Your request doesn't get lost
It lands in a dashboard as a real job, next to their schedule, not in a text thread that scrolls away on a Tuesday afternoon.
Earned, never bought
Nobody can buy their way to the top of your list.
The order you see is built from how contractors actually work: reviews, projects finished, how quickly they answer, and whether they run their business on a system that keeps track of you. Here is exactly what moves a pro up, and what will never move them at all.
One rule above the rest
A contractor cannot pay for a higher ranking. Not for any amount.
There is no sponsored tier, no bidding, no quiet arrangement. The moment money can buy the top spot, the list stops telling you who is good and starts telling you who is spending. That trade isn't worth making, so we don't offer it.
What moves a pro up
Roughly in order of how much weight each one carries. All of it is about the same question: who is most likely to do this job well, for a fair price, without you chasing them.
Runs on Lead Dog
A pro with a Lead Dog profile is running your job through a real system — requests land on a board, quotes go out on a template, appointments get confirmed. That consistency is the single best predictor of how you'll be treated, so it carries the most weight.
Reviews, and how recent they are
Both the rating and the timing matter. A strong run of recent reviews says more about the crew working today than a perfect score from four years ago.
Projects actually completed
Jobs taken to the finish line, in the trade you're hiring for. A roofer with a hundred roofs behind them outranks a generalist who's done two.
How fast they respond
A pro who answers requests quickly and doesn't leave homeowners hanging moves up. One who lets projects go cold moves down.
Whether they really cover you
Not just the trade, but the distance. Someone forty-five minutes out can be the right call, but a pro who works your neighborhood every week usually wins on both price and scheduling.
Why Lead Dog pros come first
Not because they pay us — they pay nothing to receive your project. Because a contractor running on Lead Dog has a proven system behind their customer service, and you feel that from the first reply.
The quote comes back written down
Line items, scope, a number you can compare against someone else's. Not a figure shouted over a truck engine.
Somebody confirms the appointment
Scheduling, reminders and follow-up are built into how they already work, so the day you agreed on is the day they show up.
A Lead Dog profile gets a pro considered first. It does not keep them there. Slow replies and unfinished jobs pull a contractor down the list no matter what software they run.
What never counts
Paying for placement
There's no premium tier, no sponsored slot, no bid for the top spot. It isn't for sale at any price, so don't bother asking.
Ad spend anywhere else
What a contractor spends on advertising off Job Hound has nothing to do with where they land here.
How much they spend on Lead Dog
Having a Lead Dog profile counts. Spending more on it doesn't. Every pro on the platform sits on the same footing.
The order is a starting point, not a verdict
Ranking narrows a long list down to a handful worth your time. It can't know that your neighbor swears by a particular crew, or that one pro happens to specialize in exactly the thing your house needs. Use it to start, then do the part only you can do.
- Reach out to two or three, not just the first one.
- Ask how they'd approach your specific job, then compare the answers.
- Read the recent reviews, not the best ones.
- Get the quote in writing, with the scope spelled out.
Questions people ask first
Can a contractor pay you to rank higher?
No. There's no paid placement on Job Hound — no sponsored results, no premium tier, no way to bid for the top of the list. If that ever changes, this page changes with it, in plain language.
Isn't ranking Lead Dog pros first just favoring your own customers?
It's a fair thing to ask. The reason those pros rank first isn't that they're customers — it's that we can actually see how they operate. We know a request reached them, how fast they responded, and whether the job got scheduled and finished. For a contractor we can't see, we're guessing. We rank on what we can verify.
Does the top-ranked pro always cost the least?
Not necessarily, and we wouldn't want to promise that. Ranking weighs service quality and reliability alongside fit for your job. What we can say is that no pro here pays a referral fee to reach you, so that cost isn't sitting inside anyone's quote. Get two or three estimates and compare.
A pro I liked is further down the list. Should I skip them?
No. The order is a starting point, not a verdict. A newer contractor with fewer completed jobs may be exactly right for your project. Read a few profiles, reach out to more than one, and hire whoever answers your questions best.
See who ranks near you
Tell us what the job is and we'll show you the local pros who do it, in the order they earned. No sponsored slots, no referral fees, no cost to you.