Rules (4)
- rule Rule: a contractor's HomeStars subscription should be a TIME-BOXED 6–12 month bridge while owned channels mature — NOT a primary channel; cancel by month 12 if owned channels are producing ≥60% of leads
- rule Rule: display regulator credentials with PORTABLE LINKS to authoritative registries (hcraontario.ca, tarion.com, renomark.ca, ohba.ca, wrhba.com, cca-acc.com, ihsa.ca) — never as inert images, never bundled inside a platform-branded badge
- rule Rule: a contractor's own website Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) is a LOAD-BEARING trust signal — it is the 2nd or 3rd surface in the buyer journey; >50% of WordPress contractor sites currently fail mobile CWV; the HomeStars lead is wasted at the contractor's own front door
- rule Rule: a contractor's trust signals should be OWNED (regulator credentials, GBP reviews, owned site, GuildQuality, named case studies) — not RENTED from a directory platform (HomeStars, Houzz Pro, Angi, BBB Accreditation subscription)
Reference entries (20)
- reference HomeStars edge cases — when it genuinely works (newer contractors, narrow-trade specialists, rural markets); the 6–12 month bridge strategy; survivorship-bias disclosure
- reference 5-year cost comparison for a $3M residential GC in KW: HomeStars stack ~$37–75K direct + ~$25K opportunity cost on shared-lead bid-down = ~$62K (asset resets to zero); owned-asset stack ~$40–95K (asset compounds — 60–100+ named/dated/located case studies, organic ranking, portable reviews, AI-citation-ready schema)
- reference Pioneer Craftsmen 5-Year Aftercare Excellence Program: written renovation warranty that exceeds Tarion 1-2-7 new-home baseline; positions warranty as a positioning asset that HomeStars cannot reproduce
- reference Schema markup for contractor sites (2026 Google guidance): GeneralContractor / HomeAndConstructionBusiness / LocalBusiness, Service per service-line, Review + AggregateRating, Person for principals, FAQPage on service pages, Project (Article subtype) on case studies
- 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 Mobile Core Web Vitals reality 2025: only 48% of mobile sites and 43.44% of WordPress mobile origins pass; INP replaced FID March 12 2024; Dec 2025 Google core update increased page-experience weight; 53% of mobile visits abandoned if site takes >3 seconds (Google/DoubleClick 2016); 58% of Google searches now zero-click
- reference HomeStars.com traffic Sept 2025 (SimilarWeb): ~416,700 monthly visits, 46.21% bounce rate, 14.36% MoM decline; global rank dropped from #100,344 → #108,159 over prior 3 months — vs. own marketing claim of "over half a million homeowners monthly"
- 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 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)
- 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 FTC v. HomeAdvisor (Angi) settlement: $7.2M for redress, deceptive lead-marketing prohibition, final order April 2023; 110,372 refund checks to service providers from Nov 2023; Competition Bureau Canada has NOT taken parallel action
- reference HomeStars "Verified Badge" verifies criminal background + credit + HST registration + professional licensing — NOT HCRA, Tarion, COR, WSIB, project permits, or workmanship competency
- reference "Best of HomeStars" award is functionally pay-to-play: HomeStars Pro Centre states "Only upgraded members can qualify to win a Best of Award"; verifies subscription continuity + in-platform reviews, NOT code compliance / HCRA / Tarion / insurance / workmanship
- reference HomeStars Inc. BBB profile snapshot May 2026: D- rating, 35 unanswered complaints, 32 closed in 3 years, customer reviews 1.06/5 across 16 reviews; principal Chari Estevez, Operations Director
- reference HomeStars shared-lead mechanics: each lead routed to 3–10 competing contractors; win rate per individual contractor mathematically bounded under 20% in median case
- reference HomeStars 2026 pricing: NO public rate card; contractor-reported $200–$600/month subscription + $10–$100 per-lead fees on 12-month contracts; small biz $299/mo, large/multi-category $599/mo
- reference HomeStars corporate history: founded 2006 Toronto by Nancy Peterson; acquired by HomeAdvisor (IAC) Feb 2017; Peterson stepped down July 2020; Angi Inc. spun off from IAC March 31, 2025
- reference HomeStars Canadian restructuring Sept 10, 2024: "significant portion" of workforce laid off; FY2025 10-K confirms transition to "more profitable self-serve platform"
- reference Angi Inc. financials: FY2025 revenue $1,030.5M (down ~13% YoY for 2nd straight year); Q1 2026 Network Revenue collapsed 56% YoY on "homeowner choice" implementation
- reference Research brief: HomeStars / Angi — the case against directory dependence, with the owned-trust-signal alternative for Ontario contractors (May 24, 2026)
