Home repairs and home maintenance, along with most other home services including minor repairs or home handyman services are usually performed by contractors that a home owner contracts with for the specific category of work to be done. The work in question is then detailed in a contract at a negotiated price and usually specifies complete homeowner satisfaction for the work in question. As it is a contract between two individuals almost any portion of the agreement may be modified so long as it is specified in writing and both parties agree by affixing their signatures. It is very rare that either party goes into the contract with the idea of not honoring it fully.

Contracts vary greatly in description and quite often there may be a disagreement somewhere along the line due to either the quality of the work, the inexact nature of the way the work was described in the contract, or the rigid demands or unyielding expectations of the homeowner for either perfection in the workmanship, enhancement of materials or other aspects of the job not clearly specified in the agreement document. Most homeowners who have lived in their homes for more than a few years, have horror stories about one or more contractor projects that went awry. Conversely, every contractor can tell you his horror story about a homeowner who simply could never be satisfied.

One of the results of the ongoing discord between contractors and homeowners is the recent rise of middleman organizations which attempt to position themselves between the home repair contractor, for instance and the homeowner for whom he would normally be working directly. This type of organization may sound like just another contractor in their advertising and even by name but they do not actually do the work. They often employ other independent contractors to actually do the work and either supervise the individual who actually does the work or control his pay such that the homeowner must sign off on his work, perhaps even several times, before he gets all of his money. This method seems to satisfy the homeowner and allow for a few less problems in a fairly hard to define arena.