How we score roofing contractors in Ontario
What this page covers
Ontario Roofing Directory currently scores 200 roofing contractor businesses across Ontario. Every score on this site comes from the same rubric, applied the same way to every listing. This page explains what goes into that rubric, why we weight it the way we do, and where the score's limits are so you can read it correctly.
The five signals, heaviest first
Each business gets a composite score from 0 to 100, built from five measured signals. Here they are in order of weight:
| Signal | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Sentiment | 28% | A synthesis of what recent reviews actually say: recurring praise, recurring complaints, and the specific themes behind them |
| Rating | 26% | The Google aggregate star rating |
| Volume | 20% | How many reviews the business has, log-scaled so a handful of reviews doesn't score the same as hundreds |
| Completeness | 16% | Whether a phone number, website, hours and address are all listed |
| Recency | 10% | How recently customers have actually left a review |
Why sentiment carries the most weight
A star average on its own can hide a lot. Two roofing contractors can sit at the same 4.3 stars, and still be very different businesses: one has a spread of minor gripes across dozens of jobs, the other has the same complaint showing up again and again, maybe about missed callbacks, maybe about a leak that came back after the first repair. The star number alone won't tell you which is which. Reading what recent reviews actually describe is the only way to catch a pattern like that, which is why sentiment is weighted above the raw rating itself.
Why the other signals matter
Rating still matters because it's the clearest single snapshot of how customers felt, and it's worth weighting close behind sentiment. Volume matters because a contractor with 6 reviews and a contractor with 260 reviews aren't equally certain quantities, we log-scale this so a small handful of reviews doesn't get treated as strong evidence. Completeness matters in a practical way for roofing specifically: a business with a working phone number, live website, posted hours and a real address is easier to actually reach when a roof is leaking, and it signals a business that keeps its basic information current. Recency matters because a roofing crew from two years ago may not be the same crew, the same pricing, or the same standard of work today, so reviews from recent months are worth more than reviews from years back.
Low-confidence scores
Some businesses simply don't have much review data to work with yet, or their reviews have gone quiet. When that's the case, we label the score as low-confidence right on the listing. Treat that label as an honest flag, not a penalty: it means we don't have enough recent signal to be fully sure of the number, and you should weigh other factors, like a direct conversation with the contractor, more heavily.
What we do and don't republish
We don't copy and republish individual reviews. What we show is a synthesis: the themes and patterns that come up across a business's recent reviews. For the original source, every listing links back out to Google so you can read the reviews yourselves in full.
Scores are earned, not edited
Every score comes from the rubric and the underlying data above, full stop. Nothing about a listing's position or score is adjusted by hand. Where paid placement exists on this site, it is always labelled clearly as paid, and it never changes a business's score. If any list on this site has picks or ordering that were editor-reviewed rather than purely score-driven, that is disclosed directly on that page.
Who publishes this
This directory is published by Ontario Roofing Directory, launched in 2026 to give Ontario homeowners a way to find roofing contractors based on transparent pricing signals and a verifiable track record, instead of ad spend and inflated claims. Listings are built from published review data and public business records, so a contractor's position here is earned by performance, not purchased. The database is refreshed monthly so the information stays current. Editorial oversight of the rankings is maintained by Marcus Ramos, Research Lead.
You can reach the publisher through the enquiry form at ontario-roofing.ca or by email at ontariodirectorypartners@gmail.com. To see contractors ranked using this methodology, visit the home page, or check a specific category like our best eavestrough and gutters list.
FAQ
- How is the roofing contractor score calculated?
- It's a composite of five weighted signals: sentiment (28%), rating (26%), volume (20%), completeness (16%) and recency (10%). Sentiment and rating come from Google review data, volume is log-scaled to prevent a small number of reviews from outweighing a large one, completeness checks whether phone, website, hours and address are listed, and recency checks how recently customers have reviewed.
- Why does sentiment matter more than the star rating?
- Because two businesses can share the exact same star average while having very different track records underneath it. One might have scattered minor complaints, the other might have the same complaint repeated across many recent reviews. Reading what reviews actually describe catches patterns that an average alone hides.
- What does a low-confidence label mean?
- It means a business doesn't have enough recent review data for us to be fully confident in its score, usually because it has very few reviews or hasn't been reviewed in a while. We label these directly on the listing rather than hiding the uncertainty.
- Do you publish the actual review text?
- No. We synthesize themes from recent reviews rather than republishing them word for word, and every listing links out to Google so you can read the original reviews yourself.