Servicing an unexpected leaky pipe, faulty furnace or cable outage is the most stressful item on Americans' holiday to-do lists — more so than getting holiday shopping done — for nearly three in four (73%) people, according to a national survey released today from Verizon Connect. Additionally, 40% of Americans expect to make more service calls during this holiday season than any other time of the year.

The biggest concern for more than one in four Americans (27%) is needing a plumber to fix frozen pipes during the holidays, which is especially true for Americans in the Midwest (30%). TV is also top of mind for many Americans during the holidays who say that needing a technician to fix their cable would be their top concern (15%).

In addition to emergency repairs, 90% of Americans rely on key home services during the holidays with heating ventilation and air conditioning being relied on the most (28%) followed closely by trash removal (27%).

More than half of Americans (53%) expect their service provider to be available during the holidays with at least regular business hours, if not extended hours, in order to be ready for holiday home service emergencies. Additionally, consumers are looking for their service providers to be cost effective and fast.

For 67% of respondents, cost was among their top considerations for hiring a service provider and more than one in four (26%) said that the time a service provider takes to arrive or the amount of time it takes them to finish a job was most important. In fact, the majority of Americans (76%) said they have higher expectations for a service provider making repairs during a holiday party than a driver delivering food for a holiday party.

"Common home issues such as frozen pipes, out-of-commission furnaces and broken garbage disposals typically have people scrambling, especially around the holidays," said Jay Jaffin, chief marketing officer at Verizon Connect. "With many Americans hosting family gatherings, expectations are extraordinarily high for service providers, making efficient, quality service supported by technology including route optimization and service vehicle tracking more important than ever."

Verizon Connect offers a full suite of fleet and mobile workforce management solutions, serving commercial customers of any size.

The Verizon Connect Holiday Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among 1,000 U.S. adults, ages 18 and older, between Nov. 5 and Nov. 8, using an email invitation and an online survey. Quotas have been set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the U.S. adult population 18 and older. The margin of error for this study is 3.1% at the 95% confidence level.

The Verizon Connect survey defines service providers as independent contractors or companies with a fleet of vehicles that provide maintenance or repair services, including plumbers, electricians, heating and cooling technicians, landscapers, and carpenters. The survey looked at U.S. adults to reveal their biggest fears around needing service providers this holiday season as well as their expectations when they do hire them.