Homeowners are asking AI for contractors now. Reviews still decide who gets the call.

Something changed this year. When a furnace quits or a pipe bursts, a homeowner might not scroll through Google at all. They might ask ChatGPT, Gemini, or another AI tool who to call.

The shift happened fast. BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey found that use of ChatGPT and other AI tools for local business recommendations jumped from 6% to 45% in a single year. AI is now the third most popular source people use to find a local business.

That doesn't mean Google is going anywhere. In a separate study on how people search, BrightLocal found Google is still the number one place people start, and only 8% of searchers choose an AI tool as their first stop.

There's also a trust gap. Among people already using AI for local searches, only 18% felt ready to contact the business an AI tool recommended. Most people check first. And when they check, they land on your Google profile and read your reviews.

Nobody outside these companies knows exactly how each AI tool decides which businesses to recommend. What we do know is that an AI tool can only work with what it can find about you, and the homeowner who double-checks its answer is reading the same reviews everyone else reads. Either way, the same thing wins: a steady stream of real, recent reviews.

Recent matters more than ever. BrightLocal found that 74% of consumers only care about reviews written in the last three months. A profile that stopped collecting reviews a year ago looks like a business that stopped answering the phone.

PorchPrompt keeps that stream going. Every time a job is marked done, your customer gets a text with a direct link to your Google review page. No screening, no filtering, no extra work. Whether your next customer finds you through Google, an AI tool, or a neighbor, they find a profile that looks active, because it is.