How AskBaily actually works

Most home-services marketplaces obscure how they actually work. Angi does not publish its lead-matching algorithm. Thumbtack does not disclose the exact pay-per-contact rules per category, and the categories that trigger higher contact fees shift without notice. HomeAdvisor uses the same architecture as Angi because they are the same company (Angi Inc., NASDAQ: ANGI). This page is the opposite of that posture. Every structural element of the AskBaily model — how matching works, where the money flows, what we verify, what we refund, where we have limits — is documented below with primary sources. If any element changes, this page is updated with the change and the date. This is not a marketing narrative; it is an audit. Homeowners, contractors, and press are invited to read it with maximum skepticism. Where AskBaily does not yet have a given capability, the page states that plainly.

The matching algorithm — 7 explicit steps

1. Homeowner chats with Baily, the AskBaily conversational agent powered by Gemini 2.5 Flash and Flash-Lite in a dual-tier routing pattern. Baily asks about project type, address, budget range, timeline, and existing-conditions or regulatory constraints (permits pulled, known code issues, HOA, easements).
2. Baily generates a structured scope document that includes: project category (kitchen, bath, ADU, full renovation, addition, exterior, pool, etc.), permit requirements based on the homeowner's city, a budget range bracketed by project type, a timeline estimate, and the regulatory specialties required (Hillside Ordinance, HPOZ, ADU-specific, post-fire rebuild, coastal, loft-law, landmark district, etc.).
3. AskBaily's matching engine filters the partner-GC database by: (a) city plus service-area radius, (b) trade-specialty match to the project category, (c) regulatory-competence match to specialty requirements on the project, (d) budget fit to the GC's typical project size, and (e) current availability based on the GC's self-reported capacity window.
4. For each candidate GC, the engine runs a LIVE state-regulator license check. California uses the Contractors State License Board at https://www.cslb.ca.gov. Arizona uses https://roc.az.gov. Washington uses L&I. New York City uses DOB at https://www.nyc.gov/site/buildings and DCWP at https://www.nyc.gov/site/dcwp. Florida uses CILB. Texas uses TDLR for the specialty trades that require a state license. Ontario uses HCRA. Failure at step 4 removes the GC from the candidate set at that moment — not "last week's cached check."
5. The engine checks insurance-certificate currency (general liability, workers' comp where applicable) and bond status where the state requires one.
6. The single highest-scored GC is selected. The homeowner receives the /pro/{slug} profile link for that GC plus the scope document and an introduction email or SMS.
7. The GC receives the scope document with a 48-hour response window. If the GC declines or does not respond inside that window, the engine re-routes to the next candidate and the homeowner is notified of the re-route with a reason.

The economics — where money flows

Total transparency on the money path.

• Homeowner pays AskBaily $0 at inquiry, $0 at match, $0 at contract signing. The homeowner pays the contractor directly for the job.
• Contractor pays AskBaily $0 at application, $0 at match, and $0 during the job.
• At job COMPLETION (either escrow release through AskBaily's payment partner or owner-confirmed close on jobs run outside escrow), AskBaily's take-rate is deducted from the contractor's payment:
  • 15% of invoice value on jobs $5,000–$30,000
  • 12% on jobs $30,001–$75,000
  • 10% on jobs $75,001–$150,000
  • 8% on jobs $150,001 and above
• The tiered take-rate applies to the job total (materials plus labor), not labor-only. AskBaily does not inflate the materials line to harvest a bigger cut; the invoice is the invoice the homeowner paid.
• For jobs below $5,000, AskBaily routes through the Tier-2 small-tasks lane, which uses a flat transaction fee (typically 8–12% depending on task type) rather than the tiered GC structure. Small tasks are handled by vetted handypersons under the 1099 independent-contractor model, not Tier-1 partner GCs.
• AskBaily does not charge lead fees, contact fees, subscription fees, badge fees, profile-boost fees, priority-placement fees, or any other per-match charge. If the job does not close, AskBaily earns $0 on that match.
• AskBaily does not sell homeowner data. Homeowner data is used only for matching and handoff to the single matched contractor. It is never resold, syndicated to third-party lead aggregators, or sent to any contractor other than the single matched GC for that scope.

