Editorial policy

Directory listings

• Listings marked “Unclaimed” are compiled from public business information. We have not spoken to the business.
• Some listing descriptions were drafted automatically from that public information. On unclaimed listings we remove any sentence that states a specific claim we cannot check, such as ratings, review summaries, project counts, prices, years in business, licences, guarantees, free estimates or 24/7 availability.
• A listing shows hours, offers and response times only when the business itself has published them on Ratedeed. Otherwise the profile says “Hours not published” or “Not yet measured”.
• When a business claims its listing, the owner manages its own photos, services, hours and description.

City and trade pages

• Listing counts, ZIP codes and the “at a glance” figures are computed from the listings in the directory when the page is built.
• Building-department and permit details are taken from the city’s own website and linked to it. Where we have no sourced local details for a city, we leave them out rather than guess.
• Cost ranges are planning estimates. How they are produced is explained in our pricing methodology.

Licensing and legal summaries

State licensing and lien-law summaries name the statute or agency they come from and show the date they were last checked. They are general information, not legal advice. Rules change, so confirm with the agency or a lawyer before you rely on them.

Articles and guides

Articles are written by the Ratedeed team and show the date they were published. When we make a material change we show an “Updated” date as well. Articles that explain a law quote and cite the statute.

Corrections

If something on Ratedeed is wrong, tell us through the contact page. Business owners can also claim their listing and correct it directly.