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HomeStars.com is a free website providing client based/peer reviews of local renovators, repairmen and retailers to help homeowners make better hiring decisions. The website is free to users, both homeowners and contractors, who provide most of the content. While all contractors are offered a free basic listing, the business model encourages contractors to purchase a premium listing to enhance their profile on the site.

More information: HomeStars.com, Facebook or Twitter.

History

Started in 2006, HomeStars was created by Nancy Peterson when she experienced the challenges of finding reputable home service trades while doing an extensive renovation on her own home. As the effort to track down good contractors mounted, Peterson realized how the daunting process was something that other homeowners faced too, leading to the creation of HomeStars.

With its launch, HomeStars was able to create an online community of homeowners who share their experiences in order to help each other find the best contractors, renovators and retailers. It also allows those same contractors to tell their story through their project descriptions and photos as well as Homeowner Reviews, which are the words of their customers.

In its early days, Peterson used her own savings combined with a loan and some fundraising to get her the business started. As it grew in popularity, it also transitioned from a dot-ca domain to dot-com. The company broke even by 2008 and expanded its employee base from four to 13 by 2010.

As of July 2015, HomeStars employs a team of 55 and is the process of launching a mobile app that allows contractors to post their projects and photos using their Smartphone (iOS or Android). Their homeowner clients can also access the app to then write a review using their own phone at the completion of a job, when its fresh in their mind, without having to log on to the website.

Ratings methodology

When writing a review, Homeowners rate companies on two 5-point scales: ‘How satisfied are you with the work that was done?’ and ‘How likely are you to recommend this company?’ The two scores are added together to give a rating out of 10. A company’s overall rating that is displayed on their listing (inside a star) is simply the average of all Homeowner ratings of that company.

Recognition

HomeStars holds an annual Best of Awards, which recognizes contractors who are outstanding in their fields. Best of Award winners are selected from a variety of criteria including homeowner reviews and ratings. Winners are determined based on HomeStars’ proprietary Best of Award Reputation Rank algorithm, which uses more than 15 different factors, each uniquely weighted.

The company has also been recognized by winning the W100 four times and the Profit 500 twice.

Controversy

HomeStars was the subject of controversy in January 2015, making national headlines when a highly-rated contractor went out of business leaving several homeowners with unfinished jobs and missing deposits. As a result, HomeStars continues to strengthen its technology and refine its review process to better ensure authenticity of all submissions.