How the Guide researches a sector before it publishes a ranking
The process behind a Top 10, including what we check, what we ignore, and where the method is weakest.
A ranking is only worth reading if the method behind it is worth defending. This is ours, including the parts of it that are weaker than we would like.
Build the population first
We start by assembling every business we can find that genuinely operates in the sector and area — Companies House, trade body registers, local knowledge, physical presence, and search. The point is to start from a real population rather than from whoever ranks well already, because ranking well is a marketing outcome and we are not measuring marketing.
Remove what does not qualify
National chains, lead-generation sites posing as suppliers, businesses headquartered elsewhere with a virtual office in the area, and dormant or recently incorporated shells. What remains is the set we actually assess.
Check the checkable
Registration and accreditation claims are verified at source: Gas Safe, NICEIC, SRA, ICAEW, ARB, Companies House filing history. A surprising number of claims do not survive this step, and a lapsed registration displayed as current tells you something beyond the registration itself.
Read the reviews properly
We read reviews rather than counting them, and we weight recency, volume relative to business size, and how the business responds to criticism. A pattern of the same complaint is far more informative than an average score. Review counts are also gameable, which is why they inform the judgement rather than deciding it.
Look at the work
Where the sector allows it, we look at completed work rather than photographs of completed work. For trades this means visiting where we can. For professional services it means talking to clients.
Where the method is weakest
Two places. First, we know Halifax and Calderdale better than we know Wakefield or Pontefract, and depth of local knowledge is not evenly distributed across our coverage. Second, businesses that do no marketing at all are harder for us to find, and some of the best trades in West Yorkshire fall into that category. We would rather state both limits than imply a completeness we do not have.
Paid placement
Businesses cannot buy a position in a ranking. A business already selected on merit can pay for a fuller profile, and where that is the case the page says so in plain words at the point where it appears.