How we verify pros
We do not pretend every trade works the same across states. Some categories require a state license in your state, some do not, and several trust signals matter more than a license number. Our job is to show the truth clearly, not to flatten everything into one fake badge. The tier counts below are drawn from our Ohio roster, shown here as a worked example.
These profiles publish a state-license number for a trade that normally requires one in that pro's state (Ohio in this roster). We still expect homeowners to reconfirm active status before hiring.
These profiles publish solid public business details without making a state-license claim. Common for non-licensed categories or profiles that rely on other trust signals.
These are curated public-business listings that are still best treated as leads to vet directly. We keep them separate instead of dressing them up as fully verified.
Baseline checks before a listing goes live
- 1. Identity + contact record
We require a real business name, phone number, street address, city, state, and trade assignment. If we can't assemble a coherent public profile, the listing should not go live.
- 2. Geography + category sanity
We check that the listing belongs in the city and trade where we publish it. Wrong-city, wrong-state, or obviously mismatched trade data erodes trust fast.
- 3. Review and website signals only when present
Review aggregates, website links, service tags, and price examples are shown only when they exist in the current listing data. Missing data stays missing; we do not fill it with optimistic defaults.
- 4. State-license handling is trade-aware
For trades that normally require a state license in a given state, we publish the license number when we have it and tell homeowners how to verify directly. For trades a state does not state-license, we say that plainly instead of implying a credential that does not exist.
What we refuse to invent
Freshness, not false certainty
27844 of 30074 live Ohio-roster profiles currently show a verifiedAt date within the last 90 days. That date is a freshness signal for the record we have on file, not a claim that every field was re-audited the same way on that day.