For most trades, reviews are the deciding factor between the three names a customer sees on the map. A strong, recent review profile raises your close rate, supports your local rankings and lets you charge a fair price without being the cheapest. Yet most trades businesses leave reviews to chance. We set up a simple system that asks every satisfied customer at the right moment, makes leaving a review take under a minute, and helps you reply to every review well.
Why reviews matter so much in the trades
A customer hiring a trade is letting a stranger into their home, often under stress. Reviews are the closest thing they have to a neighbour's recommendation. They look for three things: how many, how recent, and how the owner responds when something went wrong.
Recency matters more than most owners think. A competitor with fewer reviews but several from the last month can look more active, and more trustworthy, than a company whose last review is from two winters ago.
Results from our HVAC work show how this compounds: GasBoilers.ca, a gas-boiler division built for CANRO Heat, holds 5.0★ from 76+ Google reviews. That is a heating example, not a plumbing or roofing one, but the method behind it applies to any trade.
Who it's for
Every trade that wins work through Google. It's especially urgent if:
- your competitors have noticeably more recent reviews
- you rely on local SEO and the map results
- you've had a few negative reviews and nothing positive since to balance them
- your techs or crew leads finish jobs without anyone asking for feedback
What's included
- Review audit. Your profile against the competitors who show up next to you, by count, recency, average and how replies are handled.
- Request flow. A short text or email sent after the job is complete and paid, with a direct link to your review page. Timing matters: the same day usually works far better than a week later.
- Crew script. One sentence your techs or crew leads can say at the end of a job, so the request doesn't come out of nowhere.
- Reply templates. Starting points for positive, mixed and negative reviews, written in your voice. They're adapted for each review, never pasted blind.
- Using reviews elsewhere. Featuring recent reviews on your website service pages, where they help close the call.
- Monthly reporting on new reviews, response times and how you compare.
Canada's anti-spam rules and review requests
Review requests sent by text or email can count as commercial electronic messages. According to the CRTC's CASL guidance, these messages need the recipient's consent, identification of the sender and a working unsubscribe mechanism, and senders must be able to prove consent. ISED explains the consent rules in Getting consent to send email.
In practice, we design request flows that record when and how a customer agreed to be contacted, name your business clearly and include an opt-out. This is a summary as of October 2026, not legal advice. Confirm your own situation with the CRTC or a lawyer.
Timeline
The audit, request flow and reply templates take two to three weeks to put in place. New reviews usually start arriving within the first month, as long as the request goes out after every completed job. After three months you'll have a clear picture of your monthly review rate and where in the process customers drop off.
How we measure results
- new reviews per month, against completed jobs
- your review count and recency against the three competitors who appear most often beside you
- your average reply time
- calls from your Google Business Profile, which tend to follow review growth
Mistakes to avoid
- Asking only the customers you think will be happy. Ask everyone the same way; Google's policies discourage selective asking.
- Offering rewards for reviews.
- Buying or writing reviews. Beyond the ethics, it is the fastest way to lose a profile.
- Arguing in public replies. Even when you're right, the next customer sees a fight.
- Waiting a week to ask. By then the customer has moved on.
Ready to fix your review flow? Call, text or email, or see pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How many reviews does a trades business need?
There is no magic number. What matters is having more recent reviews than the competitors who appear next to you, and getting new ones every month. A profile with 40 reviews from last year often beats one with 200 from five years ago.
Can I offer a discount in exchange for a review?
Don't. Google's review policies do not allow incentives for reviews, and rewarded reviews can be removed. Ask every customer the same way and let the results be what they are.
Should I reply to bad reviews?
Yes, calmly and briefly. Acknowledge the problem, state the facts without arguing, and offer a way to talk offline. Your reply is written for the next customer reading it, not the unhappy one.
Are review request texts covered by anti-spam law?
They may be. Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation covers commercial electronic messages, including texts and email. Read the CRTC's guidance or ask a lawyer about your situation; we build request flows with consent, identification and an unsubscribe option.