About Us
Who We Are
Welcome and thank you for visiting our website and being interested in learning more about BOS and what we do.
As a consumer, you are being overloaded with information on how to treat the water in your house the right way and with the right device. Above that, new studies and guides are being published on a weekly basis with more and more facts to consider; overwhelming, isn’t it?
On BOS, we offer practical, real-life tips and advice on home water treatment. It is our mission to gather, structure and present a great amount of know-how and make it available to our readers for free.
One of our main focuses: In-depth product reviews and buying guides to allow you make the right buying decision and purchase the best product(s) for your needs and budget.
Meet the Team
Gene Fitzgerald (Head of Content)
Gene has been with BOS since the very beginning.
She is a writer, editor, and water filtration advocate who enjoys supporting people in making the tap or well water in their homes healthy and safe to drink.
As head of content, Gene is responsible for the creation of new product reviews, contaminant removal guides and blog posts.
Outside of BOS, Gene loves to read books on philosophy & social issues, making music, and hiking.
Highlights
7+ years of experience writing digital content about home water treatment in particular and home improvement in general, health & fitness and nutrition.
Social & Email
Alexandra Uta (Content Creator Veteran & Editor)
Alex is our content creator veteran. She has a passion for research. Dedication and attention to detail are how she would describe her writing etiquette. She began taking on a more serious turn toward content writing in 2020. Today, she works together with Gene to review the latest innovations in home water treatment.
Outside of the work sphere, she loves reading novels, sewing, and researching historical events and cultures.
Highlights
Several years experience publishing content online.
Social & Email
Alexa Gibbons (Video Content Creator)
Alexa is a stay at home mom, chef, house cleaner, home decorator, and wife to her husband John. She loves all things homemaking and keeping a beautiful and healthy home. Alexa and her family live on a small homestead where they keep chickens and a garden. She shares her farm lifestyle, recipes, and natural living on a blog and YouTube channel called The Duvall Homestead.
Highlights
Alexa is a new member of the BOS team and you will probably see her on the YouTube channel. Being in front of the camera is something Alexa has done since a young child so sharing her reviews of water filters is enjoyable and fun.
Website, Social & Email
Buddhini Dolapihilla (Health Expert)
Buddhini is a medical doctor and research assistant at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Colombo where she earned her Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in 2020.
At BOS, she uses her expertise and knowledge fact-checking health-related content and making suggestions for improvement whenever necessary.
Highlights
Buddhini is an academic writer with a special interest in surgery as well as medical sciences, and she even has published articles in reputed and peer reviewed journals.
Publications, Social & Email
Dan Eder (Aquagear)
Dan Eder is a writer and researcher with a passion for water treatment and healthy living in general. As a content writer for Aquagear and others, he has enjoyed a long career finding cool new products and techniques to share with audiences around the world, all from the comfort of his home office.
When he’s not working, he likes swimming, playing guitar, learning foreign languages, and hanging out with family.
Social & Email
Rob Dodge (Epic Water Filters)
Rob Dodge works for Epic Water Filters as a Water Quality Specialist and Logistics Specialist. He has an extensive background studying water quality, water contaminants, and the types of filtration media used to purify drinking water.
With two years of experience at Epic Water Filters, Rob has conducted many tests and studies to better understand the effectiveness of different at home water filters. His knowledge of the chemistry involved in water purification and contaminant removal has also allowed for a well rounded understanding of the qualities to look for in a water filter.
Social & Email
Tommy Stricklin (SpringWell Water)
Tommy Stricklin is SpringWell Water’s chief water specialist with more than 2 decades of experience and knowledge within the residential water industry.
About Our Product Review Process
This section shall provide you with more details on our product review process and the creation of our buying guides. Simply put, we want to give you insights into how we work. Why? So that you can decide whether or not we are biased and want to trust us.
Getting Started
First of all, after several years in the industry we know our stuff and don’t need to research each new topic we cover from scratch. If you understand how an activated carbon filter works, it doesn’t really make a difference if it’s a small point-of-use unit to be installed under the kitchen sink or if it’s a large system intended for whole house application.
But our goal is to enable you to make an informed buying decision. Thus, all our TOP X Review Articles where we compare about a dozen products per category, for example whole house water filters, always include a buying guide with things you should consider before spending any money.
We advise you to invest the few extra minutes and read through these considerations real quick. Although home water treatment isn’t exactly rocket science and you don’t need a PhD to understand most of it, you’ll get a good overview of what’s important and what isn’t.
