How we score landscape designer businesses in Charlotte Metro

Who publishes the rankings

Charlotte Deck Builder Guide is published by Great Work Research, an independent publisher that has operated since 2025. We help Charlotte-area homeowners compare local outdoor-project businesses using public business records, customer reviews, and market data. Rod Burnett, Lead researcher, maintains the rankings and oversees the editorial side. Right now the guide scores 120 landscape designer businesses across Charlotte Metro.

The composite score

Each business gets a score from 0 to 100. It is built from five measured signals, listed here from heaviest to lightest.

Signal	Weight	What we measure
Sentiment	28%	Synthesis of recent review themes: praise versus complaints
Rating	26%	Google aggregate star rating
Volume	20%	How many reviews, log-scaled
Completeness	16%	Whether phone, website, hours and address are listed
Recency	10%	How recently customers reviewed

Why sentiment counts most

A star average hides patterns. Two landscape designers can both sit at 4.6 stars, yet one collects the same complaint again and again: missed start dates, designs that drift from the agreed plan, slow replies after the deposit clears. The other gets scattered, unrelated gripes. The number looks identical. Reading what recent reviews actually say is the only way to catch the difference, so sentiment gets the biggest share of the score.

Why the other signals matter

• Rating (26%): The Google star average is still the quickest read on overall satisfaction. It is a starting point, not the whole answer.
• Volume (20%): A 5.0 from six reviews tells you less than a 4.7 from several hundred. We log-scale the count so a handful of reviews does not equal hundreds, and so the biggest firms do not run away with the score either.
• Completeness (16%): A business that lists a phone number, website, hours and address is easier to reach and easier to check out before you sign anything.
• Recency (10%): Crews change and quality shifts. Reviews from the last few months say more about what you would get today than ones from years ago.

Honest limits

• Businesses with few recent reviews get a low-confidence score, and we label them that way instead of hiding the gap.
• We synthesise reviews. We do not republish them. Each listing links out to Google so you can read the source yourself.
• The score measures public signals. It cannot tell you whether a designer suits your yard, your budget, or your style. Get quotes and check references.
• Review platforms can be gamed or skewed. Sentiment analysis reduces that risk but does not remove it.

Scores are earned, never edited

Scores come from this rubric and this data only. We do not edit them by hand. Paid placement, when it exists, is always labelled and never changes a score. If a list's picks or order were reviewed by an editor, that list says so on the page itself. For an example of a ranked list, see best hardscape design businesses, or start from the home page.

How often we update

We refresh the data monthly. Every listing carries a "last verified" stamp, so you can see when we last checked it. If a stamp looks old, treat the details with some caution and confirm directly with the business.

Contact

Spot a mistake, or run a listed business and want a record corrected? Email info@reallygreatwork.com. Corrections to factual details such as phone, hours or address are checked against public sources and updated. Scores themselves change only when the underlying data does.