How winners are selected

Canada and the United States are separate award programs with their own seasons, eligibility, rankings and winners. There is never a combined ranking or a combined Contractor of the Year.

Each season covers one calendar year of projects. Projects completed in that year, and disputes about them resolved shortly after, count toward that year. Winners are announced early the following year.

• Projects hired through ScopeGrade, confirmed by the contractor and marked complete by the homeowner.
• Reviews homeowners leave through ScopeGrade on those projects. ScopeGrade asks every homeowner when a project is complete, so contractors can't choose which jobs get reviewed.
• How quickly and how consistently contractors respond to homeowners.
• Reliability: following through on hires, finishing what they start, and finishing on the agreed dates.
• Disputes, by how serious they were, how they were resolved and who was responsible.
• How complete and clear their ScopeGrade quotes are, and how change orders are handled.

• Anything a contractor pays ScopeGrade: plan, fees, advertising or sponsorship.
• Votes, nominations or popularity. There is no public voting.
• Reviews imported from elsewhere, testimonials, and jobs a contractor records themselves outside ScopeGrade.
• Cancellations or delays the homeowner caused, weather, permits and approved changes to the work.

To be considered, a contractor needs a minimum number of completed ScopeGrade projects and homeowner reviews in the season, reviews on a good share of their completed projects, and enough months of activity. These minimums mean one perfect job can't outrank a long record of excellent work.

Ratings are confidence-adjusted: a perfect score from a couple of reviews counts for less than a near-perfect score from dozens. Volume adds confidence, with sharply diminishing returns, so a large company can't win on size alone.

Trade awards compare contractors only with others in the same trade, using projects in that trade. Regional awards use the contractor's verified business location, not where they choose to compete.

An award is only issued when enough contractors and projects qualify to choose fairly. Otherwise it isn't awarded that year.

Contractors must hold current ScopeGrade verification, including insurance and any licence their trade requires, and be in good standing. Verification is a requirement, not a bonus: it doesn't make anyone a better performer.

Resolved disputes count against a contractor according to how serious they were and who was responsible. A dispute the homeowner caused doesn't count against the contractor.

An unresolved serious dispute puts a contractor's eligibility on hold until ScopeGrade staff review it. A complaint alone never permanently disqualifies anyone.

ScopeGrade checks automatically for signs of manipulation, such as reviews from people connected to the contractor, bursts of similar reviews, or projects that don't look genuine. Anything flagged is reviewed by a person; nobody is removed automatically.

Shortlists are generated from the data. ScopeGrade staff review each shortlist, including disputes, verification and integrity checks, before approving winners. Winners are selected by ScopeGrade under this methodology; there is no independent judging panel.

Every change to the rules is versioned. A season is always judged under the rules it started with.

Every award has a unique code and a public verification page. If an award is later found to have been earned through fraud or a serious breach of ScopeGrade's terms, it can be formally revoked, and its verification page will say so. Past awards otherwise remain part of the record.

Awards add a badge to a contractor's profile. They don't change how contractors are ranked in ScopeGrade search results.