Which five questions does every business answer?

Cost, time, preparation, specialty and the most expensive mistake clients make. The wording can be adapted to the trade, but every business on a page answers the same five, in the same order.

How do you check the answers?

We compare the numbers with the business's public record and ask for the basis of any price range. We trim for length but never change a figure, and the owner approves the final text.

How should I compare answers between pros?

Read one question across all five businesses rather than one business at a time. Look at what each price includes and what each schedule depends on; the differences usually tell you more than the totals.

Can I ask a question of my own?

Yes. The contact form on every interview page has a field for your own question, and it goes only to the businesses you tick.

How We Choose and Interview

How businesses are chosen

We start from every business in our database for a trade and city, then narrow it down on the public record: an active listing, a phone number, enough real reviews, a good rating, recent activity and the checks we could confirm, such as a state license.

Why different businesses, not the “top five”

We pick businesses that cover different needs: a premium specialist and a budget option, a big firm and a small one. Five similar companies would give you five similar answers. That's why we don't rank. We do favor businesses that can be reached directly: among those that pass our checks, the ones with a listed email address fill the first three places first, in our usual order. A business that fails the checks is never lifted, and the places after the first three follow the usual order.

Interview rules

The five questions are fixed first, per trade, from the questions readers actually ask.
The owner or a named staff member answers, not a marketing agency.
Nobody sees the other answers before publication.
Numbers must be real: price ranges the business has actually charged in the last 12 months.
No attacks on named competitors. General warnings are fine.
Until a business has answered, its place shows “Answer pending”. We never write answers for a business.

Editing policy

We trim answers to 120 words at most, in the business's own words. We may fix grammar and reorder sentences; we never change numbers, claims or meaning. Each business approves its final text, and later changes are shown as “Answer updated” with the date.

When a business is removed

If a license lapses, the rating falls sharply, or we receive repeated complaints we can verify, we remove the business and say so on the page with the date.

Paid content is always labelled

Businesses can pay for an enhanced profile or a paid placement. Paid placements sit outside the five in a dashed box with a line saying they were paid for. Payment can't buy a place in the five, change an answer or change the order.

Corrections

Spotted something wrong? Send a correction and we'll check it against the source.

How we choose businesses and run the interviews