What ChatGPT checks before it recommends a contractor
When a homeowner asks ChatGPT whether a contractor they've been told about is legit, the answer usually checks the company through other websites. We counted the links in 11,982 of those answers (the OpenAI API with web search, October 2026). BBB appeared in 10,582 of them, a government or licensing site (state license boards, business registries and other .gov pages) in 10,288, and the company's own website in 9,557. In the same 11,982 answers, Yelp was linked in 84 and Google in 160.
By Youssef Hodaigui, Mindflow Marketing · Answers collected October 3–17, 2026 (smaller check October 17–18)
- 1
A homeowner has a job to do
roof repair near me - 2
They look in three places
Google resultsThe mapAn AI answer - 3
They check before they call
Reviews, photos of real work and a page that answers their question.
- 4
They request an estimate
Your form or phone number, working on their phone.
Not an actual ranking, listing or result.
| Cited BBB | 10,582 of 11,982 answers |
|---|---|
| Cited a government or licensing site | 10,288 of 11,982 |
| Cited the company's own website | 9,557 of 11,982 |
What did we ask?
We asked two kinds of question, the way homeowners do. To check a company, we asked: "A friend recommended [Business] in [City, ST]. What can you tell me about them? Are they legit and good to hire?" We asked that twice for each of the 5,991 business records in our 50-metro study, which gave 11,982 answers. To find a company, we asked who to call, five times for each trade in each city, which gave 2,000 answers.
We counted only the links ChatGPT attached to its answer, grouped by website. The full counting rules are on the methodology page.
Which sources does ChatGPT cite when a homeowner checks a contractor?
Mostly third parties. 11,641 of the 11,982 answers linked to at least one review site or directory, led by BBB. Government and licensing sites, such as state license boards and business registries, came next. The company's own website was cited in 9,557 answers, so it's one of the checks, but rarely the only one.
| Source | Answers citing it (of 11,982) |
|---|---|
| Any review site or directory | 11,641 |
| BBB | 10,582 |
| Government or licensing site (state boards, business registries, other .gov pages) | 10,288 |
| The company's own website | 9,557 |
| Other sites (other businesses, media, blogs) | 8,637 |
| Birdeye | 5,450 |
| Manufacturer, certification or trade body | 2,741 |
| BuildZoom | 2,513 |
| 1,636 | |
| HomeAdvisor | 1,472 |
| Angi | 1,105 |
| Houzz | 941 |
| A national franchise brand site | 754 |
| Expertise.com | 721 |
One answer can cite several sources, so the rows add up to more than 11,982.
Why do Yelp and Google barely appear?
Because the answers link to other places that show reviews. Across all 13,982 answers in the 50-metro study, Yelp was linked in 85, Google in 161 and Nextdoor in 290. That doesn't mean reviews don't matter. It means the answers pointed to BBB, Birdeye, BuildZoom and similar pages rather than to Yelp or Google itself. How Google reviews relate to who gets named is on our reviews and reputation page.
What does ChatGPT check in each trade?
Government or licensing sites and BBB come up in every trade. Some trades add their own: roofing answers often cite manufacturers such as GAF and Owens Corning, water damage answers cite the IICRC, and HVAC answers cite equipment makers such as Carrier. Each trade below had 1,500 answers (garage door 1,482).
| Trade | Government or licensing | BBB | Own website | Manufacturer or certification | Most-cited sites besides the business's own |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plumbing | 1,371 | 1,367 | 1,217 | 64 | bbb.org, birdeye.com, buildzoom.com, reddit.com, homeadvisor.com |
| Roofing | 1,322 | 1,410 | 1,137 | 892 | bbb.org, gaf.com, birdeye.com, buildzoom.com, owenscorning.com |
| HVAC | 1,243 | 1,396 | 1,218 | 411 | bbb.org, birdeye.com, reddit.com, buildzoom.com, carrier.com |
| Electrical | 1,298 | 1,228 | 1,204 | 27 | bbb.org, buildzoom.com, birdeye.com, homeadvisor.com |
| Pest control | 1,382 | 1,395 | 1,221 | 29 | bbb.org, birdeye.com, texasagriculture.gov, fdacs.gov, a national franchise brand site |
| Garage door | 1,095 | 1,332 | 1,186 | 109 | bbb.org, birdeye.com, homeadvisor.com, angi.com, a national franchise brand site |
| Water damage | 1,243 | 1,259 | 1,113 | 931 | bbb.org, iicrc.org, birdeye.com, a national franchise brand site, buildzoom.com |
| Remodeling | 1,334 | 1,195 | 1,261 | 278 | bbb.org, buildzoom.com, houzz.com, birdeye.com, guildquality.com |
State license sites (such as ca.gov, texas.gov and myfloridalicense.com) also appear in most trades.
