After becoming a member of the group, you can search past posts to look for specific information (such as "contractor" or "house cleaning"). Try different forms of phrases to make sure you get as many results as possible: handyman and handy man; painter and painting...

Or you can post your own question to the group.

To reply to a message and have that reply posted for all to see (a good thing if you are recommending a service everyone want might to know about), just hit the "reply" button. To send a private message directly to the person, copy and paste his/her email address -- found in the upper right portion of the post -- and send the person an email.