snuup
How does AI pick a contractor?
Ask AI for a roofer, a painter or an electrician and it names two or three firms. It does not call around for quotes to choose them. It reads the map listing, the reviews, the trade directories homeowners already use, and whether the firm says plainly what it does, where, for how much, and that it is insured. Get those right and your firm is one of the names it gives.
Homeowners ask AI before they ask for a quote
Who's a reliable roofer near me for a leak that keeps coming back?
A few names come up: Pennick & Sons, Slatewise Roofing and Castlegate Home Services. Homeowners mention fixed quotes and photos of the problem before any work starts.
ChatGPTWhere the answer came from
Before a homeowner lets a firm through the door, they ask AI. Who is reliable for this job. What it should cost. Whether the firm is insured and registered. Who can start this month. How to spot a cowboy builder.
AI answers from the map listing, the reviews, the trade directories homeowners already use (Checkatrade or TrustATrader in the UK, Angi or the BBB in the US) and the local groups where neighbours ask for a name. It does not call around for quotes, and it does not weigh every firm's website side by side.
Check it: ask ChatGPT or Perplexity who is a reliable roofer near you, with location on. Read the names it gives and the sites it says the answer came from.
One page for every job you take on
A page per job: roof repairs, re-roofs, bathroom refits, rewires, painting and decorating, flooring, extensions. A page per town you work in, too.
The title says the job and the town. A single “Services” page that lists every trade in one line loses to a rival with a plain page for each job it actually does.
Check it: search your firm's name and read your own page titles as a homeowner would.
Say what the common jobs cost
What Pennick & Sons publishes
A from-price answers the question. “Free quotes” does not.
“How much will it cost” is often the first thing a homeowner asks AI. It can repeat a from-price you published. It has nothing to repeat from a page that only says “free quotes.”
- 1.List the jobs you quote most often.
- 2.Write a from-price or a range for each, and say what it includes.
- 3.Put it on that job's own page.
- 4.Date it, so a homeowner knows it's current.
Answer the checklist AI hands homeowners
The hiring checklist, on Pennick's own site
Every blank is a question a rival's site answers instead.
Ask AI how to avoid a cowboy builder, or what to check before hiring a roofer, and it gives the homeowner a checklist: insurance, a licence or a trade body registration, a written quote, a guarantee, photos or references from past jobs.
Answer every line on your own site in plain words: the cover you hold, your registration number (Gas Safe or NICEIC in the UK, your state licence number in the US), the guarantee in years, the year you started. Give each project photo a caption that names the job, the material and the town. A gallery of unlabelled photos gives AI nothing to repeat.
Check it: ask ChatGPT what to check before hiring a builder, then read your own homepage against its list.
Reviews that name the job and the street
“Great job, would recommend.”
Nothing here to go on.
“Rewired our three-bed on Mill Lane in five days, certificate in hand, every room left clean.”
The job, the street, the paperwork.
AI reads the words, not the stars alone.
Ask customers to name the job and the street or the town when they leave a review. “Rewired our three-bed on Mill Lane” tells AI far more than “great job.”
Reply to every review, the short ones and the detailed ones. See how reviews change what AI recommends.
Check it: read your last ten reviews and count how many name a job and a place.
One name on every listing
Pennick & Sons, listing by listing
Google Maps
“Pennick & Sons”
Trade directory
“Pennick Building Services”
Trade body register
“R. Pennick”
Your website
“Pennick & Sons”
Three names read as three firms, and the reviews split between them.
A firm that started as one tradesperson often trades under several names: a directory profile from the early years, a trade body registration in the owner's own name, a website with the newer one. To AI, those read as separate businesses.
Pick one name and one phone number and put them on the map listing, on every trade directory you are listed on and on your trade body's register. Fill each profile the same way, with the towns you cover and captioned photos of finished jobs. See which sites AI trusts.
Check it: search your firm's name and your own name on each directory, and see whether they lead to the same business.
Let AI read your site at all
Some site builders and firewalls block AI crawlers without telling you. A page that names the job, the town and the price does nothing if the crawler never gets to read it. See whether your website blocks ChatGPT.
Check it: run the free crawler check.
See what AI tells homeowners about you
What AI reads for Pennick & Sons
snuup's free AI visibility check asks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity the questions homeowners ask before hiring for the jobs you do, and records the names that come up and the sites behind them.
If a directory profile, your reviews or your own pages are keeping you out, you see exactly where, with the fix for each gap.
Questions
Does ChatGPT recommend contractors?+
Yes. Ask it for a roofer, a painter or an electrician near you and it names a few firms, drawn from the map listing, the reviews and the trade directories homeowners use. It often adds a list of what to check before you hire, such as insurance and a written quote.
Why does AI name a firm whose work is no better than mine?+
AI never sees the finished job. It sees what was written about it: reviews that name the work, a directory profile, captioned photos, a page for each trade. The firm with more of that in writing gets named, however good the plastering behind it.
Do I have to be on Checkatrade or Angi to get recommended?+
No single directory decides it. Be on the one or two that homeowners in your area actually use, under the same name and phone number as your map listing, with recent reviews. To see which ones count where you work, ask AI who it recommends for your trade nearby and read the sites it cites.
How does snuup show what AI tells homeowners about my firm?+
Type your website at snuup.ai. We ask ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity what homeowners ask before hiring for the jobs you do, and keep every answer. You see whether your firm is named, which contractor is named instead, and which directory, review site or page is behind the answer.
Does snuup do the fixes for me?+
If you join, we do the fixes we can. The rest come as steps you can follow, such as asking a customer to name the job in a review or adding your registration number to a directory profile. On the monthly plan, a new check every month shows how the answers moved.