[hakfoo]

Part of the problem is that even if you know this is what you want, it's a classic hiring problem.

You're typically doing this once every what-- 20 years-- so you don't have a "default guy" and odds are you're one of maybe 3 households in your block of 450 houses who are even considering the problem, so it's not like you can ask your neighbours.

What the market needs is a national franchise, maybe implemented as a co-op model-- enforcing some basic level of "predictably not great, but not terrible", and offering a one-stop pricing and quoting system. You know they won't be the cheapest or best, but the franchise structure sells confidence. If they try to take you for a ride, you can escalate to the brand, who has leverage over them, to get satisfaction before having to duke it out with the local Contractor Licensing Authority.