Reference entries (36)
- reference Knowledge-base-backed website methodology
- reference Editorial discipline and sourcing
- reference Research brief: Owning your stack — why agency-managed platforms cost more than they save (piece 4 of 15)
- reference Ontario regulatory stack as credibility substrate — HCRA + Tarion + Construction Act + RenoMark differentiate Ontario GCs from U.S. imports
- reference Pioneer Craftsmen (Kitchener) — 70+ years, 2,700+ projects, $95K–$750K+ design-build; published 4–6% design fee; refuses free quotes
- reference Research brief: the psychology of marketing aversion among general contractor owners (May 2026 foundation)
- reference Contractor owned-trust-signal stack: HCRA / Tarion / RenoMark / WRHBA / OHBA / CHBA / COR / WSIB / Gold Seal / insurance / ENERGY STAR / Net-Zero / LEED AP / GuildQuality / Google Business Profile — verifiable, portable, free-or-low-cost — HomeStars cannot replicate any of these
- reference Multi-touch buyer journey for residential construction / major renovation: 4-touch sequence (discovery → validation → verification → contact); the contractor's own website is the 2nd or 3rd surface, not the 1st
- reference HomeStars rent-vs-own evidence: when a contractor stops paying, profile reverts to "no longer with HomeStars" status, reviews remain HomeStars's property and cannot be exported to GBP or contractor site
- reference Research brief: HomeStars / Angi — the case against directory dependence, with the owned-trust-signal alternative for Ontario contractors (May 24, 2026)
- reference Ontario buyer trust-signal hierarchy: HCRA license (mandatory) → Tarion warranty (mandatory) → online reviews (HomeStars, Google) → HBA membership (CHBA/OHBA/local) → BBB; renovation flow adds RenoMark between HBA and reviews
- reference Research brief: The Canadian HBA stack — CHBA / OHBA / BILD / WRHBA federated three-tier model, with marketing implications for Ontario builders and renovators (May 24, 2026)
- reference Research brief: Gold Seal Certification — the CCA credential for Canadian construction managers, with marketing implications for Tier-2 Ontario ICI GCs (May 24, 2026)
- reference RenoMark display patterns across 12 Ontario renovator sites (sampled 2026-05-24): logo almost always in footer; year + member number almost never shown; logos almost never link to profile
- reference Research brief: RenoMark — the CHBA renovation contractor recognition program, with marketing implications for Ontario renovators (May 24, 2026)
- reference Research brief: Tarion Warranty Corporation — definitive reference (May 2026)
- reference Research brief: Ontario Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) — definitive reference (May 2026)
- reference GC objection-handling map — six common objections and evidence-backed responses
- reference Research brief: Candid Creative 2026 Build-Standards — web stack decision framework for SMB marketing sites & lightweight apps (piece 16)
- reference Research brief: Confidence Levels, Sources, and Dated Claims — why every statement on a credible site should be verifiable (piece 15 of 15)
- reference Research brief: Research Before Pages — methodology for KB-backed websites (piece 14 of 15)
- reference Illustration: what "modeling the actual business" means for Boucher & Jones fuel distribution (in-development, NOT delivered)
- reference Research brief: The Dataset is the Product — when a service business should own its data (piece 12 of 15)
- reference Research brief: Public data as a private moat — building proprietary intelligence from government open data (piece 11 of 15)
- reference Reference: alternative-stack recommendations by use case and budget (Candid 6-tier framework)
- reference Research brief: The Case Against Page Builders (piece 10 of 15)
- reference Reference: 2026 performance budget — SMB marketing site (Candid default targets)
- reference Research brief: Page Speed as a Moat — why CWV separates the agencies from the freelancers (piece 9 of 15)
- reference Research brief: Built to Last — why most SMB sites rebuild every 3-4 years (piece 5 of 15)
- reference Boucher & Jones IA recommendation: Pattern A + hub-and-spoke, NOT enterprise matrix
- reference Gartner: B2B buyers complete "six buying jobs" in non-linear "looping" order
- reference Research brief: Information architecture for service businesses with multiple verticals (piece 6 of 15)
- reference Doctorow: "enshittification" — the three-phase decay pattern of platforms (Word of the Year 2023 + 2024)
- reference Research brief: The knowledge-base-backed website (piece 3 of 15)
- reference Research brief: What makes a marketing site do something (piece on brochure vs platform)
- reference Research brief: Structured content as a competitive advantage (piece 2 of 15)
