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Online consumer protection service BetterBid has launched a data-driven construction contractor verification badge that will appear on contractors’ listing on its lookup engine. The badge displays a real-time risk score based on the online reputation of the business and a percentile ranking of all other reports, with a fraud report status cross-referenced against a scam database and a last-verified date. It’s server-rendered so contractors can’t fake or alter the statistics. When a homeowner clicks it, they land on a full verification profile showing a full risk report with insurance status, certifications and business registration – all independently verified, not self-reported.“Unlike other accreditation programs, which are essentially paid certificates with subjective screening, ours is built entirely on data, analytics and proof, all with a proven track record for eliminating scams,” claims BetterBid founder, Alex Kimmich. “The goal isn’t to sell certificates, rather to give homeowners something of meaning when they see it on a contractor’s website or truck.” Kimmich hopes the data-driven, high-integrity nature of the certification will attract trust among homeowners, ultimately benefitting BetterBid’s contractor subscribers.
Kimmich says the need for a better way for contractors to advertise their trustworthiness became evident as he built his business dedicated to protecting consumers from contracting scams. “We’ve observed people on NextDoor asking if contractors are ‘BetterBid verified’,” he reports. “We’ve seen contractors adding screenshotted reports they ran themselves on their websites, reports on contractors being passed around in groupchats, etcetera. The badge is just an easy way for contractors to show homeowners they stand out as highly reliable.”
To be listed on BetterBid and obtain a verification badge, contractors make a profile and upload proof of business, insurance and their relevant trade certificates. The rest is done in the background, with BetterBid systems checking for objective information like the contractor’s domain age, evidence from any claims in the BetterBid Dispute Repository and details from the uploads and external evidence like reviews, website information and external mentions. It considers all the information to deliver a risk value of one to 10, where one is the lowest risk possible, representing how safe it is to work with a contractor. The badges are only assigned from one to four, which comprises about 40 percent of companies. It takes about two minutes for the contractors set up and get their own risk rating.
In the future, BetterBid plans to add functionality, including:
- The state of their certifications;
- The ability to post verified reviews from clients;
- Analysis of their BetterBid jobs and what other contractors say about the quality of the work (which homeowners wouldn’t know).
Kimmich appeared on The Hammer podcast last October to discuss contractor fraud and his attempts to combat it.