Transparency
How this ranking is established
Once you have described your project, Octo shows you the professionals who can take it on, and you choose who to invite. Here is who appears in that list, in what order, and why.
Who appears in the list
A professional is listed only when all four conditions are met:
Validated by Octo
Their profile and business documents were checked, and the Octo team approved them. That is what the “Verified” badge means.
Offers the service you need
They declared this exact service among the ones they provide.
Works in your area
Their service area, a base and a radius they set, covers your postal code. When too few professionals cover your postal code, the list also takes in those working elsewhere in the same destination, labelled “Nearby”. The distance shown (“Active 4 km away”) is rounded and measured in a straight line between the centre of their base postal code and the centre of yours, never from an address.
Available for new requests
They are currently accepting new projects. A professional can pause this at any time.
In what order
“Featured” professionals come first
Professionals who pay for a Premium subscription appear at the top of the list, and each of them carries a visible “Featured” label. It is the only placement Octo sells: no other payment changes the order.
Within each group (Featured, then the others), professionals covering your postal code come before the “Nearby” ones, then they are ordered by a score that combines the criteria below. Their weights are set by Octo and are the same for every professional.
Reviews
The average rating of their published reviews. With fewer than 3 reviews, a professional gets a neutral score, so newcomers are neither penalised nor boosted.
Distance
The closer their base is to you, the higher they rank.
Responsiveness (being introduced)
How often and how quickly they answer the requests they are invited to. It will count once professionals have enough history on Octo; until then it plays no part in the order.
Fair rotation
Professionals who received fewer requests over the last 7 days move up slightly, so requests are shared rather than always going to the same people.
Time on Octo
A small bonus that grows over a professional's first year on Octo.
When two professionals have the same score, the closer one comes first.
How Octo is paid
Posting a request is free for you. Professionals pay Octo: a fee each time they are put in contact with a client, whose amount depends on the estimated size of the project, and, if they choose, a Premium subscription to appear first. Octo takes no commission on the work and never handles the payment between you and the professional.
You decide who gets your contact details
Your project is visible, without your contact details, to the professionals you invite and to those of your area who offer the service; they can show interest in it. An overview (service, town, date, estimated range) is also shown to the verified professionals of the same category across your whole destination. Your name, email and phone number go only to the professionals you invite or whose interest you accept, once the contact is confirmed. Your request page lists everyone who received them.
Reviews and contracts
Verified reviews
Only clients who hired a professional through Octo can review them, once the service is marked as done, and every review is moderated before it is published.
The professional does the work, not Octo
Every professional listed is self-employed or a company, validated by Octo. Octo is an intermediary: the quote and the contract for the work are between you and the professional, who is responsible for the service.