LocalPrice
Unlike with consumer products, there are few resources for assessing local services outside of their own hilariously shoddy commercials (and it's true -- you should have called King & King). Changing all that, LocalPrice.com.
Based in Atlanta, LP's an "all you need to know" service-provider database presenting comprehensive, side-by-side breakdowns of various businesses to help you make informed decisions based on something more concrete than "One call, that's all!". Price breakdowns include everything from the staggering differences between locksmiths' broken key removal fees, to mandatory limo driver tip rates, to pet sitters' holiday surcharges -- as if pet sitters have big plans you're taking them away from. Assurances of quality could involve the number of procedures a Lasik surgeon's performed (from 10,000 down to a disturbing no-number-listed), or whether a roach-killer's affiliated with the Georgia Pest Control Association; other helpful bits include the storage capacities of junk-removal companies' trucks, and whether individual home security companies will allow your cellphone to substitute for a land line (who wants to be home during a robbery?).
LP also produces a helpful but oddly unlinked-to blog offering consumer-friendly web links (ClarkHoward.com; CouponMom.com) and tips like the fact that most carpet cleaners will also clean your car, and various formulas for estimating countertop area and square footage -- an instant way to assess your hilariously shoddy math skills.
