How we verify

Where cost figures come from

Every price range in a cost table links to the page it came from, with the date we read it. If you click through and the number is different, the source updated and we have not caught it yet — tell us and we will fix it and log the correction.

We use sources that are publicly readable. Some large home-services sites block automated access, which means we cannot confirm what a page actually says at the moment we cite it — so we do not cite them. That rules out some well-known names. We would rather have fewer numbers we can stand behind.

What we refuse to publish

• Unsourced prices. Several pages on this site have no cost table at all. That is deliberate — it means we could not find a source we could verify for that trade, and we would rather show nothing than a confident-looking guess.
• Legal and insurance specifics we cannot source. Things like who is liable when a neighbour's tree falls, or where your sewer responsibility ends, vary by state and by the details of your situation. We describe the general shape and say plainly that it varies, rather than inventing a citation.
• Invented urgency. If something can wait until morning, we say so.

What "Updated" means

The date at the top of each page changes when we actually re-check something — a cost, a piece of guidance, a phone routing rule. It is not a build timestamp and we do not refresh it to look current. If a page says it was updated in March, nobody has substantively touched it since March.

How we decide who you should call

The core of most pages is a distinction that costs people real money: two trades that sound interchangeable and are not. A plumber fixes the pipe; a restoration company dries the building. Animal control handles strays outdoors; wildlife removal handles the raccoon in your attic. Where we can, we give you a rule for telling which one you need — usually based on what is physically above, below, or adjacent to the problem, because that is what actually determines the answer.

We also try to tell you who will refuse the job, because being bounced between three companies is the most common complaint people have in exactly these situations.

Advertising

Some pages carry a clearly labelled sponsored dispatch line, and we may earn a fee when someone calls it. This never changes what a page says. Emergency and civic numbers — 911, poison control, police non-emergency lines, utility emergency lines — are never sponsored and never will be. See our editorial policy.