The Process
Step 1: Defining the Crucial Criteria
Price is an important factor when reviewing products. But for us it’s not the be-all end-all. For a holistic approach we have to take into account other, oftentimes more crucial, product criteria, too. What these criteria turn out to be depends on the individual topic.
To get back to our previous examples, with whole house water filters it’s mandatory that you have a high-enough flow rate. Otherwise you’ll run out of filtered water at times of peak consumption. When searching for an under sink water filter on the other hand, flow rate is secondary. What really matters is how many contaminants will be removed, and to what percentage.
Product criteria that play a role no matter what are certifications from authoritative third parties (i.e. NSF certifications for water filters), warranties, and customer support. For the latter, we value companies that are easy to contact, fast to reply, helpful, and actually know their stuff.
Once we have a list of criteria we’ll continue with step 2 of our product review process: Finding the best products (a similar process applies to dedicated single-product reviews).
Step 2: Finding the Best Products
Armed with our criteria list, we can now surf the web and measure all the different products against it. Thereby, we not only browse amazon.com and other major ecommerce platforms – think target.com or wayfair.com – we really like to collaborate with smaller businesses directly. In order to find these, we turn Google Search upside down.
Of course, when adding products to our list we look for features that could make them stand out from the competition. At the same time, we ignore unnecessary bells and whistles that come with a premium price without providing any real benefit.
What information sources do we rely on? There are 5:
- Product descriptions – Product descriptions provide us with a good overview of what we can expect. We also compare specifications across multiple sites and reach out to companies directly if need be.
- Product manuals – And we go one step further. We also check actual product manuals provided by manufacturers or sellers. This allows us to verify certain information and dive into the nitty-gritty details.
- Interviews – Actually, we go two steps further. What we do next is contact some of the companies directly via phone, email, or live chat. We do this to A) test their customer service and B) conduct interviews allowing them to pitch their products to us, and ask questions that potential customers likely have (checking knowledge levels).
- Customer ratings & reviews – We rely on customer ratings and reviews from different platforms for 2 reasons. For one, we cannot test all of the products listed on BOS ourselves. So we like to see predominantly positive customer feedback. Secondly, we might stumble upon one or more product benefit or issue we haven’t thought about yet. Reading third-party reviews also involves identifying and ignoring fake ones which can be harder than you might think.
- Our own testing – Lastly, and this is the most crucial step, we order and test/use many (not all!) of the products you’ll find on BOS with our own hands, and sometimes create videos about it. You can watch this ever-growing number of videos directly on our website and on our YouTube channel.
Honesty & Transparency Are the Premise
There are individuals blogging about the topics they love, and they don’t want to be compensated for it. That’s very honorable. These people enrich the web with their passion and drive.
For us, just like any other business we have to earn money in order to survive. This is why we usually don’t include products in our review guides from stores not interested in partnering with us, which means that we wouldn’t earn a commission when directing our visitors to their sites.
This does NOT entail, however, that we favor the most expensive products backed by the highest commission rates. We always try to find an ethically justifiable balance between providing the best user experience and value, and making a profit.
So you can be rest assured that we are 100% real with our work and that our reviews represent a selection of the best products currently available on the market. If you click on a link we likely receive commissions from your purchase, but we never receive any compensation or consideration for the content of our recommendations.
Furthermore, regardless of whether you are looking for a water filter, water softener, or any other type of water treatment system, we have reviewed and will continue to review a variety of models from all price segments. Therefore, everyone no matter how small or large the budget will find something suitable!
Step 3: Writing the Reviews
Doing the writing is the last part of our product review process. Every product is examined from different angles to answer questions like
- What are its strengths?
- What are the weaknesses?
- What are the most common user complaints?
- What’s our final verdict?
Policies
Contact Us
Editorial Guidelines
At BOS we take great pride in the quality of our content. Our team thrives to create original, authentic, and accurate articles & posts.
If you ever come across a piece of content that contains an error or you think needs improvement otherwise, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Work With Us
We are always open to new partnerships with trusted businesses that are looking for ways to expand their reach.
For more information about partnership opportunities please get in touch.
Advertise With Us
BOS offers the highest value to advertisers through a combination of authority, credibility and trust.
For more information about advertising opportunities please get in touch.
Press
For press inquiries, please email us at [email protected].
General Enquiries
For general enquiries, you can email us at [email protected] or use our contact form.
Office Mailing Address
BOS
600 B Street
San Diego, CA, 92101
Phone: (619) 268-8810
Hours of Operation: Monday – Friday 9:30am – 5:00pm