Methodology
Last updated: September 2, 2026Common principles across all four verticals
- Publicly verifiable inputs only. Every input that contributes to a ranking must be sourced to a primary document a reader could check independently — a regulator filing, a public rate sheet, a published rating, a license-system record, or a dated provider disclosure. Private rate sheets, off-the-record quotes, and internal scoring tools are not used.
- Transparent rubric. Every comparison page includes the rubric used and what each provider scored on each criterion. Readers can disagree with the weighting and reach their own conclusion from the same inputs.
- Independent of any commercial relationship. Rankings are produced before, and separately from, any consideration of which providers have a referral or affiliate relationship with Dreamy Leads Research. See editorial independence for how the wall is maintained.
- City and state context. "Best in Phoenix" is built from inputs relevant to the Phoenix consumer (e.g., Arizona-licensed installers, AZ utility net-metering rules) — not a national list filtered down. National rankings are labeled as such.
- Decay. Rate, premium, and incentive numbers are anchored to a date. Pages older than 12 months in solar, mortgage, or insurance are flagged for re-review. Where re-review is overdue, the ranking is removed from prominent display until refreshed.
Data sources by vertical
Each vertical draws from primary sources documented in detail in our editorial standards. Top-line sources by vertical:
- Solar: U.S. EIA (electricity rates), DOE/EERE, IRS (Residential Clean Energy Credit), state energy offices, NABCEP installer certification, public utility commission filings, named installer pricing pages, and SEC filings of public installers.
- Mortgage: HUD (FHA), VA, USDA-RD, FHFA (conforming limits), CFPB, NMLS Consumer Access (license verification), public lender rate sheets and press releases, MBA market data.
- Insurance: state insurance departments, NAIC complaint indices, AM Best financial strength ratings, public carrier rate filings, and 10-K disclosures of public carriers.
- Debt relief: FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule and CFPB rulemakings and complaint data, state attorneys-general consumer-protection filings, BBB accreditation, AFCC and IAPDA membership rolls, and public settlement-rate disclosures.
Data sources and how our pages are produced
Where the numbers come from. Every figure on a Dreamy Leads Research page traces to a public dataset or a regulator's filing, and each page's Sources block names the ones it uses:
- Insurance (home and auto): NAIC market-share and complaint-index data; state Department of Insurance filings (including the Texas Department of Insurance for Texas pages); the Insurance Information Institute; FEMA flood-zone designations; FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (vehicle theft rates).
- Mortgage: U.S. Census Bureau (American Community Survey income and housing); HMDA loan-level data; FHFA conforming-loan limits and house-price indices; HUD and FHA program rules; Zillow ZHVI for home prices.
- Solar: NREL PVWatts production estimates; EIA state electricity rates; DSIRE incentive records; SEIA market data; IRS guidance on §25D and §48E (the residential credit expired for systems purchased and placed in service after December 31, 2025; a lease or PPA may still capture 30% through §48E).
- Debt relief: U.S. Census Bureau household data; state statutes of limitation and garnishment rules; NFCC counselling standards; the CFPB complaint database.
How a page is produced. City and state pages are generated from that data layer by templates that Dreamy Leads Research maintains; the same figure is used in the page lead, the tables, the FAQ and the structured data, and an automated check fails the build when any two of them disagree. Comparison and research pages are written from the source tables and reviewed against this methodology before publication. We use software, including AI-assisted tooling, to assemble pages and check them for errors; every published page is reviewed by Dreamy Leads Research against the published rubric, and figures are refreshed when the underlying dataset updates. Pages show a "Last updated" date that matches the machine-readable date and the sitemap; the date changes only when the content changes.
What we do not do. No page is written to a word count; no provider pays for placement or ranking; Dreamy Leads Research holds no professional licenses and gives no individualised financial, tax, legal or insurance advice. Corrections follow the policy on /editorial-standards.
Solar methodology
Per-installer rubric
For city- and state-level "best solar" rankings, the inputs and weights are:
| Input | Source | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Quoted price per watt (PPW), in market | Market quote samples + named installer disclosures | 25% |
| Equipment tier (panels, inverters, batteries) | Manufacturer spec sheets + Tier-1 designation | 15% |
| Workmanship + production warranty length | Installer published warranty terms | 15% |
| NABCEP-certified installer staff | NABCEP public registry | 10% |
| Customer-experience rating (BBB, Google, SolarReviews) | Public review aggregates, complaint resolution rate | 15% |
| State licensing and contractor bond | State contractor license boards | 10% |
| Local presence (years operating in state) | State filings, BBB profiles | 10% |
Tie-breakers, in order: NABCEP certification depth, warranty length, then years in state. Lease/PPA-only operators are listed separately from cash-and-loan installers because consumer economics differ structurally.
