How we check listings
Written by the editor, dated, and kept current. Every number on this site traces back to one of the steps below.
1. Where the listings come from
I started with public business records for the fence-contractor category across New Jersey in October 2026: 271 businesses after removing duplicates (same phone and address), confirmed closures and listings whose records had not been touched in over a year and could not be re-confirmed. Businesses whose primary category is decks, railings, gate automation, fence supply or landscaping are shown in a separate "fence-adjacent" band on county pages. Listings are grouped by county because New Jersey’s 564 municipalities are too small to compare one at a time; each profile still shows the company’s town.
2. The HIC registration statement
New Jersey requires every home improvement contractor to register with the Division of Consumer Affairs and to display its 13VH registration number. The state offers per-name lookup but no bulk file, so I could not match 274 companies against the register automatically. Instead I recorded, for each company with a website, whether the site states an HIC registration. 68 of 271 companies do, as of October 15, 2026. A listing shows "HIC registration stated" when it does and "Details confirmed" when at least seven service facts were verified but no registration was shown. Both are statements about the website, not about the register — look the number up at newjersey.mylicense.com before you hire.
3. Service facts from the company's own website
For each business with a website, I read the home page and up to six internal pages and recorded 15 yes/no facts — installs new fences, vinyl / pvc fencing, aluminum fencing, wood & cedar fencing, chain link fencing, wrought iron / steel fencing, privacy fencing, pool fencing (code-compliant), gates & automatic gates, railings, commercial fencing, fence repair, handles permits & utility marking, financing offered, nj hic registration stated. "Yes" means the site describes it. "No" means the site rules it out. "Not confirmed" means the site did not say. 1,768 facts were resolved this way. The short description on each profile is written from the same pages and contains no claims the site does not make, no prices and no ratings.
4. What gets indexed
Profiles with fewer than five confirmed facts, no website, or a "No" on the core service stay visible but are marked for search engines not to index until the business verifies the listing. That keeps thin pages out of search results without hiding real businesses from readers.
Labels
| HIC registration stated | The company’s own website states an NJ Home Improvement Contractor registration. Recorded, not verified. |
|---|---|
| Details confirmed | At least seven service facts were confirmed on the company’s website, but no HIC number was shown. |
| Registration not stated | The website did not show an HIC registration, or there is no website on record. |
| Verified by the business | Someone at the company confirmed the listing by email from a company address. |
| Premium | The business pays for an enhanced profile (photos, links, hours). It does not change position in the main list. |
| Sponsored band | Paid featured cards. Always labeled, always separate from the main list. |
| branch / owner-builder service | Context labels added where the records show a multi-location company or a design-only service. |
Corrections
Email editor@localguidepress.com or use the "Verify or correct" form on any profile. I reply within five business days and note material corrections on the profile. Refresh cadence: websites are re-read for the HIC statement quarterly; business records are re-pulled twice a year; a verified business can update its own facts at any time.