How we rank pool pros — the public 5-dimension trust score
Every pool pro on HiredLocalPros is scored on five public dimensions. Here is the exact formula, the weights, and why each dimension is in it.
Most local services directories rank pros the same way Yelp does: by how much the pro is willing to pay. The pro that bids highest gets the top slot, and the top slot is labeled 'Sponsored' in letters so small you have to squint. The rest of the order looks like an algorithm but is mostly shaped by review count and ad spend. We think that is a bad deal for homeowners and a worse deal for the good pros who cannot afford to bid.
HiredLocalPros uses a different model. Every pool pro we list is scored on five public dimensions, each weighted, and the weights are published. If a pro ranks above another pro, a homeowner can read exactly why. If we ever change a weight, we change it in public and we say why we changed it.
The five dimensions are reputation (0.40), presence (0.20), credential (0.15), transparency (0.15), and reliability (0.10). Reputation is the biggest because it is the hardest to fake — you cannot buy 200 verified reviews with a 4.7 rating overnight. Presence captures how discoverable the pro is across Google Maps, their own website, and review platforms. Credential is the CSLB C-53 license check and insurance verification. Transparency is whether the pro publishes their pricing, their service areas, and their guarantee in writing. Reliability is a placeholder for response time and completion rate, which we will score with real data once we have 30 days of live lead flow.
The scoring algorithm is called hlp_phase1_pool_cold_start_v1. The 'cold start' in the name is honest — we do not yet have reliability data, so Phase 1 weights that dimension lower and uses only signals we can verify from public sources. When a pro gets enough completed jobs through HiredLocalPros that we can compute a real reliability score, we will publish Phase 2 and recalculate every pro.
The Top 10 per city is sorted strictly by the composite score. There is no manual override, no editor pick, no 'featured' slot that jumps a pro to the top. If the number one pro in Chino Hills scores 9.4 and the number two pro scores 9.1, the number one pro is number one — even if the number two pro offered us a check. This is commercial rule N1, and it is the first sentence on our methodology page.
If you want to see the full formula with the exact math, the confidence thresholds, and the list of signals that feed each dimension, the methodology page is our public contract. The short version: pros cannot pay to rank higher, we only charge pros a small commission when a job actually closes, and we publish the rules so anyone can audit us.