More honest reviews, asked for the right way

Why reviews matter so much in roofing

Homeowners hire a roofer once every decade or two, so they have no experience to lean on. Reviews stand in for that experience. A roofer with a long, recent, answered review history looks safer than one with a handful of old five-star reviews and silence.

Recency matters as much as the count. A profile whose newest review is two years old makes buyers wonder whether the company is still active.

The rules we build around

• No incentives. Google's fake engagement policy bars reviews prompted by payment, discounts, free goods or services, including to revise or remove a review.
• No gating. You may not discourage negative reviews or selectively ask only happy customers. Everyone gets the same request.
• No conflicts of interest. Employees, former employees and competitors shouldn't review. You also can't require staff to collect a set number of reviews.
• Asking is allowed. Google's own review tips encourage reminding customers, with a link or QR code.
• CASL for texts and emails. Canada's anti-spam law covers commercial electronic messages, including texts. ISED explains that a purchase can create implied consent for a limited period, up to two years, and that each message needs sender identification, contact details and an unsubscribe mechanism, honoured within 10 business days. Whether a particular review request counts as a commercial message is a legal question; we design every message as if it does.

This is a summary for planning, not legal advice.

What's included

1. A request map. When the request goes out (usually after the final walk-through and clean-up, not mid-job), who sends it, and by which channel.
2. Message templates. A short in-person script for the foreperson, plus text and email templates with your business name, contact details and an opt-out line.
3. A consent check. Your estimate and invoice paperwork gets a plain line asking whether the customer agrees to follow-up texts or emails, so you have express consent on record where possible.
4. Owner reply guidelines. How to answer positive reviews briefly and negative ones calmly, without sharing private details or arguing.
5. Monthly reporting. Requests sent, reviews received, average reply time.

Who it's for

• Roofers with a handful of old reviews and nothing recent.

• Companies whose review requests depend on one person remembering.

• Firms that have used review shortcuts in the past and want to move to a routine that's safe under Google's policies.

• Commercial roofers whose property-manager clients look up reviews before shortlisting bidders.

Timeline

Two weeks to set up, then it runs on every job. Results build gradually; a review routine is a habit, not a campaign.

How we measure it

• Requests sent compared with jobs completed. If those numbers don't match, the routine is leaking.
• New reviews per month and the date of the most recent one.
• Owner reply rate and speed.

Mistakes to avoid

• Asking only after "good" jobs. That's gating, even if it happens informally.
• Bulk-blasting an old customer list. Implied consent from a purchase is time-limited, and a sudden spike of reviews can look unnatural.
• Asking reviewers to mention a staff member by name. Google prohibits soliciting specific content.
• Replying in anger. A calm, factual reply to a bad review often reassures future buyers more than a perfect score.

From our HVAC work, GasBoilers.ca holds 5.0★ from 76+ Google reviews, built on exactly this kind of consistent asking. See the results page for context, the review request guide for sample wording, and the contact page to start.