Why homeowners won't trust a contractor without reviews first
71% of consumers won't consider a business rated under 3 stars. 59% expect to see at least 20 reviews before trusting a business is credible at all.
Published September 2, 2026
US construction spending has been running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of roughly $2.14 trillion, per the Census Bureau's Monthly Construction Spending report. That's not a market short on work. It's a market where a lot of contractors are competing for the same homeowner's attention, and BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey is one of the clearer measurements of what actually decides who wins it.
The numbers that filter a shortlist
- 98% of consumers read online reviews before choosing a local business — this isn't a niche behavior, it's close to universal.
- 71% won't consider a business rated below 3 stars.
- 59% expect to see somewhere between 20 and 99 reviews before trusting a business is credible at all — a rating alone, without volume, doesn't clear the bar.
Put together: a contractor doing excellent work with five reviews from three years ago is, to most homeowners doing this check, functionally indistinguishable from a contractor who just started. The work isn't the variable being judged. The visible evidence of the work is.
Why this matters more in construction than in lower-stakes categories
A construction project is a large, hard-to-reverse commitment — a homeowner is trusting a contractor with their house, their budget, and often several weeks of disruption. That's exactly the kind of decision where people over-index on visible trust signals, because the cost of getting it wrong is high and the ability to verify quality directly, in advance, is low.
What to actually do about it
- 01Ask for a review immediately after project completion, while it's still front of mind — see how to actually get more Google reviews.
- 02Respond to every review. It costs a sentence and it's the specific thing 88% of consumers say changes their willingness to use a business.
- 03Keep the profile active: recent job photos, accurate service areas, current hours — an untouched profile reads as an inactive business whether or not that's true.
Frequently asked questions
BrightLocal's research found 59% of consumers expect a business to have somewhere between 20 and 99 reviews before they consider it credible. A handful of five-star reviews from years ago reads as thin, even if the rating itself is high.
Not on its own — but an unanswered one might. 88% of consumers say they'd use a business that responds to all its reviews, including negative ones. A response shows the business is actively managed; silence reads the opposite way, regardless of the rating.
Referrals still get checked. A homeowner given a name by a friend commonly looks the business up anyway — the review profile either confirms the referral or quietly undermines it.