How is the Perth Plumbing Hub score calculated?

It's a weighted composite of five measured signals: sentiment from recent review themes (28%), Google star rating (26%), review volume log-scaled (20%), how recent reviews are (10%), and listing completeness like phone, website, hours and address (16%).

Why does sentiment matter more than the star rating?

A star average can hide patterns. Two plumbers can share the same rating while one has repeated recent complaints about the same issue. Reading what reviews actually describe is the only way to catch that, which is why sentiment is weighted highest.

Can a plumbing business pay to improve its score?

No. Scores come only from the rubric and measured data. Paid placement, where it exists, is always labelled and never affects the score, and any editor-reviewed list discloses that on the page.

How often is the data updated?

The full directory is refreshed monthly, and each listing shows a last-verified date so you can see when it was last checked.

How we score plumbers in Perth: the Perth Plumbing Hub methodology

Perth Plumbing Hub currently scores 725 plumbing businesses across the metro area, from small sole-trader operations to larger multi-van outfits. Every score comes from the same rubric, applied the same way, to every business. This page explains what goes into that rubric, why we weight it the way we do, and where the method has honest limits.

The five signals and their weights

Each business gets a composite score out of 100, built from five measured signals:

Sentiment (28%): a synthesis of what recent reviews actually describe, weighing repeated praise against repeated complaints on things like turning up on time, quoting honestly, or fixing the job right the first time.
Rating (26%): the business's aggregate Google star rating.
Volume (20%): how many reviews a business has collected, log-scaled so a plumber with 300 reviews isn't automatically buried by one with 8, but genuinely well-reviewed businesses still get credit for the weight of evidence behind them.
Recency (10%): how recently customers have left reviews, since a plumber who was great in 2019 isn't necessarily the same crew on the tools today.
Completeness (16%): whether basic contact details are actually listed: phone number, website, trading hours and address.

Why sentiment carries the most weight

A star average is a single number, and single numbers hide patterns. Two plumbers can sit at the same 4.3 stars while one has a scattering of unrelated gripes and the other has a dozen recent reviews all mentioning the same thing, whether that's no-shows, jobs left unfinished, or invoices that crept up after the quote. You cannot see that difference from the star rating alone. Reading what recent reviews actually say, and weighing the themes that repeat, is the only way to catch it. That's why sentiment is weighted above the raw star figure itself: it's the signal that reflects what customers are actually experiencing right now, not just how they rounded their rating.

Why the other signals matter

Rating still counts for a lot, because it's the simplest public signal of overall satisfaction and it's what most people check first. Volume matters because a handful of reviews, good or bad, isn't a reliable basis for judgement, and log-scaling stops a business with three five-star reviews from outscoring one with genuine track record. Recency matters because plumbing businesses change: staff move on, ownership changes, standards slip or improve. Completeness matters for a practical reason: a plumber who lists a working phone number, real hours and an address is easier to actually contact when your hot water system dies on a Saturday.

The honest limits

We synthesise review themes rather than republishing review text, and we link out to Google so you can read the original source yourself. Businesses with few recent reviews produce a less reliable score by nature of the maths, and where that's the case we label the score as low-confidence rather than presenting it with false certainty. No amount of formula can fully substitute for reading recent reviews yourself before booking a job.

Scores are earned, not edited

Every score on this site comes from the rubric above and nothing else. Paid placement, where it exists anywhere on this site, is always labelled clearly and never changes a business's score. If any list's picks or order have been editor-reviewed rather than purely rubric-generated, that's disclosed on the page itself. See our best gas fitting plumbers list as an example of how a shortlist is put together.

Who's behind this

Perth Plumbing Hub is published by Scout Local Media, an independent Australian publisher building practical directories for Perth metro tradespeople and home builders, operating since 2026. Listings are compiled from published review data and public business information, and rankings are earned on merit rather than bought. Rankings and data quality here are maintained by Julian Fischer, Reviews Editor. Data across the directory is refreshed monthly, and each listing carries a "last verified" stamp so you can see the maintenance is active rather than a one-off scrape. Questions, corrections or business queries can go to hello@scoutlocalmedia.com.au, or you can read more about the publisher at scoutlocalmedia.com.au. Start browsing from the Perth Plumbing Hub home page.

FAQ

How is the Perth Plumbing Hub score calculated?: It's a weighted composite of five measured signals: sentiment from recent review themes (28%), Google star rating (26%), review volume log-scaled (20%), how recent reviews are (10%), and listing completeness like phone, website, hours and address (16%).
Why does sentiment matter more than the star rating?: A star average can hide patterns. Two plumbers can share the same rating while one has repeated recent complaints about the same issue. Reading what reviews actually describe is the only way to catch that, which is why sentiment is weighted highest.
Can a plumbing business pay to improve its score?: No. Scores come only from the rubric and measured data. Paid placement, where it exists, is always labelled and never affects the score, and any editor-reviewed list discloses that on the page.
How often is the data updated?: The full directory is refreshed monthly, and each listing shows a last-verified date so you can see when it was last checked.