License and insurance verification process

Every match triggers a live check. Not periodic background. Not self-reported. The specific verification path by state:

• California: license lookup at https://www.cslb.ca.gov/OnlineServices/CheckLicenseII/ confirms active status, correct classification (Class B or B-2 for residential remodeling, specialty-C classifications for narrow trades like electrical C-10 or plumbing C-36), bond currency, workers' compensation status, and the absence of any open disciplinary action or suspension.
• New York City: DOB BIS check for active stop-work orders on the GC's recent projects plus a DCWP check confirming that the Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) license is current. HIC is the NYC-specific home-improvement license administered by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection; DOB is the Department of Buildings, a separate agency. Both must be clean.
• Arizona: https://roc.az.gov license search, checking classification (e.g., B-General Residential), Recovery Fund currency, and the absence of any open complaint or suspension.
• Other live-routing states: the equivalent state-regulator live check for each state where AskBaily matches jobs. The full state-by-state verification matrix is published in the AskBaily partner agreement.

If any check fails at the moment of match, the candidate is dropped. No partial passes. No "it was active yesterday." The check runs at match time, not from a nightly cache.

Dispute resolution workflow

What happens when something goes wrong on a job. This is a structural mechanism, not a marketing promise.

• Level 1 — Baily support. The homeowner or contractor raises the issue directly in the AskBaily chat. Baily handles FAQ-tier issues: scheduling clarifications, small scope questions, payment-milestone explanations, minor change orders.
• Level 2 — Dispute mediator agent. Unresolved L1 issues escalate to a structured mediation workflow. Both parties submit a written position statement and supporting evidence (photos, invoices, text logs, permit records). A mediator agent drafts a mediation memo with a recommended resolution. Typical resolutions: scope clarification, partial refund from the reserve, or contractor remediation with a revised milestone.
• Trust and Safety reserve. AskBaily holds 1.5% of every job's take-rate (capped at $25 per job) in a dedicated reserve pool. For valid disputes where contractor workmanship fails and the contractor will not remediate, the reserve funds a partial refund to the homeowner up to the reserve balance accumulated from that contractor's recent history. This is not insurance and AskBaily is not an insurer; it is a small-claims backstop that exists specifically because Angi and Thumbtack have no equivalent mechanism.
• Refund policy. If AskBaily's matching engine fails (wrong match, unverified license at match time, scope misrepresented to the contractor, duplicate routing), full commission refund to the contractor on the affected job and a credit to the homeowner toward a re-match.
• State-regulator referral. For contractor malpractice that rises above the mediation tier, AskBaily files complaints with the state regulator (CSLB for CA, AZ ROC, DCWP for NYC HIC, etc.) on the homeowner's behalf upon homeowner request. Filing happens inside 7 business days of homeowner sign-off on the complaint text.

Review collection — the honest current state

AskBaily does NOT currently display review counts or star ratings on AskBaily-branded surfaces. The review-collection primitive (Phase 16.4.c on the public roadmap) is built and tested but launches alongside the first 10 or more organic AskBaily-originated reviews, which we expect in Q2-Q3 2026. Until then, AskBaily relies on:

• Third-party review linkage (schema.org sameAs) to partner GCs' existing profiles. For NP Line Design, that includes the BBB A+ accreditation, Houzz, Yelp, and Angi — all of which are NPLD's earned reviews from 12+ years of independent operating history, not AskBaily's.
• Live CSLB or equivalent regulator verification as an objective credential substitute while the review corpus ramps.
• Explicit disclosure on the site: "AskBaily is early; we do not have 20 years of reviews like Angi does. We have live-verified licenses, honest scopes, a Trust and Safety reserve, and a tiered take-rate model that only earns money when your job closes."

No fake aggregated ratings. No borrowed parent-company ratings. AskBaily's Phase 15.24 self-audit explicitly removed a prior aggregateRating markup (ratingValue=5, reviewCount=12) from every page because the ratings belonged to the parent operating entity rather than to AskBaily-originated reviews, and publishing them under AskBaily's Organization schema would have violated Google's rich-result and review-spam policies. When AskBaily has real organic reviews, they will be published with Review schema citing the homeowner (first name plus last initial by default), the job category, the metro, and the verified completion date — not a rolled-up aggregate.

