Review Management for Contractors and Home Builders

If you're a contractor, plumber, electrician, roofer, or home builder, here's the reality: most of your potential customers are choosing between you and your competitors based on online reviews before they ever call for a quote.

A homeowner looking for a kitchen remodel doesn't pick a name out of the phone book anymore. They search "kitchen remodel [city]," look at the map pack, and call the contractors with the most reviews and highest ratings. If you're sitting at 3.8 stars with 12 reviews while your competitor has 4.7 stars with 85 reviews, you're not getting that call.

Why Reviews Matter More for Contractors

Home improvement and repair services carry uniquely high stakes. Customers are inviting strangers into their homes and trusting them with expensive projects. The anxiety level is high, and reviews are the primary way people manage that anxiety.

Consider what's different about contractor reviews versus, say, restaurant reviews:

• Higher dollar values. A roofing job costs $8,000-$15,000. A bathroom remodel is $15,000-$30,000. With that much money at stake, customers do extensive research.
• More detailed reviews. Homeowners write longer, more detailed reviews because the experience spans days or weeks, not minutes.
• Stronger word-of-mouth effects. Neighbors talk. One bad review from someone in a neighborhood can cost you the entire street.
• BBB and licensing matter. Savvy homeowners check Google, Yelp, BBB, and licensing boards before hiring a contractor.

Where Contractors Get Reviewed

Your reviews are spread across multiple platforms. Here are the most important ones for trades:

• Google Business Profile — the most important for search visibility
• Yelp — heavily used for home services, especially in urban areas
• BBB (Better Business Bureau) — still checked by many homeowners, especially for larger projects
• Facebook — increasingly where homeowners ask for recommendations in local groups
• Houzz — specifically for remodeling, design, and construction
• Angi (formerly Angie's List) — dedicated home services platform
• Nextdoor — neighborhood-based recommendations carry enormous weight

You need to be monitoring all of these. Sentinel Audit tracks your reviews across Google, Yelp, Facebook, BBB, and other platforms from a single dashboard.

The Contractor's Review Generation Playbook

Ask at Project Completion

The best time to ask for a review is during the final walkthrough, when the customer is looking at the finished work and feeling excited. Have a simple card or text ready: "If you're happy with the work, a Google review would mean the world to us."

Use Before/After Photos

Take professional-quality before and after photos of every project (with the customer's permission). Share them on your Google Business Profile and encourage the customer to include photos in their review. Visual reviews get significantly more attention.

Follow Up 2-3 Days Later

Some customers need time to live with the finished product before they're ready to review. A short follow-up text works well: "Hi [Name], just checking in to make sure everything is working great with the [project]. If you have a moment, we'd really appreciate a review: [link]"

Make It Part of Your Process

Add "review request" to your project closeout checklist. Treat it like the final invoice — it doesn't get skipped. Consistency is what builds a review profile over time.

Handling Contractor-Specific Complaints

Contractor reviews tend to cluster around a few common complaints. Here's how to handle each:

"The project took longer than promised"

Timeline overruns are the #1 contractor complaint. Respond by acknowledging the delay, explaining what caused it (weather, supply chain, discovered issues), and noting what you did to communicate throughout the process. Prevention is better: always pad your timeline estimates and communicate delays proactively.

"The final cost was higher than the estimate"

Cost overruns destroy trust. Respond by explaining the change orders and ideally referencing any signed documentation. For the future: provide detailed written estimates, document every change order with customer sign-off, and communicate cost changes before they happen.

"Workers were messy or disrespectful"

Cleanliness and respect in someone's home are non-negotiable. Take this feedback seriously, address it with your crew, and implement clear site cleanup standards. In your response, acknowledge the issue and describe the specific changes you've made.

"Warranty work wasn't handled properly"

Nothing sinks a contractor's reputation faster than refusing to honor warranty work. Respond promptly, offer to schedule the warranty repair, and follow through. The cost of a warranty repair is always less than the cost of a 1-star review.

Building a 5-Star Reputation Long-Term

The contractors with the best online reputations share these habits:

1. They communicate constantly. Weekly updates, timeline changes communicated immediately, responsive to calls and texts.
2. They set realistic expectations. Under-promise and over-deliver on both timeline and budget.
3. They treat the jobsite like a home. Clean up daily, use drop cloths, respect the customer's space.
4. They ask for reviews on every job. Not just the big ones. Even a small repair generates a review that adds to your profile.
5. They respond to every review. Positive and negative, on every platform.

Your online reputation score is a direct measure of how well you're executing these habits. Track it monthly and you'll see the correlation between reputation and revenue.