Method · checked 3 Oct 2026
How we pick. 112 checked, 26 made the list.
Every company the state licenses for plumbing work in Smith & Gregg counties, checked four ways. Pass all four, or you’re not on it.
Four checks, in this order
The license
In Texas, a plumbing company works under a Responsible Master Plumber, licensed by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners. We took the board’s public register and kept every current license in Smith & Gregg counties (72 companies in Smith, 40 in Gregg). To check any plumber, open tsbpe.texas.gov and use its Public License Search.
A Google rating of 4.6 or more
We looked each company up on Google and matched the profile by name, phone and city. 35 had no profile we could match, 2 had no rating, and 17 were rated under 4.6. 58 remain.
At least 100 reviews
A perfect score from a handful of reviews tells you little. 31 more were rated well but had fewer than 100 reviews. 27 remain.
Insurance on file
The board’s register prints the date a license holder’s insurance runs to. 1 company had passed the first three checks but showed a date that had passed. 26 remain. This check reads the date on file; it does not see the policy.
Where the numbers come from
- 26 licensed plumbers
- The companies that passed all four checks.
- 13,105 Google reviews
- The counts Google showed for those 26 on 2 Oct 2026, added up.Google showed one count rounded (1.6K); we counted it as 1,600.
- 4.86★ average
- Their Google ratings, averaged by review count.
- Checked 3 Oct 2026
- Our last check of licenses, insurance dates and ratings. The ratings are each plumber’s own, not ours.
Then the order: six terms, 100 points
Rating carries the most weight, then volume. Ties at one decimal are ordered by the unrounded score.
| Part of the score | Points | How |
|---|---|---|
| Google rating Scaled from 3.5 stars (no points) to 5.0 (all points). | 40 | 40 × clamp((rating − 3.5) ÷ 1.5, 0, 1) |
| Number of reviews Logarithmic, so the jump from 100 to 200 reviews counts more than 900 to 1,000. Full points at 1,000. | 20 | 20 × min(1, log10(1 + reviews) ÷ log10(1001)) |
| Years licensed From the license date on the state register; full points at 30 years. | 10 | 10 × min(1, years ÷ 30) |
| Open 24 hours Full points if the Google profile reads “Open 24 hours”, none otherwise. | 10 | 10 or 0 |
| Range of services How many of the plumbing services we count appear on the Google profile, up to 6. | 10 | 10 × min(1, services ÷ 6) |
| Recent reviews Not yet measured: Google would not show review dates to our look-ups, so every company gets the same 5 points. It changes no one’s place. | 10 | 10 × 0.5 for everyone |
How we’re paid
The fee can’t buy a place.
- Free for homeowners. You never pay Vora anything.
- The plumber who takes the job pays a referral fee for a booked job.
- Places on the list come from the checks and the score. No one can pay to be on it, or to move up it.
- A plumber who is slow to respond or draws complaints comes off the list.
What this can’t tell you
Ratings are Google’s
We copy the rating and count Google showed when we looked; we don’t audit individual reviews.
Matching is by name, phone and city
Where the match is less certain, the company’s profile says so.
The insurance check reads a date
It is the date on file with the board; we have not seen the policies.
Some register dates are placeholders
A few licenses show 01/01/1901, which cannot be a real issue date. We give them full points for years and show “date not on record”.
A license is not a promise of good work
It means the state has examined the license holder and can discipline them. Get a written quote before work starts.