Local search still sucks

I rarely blog about product ideas but I was just inspired by a frustrating experience recently.  The local
experience is just plain bad.  I was recently trying to find an ideal fence contractor and it was a big waste of time.

Sure, citysearch, urbanspoon, and yelp do a great job on restaurants, bars, and lightlife but where are the great services for professional services?  In my case, I searched and searched and searched for reviews on fence and deck contractors.  Someone should come in and build a great directory of professional service providers.  I want this more transparent than Service Magic which is just a straight lead gen play.  The other big players just don’t have enough user generated content.  A big long list of service providers in a directory is just not useful.  They are still stuck in the offline world.  There are a ton of verticals that could use a great directory say automotive repair or home remodelers.

During my fence contractor search, I actually found some great reviews on Judy’s Book.  The once deadpool site is rumored to be back.  My friend David Niu talked to me about how he and other investors are trying to bring it back last night at dinner.  Bring it back.  Build the TripAdvisor for local services.  I have now spent over 2 hours coalescing a list of providers. See a need fill a need.