Our methodology

Rankings earned, never bought.

Our list is produced by an algorithm, not a sales team. Here is exactly what goes into a company's score, what pulls it down, and what can never buy it up.

The process

From raw data to a ranked list

1

We gather the field

For each city we pull every restoration company we can find with a real Google Business presence, focused on water, fire, smoke, and mold work.

2

We verify what we can

Certifications are checked against the IICRC registry. BBB profiles and grades are matched to the exact business. Wrong or unconfirmed links are removed rather than shown.

3

We score every company

The weighted formula below turns ratings, review volume, and credentials into a single score, then red-flag deductions are applied.

4

We rank them all

Every eligible company in your city is ranked by its score, best first, so the top of the list is always earned. Rankings refresh as new reviews and verifications come in.

The formula

What the score is made of

Three factors make up the base score. The weights below are our standard mix.

Google rating quality

45%

How happy real customers are. We look at a company's Google rating, but a 5.0 from a handful of reviews does not beat a 4.8 earned across hundreds. Quality is judged in context.

Review volume

25%

A track record you can trust. More verified reviews means more evidence the company delivers consistently, so volume carries real weight on its own.

Verified credentials

30%

Licensing signals, insurance signals, and industry certifications like IICRC. Every company starts from a neutral baseline; verified credentials raise the score. We never assume a credential a company has not proven.

Our guardrails

The rules that keep it honest

Red-flag screening

Yelp and Better Business Bureau records are not averaged into the score. Instead they work as an outlier detector: a pattern of complaints or a poor BBB grade can deduct up to 15 points from a company's final score. No amount of advertising can offset it.

Sponsorship never buys rank

Some companies pay for a clearly labeled sponsored spot. Sponsorship never changes a company's score or its position in the ranked list, and it never pushes a ranked company out. Paying us more will not move anyone up.

Your priorities, your ranking

When you tell us what matters most, such as top ratings or proven credentials, we boost that factor's weight and re-rank the list for you. The underlying data never changes, only the emphasis.

Real data only

Every rating, review count, and credential comes from a public source we checked. When we cannot verify something, we say “Not verified” and score it as neutral. We never fill gaps with guesses.

See it in action

Pick your city and get the top-ranked water, fire, smoke, and mold restoration pros, scored exactly the way described above.

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