Relabeling the referral area, and why size is the next priority

Two things this week.

First, I changed the label on the referral area. It used to say "clearly labeled paid referral area." A few homeowners pointed out that the phrasing read as defensive, and I agreed. It now just says "Sponsored," with a one-line note that a commission may be earned if you click and complete a quote request, and that the referral area has no input to the verdict or the range above it. The meaning is the same. The tone is not.

Second, the next bigger change is about size. The current public ranges group every house together. A 40-gallon water heater sits in the same bucket as a 75-gallon water heater. A 2-ton HVAC in a townhouse sits next to a 6-ton HVAC in a big single-family. That makes the numbers misleading for small homeowners and large homeowners at the same time. A homeowner with a small place looks at the median and thinks they are being quoted a fair price, when in reality a similarly-sized house should be paying noticeably less. The reverse happens to someone with a big place.

The fix is to capture size and home context on the jobs where it actually matters. Tonnage for HVAC. Gallons for water heaters. Squares for roofing. Linear feet for fence. Single-family versus townhouse versus condo for most things. Existing reports without that context stay in the dataset with a "size not reported" label, and the LLM will help backfill what it can from the description text. The plan is phased so nothing breaks in place while the data catches up.

One smaller thing while I am at it: the submit form will ask when the work was done, not just when the report was filed. "Paid in March 2025" tells a future visitor more than "reported in April 2026," especially for pricing that moves fast.

If you have had work done recently and have not shared what you paid, that is the single most useful thing you can do here. Everything above gets better the more reports I have to work with.

Connor, founder