No Google stars, no Yelp stars, no paid placement. Here's exactly what we do.
Every listing has a local address and a working phone number from public business records.
Years in business, licensing where your state requires it, insurance, and whether they actually answer and show up.
Experience, what matters most to you, and how close they are to your house.
After the job we check in with you. Pros who fall short stop getting our referrals.
Checked by SearchWrench (month): we spoke with the business that month. Years in business: what they told us, compared with their state business registration where we can find it. Licensed: we confirmed a license with the state lookup where that trade needs one. Insured: they showed us a current certificate. Matched customers happy: people we connected with this pro who told us afterwards the job went well.
A listing without badges just means we haven't called them yet. It isn't a mark against them.
Reviews can be bought, filtered or years out of date, and a pro with 400 reviews isn't always the one who will answer the phone this week. We would rather check ourselves and ask you how it went.