Are Online Reviews Reliable? 5 Things To Look For In Contractor Reviews

Research is crucial to finding the right company or product for you. 

Downloading guides, digesting educational articles and videos, and reading real reviews of the company or product you are interested in are key to knowing you’ll make the right choice. 

No matter what service you are looking for, most of us scroll through the review section to read about individuals’ experiences and hear whether this product or company delivered what was promised.

When remodeling your home, choosing the right contractor will make or break your project. 

How do you know a contractor will meet your needs and provide a high-quality installation? By looking at the reviews and experiences left by previous clients. 

But, a five-star review doesn’t always tell the whole story. There are a few things you need to inspect in a company review that ensure you can trust a company. 

Southwest Exteriors has over 3,000 reviews with a 4.9/5 star rating across numerous platforms, such as Google Reviews, Better Business Burea, and many more. 

Now, we’re not here to brag about our reviews and ratings. Many other home remodeling companies in our area have almost as many reviews as we do with a similar rating. 

What stands out between our reviews and others is the fact that our clients review us after their project is completed. They document their entire journey and experience working with us so you can see how your project is handled from start to finish. 

This is only one key thing to look at in a review to determine if you can trust a home remodeling contractor or not. So, what are some others? 

In this article, we’ll dive into five things to identify in a company review that provide you with an honest and full understanding of what the company will provide. 

Then, you’ll be able to decipher any company review and check each box to know if you can trust the home remodeling contractor you may hire. 

How can I trust a company review? 5 things to identify

As you research different home remodeling companies, looking at and comparing their reviews is a key step you don’t want to forget. 

But, what should you look for when you look at their reviews? How can you deem one company’s reviews better than another? 

Five key things to identify in a company’s reviews tell you this is a trustworthy contractor you want to consider working with. They are: 

1. The company has a high rating
2. The company has historical reviews
3. The company has great reviews across numerous platforms
4. They have comprehensive reviews that describe the experience of a client
5. Their reviews document the entire journey and are left post-installation

Now, let’s look into each of these key indicators of a great review so you can identify a quality home remodeling company by its reviews. 

1. The company has a high rating

The first thing you want to look at in a home remodeling company’s reviews is if they have a high rating. You may be thinking, duh, right?

A company’s rating is the first key indicator that will tell you whether a company is trustworthy or not. 

Most review platforms go off of a star rating out of five stars. Our advice? Look for a company with a rating in the high fours. 

The lower the rating of the company reviews, the higher risk associated with choosing that company for your project. 

2. The company has historical reviews

The second thing you want to look for in a company’s reviews is that they have historical reviews. What we mean by this is that they have reviews that date years prior. 

Why is it important they have old reviews? This is crucial because it tells you they have been around for a long time. They have credibility in this industry. 

Historical reviews can also show if a client came back to follow up on their review when they needed to call on the contractor in the future, like if they experienced a problem with their product or needed something fixed. 

You want to know that a contractor has been locally established in your area, has been around, and is here to stay. 

3. The company has great reviews across numerous platforms

The third thing you want to identify in a contractor’s reviews is that they have great reviews not just on one review site but on multiple. 

If they only have great reviews on one site, this is not a major red flag. But, if they have great reviews on one site and terrible reviews on another, you’ll want to have your guard up. 

If they have raving reviews on three or more sites, this is your golden ticket. Looking at multiple sources validates the truth and strengthens your trust in that company. 

4. They have comprehensive reviews that describe the experience of a client

The fourth thing to identify in a company’s reviews is that they have comprehensive and detailed reviews, not only star ratings. 

Reading about clients’ experiences gives you a better idea of how the company works with their clients and how well their service is. But, it is also an added assurance that the reviews are real and not from bots. 

Now, not every review has to be paragraphs long and extremely detailed, but you want to find them scattered throughout the one-sentence and star-only reviews to ensure they are real and true. 

5. Their reviews document the entire journey and are left post-installation

The fifth and possibly most important thing to look for in a home remodeling company’s reviews is that the review was left after the installation and service, not just after a client met with the company and signed a contract. 

If a review describes the client’s experience with a consultant or representative and mentions nothing about installation and how the products look, this is a red flag. 

This means the representative most likely asked the client to leave them a review once they sold you your project and does not provide you with a full picture of the company’s service. 

You want to read reviews that describe the experience of working with the company from start to finish. Yes, you do want to read about how the consultations went and how the consultants treated clients, but you also want to read about how the installation went and how the home looks afterward. 

Were things handled correctly? Did the company keep your home clean and take care of it? Were there any problems experienced that the company remedied? 

These are just a few questions to consider when dissecting a review. 

Finding a high-quality home remodeling contractor with great reviews

Now you know five key things to look for in a company’s reviews to know if they are a quality contractor or not. 

When looking at a contractor’s reviews, it’s important to dive deeper than just a rating. A high-star rating does not mean they have quality reviews or are trustworthy. You want to look into the descriptive reviews. 

Does the company have historical reviews? Do the reviews detail the client’s experience  from start to finish of the service? Do they have reviews on multiple platforms? 

With these five key things to keep in mind, you’ll be able to decipher a high-quality contractor over a low-quality one based on their reviews. 

At Southwest Exteriors, we value our reviews because we know they help homeowners have a deeper trust in us and our work. 

But, even if you don’t work with us on your project, we want you to have the right tools in your belt to find a trustworthy contractor. 

Whether you want to have your windows replaced or build a new deck in your backyard, finding the right contractor is essential to the success of your project. So, how do you do that exactly? 

This article will outline three steps to finding the right home remodeling contractor. Then, you’ll be able to find the right company that will meet all your needs for your project.