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Contractors: How to Handle Bad Google Reviews

Bad Google reviews; we don’t want to get them but occasionally we do!

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I am Ron Ramsden and I am a DYB Coach, also a painting contractor.

I have received a bad Google review, and it got my blood boiling up to here.

But what do we do?

It is bound to happen now and then, hopefully very, very few times, but it’s bound to happen.

False Bad Review

Well, first of all, let’s get that errant review out of the way…

Let’s say you’ve never done any work for this person yet they leave a bad review on your site.

Well, Google has a way to respond to that, if you go on to their site, you can hit report a review and you can dispute it.

Then follow up with Google on their phone number, they have listed there.

Legitimate Bad Reviews

Let’s go back to legitimate reviews.

In my case, I have a 1-star review, I was appalled, I was working so hard getting 5-star reviews, this one popped up and it was a legitimate review from about 4 years prior!

We didn’t show up on a house when we were supposed to, we double booked, we didn’t have cell phones back then, and that’s telling you how far it was back and we dropped the ball big time.

Here is how it goes down and some tips on how you can handle legitimate bad Google reviews:

Walk away! Don’t reply immediately.

So, I responded to the review. But, this is what you do when you get to the bad Google review, walk away from the computer.

Your blood is boiling, you want to let them know what you think, and this is not the time to do that.

Back up, relax, go for a walk, then come back and think about it.

Reply Within 24 hours and Offer to Fix the Problem

Respond quickly, before 24 hours, respond as quickly as you can, and as to the point as you can, but offer a way to remedy it.

Some clients aren’t going to take you up on it, and some clients you have to understand are just venting.

Maybe they came back from a long day at work, maybe something happened that is totally out of your control.

Maybe they came home to find paint in their kitchen sink, and now they are mad, so when you leave for the day, they are going to write the review.

Give them a response, and offer to fix the problem.

Respond to Good Reviews as Well.

Don’t respond to the bad reviews only… you should be leaving replies on your good reviews, let the customers know that you appreciate the review.

Maybe write what I write quite often,

“Thank you for your kind words, it was a pleasure working for you and we look forward to working for you again”.

Or you can make it more personal,

“Thank you for the kind words, it was great to be painting in your large family room, and we love your dog, also we are going to miss them, please tell the dog we said hello!”

You can make it more personalized, when people are looking for a painter, looking for a contractor, they look for reviews, that’s how we get found quite often.

So, what you want to do is you personalize this, you don’t want to have people just leaving reviews with no response, so it’s great to personalize.

But on the bad review, respond quickly, apologize, offer a solution, if they take you up on it, that’s a different thing.

If You Make an Offer, Follow Through.

If you are going to promise them something, please follow through because they are going to leave a second, or they are going to edit their review.

And if you get a 2 or a 3-star review, email that client and ask them what you could have done better.

We want to keep this up and up and we want to improve, we all want our clients to leave 5-star reviews, but we are not all perfect, we are human…

And I think sometimes when we get a lower review, that people looking on these sites, the Google review site, they are going to realize that we didn’t pay someone for these reviews, these are actual reviews and nobody is perfect.

In Summary

If it’s a bad review, walk away, don’t respond immediately, and when you do, offer a solution for it.

Reply to reviews too, and for 2 and 3-star reviews, email them and ask what you could have done better.

Reviews are gold, treat them like that.

If you want help getting out of the bucket, touch base with me at ron@dybcoach.com

I would love to talk with you, we can chat on the phone or via messenger.

I love helping painters work on their business so they don’t have to work in their business!

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About the Author

As many of you know, my journey has been one of grit, grace, and transformation. At 19, I was a high school dropout, single father, and struggling paint contractor in Michigan. I later moved to Florida, where I faced both personal and professional hardships. With nothing left to lose, I turned to prayer—and was blessed with a relentless hunger to learn. I devoured books, attended seminars, and discovered better ways to streamline and grow my business—even through the Great Recession (and yes, I did hit the wife lottery along the way!). In 2014, I published How To Double Your Business and later sold the painting business, launching a new chapter: coaching others to grow their businesses. For the past 10 years, I’ve dedicated myself to helping business owners scale through the DYB System, while also drawing from frameworks like EOS, Scaling Up, and The Four Disciplines of Execution. Yet something was still missing—something more adaptive, integrated, and complete. Then I found Pinnacle. After months of research and interviews with other Guides, I joined Pinnacle. Their tools and strategies have exceeded every expectation. Now, as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help leadership teams implement a custom-tailored operating system that draws from the best in the industry—but flexes with your unique business. It’s a dynamic, proven approach to achieve clarity, momentum, and lasting growth. I’m no longer taking on any more 1:1 coaching clients… Instead, I now specialize in working with visionary business owners who are ready to get their leadership teams aligned—around a clear vision, a focused strategy, and an actionable execution plan. With the tools and process I now have as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help turn alignment into momentum, and momentum into results. If your business is growing—but your leadership team isn’t fully rowing in the same direction—let’s talk.