How the 5 Star Score works
Every company on 5 Star Home Service Pros gets a 5 Star Score from 0 to 100. The score is calculated the same way for everyone, from public review data, and money never changes it. This page explains exactly how.
The five factors
| Factor | Max points |
|---|---|
| Rating quality | 45 |
| Review volume | 25 |
| Review recency | 15 |
| Years in business | 10 |
| Verified license | 5 |
| Total | 100 |
Rating quality (45 points)
We take the company's Google star rating and pull it toward the average for its trade in proportion to how few reviews it has (a Bayesian average, weighted as if every company started with 40 average reviews). The adjusted rating is scaled so 4.0 stars earns 0 points and 5.0 earns all 45.
A perfect 5.0 from eight reviews is weaker evidence than a 4.9 from nine hundred. This keeps a handful of reviews from outranking a long record.
Review volume (25 points)
Points grow with the natural logarithm of the review count, reaching all 25 at 3,000 reviews. Going from 50 to 500 reviews is worth far more than going from 2,500 to 3,000.
More customers taking time to review means more confidence the rating reflects typical work.
Review recency (15 points)
We look at the date of the company's 10th most recent Google review. If it is within 30 days, all 15 points; the points fall steadily to zero at a year. Until we have fetched a company's recent reviews, it gets a neutral 7.5.
A steady flow of recent reviews shows the company is busy and its current service matches its reputation.
Years in business (10 points)
Half a point per year, up to 10 points at 20 years. When we can't confirm a founding year, we count it as 5 years.
Track record matters for work that should last a decade or more.
Verified license (5 points)
Five points when we have confirmed an active contractor license with the state licensing board. License numbers shown but not yet verified earn nothing.
Licensing requirements vary by state and trade, so this is a bonus, not a gate.
Who gets listed
A company appears in the directory only when all of these are true:
- A Google rating of at least 4.5 stars
- At least 20 Google reviews
- A 5 Star Score of 60 or higher
- An active listing that isn't marked permanently closed, in one of our five trades
City pages rank every qualifying company within 25 km (16 miles) of the city center by score. A city page is published for search engines only once at least 3 qualifying companies are based in that city and it has 10,000+ residents, so every page we publish is a real local comparison rather than a copy of the nearest big city.
What doesn't affect the score
- Whether the company has claimed its profile
- Whether the company has ever paid us, talked to us or advertised with us
- Our opinion of the company
The only manual change we ever make is removing a company for fraud, such as fake reviews or a fake address, and we log every one.
What “5 Star Preferred” means: verified and vetted
The 5 Star Preferred badge means a person on our team has personally verified the company. Every Preferred profile has passed all of these:
- Public records check. We confirm the company's details against public sources: state contractor license records, the business address, its website and its Google listing.
- A conversation with the business. We speak with the owner or an authorized representative by phone, video or in person to confirm the details on the profile. Email alone doesn't count.
- A named reviewer and a date. Each Preferred profile shows who vetted it, when, and exactly what was checked.
- Yearly renewal. The badge lapses 12 months after vetting unless the company is vetted again.
Preferred never changes a company's score or its position in any ranking. Lists are always ordered by the 5 Star Score alone. The one overlap: a license confirmed in state records during vetting counts as a verified license, worth the same 5 points any company earns when its license is confirmed.
Where a Preferred company is also a marketing client of our parent company, its profile says so.
Questions
Can a business pay to rank higher?
No. 5 Star Home Service Pros does not sell placement. Claiming a profile is free and does not change the score, and no future paid feature will either.
Where does the data come from?
Ratings, review counts, review dates, hours and categories come from each company's public Google Business Profile. Company details like services and founding year come from the company's own website or from the owner after they claim the profile.
How often is it updated?
Every listed company is re-checked at least once a month, and scores are recalculated after every refresh. Each profile and city page shows its last updated date.
Why isn't a company I know listed?
It may not clear our bar yet (at least 4.5 stars, 20 reviews and a score of 60), we may not have reached its area, or its Google listing may not use a category we recognize. Owners can submit their business to be scored.
Found an error? Tell us and we'll check it.