How we rank
Methodology v1.0.0 · effective 2026-08-10
The TRP Score is a 0–100 composite of 5 weighted pillars — reputation quality (40%), trust & verification (25%), volume & momentum (15%), longevity (12%), engagement & transparency (8%). Franchises and chains are excluded by policy. Position cannot be purchased, and no manual action anywhere in this system can set a score or a rank.
The pillars and their weights
| Pillar | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Reputation quality | 40% | Adjusted customer satisfaction is the best available predictor of the outcome consumers care about. Bayesian shrinkage and time decay make it robust to small samples and to stale glory. |
| Trust & verification | 25% | Government registries and audited certifications are the hardest signals to fake. This pillar is what separates us from review-only rankings. |
| Volume & momentum | 15% | Market validation. Log-scaled so a 900-review giant cannot bury an excellent 80-review independent. |
| Longevity | 12% | Survival is evidence. Sourced from state registration dates rather than self-reported claims. |
| Engagement & transparency | 8% | Responsiveness and transparency correlate with service quality, but they are effort-gameable, so they carry the lightest weight. |
Why a five-star newcomer does not come first
A perfect average over a handful of reviews is weak evidence. Every company is scored as though it began with 25 reviews at the market median for its list, so a long record of very good work outranks a short record of perfect work. The market median is published on every ranking page, so you can check the number we used.
Reviews also lose weight with age, halving every 730 days. Nothing is ever discarded; a review from five years ago still counts, just less than one from last month.
A worked example
Computed by the same engine that scores real companies. If the code changes, this changes with it.
What we verify, by trade
Texas licenses almost none of this work, so each checklist measures against what that trade can actually prove. Points are normalized within a category: a business holding every core item reaches the full pillar.
House Cleaning
Texas requires no state license to operate a house cleaning business. Cleaning services are taxable in Texas, so an established company should hold an active sales-tax permit — we check for one and treat its absence as a red flag rather than a disqualification.
| Signal | Points | Role |
|---|---|---|
Registered Texas entity in good standing Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Also the source of the entity's registration date, which we use for years in business instead of a self-reported founding year. | 30 | core |
General liability insurance on file Certificate of insurance, carrier checked against TDI Self-submitted and verified by us on a stated date. No public registry of liability policies exists, so this can never be more than a point-in-time check. | 30 | core |
Active Texas sales-tax permit Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Cleaning services are taxable in Texas, so an established cleaning company should hold one. | 25 | core |
Google Business Profile claimed Google Basic hygiene: an unclaimed profile means nobody is maintaining the hours, phone number, or replies that customers rely on. | 15 | core |
Workers' compensation coverage Texas Department of Insurance Optional for private employers in Texas. Carrying it is a bonus; not carrying it is never penalized. | 5 | bonus |
ISSA membership ISSA Membership proves dues were paid, not competence. | 3 | bonus |
Keyword-stuffed Google profile name Derived Google's own guidelines forbid adding keywords to a business name. We compare the profile name against the registered legal or assumed name. | −5 | negative |
Water Damage Restoration
Water mitigation itself is unlicensed in Texas, but remediating more than 25 contiguous square feet of mold requires a TDLR Mold Remediation Contractor license and company registration. Texas also forbids the same party from both assessing and remediating mold. Any company in this category that advertises mold remediation must hold that registration to be ranked.
| Signal | Points | Role |
|---|---|---|
TDLR Mold Remediation Company registration Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Legally required to remediate more than 25 contiguous square feet of mold in Texas. A company that advertises mold remediation without it cannot be ranked. | 25 | core · required for this work |
IICRC Certified Firm IICRC A company-level designation that insurers commonly require for restoration work. | 20 | core |
Registered Texas entity in good standing Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Also the source of the entity's registration date, which we use for years in business instead of a self-reported founding year. | 15 | core |
General liability insurance on file Certificate of insurance, carrier checked against TDI Self-submitted and verified by us on a stated date. No public registry of liability policies exists, so this can never be more than a point-in-time check. | 15 | core |
IICRC technician certificate IICRC Held by individual technicians rather than the company, so it is scored at a fraction of the Certified Firm value. | 5 (max 10) | core |
Google Business Profile claimed Google Basic hygiene: an unclaimed profile means nobody is maintaining the hours, phone number, or replies that customers rely on. | 5 | core |
Workers' compensation coverage Texas Department of Insurance Optional for private employers in Texas. Carrying it is a bonus; not carrying it is never penalized. | 5 | bonus |
Restoration Industry Association membership RIA Membership proves dues were paid, not competence. | 3 | bonus |
TDLR disciplinary order Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Counted for three years from the date of the order, and always linked to the order itself. | −20 | negative |
Keyword-stuffed Google profile name Derived Google's own guidelines forbid adding keywords to a business name. We compare the profile name against the registered legal or assumed name. | −5 | negative |
Fence Installation
Texas issues no statewide contractor license, so there is no fence license to check. Municipalities differ: San Antonio requires home-improvement contractor registration, and most cities permit fences above a height threshold. The American Fence Association's Certified Fence Professional credential is the strongest voluntary signal available.
