How to Check a Contractor's Reviews Before You Hire Them

#How do you check a contractor's reviews before hiring them?

Look at the review timeline, not just the star average: a cluster of five-star reviews posted in the same day or week, reviewers with no other Google activity, or near-identical praise wording are the three clearest warning signs. Run the listing's Google Maps link through a free forensic tool before you book a job, since a 4.8-star rating built on a burst tells you nothing about the actual work.

#Why does this matter more for home-service businesses than restaurants?

A bad restaurant review costs you one dinner. A bad contractor review costs you a deposit, a half-finished roof, or a repair that has to be redone by someone else, which is exactly the harm regulators pointed to in the government's first major fake-listings case against a home-repair operation. In May 2026 the FTC and the Illinois Attorney General sued B.E.S.T. GDR LLC, doing business as Premium Home Service, alleging the company created more than 15,000 fake local business listings for home-repair firms it did not operate, then had employees, relatives, and contractors post five-star reviews to bury one-star complaints from customers whose technician never showed up.[^1] Our breakdown of the FTC's fake-review rule covers what the final order required.

The scheme worked because most people check a contractor's star rating and stop there. A fake listing with a manufactured 4.8 average looks indistinguishable from a real, well-run business unless you look at how the reviews arrived.

#What should you check before you hire?

• Read the one- and two-star reviews first. They're harder to fake convincingly and often describe the actual work, not just the sales call.
• Scan for a date cluster. A dozen five-star reviews posted within a day or two of each other, especially after a slow stretch, is the single easiest pattern to spot with the naked eye.
• Open a few reviewer profiles. An account with one review, no photos, and no Local Guide badge isn't proof of anything by itself, but several of them posting the same week is.
• Compare wording across reviews. Near-identical phrases ("great service," "highly recommend," a specific staff name repeated) suggest a script, not independent customers.
• Check the business address against the listing. Some fake-listing operations use a real address for an unrelated business, or no verifiable address at all.
• Run the analyzer. Paste the Google Maps link into our free checker and it scores the full review history against these same patterns in seconds.

#What does a manipulated pattern actually look like?

Safeguard Roofing, a Long Island roofing company, scores 63/100 (Suspicious). Its report documents 16 separate burst events, days where five-star review volume spiked far above the business's usual pace, stretching from 2023 through mid-2025, including 20 five-star reviews in a single day against an average of 1.6. Right Angle Roofing & Siding, also on Long Island, scores 61/100 (Suspicious) with 13 similar burst events, the sharpest a 24-review spike in a single day. Both reports lay out every burst date on file, so you can see exactly when the pattern occurred rather than taking our verdict on faith.

#What does a clean pattern look like by comparison?

Not every contractor with unusual review activity is manipulating anything. Triple Crown Exteriors, operating in the same town as Safeguard Roofing, scores 37/100 and comes back Clean, despite carrying 41 low-activity-account flags. R & R Plumbing carries 297 such flags, more than either roofing example above, and still scores 35/100, Clean. Neither listing shows the burst pattern that pushed Safeguard Roofing and Right Angle Roofing & Siding into Suspicious territory. The lesson: a first-time reviewer or two is normal for any small business; a wall of them arriving together on a specific date is what deserves a second look.

#What if the contractor you're checking hasn't been analyzed yet?

Most small local contractors won't already have a public forensic report simply because nobody has run one yet. That's normal. Submitting the Google Maps link yourself queues a fresh analysis, which typically finishes within minutes and gives you the same burst timeline, reviewer-activity breakdown, and duplicate-text check shown on the roofing examples above. There's no cost or account required, and the report stays up afterward for the next person searching the same business name.

#What do you do if the reviews look manipulated?

Don't rely on a gut read of the star average alone. Our step-by-step guide to reporting a fake Google review walks through Google's actual reporting flow if you spot the pattern on a listing you're about to hire, and the free analyzer above gives you the same evidence a report page shows without any manual digging. If a quote seems too good given a suspicious review history, get a second quote and a written estimate before paying anything upfront; that habit protects you regardless of what the reviews turn out to show.

#Frequently asked questions

#Can a contractor's Google reviews be completely fake?

Yes. The FTC's case against Premium Home Service alleged the company invented more than 15,000 fake business listings and populated them with reviews from employees, relatives, and contractors rather than real customers, specifically in the home-repair category.

#Is it illegal for a contractor to buy reviews?

Yes. The FTC's Consumer Review Rule bans paying for reviews, undisclosed insider reviews, and burying negative reviews with a flood of positive ones, with civil penalties up to $53,088 per violation.

#What's the fastest way to check a contractor's reviews myself?

Sort by most recent and scan for a date cluster: several five-star reviews posted within a day or two of each other is the pattern most visible without any tool. A forensic checker automates the same read across the entire review history.

#Does a low rating always mean a bad contractor?

No. A low rating can reflect a handful of unhappy customers rather than a pattern, just as a high rating inflated by a burst doesn't guarantee good work. Read the actual text of recent reviews, not just the number.

#Should I avoid every business with a one-review reviewer?

No. Most people who leave a single Google review in their life are genuine customers. It's only worth flagging when several such accounts post glowing reviews within the same narrow window.