HIRING GUIDES · 5 MIN READ
How to choose a trusted local service provider
Reviews, registrations, prices and the red flags. How to read a provider's page in five minutes, what the research says about star ratings, and the four checks that take two minutes each.
IN SHORT
- Read the reviews, not the rating. A 4.0–4.7 average with recent, specific reviews is a better sign than a flat 5.0 with six; research on 57 million reviews found purchase likelihood peaks between 4.0 and 4.7 and drops at 5.0.
- Four checks, two minutes each: Safe Electric (electricians), RGI (gas), the CRO register (companies), and the insurance certificate (everyone). Each has a date; ask when it was last done.
- The red flags are the same on a website as on a doorstep: no address, no written quote, cash only, pressure to decide today, a price that moves.
Start with the reviews, and read them the right way
A rating is a summary. The reviews are the evidence. Three things to read for:
Recency. A provider with forty reviews, the last one eighteen months ago, is a different business from one with twelve reviews this year. Look at the dates first.
Specifics. "Great job" tells you nothing. "Boiler serviced, showed me the flue reading, left the kitchen as he found it" tells you three things you can check against your own job. Look for reviews that name the work.
The imperfect ones. Northwestern University's Spiegel Research Center analysed 57 million reviews and found that purchase likelihood rises steeply with the first five reviews, then flattens, and that ratings between 4.0 and 4.7 convert better than a perfect 5.0, which readers treat as too good to be true. A four-star review that explains what went slightly wrong, with a civil reply from the provider, is worth more than another five-star one.
Where the reviews come from. A provider's Locufy score draws on reviews left on Locufy and on their Google and Trustpilot profiles where they have them, and the page shows each source and count separately, so you can see whether a 4.8 is built on eleven reviews or two hundred. How the score is worked out is published on the support page of the same name.
Then the four checks
Each takes about two minutes. Each has a date.
- Safe Electric, for any electrical work beyond a like-for-like switch: safeelectric.ie, Find a Registered Electrical Contractor. Not every contractor lists publicly; phone 091 480 974 to confirm a name.
- RGI, for anything touching gas, and since 1 September 2026 that expressly includes servicing: rgi.ie.
- CRO, if the provider trades as a company or registered business name: core.cro.ie, search by name or number. The name on the register should match the name on the quote.
- Insurance, for everyone: ask for the public liability certificate and check the name, the dates and the limit (€2.6m and €6.5m are the common ones).
On a Locufy profile, a provider can show these with a link to the register, and the identity check carries the date it was made. A date is the point: a check from March 2026 is a fact; "fully insured" in a bio is a claim.
Prices: what transparent looks like
A provider who publishes "from" prices, or an hourly rate, has told you two things: what they charge, and that they are comfortable being compared. Locufy also publishes guide prices for each service by county, updated each season, so you can see whether a quote is in the normal range before you ask for it. A quote well under the guide is as much a question as one well over it.
Whatever the number, the rule from the hiring checklist applies: in writing, with VAT shown, with a completion date and a payment schedule, before any deposit.
Red flags, on a screen or at the door
- No address, or a mobile number only, on a business doing large jobs.
- A quote that will not be put in writing, or that changes once work starts.
- Cash only, or a request to pay someone other than the business.
- Pressure to decide today: "I'm only in the area this week."
- A rating with no reviews behind it, or reviews that all arrived in the same fortnight.
- Reluctance to name previous jobs you could look at.
Gardaí issued at least eleven warnings about doorstep traders between March 2025 and this week; the CCPC's helpline logged 2,838 home-improvement complaints in 2025, an average of €14,597 at stake each. None of those cases began with a written quote from a registered, insured, reviewed provider.
4.0–4.7
the star-rating band that converts best (Spiegel, 57m reviews)
5
reviews after which the effect of more reviews flattens
4
checks, two minutes each: Safe Electric, RGI, CRO, insurance
By the numbers — figures from the sources listed at the end of this piece.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
Providers near you, with their score, its sources and their checks — no account needed to look.WRITTEN WITH
The listed providers who told us what a good customer asks them. Real names, real listings — nobody is invented.
Dónal KeaneElectrician · Inchicore · ★ 4.9 · 143 reviews
Fitzgerald Plumbing & HeatingPlumber · Clondalkin · ★ 4.8 · 97 reviews- Tom ReillyHandyman · Phibsborough · ★ 4.9 · 58 reviews
Questions this piece gets asked
Is a 5.0 rating a bad sign?
Not by itself. With six reviews it is simply too few to mean much; with two hundred it is rare and worth reading closely. The research finding is that readers trust 4.0–4.7 more, because it looks like real customers rather than curated ones.
Can a provider remove bad reviews on Locufy?
The support page 'How the score is worked out' sets out what is and isn't allowed on reviews; a provider can reply to a review publicly, which is often more informative than the review itself.
What if a provider has no reviews yet?
Everyone starts there. Weigh the checks and the written quote more heavily, ask for two recent customers you can speak to, and start with a smaller job.
Sources
- Spiegel Research Center, Northwestern University, How online reviews influence sales
- Safe Electric, Find a Registered Electrical Contractor
- Gas Networks Ireland, Registered Gas Installers
- S.I. 106/2026, Gas Works Regulations 2026
- CRO, Using CORE search
- Britton Insurance, Public liability insurance FAQ, 16 Sep 2026
- CCPC Consumer Helpline Report 2025
- CCPC, Home improvement and building work disputes
- Garda Crimecall, bogus callers and traders, 27 Jan 2025
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Comments 3
TopNewest
- REAoife M.Customer · Dublin 8EDITOR'S PICK2 h ago
Question 5 saved me once. The deposit a roofer wanted was more than the materials for the whole job.
- PRMarta R.Provider · Plumber · Clondalkin1 h ago
Good list. I would add: ask who turns up on the second day. The person who quotes is not always the person who does the work.
- RECiara D.Customer · Cork40 min ago
Printed. Fridge door.
Signed-in Locufy customers and providers only. Comments close 30 days after publication. Report anything that names a person unfairly — we act on every report.
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