she notes. “They’re going to make sure they get the furnace tuned up so the furnace doesn’t fail come the middle of February when it’s super cold.”

What About Bad Reviews?

When it comes to hiring contractors, Angie Hicks offers surprising advice: it may be helpful if there’s some negative feedback. “I would rather look at a record where a contractor has a solid rating but has a complaint now and then,” she explains. “In that scenario, you get to see how things are handled when the chips are down.”

Of course, no one likes getting a bad review.  Early in her career, Hicks dreaded handling calls from unhappy service providers on the receiving end of a poor review.   To make matters worse, in those days, she was literally the only one answering the phone.

“It was probably the hardest thing I had to do because they would call, and guess what they would do? They’d yell at me,” she recalls. A mentor helped her to put the experience in perspective, telling her, “Angie, if God were a roofer, he’d get bad reviews too sometimes.”

“I learned to end up coaching pros on this,” Hicks says. She advises service providers to take a moment to cool down, try to make the situation right, and if needed, apologize. “Do not argue and criticize with your customer in an online forum,” Hicks advises.  That never ends well.

Choosing The Right Service Provider

Hicks recommends looking for businesses with 10 to 20 reviews, enough feedback to get a good picture of the quality of service they provide.  From there, Hicks encourages potential clients to have an in-depth conversation with representatives from the businesses about the goals for their project, timeline expectations, and the costs.

“You’re inviting someone into your home to do work for you,” Hicks says. Finding a good match is important.  Hicks suggests speaking with multiple contractors, especially on larger projects where “you might be living together a couple of months.”

Another key is to get everything in writing.  “A lot of times when I see projects fall apart, it comes down to communication,” Hicks explains. When contractors and homeowners aren’t communicating effectively or frequently enough, expectations become misaligned, budgets shift, and “the wheels fall off the bus.”

The Introverted Entrepreneur

“I am an introvert and pretty quiet,” Angie Hicks admits. Yet building the business in the beginning required going door-to-door selling memberships, a task that proved challenging.

“Sometimes you have to eat your peas,” she says about tacking those things on the to-do list that are not your favorites. “No matter what you do in your career, there are things you don’t love to do, and you have to figure out how to do it.”

When asked what made her successful, Hicks points to one quality: perseverance. “It’s a work ethic that I got from my parents,” she explains. Her father was a UPS driver, her mother a bank teller. “When you go to do your job, you do your job the best you can, and you’re committed to it.”

That perseverance became critical as an entrepreneur because, as she admits, “I didn’t think I had any of the other character traits, but perseverance. I was unwilling to quit.”

Staying Connected

Today, Angie Hicks is enjoying her job as Angi’s Chief Customer Officer, helping the company she co-founded stay true to its mission.    

“We live in a very digital world, and I believe we need a little more human interaction in it. I’m open to talking to customers all the time. and any pro in the network can sign up to talk to me,” Hicks says.  “It’s a great way for me to collect feedback.”  As part of this effort, Hicks will be assisting on the Angi Holiday Hotline in December. 

While the company has undergone mergers and a rebrand, Hicks says the core mission remains the same: “We want to make sure that you’re getting your projects and jobs done well.”

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