Reviews and reputation: asking for them, answering the bad one, and the two laws that decide what you may and may not do
In one paragraph
Reviews are the second public record on your business after the CSLB license lookup, and the only one you can shape. This lesson gives the routine that produces honest five-star reviews (ask at the moment of the finished punch list, make it easy, never pay for sentiment), the three-paragraph answer to a bad review that wins the next customer instead of the argument, and the two laws that draw the lines: California's Civil Code 1670.8, which voids any contract clause that stops a customer from reviewing you and fines the contractor who threatens one, and the FTC's 2024 rule on consumer reviews, which makes fake reviews, paid-for sentiment, undisclosed insider reviews and review suppression unfair or deceptive practices. Also: why the license number goes on the review profile, and how reviews and the CSLB record read together.
The rule
A contract for consumer services may not include a provision waiving the consumer's right to make any statement about the seller, and it is unlawful to threaten to enforce such a provision or otherwise penalize a consumer for a protected statement, with a civil penalty of up to $2,500 for a first violation and $5,000 for each later one (Civil Code 1670.8). Under the FTC's rule it is an unfair or deceptive practice to write or buy fake reviews, to compensate reviews conditioned on positive or negative sentiment, to post insider reviews without disclosing the relationship, or to suppress reviews with groundless legal threats or by hiding negative ones (16 CFR 465.2, 465.4, 465.5, 465.7). False or misleading advertising about your services is a disciplinary cause and a misdemeanor (B&P 7161), and advertising carries the license number (7030.5).
Why it matters
A new contractor with eleven honest reviews and a clean license record beats one with fifty reviews of unknown origin, because customers and property managers have learned to read both. The bad review will come; the customer reads your answer, not their complaint. And the two shortcuts every new business is tempted by, the gag clause and the bought review, are now specifically illegal with penalties attached.