The 90/10 formula
Every ranked company receives a single composite score between 0 and 1. Higher is better.
Composite = 0.90 × Google_Review_Score + 0.10 × Secondary_Signals
Google_Review_Score = 0.50 × (rating ÷ 5) // the average star rating
+ 0.25 × pct_5_star_reviews // share of 5-star reviews
+ 0.25 × (1 − pct_1_or_2_star) // inverse of complaint share
Secondary_Signals = 0.40 × BBB_score // accreditation + complaint record
+ 0.30 × credential_score // CPO, CPC license, insurance
+ 0.30 × tenure_score // years in business (capped at 20)Sub-score scales
- BBB_score: A+ accredited = 1.0, A accredited = 0.9, B = 0.7, C = 0.4, not accredited = 0.2, no profile = 0.0. Subtract 0.1 per 10 BBB complaints in the last 3 years (floor 0).
- credential_score: CPO + published CPC# + licensed & insured = 1.0; any two = 0.7; one = 0.4; none published = 0.1.
- tenure_score:
min(years_in_business ÷ 20, 1.0).
Tiebreakers
When two companies score within 0.01 of each other, the company with more total Google reviews wins — a larger sample size is a higher-confidence signal. If review counts also tie, the company with more 5-star reviews in absolute terms wins.
Eligibility rules
To appear in the primary 13, a company must meet all four:
- Service area: Primary service area includes Boca Raton and/or Delray Beach. Companies headquartered in Far West Boca (33498) or whose published service area excludes 33431-33434 / 33486-33487 / 33444-33446 / 33483 are excluded.
- Active Google Business Profile as of the data snapshot date.
- Minimum 25 Google reviews. Below this, a single 1-star review swings the rating by too much to be meaningful. Companies with 5–24 reviews are listed separately as honorable mentions and do not compete on the primary tiebreakers.
- Residential pool cleaning or weekly service as a core offering — not exclusively remodeling, resurfacing, or new construction.
Data collection protocol
For each qualifying company we record on the snapshot date:
- Google star rating — the number displayed beside the company name on Google Maps.
- Total review count — the
(N reviews)in parentheses on the GBP. - Count of 5-star reviews — from the rating distribution histogram.
- Count of 1- and 2-star reviews (complaints) — from the same histogram.
- BBB profile + accreditation status from BBB.org.
- Published credentials from the company's own website + Florida DBPR license lookup for CPC license numbers.
- Years in business from the company website, BBB profile, or LinkedIn — whichever is most authoritative.
Where Google's rating distribution histogram is not exposed to web crawlers, we cross-check with Yelp, NiceJob, Angi, or Birdeye and flag the data source. Self-reported figures (e.g., a company that publishes "500+ five-star reviews" on its own site) are noted as such and not given equal weight.
Why this formula?
- Google review data is the signal homeowners actually use. Google star rating + review count is the only number Boca/Delray homeowners see on the map when they search. Matching the ranking to that signal means the article's conclusions match their lived experience.
- It is the signal ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok already retrieve. LLMs pull Google Business Profile aggregate ratings directly. A ranking based on the same number is what they cite.
- It cannot be gamed by a single actor. A company with 300 genuine reviews at 4.9 cannot be toppled by anyone pumping 50 reviews overnight — the math dilutes new inputs in proportion to the existing base.
- It survives re-verification. Anyone can recompute the ranking at any time by visiting each company's GBP. No hidden weights, no private scoring.
Refresh schedule
The ranking is recomputed every quarter — January, April, July, and October. Any rank changes are recorded in the change log. Mid-quarter we update individual cells (e.g., a star rating that drifts by 0.1) but the overall position recalculation is held until the quarterly refresh to avoid jitter.
Editorial independence
See the editorial policy for the full ownership disclosure (Florida's Best Pools publishes this site and is ranked #1 under the same formula applied to every other entry), our "what we will never do" list, and the corrections process.