Editorial policy
Nobody pays to be here
We take no fee for inclusion, no commission on work booked, and no payment for position. There is no mechanism anywhere in this system that sets a score or a rank, so there is nothing for a business to buy even if it wanted to. Editors can correct data, exclude a franchise, or record a verified credential; the engine then recomputes. Every one of those actions appears in the corrections log with its reason.
Why we exclude franchises and chains
A franchise location competes with a national marketing budget, a call centre, and a brand people already recognize. None of that is evidence about the crew who turn up at your house. A ranking that mixes franchise locations with independent operators mostly measures advertising spend, and the independents lose on a dimension that has nothing to do with the work.
This is an editorial choice, not a judgement about quality. Franchise locations are often run by capable people. We simply are not the place to compare them, and we would rather say so plainly than quietly bury them a few positions down.
How we decide
- A brand on the published list below, matched against the business name or its website domain. For brands whose names are unmistakable, a name match is enough. For brands whose names overlap ordinary business names — “The Maids”, “Coverall” — we require the domain to agree as well, and otherwise send it to a person. Wrongly removing an independent is the costliest mistake we can make.
- Signals that raise a review, never an automatic removal: the “independently owned and operated” disclaimer that franchisors require of their franchisees, the “{Brand} of {City}” naming convention, or the same name appearing across several metros.
- A person decides anything ambiguous, and the decision is published.
What is not a franchise
Manufacturer contractor programmes — TrexPro, TimberTech Registered Contractor, and similar — look franchise-shaped because they share branding and a national directory, but the businesses in them are independent. They stay eligible. Member co-operatives are labelled rather than removed.
The excluded brands
60 brands are removed from every ranking on this site. This list is the whole of it.
| Brand | Parent company |
|---|---|
| 1-800 WATER DAMAGE | BELFOR Franchise Group |
| 360clean | — |
| 911 Restoration | — |
| ATI Restoration | — |
| All Dry Services | — |
| Anago Cleaning Systems | — |
| Archadeck | Empower Brands |
| BELFOR | — |
| Buildingstars | — |
| COIT | — |
| Chem-Dry | BELFOR Franchise Group |
| City Wide Facility Solutions | — |
| CleanNet USA | — |
| Corvus Janitorial | — |
| CottageCare | — |
| Coverall | — |
| DRYmedic | Authority Brands |
| Deck Medic | — |
| Enviro-Master | — |
| Fence Dynamics | — |
| Heaven's Best | — |
| Home Clean Heroes | Buzz Franchise Brands |
| Image One | — |
| JAN-PRO | Empower Brands |
| Jani-King | — |
| Lightspeed Restoration | — |
| Maid Brigade | — |
| Maid Right | Premium Service Brands |
| MaidPro | Threshold Brands |
| Merry Maids | ServiceMaster Brands |
| MilliCare | — |
| Molly Maid | Neighborly |
| Office Pride | — |
| OpenWorks | — |
| Oxi Fresh | — |
| Paul Davis Restoration | — |
| PuroClean | — |
| Rainbow Restoration | Neighborly |
| Renew Crew | Premium Service Brands |
| RestoPros | — |
| Restoration 1 | — |
| Roto-Rooter | — |
| ServiceMaster Clean | ServiceMaster Brands |
| ServiceMaster Restore | ServiceMaster Brands |
| Servpro | — |
| Stand Strong Fencing | HorsePower Brands |
| Stanley Steemer | — |
| Steamatic | — |
| Stratus Building Solutions | — |
| Superior Fence & Rail | Empower Brands |
| System4 | — |
| The Cleaning Authority | Authority Brands |
| The Maids | — |
| Two Maids | Home Franchise Concepts |
| United Water Restoration Group | — |
| Vanguard Cleaning Systems | — |
| Voda Cleaning & Restoration | — |
| You've Got Maids | — |
| Zerorez | — |
| ecomaids | — |
Labelled, but still eligible
- DKI — DKI is a member network of independently owned restoration contractors, not a franchise system. Members stay eligible and are labelled as network members.
Corrections and appeals
If we have something wrong about your business, tell us and we will fix it. If you believe an exclusion or an integrity finding is mistaken, you can appeal it; we aim to resolve appeals within 21 days, and the outcome is appended to the same public entry rather than quietly replacing it.
What a ranking is not
A high score means the published evidence looked good on the day we computed it. It is not a guarantee of workmanship, not an endorsement, and not a substitute for checking a contractor’s licence and insurance yourself before you hire them.