How to Get More Reviews as a Contractor (Without Begging)

When a homeowner's AC dies in July, they don't carefully compare websites. They open Google Maps, type "HVAC repair near me," and call the first 3 results with 4.5+ stars.

If you have 5 reviews and your competitor has 50, you're invisible.

But here's the thing: most contractors do good work. They just never ask for reviews. And customers won't leave one unless prompted.

After 7 years of testing with trade businesses, here's what works:

### The 24-Hour Rule

Send the review request exactly 24 hours after the job is completed. Not sooner (feels pushy). Not later (momentum is gone).

### The Template

> "Hi [Name], this is [Your Name] with [Company]. Thanks for letting us help with your [Service] today.

>

> If you had a great experience, would you mind leaving us a quick Google review? It helps other homeowners find us when they need help.

>

> [Direct Google Review Link]

>

> Thanks again!"

### Why This Works

| Approach | Result |

|----------|--------|

| Asking in person at payment | Awkward, most say yes and forget |

| Email request | 90% open rate for SMS vs 20% for email |

| Leaving a card asking for review | Lost, forgotten, thrown away |

| Incentivized reviews | Against Google's TOS, can get you banned |

Manual review requests work, but you'll forget after the third job of the day.

The automated approach:

1. Job marked as "completed" in your system

2. 24-hour timer starts

3. Review request text sends automatically

4. You get notified when new reviews come in

Prybar handles this out of the box — set it once and it runs forever.

Here's what 5 review requests per week looks like over a year:

5 requests × 52 weeks = 260 review requests

30% conversion rate = 78 new reviews

Average 4.8-star rating

Compare that to doing nothing: 2-5 reviews from customers who randomly remember.

One extra 5-star review per week means one more customer who picks you instead of your competitor. At $500 average job value, that's $26,000/year in revenue directly traceable to review requests.

If you do nothing else after reading this: set up automated review requests. It takes 10 minutes and pays for itself in the first week.