How Do You Find a Good [Insert Profession Here]?

I arrived at the idea for today’s prompt after reading four years of Culture Study threads — particularly any thread related to practical “how do I do this” stuff — that eventually ended up with but how do I find someone to help me who does this well?

That someone could be a good and thoughtful doctor, a physical therapist with room in their schedule, a dentist, a running coach, a therapist who takes your insurance…..or a reliable handyperson, a housekeeping co-op or service that pays ethically, a contractor who won’t steamroll you, a car dealer that won’t infantalize you, an interior designer within your budget who will listen to your weird ideas, a real estate agent who isn’t like Annette Benning in American Beauty, an arborist who knows what they’re doing, you get the picture.

We’ll treat this similarly to Advice Time — feel free to both ask [How do I find leads on a babysitter in a suburban area?] and answer with abandon [Your willingness to give advice here is what makes this work].

The more detailed you can be with both your asks and answers the better — about price range, about where you live, about what you’ve already tried (if anything). With your answers, I think it’s also great to say about how much you paid. All this stuff is variable, but it’s often so opaque that it’s hard to know if you’re over or underpaying.

Also: I also don’t think it’s weird to post the name/business of someone you really appreciate and trust — you never know who’s reading in your area. The more recs, the better. (And come back to this thread later in the week to add more!)

Finally: there may be some conflicting advice and experience here. That’s okay! The guiding principle today is YMMV — your mileage may vary. And as always, don’t be butts about helping people find services that make their life work and let’s keep this one of the good places on the internet.