Our smaller check of 7 more trades in 5 cities (150 answers each) showed the same pattern, with trade-specific records. Movers stood out: all 150 answers cited a government or licensing site, most often the US Department of Transportation's.
| Trade (5 cities) | Government or licensing (of 150) | Manufacturer or certification (of 150) |
|---|---|---|
| Movers | 150 | 0 |
| General contractor | 136 | 28 |
| Foundation repair | 122 | 7 |
| Landscaping | 122 | 2 |
| Window replacement | 101 | 32 |
| Junk removal | 95 | 0 |
| Carpet cleaning | 40 | 54 |
What does ChatGPT cite when a homeowner asks who to call?
Different sources. When the question was "which companies should I call?", the 2,000 answers leaned on BBB (1,069) and national franchise brand websites (921). Expertise.com, a "best of" directory, appeared in 191. Government or licensing sites appeared in 456, far fewer than when a homeowner checks a named company.
Does your own website matter?
It's one of the sources the answers check most. Among businesses at the top of Google Maps, ChatGPT cited the company's own website in 643 of 704 "is this company legit?" answers about businesses it had also named, and in 1,246 of 1,694 about those it hadn't. That's an association, not proof. The named businesses also more often had websites with five or more service pages (269 of 352, against 412 of 847). These figures use our saved files before later rulings, so their totals differ slightly from the main study. A clear, complete website gives an answer something accurate to cite.
A checklist of the records to get right
These are the places ChatGPT linked to when asked about a contractor. Making them accurate and consistent doesn't guarantee a recommendation, but they're what the answers checked.
For every trade:
- BBB profileyour name, service area and license, with complaints answered.
- State license or registrationthe record matches the business name on your website.
- Business registration with the secretary of state: current.
- Your own websiteservices, service area, license number and reviews.
- The review sites the answers citedBirdeye pages, HomeAdvisor, Angi and Houzz, where you have profiles.
- Permit history(BuildZoom), where your state publishes permits.
Trade additions:
- Roofingmanufacturer certification listings, such as GAF and Owens Corning.
- Water damage and carpet cleaningIICRC certification.
- HVACmanufacturer dealer listings, such as Carrier.
- MoversUSDOT and FMCSA records and your state carrier license.
- Remodeling and general contractorsHouzz, BuildZoom permit history and GuildQuality.
- Pest controlyour state agriculture department license (for example the Texas Department of Agriculture or Florida's FDACS).
What can't this tell you?
- Not the app.These are answers from the OpenAI API with web search (`gpt-5-2025-08-07`). The ChatGPT app and later models may cite differently.
- One window.All answers were collected October 3–17, 2026, and the smaller check October 17–18.
- Citations aren't weights.A link shows what an answer pointed to, not how much it counted.
- Fixed groups.Websites were sorted into a fixed list of groups. A licensing body we didn't recognize falls under "other sites".
- Groups overlap.BBB and a license record can both appear in one answer.
- Own website depends on our records.A business with no website on file can't count as citing its own site.
- No names.We report totals and don't identify any business.
Can you use or cite this data?
Yes. Download the source-group counts, overall and by trade, as a CSV file, with no business names. You can reuse it with credit and a link to this page (CC BY 4.0).
Suggested citation: Mindflow Marketing, "What ChatGPT checks before it recommends a contractor," mindflowmarketing.com/research/what-chatgpt-checks-before-recommending-a-contractor/, answers collected October 3–17, 2026.
Found an error? Email youssef@mindflowmarketing.com.
Questions about these findings
Will a BBB profile get me recommended?
We can't say that. BBB was the source cited most often when ChatGPT checked a contractor, but we measured which sources were cited, not what caused a recommendation. An accurate BBB profile gives the answer correct facts to repeat, and an outdated or empty one gives it nothing useful.
Do I need BBB accreditation?
We didn't measure that. The answers linked to BBB business profiles, and we didn't separate accredited businesses from the rest. What the counts do suggest is that the profile itself, with your name, service area and license, is one of the first places an answer looks.
Is this the ChatGPT app?
No. We used the OpenAI API with web search turned on. The app can use other settings and context, so its answers may differ. We report what the API returned and say so beside every figure on our site.
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