Mortgage methodology
Per-lender rubric
For city- and national-level mortgage-lender rankings, the inputs and weights are:
| Input | Source | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Posted purchase rate vs. weekly market average | Lender published rate sheets, MBA / Freddie Mac PMMS | 25% |
| Fee transparency (origination, lender credits, points) | Loan Estimate disclosures, fee schedule pages | 15% |
| Program breadth (FHA, VA, USDA, jumbo, HFA) | Lender product pages, NMLS scope | 15% |
| Average time-to-close (purchase) | Lender disclosures, Ellie Mae / ICE Origination Insight Reports | 15% |
| State licensing and NMLS standing | NMLS Consumer Access | 10% |
| Online application + status transparency | Hands-on review of public application flow | 5% |
City rankings are filtered to lenders licensed in the relevant state. Refinance-specific rankings replace "time-to-close (purchase)" with "rate-and-term refinance share" and "cash-out refinance fee transparency."
Home and auto insurance methodology
Per-carrier rubric
For city- and state-level carrier rankings, the inputs and weights are:
| Input | Source | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Premium for representative profile in market | Quote samples + state rate filings where public | 25% |
| Financial strength rating | AM Best, S&P, Moody's | 15% |
| NAIC complaint index (relative to market share) | NAIC Consumer Information Source | 15% |
| Coverage breadth + endorsement options | Carrier product pages, sample policy disclosures | 10% |
| Discounts available in market | Carrier published discount schedule | 10% |
| State licensing and admitted/non-admitted status | State insurance department | 10% |
For Florida home insurance specifically, "willingness to write new business in coastal ZIPs" is added as a tie-breaker given current market dynamics. For California home insurance, "wildfire-zone underwriting policy" plays the same role.
Debt-relief methodology
Per-firm rubric
For debt-settlement-firm and credit-counseling-agency rankings, the inputs and weights are:
| Input | Source | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Fee structure (% of debt, % of savings, capped vs. uncapped) | Firm disclosures, FTC TSR-compliance documentation | 20% |
| Published settlement-rate disclosures | Firm public disclosures + AFCC reporting | 15% |
| Regulatory standing (state AG actions, CFPB enforcement, lawsuits) | State AG sites, CFPB enforcement, PACER | 20% |
| Accreditation (AFCC, IAPDA, BBB) | AFCC + IAPDA membership rolls, BBB | 10% |
| Minimum debt threshold + program length | Firm product pages | 10% |
| Customer reviews + complaint resolution | BBB, CFPB Complaint Database | 15% |
| Transparency about credit-score impact and tax implications | Hands-on review of customer-facing disclosures | 10% |
Non-profit credit-counseling agencies (DMP-providers under NFCC or FCAA) are scored on a separate rubric that replaces "settlement-rate disclosures" with "average DMP completion rate." Bankruptcy is covered editorially as a comparator and we explicitly direct consumers to a licensed attorney rather than ranking law firms.
Original research methodology
Original Dreamy Leads Research reports follow a documented, replicable methodology:
- Each report names its dataset, time window, and sample size.
- Where datasets are public (EIA, HUD, NAIC, CFPB), download links and as-of dates are provided.
- Where datasets are proprietary (e.g., aggregated quote samples from our network), the report describes how the sample was constructed, how outliers were handled, and known limitations.
- Statistical methods used are named (descriptive medians, regression, etc.) and assumptions are disclosed.
- Where AI tools materially shaped the analysis, that is disclosed in the report's methodology footnote.
- Reports are versioned. If methodology changes, prior versions remain linked.
Original research reports are published on the site with full methodology disclosures and dataset citations.
Refresh and review cadence
- Solar rankings: re-priced quarterly; full re-review at each annual ITC schedule update or material change in state net-metering rules.
- Mortgage rankings: rate inputs refreshed weekly; full re-review of fees and lender mix quarterly; FHA / conforming-limit pages re-reviewed at each annual reset.
- Insurance rankings: re-reviewed twice yearly, with state-specific re-reviews after material market events (carrier insolvency, state reform legislation, major catastrophe season).
- Debt-relief rankings: regulatory-standing inputs re-reviewed quarterly; full re-review annually.
Limitations
Rankings are built from public information. Carriers, lenders, installers, and debt-relief firms can offer better deals than their public posture suggests, and they can also under-deliver. A high score on this rubric is not a guarantee of price or service in any individual transaction. Consumers should always confirm the specific terms of an offer in writing and, where applicable, with a licensed professional in their state.
For corrections to a ranking input or methodology, contact Dreamy@dreamyleads.com with subject line "Methodology" and the URL of the ranking page in question. Journalists and researchers can request the underlying county and metro tables through our press & data requests page.