About Five Star Local

Five Star Local lists the top 5 five-star local businesses in each trade and service, town by town across Australia. Every ranking comes from public customer reviews, every rating is checked by a person, and nobody can pay to be listed.

Why we built it

In a country town, the best tradie is usually the one everyone already knows about, unless you're new in town, or it's 7pm and the hot water's gone. Search results are crowded with ads and businesses that paid to be at the top. We wanted one honest answer: who do local customers rate the highest?

We also want good local businesses to grow. Five-star reviews are earned one job at a time, and a top-5 listing is a way to show that work off. Our free guide to getting more five-star reviews shows how.

Who's behind it

Five Star Local is run by the team behind Australian Scaffold, a scaffolding supplier. Some of the builders and trades we list may buy scaffolding from us. That never affects a ranking: every business meets the same rules, and the top 5 comes only from public reviews. If one of our customers asks to be listed, we may check their application sooner, but they're checked against exactly the same standard.

How a business gets listed

• It has at least 4.7 stars from 10 or more public reviews, usually on Google.
• A person on our team checks the rating by hand on the review platform and records the date. Every listing shows that date, and a rating older than 180 days is taken down until it's checked again.
• Businesses are ranked by a weighted average, so a few new 5-star reviews can't beat years of consistent service. The full rules are public.
• Listing is free, rankings can't be bought, and we never write or edit reviews.

Right now we list 11 businesses in 1 town, and we're adding more each week, starting with regional New South Wales.

Corrections

If a rating has changed, a business has closed or moved, or something looks wrong, tell us and we'll recheck it. Business owners can update their details or ask to be removed at any time.

Contact

Email hello@fivestarlocal.com.au.