{"id":952,"slug":"clever-real-estate-2024-contractor-choice-rankings","title":"Clever Real Estate 2024 contractor-choice survey (n=1,000 US homeowners, Aug 14–16 2024): reputation 25%, experience 23%, cost 19%, recommendations 13%, availability 11%","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","smb-owner","candid-team"],"topics":["competitive","measurement","trust-signals","renomark","home-renovation-vertical"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** The most-cited contractor-choice ranking is **Clever Real Estate's 2024 survey of 1,000 American homeowners** (fielded **August 14–16, 2024**; reported by **CNBC October 9, 2024**):\n\n- **Reputation:** 25%\n- **Experience:** 23%\n- **Cost:** 19%\n- **Personal recommendations:** 13%\n- **Availability:** 11%\n\n**Source:** Clever Real Estate; CNBC October 9, 2024.\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n## Caveat — cross-border use\n\nThis is **US data**. It is used here as the best available proxy because **no equivalent published Canadian survey was located** during the research. Canadian preferences may diverge — Canadians may weight regulatory/credential signals (Tarion, HCRA, RenoMark) more heavily than US respondents weight their equivalents, particularly post-Tarion-reform.\n\nThe **directional finding** (reputation + experience together account for ~half of the decision) is well-corroborated by the Canadian HomeStars data ([[homestars-2021-reno-report-98pct-read-reviews]]) and is treated as broadly applicable.\n\n## Implication for Candid renovator client copy\n\n- **Lead with reputation signals**: reviews, testimonials, awards, named clients. Not credentials.\n- **Reinforce with experience signals**: years in business, project counts, named completed projects.\n- **Then layer credentials**: RenoMark, local HBA, insurance, licensing.\n- **Cost and availability** are tertiary in this data — don't lead with them.\n- See [[rule-renomark-footer-affiliations-pattern]] for the visual hierarchy that follows from this.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-renomark-credentialing-program","title":"Research brief: RenoMark — the CHBA renovation contractor recognition program, with marketing implications for Ontario renovators (May 24, 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"signals-comparison-renomark-bbb-homestars-houzz-googlereviews","title":"Contractor trust signals compared: RenoMark vs BBB, HomeStars, Houzz, GuildQuality, Google reviews, BILD/OHBA/CHBA awards, Tarion/HCRA","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"rule-renomark-footer-affiliations-pattern","title":"Rule (renovator client sites): display RenoMark in the footer affiliations strip with equal visual weight to local HBA, BBB, HomeStars, Houzz","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"brightlocal-lcrs-2026-six-review-sources-45pct-ai-recommendations","title":"BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (n=1,002 US adults via SurveyMonkey): average of 6 review sources used; 97% read reviews online; 45% use ChatGPT/AI for local recommendations (up from 6% in 2025)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-24T15:35:46.063Z","updated_at":"2026-05-24T15:35:46.063Z"}