Google reviews for contractors: asking after handover

When do you ask for a review after handover?

About a week after handover. On the day itself there is still material in the hallway and the snag list is still open. A week later the client has used the work: showered, heated, or watched rain hit the new roof. That is when they write about the result.

On handover day everyone is still walking through the final points. Asking there earns a friendly yes and nothing else, because at that stage the client carries a checklist in their head and the verdict is still days away.

"Hi Peter, the bathroom has been in use for a week now. If everything is to your liking, would you put that in a short Google review? Twenty seconds of work: [link]. Thanks for the trust."

How do you ask for reviews on jobs that run for months?

Split the job into phases and ask after the phase the client feels most. On a full renovation that moment rarely arrives at the structural stage. Ask after handover of the whole job, and use the intermediate phases to announce that the question is coming.

A six month job has one moment where the relief peaks: the day the household lives normally again. That moment almost always follows the finishing work, and it seldom lands while the walls are going up.

• Put the asking date in your planning at the start, next to the handover date.
• Announce it once during the job, for example when the client gets the first room back.
• On a phased job with a handover per phase, ask after the phase that is finished.
• On a single handover, wait for the whole job, even when the client sounded happy along the way.

ReviewsPro lets you park the job in the list with the date the request may go out, so a job running for months does not slip out of your head.

How do you handle reviews when you work across ten towns?

Every review lands on one profile, even when the van runs from Reet to Bornem. Encourage clients to name their town in the text, because those words help neighbours find you. Set your service area properly and hide the address when you work out of your own home.

One van usually covers a radius of twenty kilometres. Google weighs distance heavily, so you rarely appear at the top in the furthest town of your patch. How that plays out is covered in the article on local SEO in Antwerp province.

• List the towns you genuinely work in as your service area, and keep that list short.
• Hide your home address when clients never visit you.
• Ask the client to name their town: "roof replaced in Bornem" says more than "good work".
• Repeat the town in your reply, in your own words.

What do photos of finished work do for your profile?

Photos give your reviews the context that text alone withholds. Somebody searching for a roof or a bathroom wants to see what you deliver. Add a few photos of finished work to your Google Business Profile every month, and invite the client to attach one of their own alongside their review.

A profile with ten photos of finished roofs carries more weight than a profile holding only a logo. Visitors scroll through the photos before they start on the reviews, and they look for work that resembles their own plans.

• Shoot in daylight, with the whole facade or the whole room in frame.
• Take a before and an after from exactly the same angle.
• Ask the residents for permission before showing a recognisable house.
• Add a handful of photos every month, so the profile keeps moving.

What else belongs on the profile, from category to opening hours, is covered in the article on setting up your Google Business Profile.

What do you do about a price dispute in a review?

Reply with the facts and without blame. State what the quote covered, which extras were approved and on what date. Future clients mostly read how you react. Avoid asking publicly for the review to be removed, because that reads as pressure on the customer.

Price disputes reach reviews when extras were agreed verbally. A short email confirming every change costs five minutes and makes your later reply brief and verifiable.

"Good morning, thank you for your message. The quote of 3 March covered installation and removal of the rubble. The extra socket and the second coat were confirmed by email on 18 March. I will call you this week to go through it together."

Keep it to two or three sentences. A long defence reads as point scoring, and the next visitor judges the tone before judging the substance.

How do subcontractors get reviews of their own?

Let them ask for themselves, because the client almost always names the main contractor. The electrician, the roofer and the fitter stand on the same site and vanish from the story the moment the keys change hands. Agree who asks, and let each firm use its own link.

On a site with four firms, one firm collects the credit. The client knows the main contractor, who sent the quote and rang about every change. The rest stay a face without a company name attached.

1. 1Agree at the start who approaches the client after handover.
2. 2Let each firm use its own review link, since reviews sit on that firm profile.
3. 3Ask the people you spoke to yourself on site.
4. 4Tell the main contractor once, which keeps the working relationship healthy.