No listing here is for sale. Here is exactly how every listing is ordered.
This page states, in full, how a business gets listed on Ottawa Service Directory, how the order on every trade and area page is computed, what the “Claimed” badge means, and what happens when something needs to be corrected or removed. Nothing here is marketing copy: the ranking formula below is the same one the site runs.
Getting listed
What a business must be to appear here
Every listing meets these before it is published. None of them can be satisfied with a payment.
An Ottawa business presence
Each listing had a reviewable Ottawa service presence when added. Because operating status can change, confirm current availability directly before hiring.
Public, sourced reviews
Ratings shown come from a named public source — Google, Houzz, or TrustedPros, whichever the business is rated on — with the review count and the date we last checked them. The source is named on every rating, and a rating with no named source is never shown.
Local track record
We favour businesses with a real, verifiable history of working in Ottawa over a brand-new page with no history.
Credentials need direct confirmation
Credential details may come from a public record, certificate, or the business. A verified marker records a point-in-time check; it is not a guarantee that licensing, insurance, or WSIB status remains current. Confirm it directly before hiring.
Ranking
The exact order, in five steps
This is the whole formula, not a summary of it. The same five steps run on every trade and area page.
1. Selected businesses first
Businesses selected by the directory are listed first on trade and area pages. Selection is the directory’s own choice, not a result of a business’s reviews, and it never changes a rating or a review count, which come from the same public source as everyone else’s.
2. Claimed listings next
A listing whose owner has claimed it, by signing in and taking responsibility for its details, comes next and carries a “Claimed” badge. This is a data-quality signal, not a commercial one: a claimed listing is the one most likely to be accurate and current. Claiming is free, it is open to every business listed here, and no business can buy it. The step up applies once the listing also shows a rating from a named public source; a claimed listing with no rating yet keeps its badge and contact details but is ordered with the unclaimed ones until it has one.
3. Featured tier next
Featured listings (a curated shortlist per trade) are shown next. Featured status reflects local track record and review strength, never a payment.
4. Everyone else, by a published formula
The remaining order is a confidence-weighted average of the real rating: (50 × 4.5 + reviewCount × ratingValue) ÷ (50 + reviewCount). The “50 × 4.5” term is a prior, so a brand-new 5.0 from one review does not outrank a 4.8 built on 150 reviews. No business can change this by paying us.
5. Name, as the final tie-break
When two businesses would otherwise tie, the list falls back to alphabetical order. Nothing about tie-breaking can be purchased either.
Ownership
Who runs this, and how placement works
Ottawa Service Directory is built and operated by Velogics, an Ottawa-based web design, local SEO, and custom software company serving home service businesses. Businesses selected by the directory are listed first on trade and area pages (rule 1).
Selection by the directory (rule 1) never changes a rating or a review count. The five rules are the whole order on every trade and area page, and no second, hidden ranking sits behind them. Separately, some of our guides open with “our pick”: a business we would call first. That is our opinion, not a ranking. It sits above the guide’s ranked list, never inside it.
Policies
Corrections, removal, and photo requests
- Correction process
- Found something wrong on a listing? Use the “Claim or update this listing” link on the profile, or the contact form. Corrections are usually made within 2 business days.
- Delisting policy
- Any business can be removed from the directory on request from a verifiable owner or manager, usually the same day. No fee, no retention pitch.
- Insurance and licensing disclaimer
- Where a licence or insurance check is shown, verification is point-in-time: it reflects what was confirmed on the date shown, not a live registry feed. Confirm current coverage and licensing directly with the business before you hire.
- Media policy
- Photos on a profile come from that business’s public Google Business Profile. An owner can ask us to replace or remove any photo, usually the same day, no reason required.
- Rating freshness
- Every sourced rating carries the date we last checked it, shown on the business profile next to the rating itself. Ratings are never estimated or carried forward without a real recheck.
Prices
Where our Ottawa prices come from
The price on each trade page is ours, worked out from what Ottawa companies publish on their own websites.
For each job we read the prices that three or more Ottawa companies publish for the same job and the same variant, then take the middle of their low ends and the middle of their high ends. A pressure-treated deck and a composite deck are different jobs, and so are a single and a double driveway.
Where most companies publish one price rather than a range, we give the middle price. These are published prices, not quotes, and not our own prices: a quote for your home is the only number that counts. Each range shows the date we read its sources.
Every range, the companies behind it, each company’s own figure and the date we read it are on our Ottawa price index.
Common questions
Methodology, answered
- Which businesses are listed first?
- Businesses selected by the directory are listed first on trade and area pages (rule 1 above). No business pays Ottawa Service Directory for its listing, and being selected does not change a rating or a review count. Separately, some of our guides name one business as “our pick”: our own opinion, placed above the guide's ranked list rather than inside it.
- Who runs Ottawa Service Directory, and what does “Claimed” mean?
Ottawa Service Directory is operated by Velogics, an Ottawa-based web design, local SEO, and custom software company serving home service businesses. “Claimed” means the business itself has signed in and taken responsibility for its listing details. It is free, any listed business can do it, and it puts a listing ahead of every unclaimed one on trade and area pages, after the businesses selected by the directory (rule 1).
Within each group, Featured listings sort first and the rating formula orders the rest. A claimed listing's displayed rating still comes from the named public source and is not changed by claiming.
- How do I correct or update my business listing?
- Use the “Claim or update this listing” link on your profile, or reach us through the contact form. Corrections are usually made within 2 business days.
- How do I have my business removed from the directory?
- Any business can be removed on request from a verifiable owner or manager, usually the same day. There is no fee and no retention pitch attached to a removal request.
- Are the licence and insurance checks still valid today?
- Verification is point-in-time: it reflects what we confirmed on the date shown, not a live feed from the issuing registry. Confirm current coverage and licensing directly with the business before you hire, the same way you would with any contractor.
- Where do the photos on each profile come from?
- Photos come from each business's public Google Business Profile. An owner can ask us to replace or remove any photo, usually the same day, no reason required.
Get started
Ready when you are.
List your business, or tell us the job and we will suggest suitable Ottawa businesses to consider.