How a contractor gets more Google reviews.
Reviews are the part of the profile a homeowner reads before they call. Here is how I tell contractors to ask, what to text, where the QR code goes, how to reply to every review, and the rules Google enforces.
Arseni FilonUpdated October 1, 2026
Ask at the walkthrough.
The best moment to ask is the final walkthrough. The customer is standing in the finished kitchen or under the new roof, the crew is loading the truck, and they have just said the words they would put in a review. That is when you ask, in one sentence. Glad you like it. Would you leave us a Google review? I will text you the link.
Ask the person who hired you and dealt with you, not the tenant and not the spouse who was at work all week. Ask everyone, not only the customers you are sure are happy. The customer who had a problem and watched you fix it often writes the most useful review, and picking who gets the link is the gating Google forbids. More on that below.
| Moment | What to do |
|---|---|
| The estimate | Nothing. There is nothing to review yet. |
| Mid job | Nothing. Finish the punch list first. |
| The final walkthrough | Ask out loud, in one sentence. |
| The same day | Text the direct link. |
| The invoice | The QR code at the bottom, next to the thank you line. |
| A week later, no review | One reminder text, then stop. |
| During a dispute | Do not ask. Fix the problem first. |
The text you send.
Five parts. Their first name, your business name, one sentence asking, the direct link, and your first name. The whole message reads like this.
Hi [first name], thank you for choosing [business name]. Would you leave us a quick Google review? It takes about two minutes.
[the review link]
Thanks, [your first name]
Why each part is there. The first name says it came from you and not from a service. The business name is the name they will search for. One sentence asks, and naming the two minutes lowers the bar. The link has to be the direct one from the profile manager that opens the review box in one tap, not a search for your name. A homeowner who has to find the button on a map listing usually does not.
Open the Google Business Profile manager, find the option to ask for reviews, and copy the short link. Save it in your phone as a note or a text shortcut so the message takes ten seconds to send. The reviews feature on my builds writes this text with your name and link filled in and turns the link into a QR code.
The QR code on the invoice and the truck.
The text catches the customers you remember to text. The QR code catches the rest. Print the code for the same review link at the bottom of the invoice, next to the line that says thank you for the work. A customer paying the invoice at the kitchen table has the phone in hand, and the code takes them to the review box without typing anything.
The truck works the same way for a different customer. The customer from last year sees the tailgate at the gas station and remembers they never left the review. A code with the words Review us on Google under it is a standing ask that works while you are on a roof.
Use one link everywhere. The same link in the text, on the invoice, on the truck, and on the site, all opening the same review box, so you never wonder which one a customer used. Map listings are $600 on their own and come with a Site with Tools. They include the direct review link, and the reviews feature page turns it into a QR code for your invoices.
Reply to every review, including the bad one.
Reply within a day or two, in a sentence or two, in your own words. Name the job and the town. Thanks for the kind words, the Kirkland roof was a good one and the crew liked working with you. That is enough. Homeowners read the replies to see who they would be dealing with, and a profile where the owner answers reads as a company that picks up the phone.
The bad review gets a reply too, and it gets read more than the good ones. Reply once, calmly, the same day if you can. Say what the job was, what went wrong in one line, what you did or offered to do about it, and give a phone number to call. Do not argue the details, do not list what the customer did wrong, and do not ask them to take it down. The reply is not for the customer who wrote it. It is for the next homeowner deciding whether to call you.
If the review is fair, fix the thing it describes before you reply, so the reply can say it is fixed. If a review is spam, is about a different business, or came from someone who never hired you, flag it from the profile manager and let Google decide. Do not reply to it as if it were a customer.
What Google forbids.
Google publishes a policy for reviews and enforces it. Read the current version in the Business Profile help before you build a process, because the wording changes. These are the four things contractors get caught by.
Buying reviews.
No paying anyone for a review, and no service that sells them. A review comes from a customer who had the work done, or it does not belong on the profile.
Gating.
No sorting customers before the ask. Sending the happy ones to Google and the unhappy ones to a private form is gating, and the policy forbids it. Everyone gets the same link at the same point in the job.
Incentives.
No discount, no gift card, no drawing, and no extra service in exchange for a review. The ask is a plain ask, and the review is whatever the customer writes.
Reviewing yourself.
No reviews from you and none from the people who work for you. Google treats those as a conflict of interest, and they are easy to spot from the outside.
None of it is worth the profile. A slow count of reviews from customers who hired you is the count that lasts.
How the reviews feed the website.
The profile is where the reviews get written. The site is where they do their work. Every site I build puts your Google reviews on the site and sets each one next to the job it describes, with the name of the reviewer and the town, so a homeowner reading about a roof in Bellevue sees what the Bellevue customer said about it. The review link sits on the site too, so the ask is one tap from any page.
The site dashboard counts review clicks next to visits, quote requests, and phone taps, so you can see whether the link is getting used. My own reviews are shown the same way, 4.7 on Google from 22 reviews, each one beside the site it describes.
If the profile is not set up yet, map listings are $600 on their own and come with a Site with Tools. Your Google Business Profile, your Apple Maps listing, and your Bing listing are built or rebuilt and verified, with the direct review link. The reviews feature page turns that link into a QR code for your invoices and builds the request text, so you can test both before you buy anything. Send your trade and your towns on the start page and a written plan comes back with the price on it.
Keep reading.
- What a contractor website costs in 2026The four ways contractors buy a website, what drives the price, and what a monthly fee adds up to over three years.Read the guide
- Put your L&I or CCB license number on your websiteWhere the number goes, how to write it, and what to say about your bond and insurance without overclaiming.Read the guide
- Google Business Profile checklist for contractorsName, categories, service areas, hours, photos, services, the review link, and what to keep updated.Read the guide
- Contractor website launch checklistThe license line, a page for every town, tap to call, the quote form, reviews, photos, the profile link, HTTPS, and what to update each month.Read the guide
- How long a contractor website takesWhat sets the timeline, the steps from the first text to launch, what you send, and what slows a build down.Read the guide
- Why a contractor with a Google Business Profile still needs a websiteWhat the profile does well, what it cannot do, how the profile and the site work together, and what each one costs.Read the guide
- Google Ads for contractorsHow the ads reach a homeowner, keywords and negative keywords, call and form tracking, the ad spend, and when to wait.Read the guide
What contractors ask about reviews.
I am Arseni Filon. Text me the question and I answer within the hour on weekdays.
Where do I find my Google review link?
Open the Google Business Profile manager and look for the option to ask for reviews. It gives you a short link that opens the review box in one tap. Save it in your phone and paste it into the text after every job.
Can I offer a discount for a review?
No. The Google policy forbids offering anything in exchange for a review, and that includes discounts, gift cards, and entries in a drawing. Ask plainly and let the review be whatever the customer writes.
Can I send the link only to the customers I know are happy?
No. Sending happy customers to Google and steering unhappy ones to a private form is what Google calls gating, and the policy forbids it. Everyone gets the same link at the same point in the job.
What do I do with a one star review?
Reply once, the same day if you can. Say what the job was, what you did about the problem, and give a number to call. Do not argue in the reply, do not ask them to take it down, and if it is spam or about a different business, flag it in the profile manager.
Can my crew leave reviews?
No. Do not review your own business and do not have people who work for you do it, because Google treats that as a conflict of interest. The reviews should come from the customers who paid for the work.
How many reviews do I need before they go on the site?
Put them on the site as soon as you have one. Two named reviews next to two finished jobs read better than a page with none. The count grows if you ask after every job.
Next step
Reviews next to the work.
Send your trade and your towns. A written plan comes back with the price on it.
Call (206) 468-2416