| Signal | Points | Role |
|---|---|---|
Registered Texas entity in good standing Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Also the source of the entity's registration date, which we use for years in business instead of a self-reported founding year. | 35 | core |
General liability insurance on file Certificate of insurance, carrier checked against TDI Self-submitted and verified by us on a stated date. No public registry of liability policies exists, so this can never be more than a point-in-time check. | 35 | core |
Certified Fence Professional American Fence Association An examined credential held by an individual at the company, and the strongest voluntary signal available in a trade Texas does not license. | 20 | core |
Google Business Profile claimed Google Basic hygiene: an unclaimed profile means nobody is maintaining the hours, phone number, or replies that customers rely on. | 10 | core |
Workers' compensation coverage Texas Department of Insurance Optional for private employers in Texas. Carrying it is a bonus; not carrying it is never penalized. | 5 | bonus |
American Fence Association membership American Fence Association Membership proves dues were paid, not competence. | 3 | bonus |
Municipal contractor registration City of operation Requirements vary by city; San Antonio, for example, registers home-improvement contractors. Scored as a bonus because it does not apply everywhere we rank. | 5 | bonus |
Keyword-stuffed Google profile name Derived Google's own guidelines forbid adding keywords to a business name. We compare the profile name against the registered legal or assumed name. | −5 | negative |
Who is eligible
- Independent. Not a franchise, franchisee, or corporate chain location. The full excluded-brand list is published.
- Local and operating. Not marked permanently closed, reachable by phone or website, and inside the metro we are ranking.
- A minimum record. At least 5 reviews to be listed and 10 to hold a rank, with a first review at least 6 months old.
- Rated at least 3.0 stars.
- Entity records are checked but not required. Many independents trade under an assumed name that differs from their registered one, so we look every company up in the Texas franchise-tax register and say plainly when we could not find a match. A company we could not confirm still ranks — it simply forfeits those points and carries the disclosure.
How the list is capped
A ranked list holds at most 100 companies. Everyone else keeps a profile and a score; only the rank number is withheld. Positions trade places only when the margin exceeds 0.25 points, and entering the list needs a margin of 0.5 — otherwise the table would reshuffle every month on noise.
Review integrity
We look for review bursts against a company’s own history, clusters of accounts with no review history, near-duplicate text, and star distributions that differ sharply from the rest of the market. When two independent checks agree, the affected window of reviews is set aside and the score recomputed without it.
The arithmetic does not care which direction an anomaly runs. A business being attacked with fake one-star reviews is protected by exactly the same machinery that catches a business buying five-star ones. Any penalty beyond setting reviews aside requires a person to decide it, and every such decision is published in the corrections log.
Can a business pay to rank higher?
No. There is no mechanism in this system that sets a score or a rank — not for money, and not for us. Editors can correct wrong data, exclude a franchise, or record a verified credential, and the engine then recomputes from those inputs. Every one of those actions is logged publicly with its reason.
Where the data comes from
| Source | Checked | What it proves, and what it does not |
|---|---|---|
EPA Lead-Safe certified firm search | quarterly | Federal certification required to disturb painted surfaces in homes built before 1978. Fully public and free to verify. |
Texas Comptroller — Franchise Tax Account Status | weekly | 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 | nightly | 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 | quarterly | 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 | quarterly | 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 | quarterly | 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 | weekly | Signals we derive ourselves, such as comparing a Google profile name against the registered legal name to detect keyword stuffing. |
Editorial verification | 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 via IICRC | quarterly | 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. |
Better Business Bureau via IABBB not currently used | quarterly | 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. |
Google Business Profile metrics via DataForSEO | weekly | 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 via DataForSEO | weekly | 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 via ISSA, RIA, NADRA, AFA | quarterly | 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 via DataForSEO | quarterly | 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) | 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. |
What the score bands mean
- 90+ — Elite
- 80+ — Excellent
- 70+ — Strong
- 60+ — Fair
- 0+ — Developing
What we cannot see
- Reviews that Google filters or removes are invisible to us, as they are to everyone outside Google.
- No public registry lists general liability insurance anywhere in the United States. When we show insurance, a business sent us a certificate and we checked the carrier and the date.
- Sole proprietors trading under a county assumed name do not appear in the state entity register at all.
- Service areas on Google Business Profiles are self-declared and cannot be independently verified.