Sears Home Improvement

Sears Home Improvement is a fast, relatively inexpensive way to get basic remodeling work done. You won't find anything fancy or amazing with SHI. It's the usual mix of siding, roofing, HVAC type work. SHI project managers keep your job on track.

You know Sears Home Improvement already. They're the company always exhorting you to gutter or vinyl-side your house or replace the windows. They advertise through Sears stores, direct-mailers, TV, and online. In short, they're everywhere. But what do they do and are they any good?

While it is difficult to judge an entire organization based on one experience, I will say that my one experience with Sears Home Improvement was positive. Positive-ish, I should say. When I had a furnace installed in Summer 2010, it was installed wrong.

So wrong, in fact, that the HVAC company was scratching their collective heads and had to call in the Coleman (my brand of furnace) field rep. Before it was eventually fixed, I went through weeks of indecision and anguish and lots of Internet searching to figure out how to fix the problem myself. So, whose fault was it? Sears? The HVAC company? Mine for choosing Sears? Accountability is vague, and since the whole thing was fixed at no cost to me, I did not have to think about it any further. Much to their credit, SBI said they would do anything to fix the problem, even if it mean ripping out the present furnace and installing a brand-new one--no small undertaking.

Sears Home Improvement (SHI) does not do any of this work itself. While the job contract is between you and SHI, the work is funneled local contractors who operate under their own flag. Sears Home Improvement:

1. Drums up the initial business with the homeowner.
2. Sends out the salesperson to your house.
3. Writes the sales contract.
4. Sets up the project date/time.
5. Sees project through to completion.
6. Follows up one last time after project completion.

A lot of middleman work? Sure. Nothing that a competent contractor or tradesman cannot do alone.

That's the catch, though. Most local contractors or trades don't come anywhere close to having SHI's marketing deep pockets.

Sears Home Improvement does provide a one year limited warranty on labor.