Contractor exclusivity model

Tier-1 GC partners receive category-exclusive routing in their metro. For a given city-by-project-category combination — LA kitchen remodel, Phoenix ADU, NYC loft-law renovation, Austin new-build addition — ONE Tier-1 partner receives 100% of matched-project routing within that cell. This is the inverse of shared-lead marketplaces. AskBaily onboards only as many Tier-1 partners per city-by-category as the monthly job volume requires (typically 2–5 GCs per major metro spread across multiple project categories), then closes that category cell to new partners to preserve partner unit economics and match quality. When a Tier-1 partner fails quality checks, exits the market, or is terminated for cause, AskBaily recruits a replacement and the exclusivity transfers to the successor.

Current live-city footprint

Honest as of 2026-04-20.

• 1 Tier-1 partner fully active with live matching: NP Line Design INC in Los Angeles, California. 12-plus year operating history, CSLB #1105249 Class B, BBB A+ accredited, DIR-registered, fully insured. Matching is live for LA kitchen, bath, full renovation, ADU, pool-house, exterior, and post-fire-rebuild categories.
• 10 additional North American metros in partner-recruitment ramp: Phoenix, New York City, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, Toronto, Dallas, Houston. Content infrastructure (regulatory hubs, city-specific cost guides, neighborhood pages, Spanish mirror for applicable metros) is LIVE. Partner GC onboarding is in progress. Live-match availability varies by city and by project category within each city.
• 6 Wave-1 international cities staged for Q2-Q3 2026 launch: London, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Auckland, Dubai. Regulatory research complete; partner recruitment begins per the published international rollout plan.
• 28 additional international cities staged through 2028 on the roadmap.

For any city where live routing is not yet active, Baily acknowledges the gap, directs the homeowner to the city's regulatory and cost-hub content, and (where applicable) invites the homeowner to be notified when a Tier-1 partner is seated in that metro. No fake matches. No routing to out-of-metro contractors to manufacture the appearance of coverage.

What AskBaily is NOT

Also honest, in the same spirit.

• Not a review-driven marketplace. AskBaily does not replicate the Houzz or Angi review-browse experience; the model is scope-first matching with credentialed verification.
• Not a fast-instant-quote platform. AskBaily optimizes for scope fit, regulatory match, and contractor-homeowner compatibility — not quote turnaround speed. If the homeowner's priority is the cheapest same-day bid, AskBaily is not the right tool.
• Not a handyman service at the Tier-1 lane. Sub-$5,000 work routes through the Tier-2 small-tasks lane with its own flat-fee structure, not Tier-1 GC matching.
• Not a project-management tool. Once homeowner and GC sign the contract, AskBaily steps back. Project execution happens GC-to-homeowner direct, on the GC's systems and timeline. AskBaily re-engages only for dispute resolution and for job-close commission processing.
• Not available in every city. Partner GC coverage gates live routing; content coverage is deliberately broader than routing coverage so that homeowners in pre-launch metros still get useful regulatory and cost information while they wait for live partners.
• Not a replacement for a direct GC relationship. Many homeowners already have a contractor they trust from a prior project, a referral from a neighbor, or a family relationship. AskBaily exists for homeowners who do not have that existing relationship, or for projects where regulatory complexity (fire rebuild, ADU, hillside, HPOZ, coastal, landmark) makes trade-specialty verification a real problem.

How to verify this page

Every factual claim on this page is externally verifiable.

• Algorithm steps: AskBaily's Phase 7.N matching algorithm is documented publicly at https://askbaily.com/phase-7-matching-algorithm.
• Take-rate and exclusivity model: Phase 7.L bylaw amendment, codified in the AskBaily Terms of Service at https://askbaily.com/terms.
• License and accreditation for the active LA partner: live-verifiable at https://www.cslb.ca.gov/OnlineServices/CheckLicenseII/ (search CSLB #1105249) and at https://www.bbb.org.
• City ramp status: published at https://askbaily.com/roadmap with last-updated dates per city.
• Review-collection state: this page plus future commits to the public repository will reflect the launch when it happens, with the first organic Review-schema entries appearing on the AskBaily homepage and on the /reviews index the week Phase 16.4.c ships.

If any claim on this page is inaccurate, email [email protected] and this page will be updated within 7 days, with the change and the date noted inline at the edited section.