How we score air conditioning contractors in Perth
Perth Air Guide currently scores 387 air conditioning contractor businesses across the Perth metropolitan area. Every score is built from measurable signals about how a business is reviewed and how easy it is to actually contact, not from opinion or negotiation. This page explains what goes into that number, why we weight it the way we do, and where the data falls short.
The five signals, heaviest first
Each business gets a composite score out of 100, built from five weighted signals:
- Sentiment, 28%: a synthesis of what recent reviews actually describe, praise and complaints alike, not just the star count attached to them.
- Rating, 26%: the aggregate Google star rating, the most familiar snapshot of reputation.
- Volume, 20%: how many reviews a business has, log-scaled so that a business with a handful of reviews isn't treated the same as one with hundreds.
- Recency, 11%: how recently customers have left reviews, since a contractor's service can change over a year or two.
- Completeness, 15%: whether a phone number, website, operating hours and address are all listed and accurate.
Why sentiment carries the most weight
A star average is a summary, and summaries hide patterns. Two air conditioning contractors can sit on the same 4.3 stars while telling completely different stories underneath: one has a scattering of minor gripes across dozens of jobs, the other has a repeated complaint about missed appointments or units left leaking after installation. You only catch that difference by reading what recent reviews actually say. That's why sentiment, our synthesis of recurring themes in recent feedback, is weighted higher than the raw rating itself. It's the closest we can get to answering "what is it actually like to hire this business right now."
Why the other signals matter for this trade
Rating still counts for a lot because it reflects the broad, aggregated judgment of everyone who has left a review, and it's the number most people check first. Volume matters because air conditioning work ranges from a $200 service call to a full ducted install, and a business with 300 reviews has been tested across far more of that range than one with six. Recency matters because contractors change: staff turn over, a business gets bought out, response times slip during summer demand spikes. A glowing review from 2019 tells you less than a mixed one from last month. Completeness matters in a very practical way: if a business doesn't list working hours, a phone number, or a real address, that's friction for you when your system fails on a 42-degree day and you need someone today, not next week.
Where the score is honest about its limits
Businesses with only a few recent reviews cannot produce a statistically reliable score, and we say so. These listings are labelled as low-confidence rather than blended in as if they carried the same weight as an established, heavily reviewed contractor. We also don't republish review text wholesale. What you read on a listing page is our synthesis of themes across recent reviews, and we link out to the original Google reviews so you can read the source yourself and form your own view.
What never changes the score
Scores are earned strictly from this rubric and the underlying data. They are never adjusted by hand. Where paid placement exists on this site, it is always labelled as such and it never touches the score a business has earned. Any list on this site where picks or ordering involved editorial judgment rather than pure scoring discloses that plainly on the page itself, including our best aircon repair picks.
Who's behind this
Perth Air Guide is published by Scout Local Media, an independent Australian publisher that builds local guides and business directories to help people find trustworthy services and to help good local businesses get found. Editorial oversight of these rankings sits with Clara Abbott, Editorial Lead. Data behind every score is refreshed monthly, and each listing carries a "last verified" stamp so you can see the maintenance is active, not a one-time snapshot. You can reach the publisher at [email protected], or visit scoutlocalmedia.com.au, or head back to the Perth Air Guide home page.
Current scoring weights
| Signal | Weight |
|---|---|
| Review sentiment | 28% |
| Google rating | 26% |
| Review volume | 20% |
| Profile completeness | 15% |
| Review recency | 11% |
The same weights apply to every listing on this site. Ranking data checked 2026-09-05.
FAQ
- How often is the data updated?
- The underlying data is refreshed monthly, and each business listing shows a last verified stamp so you can see when it was last checked.
- Can a business pay to improve its score?
- No. Scores come only from the rubric described on this page. Where paid placement exists anywhere on the site it is clearly labelled, and it never changes a business's score.
- Why do some businesses show a low-confidence label?
- A business with only a handful of recent reviews doesn't give us enough signal for a reliable score, so we label it low-confidence rather than ranking it as if it had the same weight of evidence as a heavily reviewed contractor.
- Do you show the actual review text?
- We synthesise recurring themes from recent reviews rather than republishing them, and we link to the original Google reviews on each listing so you can read the source directly.