The Best of Awards (BOA) are HomeStars’ yearly honours where we celebrate pros who go above and beyond when it comes to our three pillars of integrity, customer service, and consistency.
BOA winners are rewarded with an official certificate, an invitation to an awards gala (either in person or virtual), a care package full of amazing swag, and most importantly, an improved reputation that drives more homeowner connections. If you’re curious about how a BOA can help you grow your business, check out this article. When you win a HomeStars Award, you get seen by more than 8 million homeowners who visit HomeStars. Project-ready homeowners choose an award-winning pro by filtering from our ‘Brows Category’ page. This sort of option puts your company on top of our search list only if you are an award winner! Additionally, homeowners tend to choose pros for their projects by filtering through our list of Best of Award winners. You can increase your chances of getting on this list by upgrading your HomeStars account today!
Here are the three official categories for HomeStars Best of Awards, and the list of requirements necessary to qualify for each.
HomeStars Best of Newly Listed Award
HomeStars Best of Newly Listed Award was unveiled in 2022 to reward pros in their first year with HomeStars — pros who bought into the HomeStars process and hit the ground running. From the moment pros sign up with HomeStars, we start telling them how important it is to get Verified, build their Star Score, and ask for homeowner reviews. Best of Newly Listed award winners are the pros who took that advice to heart.
Here’s what it takes to qualify:
- Be Verified on HomeStars
- Have a minimum of 3 or 6 reviews, depending on the frequency of your category (explained below)
- Maintain a Healthy Star Score of 85+
- Be a HomeStars premium account holder
HomeStars Best of Award
HomeStars BOAs have been awarded every year since 2009 to celebrate pros who stand out from the pack when it comes to their commitment to excellence. The BOAs signal trustworthiness to homeowners, and winners of BOAs often see increased engagement with their HomeStars listing.
Here’s what it takes to qualify for a BOA award:
- Have an active Verified Badge — HomeStars Verification expires every three years, so it’s important to check whether your badge is still active
- Collect a minimum of 6 or 12 approved reviews during the awards period, depending on the frequency of your category (explained below)
- Maintain a Healthy Star Score of 85+
- Be a HomeStars premium account holder
HomeStars Best of the Best Award
HomeStars Best of the Best Award is designed to honour the pros who’ve risen to the top of their fields by winning Best of Awards year after year. Consistency is integral to our values at HomeStars, and we believe the pros who embody this trait deserve to be recognized with an extra special distinction.
Here’s what it takes to qualify as Best of the Best:
- Meet the criteria for a Best of Award (see above)
- Win Best of Awards for three or more consecutive years
- Have an active Verified Badge — HomeStars Verification expires every three years, so it’s important to check whether your badge is still active
- Be a HomeStars premium account holder
Category Frequency, Explained
It doesn’t make sense to hold pros whose jobs take months to complete to the same review collection standards as pros who are able to complete multiple jobs per week. This is why we’ve broken down the review collection criteria for the Best of Newly Listed Award and Best of Award by category frequency. If you belong to any of the categories listed below, you need 3 reviews to qualify for a Best of Newly Listed Award or 6 reviews to qualify for a Best of Award:
- Architects
- Builders
- Design/Project Management
- Elevators, Lifts and Ramps Installation and Service
- Excavation
- Foundations
- General Contractors
- Home Additions
- Renewable Energy
- Sunrooms, Solariums, and Greenhouses
- Swimming Pools, Spas, and Hot Tubs
All other categories must collect 6 reviews or 12 reviews in the previous calendar year by 31st December in order to qualify for a Best of Newly Listed Award or Best of Award, respectively.
Value Props of Best of Awards
Recognition of Your Work
Every day you work extremely hard on your trade and craft to fulfill the requests of homeowners who hire you. Positive feedback from homeowners is definitely a morale booster for a job well done but every business deserves a great deal of recognition for the hard work they put forth. HomeStars recognizes your consistent efforts. The HomeStars Best of Award is an additional tool that you can use to reinforce your credibility to clients. This recognition also helps your employees value your company more, and inspires them to positively contribute to the success of the business.
Validation
Along with plenty of visibility and recognition, we at HomeStars believe that validation is equally important to celebrate your success. You work hard and diligently to give your best to your clients. HomeStars likes to celebrate this significant hard work and dedication. With a yearly Best of HomeStars event, attractive swag, grand prizes and a celebratory party, HomeStars validates the success of all our Best of Newly Listed and Best of Award winners.
Word of Mouth Simplified
We live in the era of social media. With millions of homeowners to serve it’s really difficult to stand out from the crowd solely based on word of mouth. This strategy worked in the last century but with changing and trying times, every home improvement business needs a digital boost. You can leverage your HomeStars profile as a marketing platform, earn street credit by adding HomeStars Best of Awards stickers on your vehicle and boast on social media about your Star Score, recent reviews as well as a verification badge. All this is possible only if you’re a premium account holder with HomeStars.
Meet The Criteria Before the End of the Year
Now that you know the value of HomeStars Best of Awards and the requirements for qualifying for each of them, it’s time to make one final push to make sure you qualify. Whether you’re vying for a classic Best of Award, or one of our two exciting new categories, the best way to make sure you’re a winner is to start requesting additional reviews. Log in to request your next review today. Your next review could make you a winner!
*Meeting the requirements for these awards doesn’t guarantee victory. HomeStars reserves the right to adjust criteria and/or winner selection prior to award announcements
