1. Nobody owns AI recommendations yet
The 200 answers named 1,277 businesses in total, but 480 different ones. ChatGPT named 7.3 businesses per answer on average and Perplexity 5.5. Almost half the names (45%) appeared just once. Even the most-named company in each trade appeared in at most 12 of that trade's 20 answers, and for renovation contractors the leader appeared in just 6.
For contractors, that is good news: the spots are not locked in yet.
Different business names per trade Across 20 answers per trade (5 towns, 2 questions, 2 tools)
Landscaping & hardscaping79 names
Renovation contractors71 names
General contractors65 names
Kitchen renovation65 names
Concrete & ICF62 names
Custom home builders61 names
Basement finishing56 names
Roofers55 names
Excavation43 names
Foundation & waterproofing40 names
2. ChatGPT and Perplexity rarely agree
Asked the same question, the two tools' lists overlapped by just 13% on average. In 24% of questions they had no business in common at all. A homeowner who checks both gets two mostly different shortlists.
Being visible in one AI tool doesn't mean you're visible in the other, so it's worth checking both. We track this weekly for clients in our answer engine optimization service.
3. AI doesn't just copy Google's map pack
About half (48%) of the businesses in Google's map pack top 3 for a trade and town were also named by AI for that same trade and town. So ranking well on Google Maps clearly helps. But AI named many more companies, and only 9% of the businesses it named were in that top 3. The rest came from elsewhere.
4. Where the answers come from
ChatGPT points buyers to Google Maps. Every ChatGPT recommendation in our test (100%) linked to the company's Google Maps listing. When ChatGPT recommends you, a homeowner's next click is your Google Business Profile, with its reviews, photos and hours.
Perplexity leans on directories. Of the 1,000 sources Perplexity cited, 40% were directories and review sites. BBB, Houzz, the Procore contractor network, YellowPages, RenoQuotes and HomeStars came up most. Being listed accurately on those sites is part of being recommended.
What Perplexity cited Share of 1,000 sources
Company websites and other pages58%
Directories and review sites40%
Associations1%
Social media and forums1%
5. AI looks beyond the town you ask about
ChatGPT listed a home town for each company it recommended. 30% were based in a different town from the one in the question, though nearly all were still in Niagara. Only 4% were outside the region, mostly in Hamilton, Stoney Creek and Burlington. A contractor who clearly states the towns they serve gives AI a reason to recommend them there.
6. What Google shows for the same searches
- 94% of searches showed a map pack, the three businesses with a map at the top of Google.
- 34% showed an AI Overview, Google's own AI answer.
- 34% of the regular top-10 results were directories and review sites, and another 22% were social media pages, mostly Facebook. That leaves only about 44% for contractors' own websites and other pages.
- The median business in the map pack top 3 had 29 Google reviews (the middle half had 12–64) and a 4.9 rating.
What Niagara contractors can do
- Treat your Google Business Profile as your AI profile. ChatGPT sends buyers straight to it. Complete every field, add project photos and keep your hours and service area accurate. See local SEO for contractors.
- Get listed accurately where Perplexity looks. Claim and complete your BBB, Houzz, HomeStars and YellowPages profiles, with the same name, phone number and website everywhere.
- Keep reviews coming. The median map-pack contractor had 29 reviews. A steady stream of recent reviews matters more than a one-time push. Our review guide shows a simple routine. For trade-by-trade targets, see our Hamilton Google Reviews Benchmark.
- Name the towns you serve. On your homepage and on a page for each town you want work in.
- Check what AI says about you. Ask ChatGPT and Perplexity the questions your buyers ask, and see how to get recommended by ChatGPT.
How we did it
Questions. 10 trades × 5 towns × 2 question wordings = 100 questions, each asked to ChatGPT (gpt-4.1-mini with web search, set to Canada and the town in the question) and Perplexity (sonar, set to Canada): 200 answers in total. The trades were general contractors, custom home builders, renovation contractors, roofers, concrete and ICF, foundation repair and waterproofing, excavation, landscaping and hardscaping, kitchen renovation and basement finishing.
Google. One search per trade and town (50 searches), run from the centre of each town, recording the map pack, AI Overview and top 10 results.
When. All data was collected on October 24, 2026, through DataForSEO's AI and search APIs.
Counting names. We took each business name exactly as the AI wrote it and merged obvious spelling variants automatically. Names were not individually checked against business registries, so the counts are close approximations.
Limits. AI answers change from one ask to the next. This is one round of questions on one day. We will repeat the same questions in November to measure how stable the recommendations are, and update this page. Results may differ for other towns, trades or wordings.
Our interest. BuilderBuzz sells SEO and AI search optimization to construction companies. We report totals only and do not name or rank any company.
Using this data. The summary data is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Please credit "BuilderBuzz, Niagara AI Visibility Study 2026" and link to this page.
Sources
