Top Choice
How winners are chosen
Three rules come first: nobody can enter, nobody can pay, and every award states its reason.
From every business to a handful of winners
Every award covers one service in one city or area, for one edition year. The same steps run for every award.
We list every business
From public business listings and review platforms, plus details owners add to a claimed profile. Businesses don’t apply, and most never know they were reviewed.
We check the basics
A business must be active, reachable by phone and have a solid rating from enough real reviews to judge it fairly. Everyone else is set aside.
We score the record
Each remaining business is scored on the weights below. The highest scores become the winners; the next group are named finalists.
We name the awards
The highest overall score wins the Overall award. Each other award goes to the winner with the strongest record for one thing, and the award page says why.
What counts, and how much
- Customer rating, adjusted for how many reviews it is based on
- 30%
- Number of public reviews
- 20%
- Recent review activity
- 20%
- Years of local work
- 15%
- Complete, current business details
- 10%
- Checks we could confirm: identity, address, phone, website, license, insurance
- 5%
A 4.9 from 20 reviews isn’t the same as a 4.8 from 500, so ratings are adjusted for volume, and recent reviews count separately so a business coasting on old praise doesn’t win.
The awards
- Overall Winner: the highest overall score.
- Customer Choice: the winner with the most public reviews.
- Craftsmanship Award: the winner with the longest track record of local work.
- Best Value Award: the winner with the lowest listed price level.
- Rising Star Award and other awards: the remaining winners, each with the reason stated on the award page.
Who can’t win
- Businesses without enough recent public reviews, or below the minimum rating
- Businesses we can’t reach or that appear to have closed
- Businesses where we find paid, incentivised or fake reviews
- Businesses that ask to be left out, which they can do at any time
Independence from payment
Nobody can buy an award, a place among the finalists or a better score. Optional extras such as enhanced profiles, and clearly labelled sponsored listings, are kept separate from the scoring. How we make money.
Corrections
Anyone can send a correction. We fix factual errors and recheck the award when the data behind it changes. Send a correction.
Questions
Questions about the awards
- How are the awards judged?
- Every business we can find for a service in a city is scored on customer rating, review volume, recent reviews, years of local work, complete details and record checks. The highest score wins the Overall award; nobody applies and nobody pays.
- What award categories are there?
- Each service in each city has an Overall Winner and named awards for one strength each, such as Customer Choice for the most-reviewed winner or the Craftsmanship Award for the longest track record. Every award states its reason.
- Can I see past winners and editions?
- Each award page carries its edition year. When a new edition is published, the previous winners stay listed with their year, so you can see who has won more than once.
- What must a winner keep up?
- Its rating, review record and record checks are re-checked during the year. If a winner falls below the minimums, or a license check lapses, the award and its badge are withdrawn.
Spotted something wrong? Send a correction. We reply within two working days.