HomeStars.com reputability

It's been a mixed bag to me. Once i called a interlock company featured there, and the owner showed up , unceremoniously parked his car on my neighbour's driveway, right off the bat asked me if i read reviews on his company on HomeStar and literally said "I am the only one in the area doing great job, everyone else does shit! ". I am not kidding. Refused to explain me the details of what he will do, how deep he will excavate, what agregates will use , how will do compacting, etc. Long story short, i did not want to deal with such arrogant person and he did not get the job. But the other two that i called for a fence and airconditioner jobs were decent folks.
Bottom line, you need to actually meet and speak to them and you will pretty much get a feeling if you want to hire them.

It’s a good starting point but you still need to do your due diligence - read up on what you need done, do your research and ask them questions, and meet them.

I also don’t focus too much on the awards, usually call the top four or five listed with reviews and take it from there.

I agree with @engineered

Word of mouth is the best testament.

HomeStars is one source of information. TrustedPros.com is another and there are more. I have used TrustedPros and they seem to be more valisd as there are bad reviews as well as good ones.
In my opinion, depending on what you are doing, I would never get a "handyman" but a tradesman whit all the licensing.

I had to jump through many loops to have a negative review posted there.

There are previous long threads about Homestars - do some searching. General consensus is that they are suspect due to a business model that relies on contractors for revenue and strongly favours contractors. Worth checking, but cross-compare to Yelp and other consumer-oriented sites.

why-homestars-online-reviews-joke-2286797/
homestars-contractors-2188495/
do-you-can-you-trust-believe-all-homest ... s-2006147/
etc

(tip for more effective RFD searching across forums - use Google and look for redflagdeals + topic)

Just to update I ended up using Aire Max Heating & Cooling Inc. on homestars and he was a super nice guy and did a great job

Had 5 stars on google and homestars gave him a shot and glad I did.