The Median Roofer Has 9 Google Reviews vs 27 Across Local Businesses

A storm tears shingles off a roof. The homeowner needs a roofer this week, searches Google, and compares the three businesses on the map. One has dozens of reviews and replies to every one. The other two have a handful each. For one of the biggest bills a homeowner pays, the choice is easy.

For a roofing company, the Google Business Profile, the free listing that shows a business's reviews, star rating, hours, phone number and website in Google Search and Maps, is often the first and only proof a homeowner sees. Reviews show that neighbors trusted you with the same job, replies show that someone stands behind the work, and the basic fields tell Google and the customer what you do and where.

Roofers beat the average on replies and on most profile fields, but trail on review counts. The median roofer has 9 Google reviews against a median of 27 across 18 categories, and 60.7% have fewer than 20. Many roofers ask for reviews in bursts, not after every job.

We used two samples of US roofers, collected on September 23, 2026. The first is 738 roofer Google Business Profiles, where we recorded the number of reviews, star rating, website, opening hours, description, claim status, business categories and photos. The second is 547 roofers with at least one review, for which we collected up to 20 of their newest Google reviews, 6,713 in all, with each review's star rating, text and any owner reply. We compare every roofer figure with the average of the 18 local business categories in the same study.

A profile is unclaimed when no owner has verified it with Google, so the business cannot edit the listing. A roofer "never replied" when none of its 20 newest reviews has a reply from the owner. Negative reviews are one- and two-star reviews. The median is the middle business: half have more, half have fewer. The 18-category average is the simple average of the 18 category figures.

That is above the 58.2% average across 18 categories, and the median tells the story more clearly: 9 reviews for the typical roofer against 27 across categories. 18.2% of roofers have no reviews at all, in line with the 18.3% average, and 13.3% have 100 or more, against 20%.

Roofers who do collect reviews tend to do it in bursts. Among roofers with 20 or fewer lifetime reviews, 41.6% received at least a third of them in a single month, and their review volume over the last 12 months was flat against the year before. Claiming the listing goes with a deeper history: claimed roofer profiles have a median of 16 reviews against 1 for unclaimed ones.

Ratings are high: an average of 4.62 stars against 4.52, and 46.4% of rated roofers hold a perfect 5.0, well above the 35.7% average. On a profile with a handful of reviews, though, a perfect score is fragile, and a single unhappy customer can pull it down sharply.

45.5% of roofers never replied to any of their 20 newest reviews, better than the 52.8% average and 6th lowest of 18 categories. Across all recent roofer reviews, 49.5% carry an owner reply, against 40.5% on average, and roofers rank 5th of 18 on that measure. They take 4 days on average to reply, with a median of 3.7 days.

Roofers answer complaints better than most: they reply to 34.8% of one- and two-star reviews, above the 30.8% average and 6th of 18. That is still well below their 51.3% rate on five-star reviews, so two in three negative roofer reviews stand without an answer.

Replying and growing go together. 60.6% of roofer reviews from the last 30 days have a reply, above the 55.3% average. Businesses with many reviews reply more often: across all 18 categories, 20.5% of businesses with 200 or more reviews never reply, against 81.7% of businesses with fewer than 10.

Roofing reviews are long and specific. Roofer reviews from the last 12 months average 59.9 words, among the longest of any local business. Of five-star reviews, 44.1% use the word "recommend" and 32.2% say "professional", while 5.9% say "friendly". Homeowners praise a roofer for doing a big job right, and pass the name on.

Of English-language one-star reviews, 33.9% mention price or cost and 16.5% mention rude or unprofessional staff. A roof is one of the largest bills a homeowner pays, so a quote that changes or an invoice that surprises is the most likely route to a one-star review.

Roofers beat the 18-category average on most basic fields. 14% list no opening hours, against 28.6%. 21.4% are unclaimed, against 29.2%. 33.9% have no description, against 43.9%, and 31.4% have no website, against 35.1%. They trail on photos, with a median of 13 against 18, and on categories: 59.5% list only one business category, against 55.2%.

Reviews and websites show up in who wins the map. In a separate Suff Digital study of 3,160 Google Maps searches across 79 US cities, the top three results for "roofer" had a median of 61 reviews, against 40 for listings ranked 4 to 20, and 90.3% linked a website, against 87.3% at ranks 4 to 20. 93.7% of top-three names include the service word, chains held 1.5% of top-three spots, and adding "near me" changed the top three in 60.8% of city searches.

Make reviews routine. Ask every customer after every job, by text with a direct link, the day the crew packs up, so reviews arrive every month instead of in one burst. Roofing customers write long, detailed reviews and recommend good roofers readily; most simply are not asked. The top three map results carry a median of 61 reviews, so that is the number to aim past.

Keep replying, and answer one- and two-star reviews first. When a complaint is about price, reply with the facts: what was quoted, what the crew found once the old roof came off, and why the bill changed. Give written quotes that explain what could change the price before work starts.

Then fill the gaps competitors leave: add every service category that applies, from roof repair to gutters, and upload photos of finished roofs, crews and trucks. Our seo for roofing companies programs build review volume and complete Google Business Profiles for roofers.

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