A Letter from the Founder
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Letter from Done Right's Founder Paul T. Ryan

Spring/Summer 2006 Dear Customers, As a guy who loves technology, I'm seldom nostalgic. Why get all misty-eyed about the past, when today's technology delivers so many conveniences and wonders? At least that's the way I felt until I purchased a home. When I was a kid, my mother knew just who to call to fix this or that around the house. I did not. Mom had a small army of service guys who'd ring the doorbell moments after she called. She knew their wives and kids, where they prayed and what they liked to do with their spare time. When working at our house she fed them sandwiches and plied them with cold sodas. But mostly, she trusted them to do the job right. We lived in the same house for my entire childhood. Today, if you live in the same house, same neighborhood – or even the same city – for 7 years you're above average. You don't often know the people you count on to keep the largest investment of your life looking good and functioning well. It's a nerve-wracking game of chance. I created the Done Right Directory™ to help resurrect the level of trust and confidence Mom had in the folks who helped her around the house. You certainly don't know all of the Service Providers in this directory. But we do. In the end, I've used a fair bit of technology – like the ability to constantly check licensing, lawsuit and insurance databases, the ability to instantly harvest your feedback; and, the ability to immediately de-list Service Providers who fall short – to approximate something wonderful and old. A feeling of community and certainty. The Done Right Directory is a forward leap back in time and something I very much wish were around when I bought my first home. I hope you find it useful. I want this service to make your complicated and busy life a little easier. Paul T. Ryan CEO Done Right!®

A Better Directory

Picking a home improvement pro is a nerve-wracking game of chance.

Who will be honest enough to say what's really needed? Who won't overcharge? Who will get the job done on time? Who'll clean up their mess?

The Yellow Pages—a jumble of self-promotional blather—offer little help. And, can you ever believe those online reviews? Goodness gracious, are they written by the plumber's mother and the roofer's best friend?

It all boils down to this: whom can you trust?

That's where Done Right!® steps in. We take the chance out of home care and home improvement. Our carefully pre-screened and relentlessly reviewed home improvement pros will do the job right. We guarantee it:

Pre-screened

• Our home pros have their licenses in order;
• They carry the proper amount and type of insurance; and,
• They don't have unresolved complaints with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) or the State of California.

Relentlessly Reviewed

• Our home pros are enthusiastically endorsed by picky, demanding trade professionals like Realtors®, home inspectors, civil engineers and property managers; and,
• We gather customer feedback after every job the Done Right! pros perform. Service pros who are negatively reviewed—and don't move swiftly to make things right—are kicked out. Period. We call it One Strike Quality Control.™ To let us know about your experiences – good or bad – with our pros, click here.

• Home pros displaying the Done Right Guarantee™ logo are backed with a $500 money-back guarantee. If you and the offending pro can't agree on how to make things right, we step in to ensure your satisfaction. Click here to review the Done Right Guarantee.

How to Use Done Right!

All the listings in the Done Right Directory are simple and standardized. There's no shouting. No big splashy ads. Just good, useful information to help you find the home pro you need to get the job Done Right!

Consider the listing from Denver below:

800 Numbers

Why does Done Right! assign all of its approved pros toll free 800 numbers? The answer in two words: quality control. If a “good apple” Service Provider sadly goes bad, the 800 number—owned and operated by Done Right!—can be turned-off and your call redirected to a Done Right! Service Provider in good standing. Unlike any other directory, Done Right! can—and does—boot out Service Providers who fail to meet the utmost standards of professionalism.

In Business Since

This lets you know who's been around—it lets you know which home pros have withstood the test of time. But longevity isn't everything. Remember, every Service Provider in the Done Right Directory—whether they've been in business for one year or one hundred years—has been carefully checked-out. And, sometimes, new guys are extra eager to please. (Please note, for franchised businesses, the “In Business Since” date is the year the franchise opened for business.)

Area Served

Done Right! divides the San Diego Metro into 7 service areas. Many Done Right! pros service all 7 and let you know this by listing “All San Diego” under Area Served. Other pros list a specific area or areas they prefer to cover. An easy-to-read map of the 7 San Diego service areas appears on almost every page of the site.

