How verification works
A verified mark on a listing means two narrow things:we have confirmed the shop is trading at the address shown, and we have checked any certification it claims against the register of the body that issues it.
What it does not mean
It is not a quality rating and it is not an endorsement. We have not commissioned a build, inspected one, or formed any view about whether the work is good. A shop that opened last year and a shop that has been building since 1973 carry the same mark, because the mark is about the facts on the listing, not about the company.
An unverified listing is not a warning either. Most often it simply means we have not got to it yet, or the builder has not claimed the listing and confirmed its details.
Why we do not publish review scores
Plenty of directories scrape Google ratings and restyle them as their own score. We do not, because a number presented that way reads as though we verified something we did not. When ratings appear here they will come through Google's own API, shown as Google's rating, with a link to the listing they came from.
The certifications, and what they cover
None of these acronyms mean much on a builder's homepage, and they are not interchangeable. What each one actually covers:
- RVIA member
- Builds to the RV Industry Association's standards, which cover electrical, propane, fire and egress. Inspected periodically. The closest thing the industry has to a baseline.
- Mercedes-Benz Upfitter
- Recognized by Mercedes-Benz under its upfitter program, meaning the conversion is engineered to Mercedes' body-and-equipment guidelines.
- Ford QVM
- Ford's Qualified Vehicle Modifier program. Ford audits the shop's process and the finished vehicle carries Ford's endorsement.
- Ram Business Link
- Registered with Ram's commercial upfit program for ProMaster conversions.
- Builds to NFPA 1192
- Follows the recreational-vehicle fire and life-safety standard. Often what an insurer or a state inspector is actually asking about.
Read certification alongside everything else
Certification is a floor, not a ranking. Some of the best custom shops in the country hold none of these, because a one-off commission does not fit a program designed around production runs. Equally, RVIA membership tells you a builder's electrical and propane work meets a published standard, which is exactly the thing you cannot assess by looking at photographs.
Where it matters most is insurance and finance. Both are markedly easier to obtain on a certified build, and that is worth knowing before you commit rather than after.
Getting your listing verified
If you run a shop listed here, claim it throughthe builder form. We will ask for evidence of trading address and copies of any certification you want shown, then update the listing.