Up to thirty-two checks against the estimate’s own arithmetic, the deposit limit your state sets by statute, the federal standards that apply to the equipment, and published national price ranges. Every one named below. HVAC, roofing, windows, plumbing, electrical.
Upload what you have, answer three questions, and get the report and a drafted email back in a few minutes.
One quote works. Two or three unlock the comparison checks, which are the strongest price evidence in the report because they are your own market rather than a national average.
Three taps. The state decides which deposit statute and which federal efficiency minimum apply; where you were quoted decides whether the federal three-day cancellation right attaches at all.
One payment, no account, no subscription.
Two separate passes. Reading and judging are kept apart on purpose — every conclusion is arithmetic or a written rule, run the same way on every report.
Findings ordered by how firmly they are proved: arithmetic on the estimate first, then statutes and federal standards, then the contract gaps, then the price comparison. Plus an email to each contractor, in your voice, asking rather than accusing.
Twenty-six run on any estimate. The rest depend on the trade. Your report says exactly which ran, which could not, and why — a check you never hear about reads as a check that passed, and it is not.
Six checks. Nothing here is a matter of opinion — it is the contractor’s own paper disagreeing with itself.
Two checks. In California, Nevada, Maryland, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania the deposit limit is a number in a statute and we test against it with the citation. Everywhere else there is no statutory cap, we say so, and the comparison is customary practice.
Eleven checks on terms that cost nothing to add before you sign and cannot be added after.
Four checks against things that are not printed on your estimate and cannot be found by reading it.
Three checks. Read the section below on what a published range can and cannot tell you before you weigh these.
Six more checks, for thirty-two in total on an HVAC estimate.
Three more checks, for twenty-nine in total on a roofing estimate.
Two more checks, for twenty-eight in total on a window estimate.
Plumbing and electrical estimates run the twenty-six general checks. There is no trade-specific set for them because the work is too varied for one to be honest — a repipe and a water heater swap have almost nothing in common. Where the job is a standard tank or tankless water heater, or a 200-amp panel upgrade, the published price range still applies.
Every finding carries one of these, and the figure it rests on.
Figures changed. Each finding names the check it came from and what that check measured.
California caps a home improvement down payment at the lesser of $1,000 or 10% of the contract price.
Fix before you sign
One line does not multiply out.
Fix before you sign
The estimate says “ask us about your $2,000 federal energy tax credit”. That credit ended for property placed in service after 31 December 2025.
Fix before you sign
$14,850.00 across 3 tons is $4,950 per ton installed. Published national guides put a changeout on existing ductwork at $1,400–$3,400 per ton.
Fix before you sign
The quote replaces the outdoor unit and leaves the indoor coil in place.
Fix before you sign
The report also names every check that passed, with the figure that satisfied it, and every check that could not run, with the reason. Twenty-nine of thirty-two ran on the estimate above.
$49, whatever you upload and however many quotes you send.
A photograph of a handwritten quote with no legible total gives us a report made almost entirely of contract-terms findings. That is worth reading, and it is not what you paid for. So the report still comes to you, and the charge goes back without you having to ask for it — your report says how many checks ran, out of how many apply to your trade, and what would have raised the number.
Most estimates are mostly fine. That is worth having in writing too. Where nothing is flagged, the report names every check that ran and the figure it was measured against — a document you can put in your own file before you hand over five figures.
And if the job is small, do not buy this. Under about $2,000 the findings are worth less than the report: a deposit cap on a $900 water heater is a few hundred dollars at most, and the contract terms matter less when the work is done in a morning. Spend the time on a second quote instead — it is free, and it is better evidence than anything we can give you. This is built for the job where being wrong costs five figures.
An independent check of your estimate against its own arithmetic, your state’s deposit statute, the federal standards that apply to the equipment, and published national price ranges.
Pick one. It decides which trade-specific checks run — nothing is selected for you.
Decides which deposit statute and which federal efficiency minimum apply, and which licensing board to send you to.
The federal three-day cancellation right only attaches to a sale made at your home. Most people assume it applies to everything.
Your documents are private and are never shared with anyone, including your contractor. We never contact your contractor on your behalf.
A clear photograph of a paper estimate works. A photograph of a screen usually does not.
Square feet. Only used on HVAC estimates, to check whether the equipment size is plausible.
Where the report and the drafted email go. The link works on any device.
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Read this before you upload. It is the part most of this page is for.