In short
Payotte ranks companies, never individuals: real estate brokerages, appraisal firms, and architecture and engineering firms. One firm will be selected per trade and per area, on a 100-point grid based only on public data: Google reviews (35), age of the company (30), declared and checkable registration or register (15), local anchoring (15), bonus (5). It is the grid used in France, Belgium and Canada. The ranking is never paid.
Google reviews: 35 points
Rating and number of reviews on the establishment's Google listing, recorded with their date. Formula: 11.229 + 3.696 × ln(1 + number of reviews) + 6.075 × (rating − 4.8), capped between 0 and 35. The record is attached to the establishment only if the area and the name match and the establishment is not closed.
Review floor. The 85/100 tier and above requires a rating of at least 4.0 out of 5 and at least 10 reviews. Below that, the total is capped at 84.
| Rating | Reviews | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 4.5 | 10 | 18 |
| 4.8 | 10 | 20 |
| 4.8 | 50 | 26 |
| 4.9 | 100 | 29 |
| 5 | 300 | 34 |
Age of the company: 30 points
The age of the company, counted in full years from the date the business was registered, read listing by listing in public sources such as the CNPJ registration data published by the Receita Federal, by CNPJ. It is not the experience of an individual. Without a readable date, the criterion is worth 0 rather than an estimate.
| Age of the company (years) | Points |
|---|---|
| 3 | 9 |
| 7 | 15 |
| 12 | 21 |
| 17 | 25 |
| 22 | 28 |
| 27 | 30 |
Checkable registration or register: 15 points
15 points if the firm displays on its own website its registering body or register, and an identifier (registration or membership number) you can check yourself with that body; 12 points if the registering body or register is displayed without an identifier; 0 if none is displayed. The listing reads "declared, checkable with" the body, with a link to its search page. Payotte does not verify on your behalf: it copies no register.
| Trade | Where you check it yourself |
|---|---|
| Real estate broker | The registration with the Conselho Regional de Corretores de Imóveis (CRECI) of the State where the firm is registered, on that CRECI's own public search page. There is one CRECI per region; no national search by the Conselho Federal (COFECI) was found |
| Property appraiser | Either the entry in the Cadastro Nacional de Avaliadores Imobiliários (CNAI), kept by COFECI, whose public search is on cofeci.gov.br (registration in the CNAI is optional under COFECI Resolution 1.066/2007), or the registration with the CAU or the CREA described below |
| Architect or engineer | For an architecture firm, the registration with the Conselho de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (CAU), by company or registration number, in its public search "Ache um Arquiteto e Urbanista" (acheumarquiteto.caubr.gov.br); for an engineering firm, the registration with the Conselho Regional de Engenharia e Agronomia (CREA) of the State, on that CREA's own public search page |
The registers are kept by the councils themselves, each under its own terms of use; Payotte links to them and reproduces none of their results. We could not read the search pages of the CREAs, so we do not describe what they display.
When the number displayed is that of an individual (a broker, an appraiser, an architect or an engineer of the firm, for example), the listing does not copy it: it states only that the registering body or register is declared and where to check it.
Local anchoring: 15 points
Establishment unit in the area (8), pages devoted to the area (3), activity figures published by the firm itself (2), languages or specialisation useful to the area (2).
Bonus: 5 points at most
Media (2), awards (1), video (1), publications (1), professional association (1).
No lawyers and no lenders in Brazil
The Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) restricts lawyers' advertising: Provimento 205/2021 of its Federal Council allows only informational advertising and forbids paying to appear in rankings, and article 34, IV of Lei 8.906/1994 makes soliciting or canvassing cases a disciplinary offence. For this reason Payotte does not list, rank or select any lawyer in Brazil. Payotte does not list, rank or select any lender either.
Selection rules
- Companies only. A sole trader has no listing: the business is indistinguishable from the individual.
- A name that is not that of an individual. A firm whose name contains a first name or a surname is not selected, unless it itself displays a neutral trading name.
- At most 3 listings per CNPJ, including for large networks. Elsewhere, the place goes to the next candidate if it reaches the threshold; otherwise it stays vacant.
- Address checked against the actual area, not the postal code (CEP) alone.
What a firm's listing will publish
The company name, its legal form and its CNPJ, the address of the establishment, the trade and the area, the declared registration or register and where to check it, the score out of 100 and its breakdown, the Google rating and number of reviews recorded (with their date), the age of the company, the firm's website and telephone. No individual is named: neither manager, nor broker, nor appraiser, nor architect, nor engineer; no personal email or telephone, no review text, no photo.
The ranking is never paid
No firm can buy its place or its recommendation. A firm can correct, complete or have its listing removed, free of charge; a correction changes the score only if the grid above provides for it.
Thresholds
85 points and above: top tier, subject to the review floor. 70 points and above: listing selected. From 50 to 69: published with the mention "partial". Below 50: not published, the place stays vacant.