Which Minneapolis roofing contractors do ChatGPT and other AI assistants name?

What the answers show about roofers in Minneapolis

Our data On October 14 we asked ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot six questions a Minneapolis homeowner might ask about roofing contractors. All 24 answers came back, and together they named 82 different companies. 48 of them were named only once, and only 3 were named by all four assistants. This is one run per question, so read the counts as a snapshot, not a ranking.

Sela Roofing was named in 13 of 24 answers and Kaufman Roofing in 10, both by all four assistants. Central Roofing was the third name all four shared, in 5 answers. Garlock-French appeared in 6 answers from three assistants. After that the counts fell quickly: no other company was named in more than 4 answers, and some came from a single assistant, such as Deschutes Roofing and Northface Construction, each named 3 times, all by Copilot.

The lists also differed a lot in length. Copilot named 52 companies across its 6 answers, 19 of them in a single answer. Gemini named 40, Google AI Mode 37 and ChatGPT 24. For a roofing company, the field was wide: being named once says very little, and for most questions, being named by two assistants for the same question was already unusual.

Storm and hail: almost no overlap

Storm damage is a large part of roofing work in Minnesota, so this question is worth a closer look. For "storm damage and hail repair", the four assistants named 18 different companies, and none appeared in more than two of the four answers. Sela Roofing and Kaufman Roofing, the two most-named companies overall, did not appear at all. ChatGPT named four companies and cited nine websites for them, most of them contractors' own sites; Google AI Mode named seven companies, two of them with "storm" or "hail" in the name.

For the question about customer reviews and a long history, Sela Roofing and Kaufman Roofing were named by all four assistants and Garlock-French by three. Those names differed from the storm and hail answers.

The GAF question returned manufacturers

We asked about competitors or alternatives to GAF-certified roofers in Minneapolis. Google AI Mode began its list with GAF, Owens Corning, CertainTeed and Atlas, and Gemini with Owens Corning, CertainTeed and IKO: shingle manufacturers, not roofers. Copilot answered with 19 local contractors. The answers included both manufacturers and contractors.

Some names came from neighboring categories, such as remodeling and siding companies, and one entry in ChatGPT's list was a link label ("View listing and reviews") rather than a company.

Google AI Mode answered with Google Maps places

Our data 4 of Google AI Mode's 6 answers came as Google Maps places: 22 places in total. Their average rating was 4.9 stars and every one had 4.5 stars or more. The median number of reviews was 155, and the place with the fewest had 19.

That does not show why a place was included. It does show that all of them were rated very highly, while review counts ranged from a couple of dozen to well over a hundred.

Which websites the answers cite for roofing contractors

Our data ChatGPT and Copilot attached source links to all 6 of their answers, Google AI Mode to 3, Gemini to none. The most-cited website was angi.com (5 of 24 answers), followed by expertise.com and owlroofing.com (4 each), then theroofingbrief.com, americaneaglemn.com, reviews.birdeye.com, homematchup.com and bestprosintown.com (3 each). The Better Business Bureau (bbb.org), bestpickreports.com, threebestrated.com and gaf.com were cited twice each.

Two of the most-cited domains belong to roofing companies themselves: owlroofing.com and americaneaglemn.com, the site of American Eagle Home Improvement. The rest were mostly review sites, lead platforms and "best roofers in Minneapolis" lists. For the storm repair question, ChatGPT cited contractors' own pages.

Where US roofers are usually listed (advice): Google Business Profile (it feeds Google Maps), Angi, the Better Business Bureau, Yelp and Nextdoor. If you hold a shingle manufacturer's certification, check that your listing in that manufacturer's contractor finder is correct, as gaf.com appeared among the cited sites here.

Related snapshots of what the assistants named: solar installers in Seattle and house painters in Nashville.

How homeowners ask AI assistants about roofers in Minneapolis

Our six questions covered a general recommendation (residential homes), a specialist job (storm damage and hail), price, reputation and history, urgency (emergency repairs) and alternatives to manufacturer-certified roofers. Real customers usually describe the damage and the place. Questions worth testing for your own company, written the way people type them:

• "Roofer in Edina who helps with a hail damage insurance claim"
• "Ice dam removal and roof leak repair in St. Paul this week"
• "Who replaces a flat roof on a duplex in south Minneapolis?"
• "Metal roof installer near Bloomington MN with a written estimate"
• "Tarp a roof after a storm tonight in Minnetonka"

Use the suburbs you actually serve and the jobs you want more of. A question without a place in it can return roofers in another state.

What a roofing contractor can check to show up in AI answers

Advice: these checks are concrete and most take an hour or less. None of them can promise a mention; they make the facts about your company easy to find and hard to get wrong.

1. Write a storm and hail page. Explain what you do after a storm: inspection, emergency tarping, photos for the insurer, how you work with the claim. In this run, the storm question named a different set of companies and cited contractors' own pages.
2. Give each roof type and job its own page. Asphalt shingles, metal, flat roofs, gutters, ice dams, repairs versus full replacement: one clear page per job, with the areas you cover.
3. Show your license and insurance. Put your Minnesota residential roofing license number and proof of insurance on the site, in text. It is a plain fact that review sites and articles can quote correctly.
4. State certifications accurately. If you are certified by a shingle manufacturer, name the program and what it means for the homeowner, such as the warranty. The GAF question showed how easily a brand and a trade get mixed up.
5. Say when you can come. Emergency repair hours, response times after a storm and whether you work in winter belong on the site and in your Google Business Profile, stated plainly.
6. Keep name, address and phone identical. Check Google Business Profile, Angi, the BBB, Yelp and your own site for the same company name and phone number. Variants of one company's name can end up counted as different names.
7. Check the roundups that were cited. Open Angi, Expertise.com, Birdeye and the "best roofers" lists that appear in your own answers. Are you there? Are your services and area current?

How to check whether ChatGPT names your roofing company

Write five or six questions your customers would ask, with Minneapolis or your suburb in them and the jobs you do most, and ask several assistants the same questions. Note who is named and which websites are cited, then repeat in a few weeks, because the answers change. CheckAI checks your own customer questions across the same four assistants and shows the names and the cited websites for each answer; a first check on ChatGPT and Google AI Mode is free. Our guide on how to check if ChatGPT names your business walks through the manual version.