The History of Diamond Certified Resource

Founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2001 by Jim Stein and Greg Louie, Diamond Certified Resource began by conducting telephone customer satisfaction surveys of verified real customers of local service-type companies. It printed its list of Diamond Certified companies weekly in San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune and other local newspapers. In 2003, Diamond Certified Resource started collaborating with notable Bay Area consumer advocate <a href="https://www.diamondcertified.org/expert/chris-bjorklund/" target="_self">Chris Bjorklund</a>, who previously had roles with the Better Business Bureau, the Consumer Fraud Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, and as a board member of Consumers Union and a consumer reporter for KGO Radio. Bjorklund has produced thousands of consumer tips, articles, videos and newsletters for Diamond Certified Resource. In 2004, Diamond Certified Resource launched the Diamond Certified Directory, the first directory based on quality ratings in the United States. This annual, full-color, printed directory began with four geographic zones in the San Francisco Bay Area and a mailed circulation of 200,000. By 2006, it had reached a circulation of 400,000. In 2007, Diamond Certified Resource added the counties of Monterey, Salinas, Napa and Solano to the directory. By 2012, the directory had reached a print run of 840,000 with nine unique geographically zoned versions, which continues to this day. In 2011, Diamond Certified Resource launched the Diamond Certified Preferred Consumer membership program—a free membership that provides members with subscriptions to its directories and publications, a special help hotline, and a Double Performance Guarantee. In 2020, the name was changed to <a href="https://www.diamondcertified.org/membership/" target="_self">Diamond Certified Preferred Members</a> and membership reached 182,000. In 2014, Diamond Certified Resource added Helpful Expertise® survey questions to its ratings of local companies and created <a href="https://www.diamondcertified.org/find-expert-advice/" target="_self">Diamond Certified Expert Contributions</a>—consumer help articles and videos by industry category, produced with owners and managers of Diamond Certified companies. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused massive disruption for homeowners and Diamond Certified companies. In response, Diamond Certified Resource created the Diamond Certified Plan-Ahead Directory—the nation’s first directory of local services for consumers and companies in lockdown. It also created the <a href="https://www.healthsafetyqualified.org/" target="_self">HealthSafety Qualified</a> certification program to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.