Two different ways to find a remodeler in Summit County.
Hometown Builders Club and HomeAdvisor (now part of Angi) solve different problems for homeowners. Here is the honest comparison so you can pick the path that fits how you actually want to plan your project.
Book a Discovery CallSide by side
| What you get | Hometown Builders Club | HomeAdvisor |
|---|---|---|
| Who you talk to first | Adam Kilgore, 27-year Summit County remodeler, on a discovery call | Three to five contractors who paid HomeAdvisor for your phone number |
| Time from inquiry to first contact | Scheduled call within 1 to 3 business days | Phone calls within 5 to 10 minutes, often persistent for 30 days |
| What you pay for the planning | $4,500 for the Home Clarity Report | Free to fill out the form. The lead cost ($60 to $400) is built into the bids the contractors send you. |
| What you walk away with | Written scope of work, realistic local pricing, your home documented for the next 20 years | A list of contractor names and a few sales meetings |
| Local expertise | Summit County only. Hudson, Bath, Fairlawn, Richfield, Montrose, Cuyahoga Falls, and surrounding towns. | National platform. Local contractor quality in Summit County varies by who's paying for leads that week. |
| How contractor quality is verified | Adam personally vets every trade partner he refers | Self-reported by contractors. Reviews and rankings can be paid placement. |
| Apples-to-apples bid comparison | Yes. The Report's scope lets any contractor bid the same project. | No. Each contractor scopes the project differently in their own bid. |
| Who owns your information | HBC. Never sold or shared. | HomeAdvisor (Angi). Sold to multiple contractors as a "lead." |
| Best for homeowners who want | To plan carefully, hire once, and protect a serious investment | Quick quotes for small projects where speed matters more than scope |
HomeAdvisor and Angi are the same company
HomeAdvisor and Angie's List merged under IAC in 2017 and rebranded the consumer side as Angi in 2021. The HomeAdvisor brand still exists on the contractor-facing side. The forms, the lead pool, and the contractor network are all shared.
So when this page compares HBC to HomeAdvisor, it's comparing HBC to the same lead-aggregator model that runs Angi. The brand on the form does not change what happens after you submit it.
Where HomeAdvisor works fine
HomeAdvisor is reasonable for small, well-defined jobs. Replacing a garbage disposal. A handyman fix. A simple landscaping clean-up. Projects where the scope is obvious, the budget is small, and the consequence of a bad hire is recoverable.
Most homeowners who use HomeAdvisor for those small jobs are fine. The lead-aggregator model isn't broken at the small end of the trade.
Where HomeAdvisor falls short for serious remodels
The model breaks down when the project is big enough to matter.
- Bids that aren't comparable. Each HomeAdvisor-sourced contractor scopes the project their own way. You get three numbers that don't describe the same job.
- Lead costs baked into your quote. A contractor closing one in five HomeAdvisor leads has to recover $400 to $1,500 of marketing cost from each project he wins. That recovery is in your bid, hidden as "labor."
- The contractors who need HomeAdvisor most are usually the ones whose referral pipeline is empty for a reason. The remodelers I respect most in Summit County, the ones with twenty-plus years of finished work in our county, do not advertise on HomeAdvisor. They don't need to.
- Speed pressure rewards selling, not craft. Whoever calls you fastest has the best shot. That's a good model for sales people. It's not a good model for finding the contractor who will sweat the details on a $90,000 kitchen.
For a deeper look at how the lead system works, read how HomeAdvisor lead sharing actually works or why these leads cost homeowners more.
What HBC does instead
The Home Clarity Report is a $4,500 product. Adam scans your home in 3D, walks every system, and produces a written assessment with realistic Summit County 2026 pricing for every project you're considering. The Report includes:
- A complete written scope of work for your specific kitchen, bathroom, or first-floor project
- Real local pricing tied to actual recent jobs in Hudson, Bath, Fairlawn, Richfield, and Montrose
- The waterproofing systems, fixture grades, and finish levels appropriate to your home
- A 3D scan and digital twin of your home that you keep for 20 years
- Adam's direct cell number for questions when something comes up six months from now
Hand the Report's scope to any contractor and you'll get apples-to-apples bids back. Clients save an average of $16,100 on their first major project after receiving the Report.
Related reading
The right project starts with the right plan.
A 30-minute discovery call with Adam is free. We'll talk through your project, your timeline, and whether the Home Clarity Report is the right next step.
Book a Discovery CallOr call (330) 203-1331