Best At

This is the crown jewel of Done Right's commitment to simplicity. Here, the self-promotional chaos and clutter of the Yellow Pages are reduced to a few useful, actionable words. Scan our Best Ats to quickly determine not only what a service pro is really good at, but also the type of work he or she loves to do. Better yet, use our search box to suss out the most esoteric specialties.

License Info

Here we list the service pros' state Contractor's License numbers and/or licenses from counties, municipalities, and trade organizations. You may see more than one number listed because many Done Right! pros are licensed in multiple trades. The listed number(s) can, most often, be clicked for a direct link to the state, county, or municiple licensing site. Note, some pros offer services in trades that do not require a license, or they specialize in "small jobs" (often defined as $500 and below) that are also permitted without a license. Rest assured, these pros still meet Done Right's rigorous standards of professionalism.

The guarantee logo next to a Service Provider's name means that elements of the Service Provider's work are covered by the Done Right Guarantee. This is Done Right's way of saying we know our service pros are the very best and we stand behind that assertion with the conviction of our own money. Only customers who register for the Done Right Guarantee are eligible for coverage. Click here to register for the Done Right Guarantee. Click here to review the Done Right Guarantee.

More Details

Click on the More Details link to read the service pro's business biography, find out what types of payments are accepted, where the pro's shop is located, which languages are spoken and much more.

Who's Calling

Use the Who's Calling link to see if your friends and neighbors are calling this pro to work on their homes. Our maps and tables make it easy to determine if homeowners with needs similar to your own trust this pro to do the job right!

Press & Media

Press

• Television Ad from 04/18/2006 - Co-promotion with San Diego's NBC 7/39 Pros-on-Demand (large file)
• Business Journal Coverage from 9/19/2005 - Done Right! in the San Diego Business Journal

Media

• USPS Welcome Kit
• Done Right Directory
• Newspaper
• Door-to-Door
• Search Engines
• Radio Spots
• Internet Banners

Executive Team

Paul Ryan

With 20+ years of experience developing and managing integrated business systems and technologies, Paul most recently was the CTO of Overture Services, the pioneer in pay-for-performance Internet advertising (recently acquired by Yahoo!).

While at Overture, Paul built the largest pay-for-performance search engine on the web, heading the technology team and managing the core technologies and business processes underlying the company's business.

Prior to joining Overture, Paul was CIO for Delray Farms, LLC, a Chicago-based retail startup, where he built the systems and business process infrastructure for a $250 million retail concept.

Prior to Delray Farms, Paul spent nearly four years at Deloitte & Touche as a management consultant, and more than four years as a software engineer, project manager, and lead systems designer for DEC.

Paul received a B.S.E. from Princeton University, an M.S. in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Tom Lamb

Tom has nearly 25 years of experience in law, investment banking and business/corporate development. Prior to Done Right!, Tom was head of corporate development for Overture, leading the company's efforts in structuring and negotiating numerous acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

Prior to Overture, Tom was an investment banker in Mexico City, Mexico and Bogotá, Colombia for N.M. Rothschild & Sons, specializing in M&A and government privatizations.

Before investment banking, Tom practiced law on Wall Street and in Los Angeles for major international law firms, specializing in corporate transactions.

Tom earned a B.S. from the University of Southern California, a J.D. from the University of California, Davis and an M.B.A. from the Anderson School at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Gary Gibson

Gary has nearly 30 years of experience in sales and leadership roles in directory and Internet advertising. Gary was most recently Director - Corporate Sales Operations for Dex Media, publishers of print and Internet White and Yellow Pages for the 14 state Qwest service area with $1.5 Billion in annual revenue.

While at Dex, Gary had end-to-end responsibility for all methods and procedures for the 1,400 person sales force. He also held positions of Director-Internet Advertising and Director-General Manager, Oregon/ Washington. Gary served on many leadership teams including a $100 million sales force automation and enterprise wide system conversion.

Gary has served on several boards including the Board of Directors for the Oregon Telco Credit Union.

Gary earned a B.S. in Management from Metropolitan State College, Denver and an M.S.B.A. from the University of Northern Colorado