How We Research (and How We Make Money)

The rules we hold ourselves to

1. Every number has a source and a date. Prices, specs, warranties, and electrical requirements in our guides are pulled from live seller or manufacturer pages, linked at the point of claim, with the date we checked them. If a figure can't be verified, we either say "unverified" out loud or leave it out.

2. We don't pretend to own what we haven't bought. Plenty of review sites imply hands-on testing they never did. Our starting edge is different: the most rigorous compiled spec-and-price database in this niche, with contradictions between retailers flagged in the open. When we do own or physically test a product, the review says so explicitly — and until then, we don't fake it.

3. Nobody buys a ranking. No placement fees, no "featured" tiers, no sponsored slots inside editorial guides. Where a brand pays a higher commission than its competitor, that changes nothing about where it appears.

4. We flag the conflicts we find — including our own. Affiliate links are how this site earns money: if you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Affiliate relationships never reorder a comparison table. When a product we can't monetize is the better buy, it still wins the category — that's the whole point of being independent.

5. Estimates are labeled as estimates. Where we publish planning ranges (like electrical installation budgets), they're anchored to sourced data points, labeled clearly, and paired with "get real quotes" advice — because your site conditions are not a spreadsheet.

What our process actually looks like

For every guide: we pull current pricing from multiple retailers and cross-check (when two retailers agree, we say so; when they contradict each other, we flag it), we verify electrical and installation specs against manufacturer documentation rather than forum lore, and we re-check our price database on a weekly cycle — which is also what powers our price-drop alerts.

What we are not

We're not electricians, doctors, or your local building department. Heat and cold exposure carry real physiological risks for some people; 240V circuits and wood stoves carry real installation risks for everyone. Our guides tell you which questions to ask — licensed professionals should answer them.

Questions about our methodology? Get in touch.