It’s definitely harder to find the indy tradespeople now. My tactic has been to spend a bunch of time reading reviews. When the same first name of the tradesperson keeps showing up in the review then it becomes clear it’s a one person company and I’m much more likely to hire them.

If you are the business then you have incentive to do a good job. I have more faith in getting a quality job done by someone like that.

I used to have an HVAC guy like this. I currently have a plumber and a car repair shop like this. I can DIY the smaller things but I know my limits so it’s frustrating when finding good help is difficult.