Where our data comes from

Every number on this site traces to one of the sources below. Each entry says how often we read it and — more usefully — what it does not prove. A source with no stated limitation is a source nobody has thought hard enough about.

EPA Lead-Safe certified firm search

authoritative · read quarterly

Supplied by US Environmental Protection Agency ↗

Federal certification required to disturb painted surfaces in homes built before 1978. Fully public and free to verify.

Texas Comptroller — Franchise Tax Account Status

authoritative · read weekly

Supplied by Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts ↗

Confirms that a legal entity exists, when it registered with the Secretary of State, and whether it currently holds the right to transact business. Sole proprietors operating under a county assumed-name filing will not appear here; we verify those separately.

TDLR licence register

authoritative · read nightly

Supplied by Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation ↗

TDLR publishes its full licence register daily. Most of the trades we rank are not licensed by Texas at all — mold remediation is the notable exception.

TDLR enforcement actions

authoritative · read quarterly

Supplied by Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation ↗

Final disciplinary orders are public record. We count them for three years from the order date and always link to the order itself.

Texas Department of Insurance — TXCOMP

authoritative · read quarterly

Supplied by Texas Department of Insurance ↗

Texas is the only state where workers' compensation is optional for private employers. Carrying it earns a bonus; not carrying it is legal, common among small crews, and never penalized.

Texas Comptroller — Sales Taxpayer Search

authoritative · read quarterly

Supplied by Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts ↗

Cleaning services are taxable in Texas, so an established cleaning company should hold an active sales-tax permit. We treat its absence as a signal worth noting, not as proof of wrongdoing.

Computed from data we already hold

primary · read weekly

Signals we derive ourselves, such as comparing a Google profile name against the registered legal name to detect keyword stuffing.

Editorial verification

primary · read on_demand

Corrections made by our editors. Every one is logged publicly with its reason, and none of them can set a score or a rank.

IICRC Certified Firm registry

primary · read quarterly

Supplied by IICRC ↗

Certified Firm status is a company-level designation and the industry standard for restoration and carpet work. Individual technician certificates are a weaker signal and are scored separately at a lower value.

Google Business Profile metrics

secondary · read weekly

Supplied by DataForSEO ↗

Ratings, review counts, and star distributions are read from Google Business Profiles once a week. Reviews that Google filters or removes are invisible to us, as they are to everyone outside Google.

Google review metadata

secondary · read weekly

Supplied by DataForSEO ↗

We read review timestamps, star values, reviewer history size, and whether the owner replied. We do not retain review text beyond a 90-day processing buffer, and we never republish it.

Trade association directories

secondary · read quarterly

Supplied by ISSA, RIA, NADRA, AFA

Association membership proves that dues were paid, not that work is competent. Memberships earn small bonuses only. Audited programmes such as ISSA's CIMS and credentials such as the AFA's Certified Fence Professional are scored higher because they require passing something.

Google Business Profile listings

secondary · read quarterly

Supplied by DataForSEO ↗

Business discovery uses a snapshot database that DataForSEO refreshes every 90 days, so a company that opened very recently may not appear until the next discovery run. Live ratings and review counts come from a separate, weekly source.

Certificate of insurance (submitted by the business)

self reported · read annually

No public registry lists general liability policies anywhere in the United States. Businesses send us a certificate of insurance; we check that the issuing carrier is licensed by the Texas Department of Insurance and record the date we looked. We report this as verified on a date, never as a guarantee that cover is in force today.

Sources we deliberately do not use

Better Business Bureau. Not currently used. BBB data is only available under a partner agreement, and we will not scrape it. BBB accreditation is a paid membership and would score zero regardless.
Yelp. Yelp’s terms forbid caching their content beyond a day and forbid blending their ratings into a composite score. We would have to break the agreement to use it, so we do not.
The Google Places API. Its terms forbid storing ratings, which makes tracking a company over time impossible.

How these sources combine into a score is set out in the methodology, including the weight each one carries.