Two questions, one estimate, one contractor.

You want to know what happens between "I typed in my fence problem" and "someone is standing in my yard." Good question. Here is the whole thing, in order, with nothing left out.

For homeowners

1. Describe the job. Get the number.

   What's the job, and what's the ZIP. A photo helps. In 2-3 minutes you get an honest local price range, built from current material prices, local labor rates and comparable jobs nearby. No account, no email, no phone number. If the number is all you needed, you're done and we'll never know your name.

2. Say "find me the right contractor."

   One field: your email. First name and phone are optional. That's the whole form. No job board, no posting, no inbox full of strangers. You've told us you want one contractor, and now we go find one.

3. We vet the local contractors and match your job to the right one.

   We pull up every contractor near you who does this kind of work and build a file on each: the state license board record as of that day, complaints and discipline where the board publishes them, their public reviews, how long they've been at it, whether this exact kind of job is what they actually do, and how they've treated our other homeowners. Anyone who fails the check is out before anyone picks up a phone. The rest get ranked, honestly, on fit for your job. Nobody can pay for a better spot. Then a person at FairlyQuoted calls them, starting with the best fit. Not the cheapest, mind you. The best work per dollar, the one you won't have to pay twice for. Every name on that list is someone we'd let into our own house, so whoever takes your job is not a lottery pick. It's the top of a short list that already passed.

4. The best fit takes your job, signs our agreement and sets aside times.

   The contractor who is the best fit takes your job, signs our one-page referral agreement and gives us a few windows for a walkthrough. They have 24 hours to do both or the job moves to the next best fit on the list. That usually takes a day or two in total. We could do it faster by blasting your file to everyone at once. That's the old way, and you've lived through the old way. We'd rather send you one right contractor than ten fast ones.

5. You get one email. You pick a time.

   In it: who they are, what the state board says about their license as of that day, their reviews, why we picked them, and the times they can come. You pick one. That is the moment you type in your address and phone number, and that one contractor is the only person who ever sees them. Both of you get a confirmation with a calendar file and reminders. Either of you can reschedule through a link.

6. They walk the job and quote you directly. You decide.

   The quote is theirs, the contract is theirs, the payment goes to them. We're not in the middle of it. The day after the walkthrough we email you three questions: did they show, did you get a quote, are you going ahead. If you say no, we can go back to the list and call the next contractor, and they'll know what didn't work the first time. If you say yes, we check in again when the work is done and ask what it came to.

For contractors, in brief

We call you. You say yes or no. If yes, you sign a one-page referral agreement by email and set your walkthrough times. The homeowner picks one, you both get the confirmation with the address and phone, you walk the job, you quote it, you contract directly. You pay us a small referral fee, only after the homeowner has paid you. No lead fees, nothing up front, nothing if the job doesn't go ahead. The long version is on the contractors page, and the agreement itself is at /referral-agreement.

The fee, said plainly

Homeowners pay nothing. Ever. Contractors pay us a small referral fee on jobs we manage, due only after the homeowner has paid them. Every contractor in the network pays the same rate, so the fee never decides who we call first. If nobody gets hired, nobody pays anything. That is the entire business model, and it is the reason we can afford to send you one contractor instead of selling you to four. Contractors: the exact terms are on the contractor page and in the agreement itself.