“Does anyone know a guy?” The problem with hiring from a Facebook comment

A name in the comments is a lead, not a background check

You ask your neighbourhood Facebook group:

“Can anyone recommend a good plumber?”

A few minutes later, names start appearing in the comments.

That's useful.

Local groups can introduce you to service providers you may never have found on your own, and a neighbour's experience can give you a useful place to start.

The important distinction is that a recommendation and a hiring check aren't the same thing.

A comment tells you that someone chose to recommend a provider.

It doesn't necessarily tell you everything you need to know about whether that provider is right for your particular job.

What does the recommendation actually tell you?

Look closely at what the person recommending them actually knows.

Useful follow-up questions can include:

• Did you personally use this provider?
• What work did they do?
• How recently?
• Was it similar to the work I need?
• Was the recommendation based on their own experience or someone else's?
• Is there anything useful I should know about the process?

A recommendation for excellent garden maintenance doesn't tell you how the same business handles tree felling.

A plumber who handled a small leak well may or may not be the right provider for a major installation.

Context matters.

Popularity isn't the same as suitability

A name appearing several times in a group can be useful information.

It still doesn't automatically establish:

• qualifications;
• professional registration;
• experience with your specific job;
• availability;
• pricing;
• insurance where relevant;
• workmanship; or
• suitability for your particular project.

Likewise, one recommendation isn't automatically weak simply because only one person mentioned the provider.

Use the comments to build a shortlist rather than treating comment count as a ranking system.

Check who you're actually contacting

Once you have a name, make sure you've found the intended provider.

Similar business names, copied social profiles, old phone numbers and forwarded contact details can create confusion.

Where practical, compare information such as:

• business or trading name;
• contact details;
• service area;
• type of work offered; and
• an established profile or other business presence.

This doesn't prove that a provider is legitimate.

It simply helps you establish whether you're contacting the provider you intended to contact.

Check credentials where the job requires them

Not every service requires a formal qualification, licence or professional registration.

Where a credential matters for the work, verify it independently through the appropriate official source where applicable.

Different services have different legal, regulatory and professional requirements.

Identity verification doesn't replace these checks.

Read reviews in context

If the provider has reviews available, they can add information beyond the original recommendation.

Consider:

• what service the reviewer used;
• how recent the experience was;
• whether there are recurring themes;
• whether the review is relevant to your job; and
• how the provider responds where responses are available.

Don't assume more reviews automatically means a better provider.

Don't assume detailed reviews are automatically more truthful.

Reviews are submitted customer experiences, not formal findings about quality or trustworthiness.

Compare the recommendation with the job you need done

Before contacting someone, be clear about your own job.

For example:

• What needs to be done?
• Where is the job?
• How urgent is it?
• Is it a repair, installation, ongoing service or once-off job?
• Are materials involved?
• Are there access restrictions?
• Does the work require a particular credential?

The more clearly you can describe the job, the easier it is to establish whether the recommended provider actually offers what you need.

Get the important terms in writing

A community recommendation doesn't replace an appropriate quote, estimate, booking confirmation or agreement.

Depending on the job, clarify:

• scope;
• price or how price will be calculated;
• materials;
• deposit;
• payment stages;
• timing;
• exclusions;
• additional-work approval; and
• cancellation terms where relevant.

Written information doesn't guarantee that a job will go perfectly.

It gives both sides a clearer record of what was agreed.

Be careful when payment details change

A recommendation from someone you know doesn't make every later payment request automatically genuine.

If banking details unexpectedly change, verify the change directly with the provider using a contact method you already know and trust.

Don't rely only on the message, email or invoice that supplied the changed details.

This applies whether you found the provider through Facebook, WhatsApp, Know a Pro, a search engine, a friend or anywhere else.

Where ID Verified fits

If the recommended provider has a Know a Pro profile displaying ID Verified, it means the Pro completed Know a Pro's required identity-verification process.

That's one additional piece of information about the profile.

It doesn't mean Know a Pro has confirmed:

• their qualifications;
• their workmanship;
• their trustworthiness;
• their safety;
• their professional registration;
• the recommendation itself;
• the quote;
• their banking details; or
• the outcome of your job.

Use ID Verified for what it actually tells you and make the other checks relevant to your service separately.

Don't assume the commenter is independent

You don't always know the relationship between a person making a recommendation and the provider.

They might be:

• a previous customer;
• a friend;
• a relative;
• a colleague;
• someone who knows the provider socially;
• another local business; or
• simply passing along a recommendation they heard elsewhere.

None of those possibilities automatically makes the recommendation useless or dishonest.

It simply means it can be useful to ask whether the commenter personally used the service and what their experience was.

Community recommendations are still useful

Don't lose the useful part of asking your community.

Local groups can help you:

• discover providers;
• hear about recent experiences;
• find people who work in your area;
• learn what questions other customers asked; and
• build a shortlist.

The better approach isn't:

“Don't ask Facebook.”

It's:

“Ask your community, then check the recommendation.”

A simple recommendation-to-hire checklist

When someone recommends a provider:

1. Ask what experience the person recommending them actually had.
2. Check you're contacting the intended provider.
3. Confirm they offer the service you need.
4. Check relevant credentials where applicable.
5. Read available reviews in context.
6. Explain your specific job and ask questions.
7. Get important scope, pricing and payment terms in writing where appropriate.
8. Verify unexpected changes to payment details independently.

The point

A recommendation from a Facebook group, WhatsApp group, neighbour, friend or community conversation can be a useful way to discover a service provider.

Just remember what it is:

A recommendation, not a complete assessment of the provider.

Use the name as a starting point, then make the checks that matter for the work you're hiring for.

This article provides general consumer information and was reviewed in September 2026. Recommendations, reviews, profile information and identity verification can provide useful context, but none guarantees qualifications, safety, reliability, workmanship or future service quality.