How we rank plumbers, by points out of 100
Every licensed plumbing company on a list gets up to 100 points from five public signals, compared with the others in the same metro area.
- 5public signals
- 20points each
- 0paid placements
Five signals, 20 points each
The same five, with the same weights, on every list.
- Experience20
The longer of years licensed with the state board and years registered with the state. Compared with the other companies in the area.
- Insured20
Insurance on file with the state board that hasn't lapsed: 20 points, or none.
- Clean record20
No disciplinary action on file with the board in the last 10 years: 20 points, or none.
- Recent work20
City permits pulled in the last 12 months. Compared with the area, and capped at 50 a year so the biggest firm can't run away with it.
- Rating20
Public ratings, from 10 ratings, pulled toward the average when a company has few. Compared with every rated company in the area. A page shows only “Highly rated” (an adjusted rating of 4.7 or more, from at least 25 ratings, matched to the company by its phone or its own city): never stars, scores or counts.
- Points100
Points are the plain total, rounded. Ties go by company name.
Points come from the area, not the calendar
A number earns points by where it sits among the companies in the same metro area: its middle rank among the companies measured. So ten years can earn many points in an area of young companies and few in one of old ones. A city's list keeps its area's order.
When a record is missing
A company the data doesn't cover gets the area's middle score for that signal: never zero, and never the highest. Missing data counts neither for nor against anyone.
When no company on a list has a signal, it's left out and the others share the 100 points. A city that doesn't publish permits with the plumber's name gives a list of four signals, 25 points each.
Where the facts come from
Our local pages, the pages for a city or a utility, use government and utility sources, such as a utility's leak, billing and emergency pages, and federal climate data from NOAA. Each page lists its sources and the date we checked them.
How facts are checked
Every fact is checked automatically. We keep the exact sentence in the source that supports it, confirm that the sentence is on the page we saved and that every number in the fact appears in it, then compare the fact with that sentence and the text around it. Names must match the source exactly, phone numbers digit for digit, and climate figures are copied from NOAA's published data.
A fact the comparison isn't sure about gets a second, closer check against its source, and we keep a record of it. If a fact fails a check, it isn't shown, and the page says what we don't know.
Why each page exists
A page exists only if the facts differ from the next city or utility in ways that change what you should do: a different permit rule, fee, deadline or office. We don't publish pages that only swap a city name. Our general guides and reference pages are written by hand, from the sources each one names.
Spanish pages
Our Spanish pages are written for Spanish-speaking readers' own questions, not translated from our English pages. When a source is only in English, we state its facts in Spanish and mark the source as English.
Who pays us
Providers and partners may pay us for requests we pass them. Payment never changes who is listed or in what order, and we don't sell featured or sponsored placement, so there is none to label.
Paid placements0
Where the records come from
- State license boards: licenses, insurance on file and first license dates
- State business registries: years registered
- City permit records: recent work, where a city publishes permits with the plumber's name
- State board discipline files: board discipline
- Public ratings: shown only as “Highly rated”
Every list names its sources and the date of each file.
Corrections and removals
Businesses can request a correction or removal, and readers can report an error: email hello@plumberranked.com.
Who is on a list
Every company whose plumbing license is current in the newest state board file, placed in the area by the city or county on its license. A company that asked to be removed is left off, and so is a name that isn't a plumbing company's (an insurer or an excavation firm, say). We never show a company's own phone number.
What we don't know yet
- How good the work was
No public record grades a repair. Permits count jobs, not quality.
- What a job costs
Prices aren't in any of the records we use.
- Ratings from people we connect
There aren't enough yet, so they don't count toward points.
- Permits in most cities
Some cities publish permits with the plumber's name; many don't. There, recent work is left out of the list.
- Anything after the file date
A license can lapse, or insurance can end, after the state file we used. Check the license number with the board before you hire.