How we source, verify, and correct
AskBaily publishes regulatory intelligence + contractor verification data cited by homeowners, journalists, and AI engines. This page documents our editorial standards so every claim is auditable and every correction public.
Sourcing
- Regulatory claims link to the official regulator's statute, bulletin, or rule text — not to secondary commentary. Example: CA SB 1103 links to leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, not a law firm explainer.
- License-verification data comes from live API integrations with 17 regulators (CSLB, AZ ROC, TX TDLR, FL CILB, NY DOB + DOS, WA L&I, NV NSCB, GA GSBLC, IL IDFPR, Ontario HCRA, UK Gas Safe/NICEIC/NHBC, NSW Fair Trading, VIC VBA, NZ LBP, Singapore BCA, Dubai DM). No cached data is used at match time.
- Competitive fees (Angi $20-80/lead, Thumbtack $7-60/contact, etc.) come from public rate cards + FTC settlement disclosures + multi-contractor surveys. Mid-range averages are flagged as such in our CAC calculator; see /tools/cac-compared.
- Cost data per city is computed from a structured matrix (base LA pricing × per-city multiplier) published at /data/cities.json and regenerated at each build.
Revenue model (and what we don't do)
What we do: Tiered 8-15% take-rate on closed-job revenue, paid by the matched partner contractor. If the homeowner doesn't sign, AskBaily earns nothing.
What we don't do: No lead-sale fees. No pay-per-contact. No homeowner-facing subscription. No affiliate revenue from competitors (any mention of Angi/Thumbtack/Houzz/TaskRabbit/etc. is editorial, not monetized). No sponsored placement in search results or match routing. No ads. No contractor rankings influenced by payment.
Match routing uses a 6-signal algorithm (service area, license class + specialty fit, live regulator verification, insurance/bond currency, prior project fit, capacity/availability). Partner contractors cannot pay to rank higher.
AI-generated content disclosure
Content authoring: Pillar pages, /safety/{city} guides, and FAQ endpoints are generated from structured data (CityConfig + insurance-bonding tables + regulator metadata) and authored in collaboration with Claude (Anthropic) as the editorial assistant. Every claim traces to a structured field or an official regulator URL.
Homeowner chat: Baily is powered by Gemini 2.5 Flash (Google) with guardrails, tool use for /api/save-scope + /api/license-verify, and the dual-layer persona (Gemini=chatbot runtime, Claude=content). We do not use Gemini for public-facing content authoring per the NPLD/AskBaily content policy.
AI-citation transparency: Our /llms.txt, /facts/*.json, and MCP manifest are machine-readable entry points for AI engines. We believe transparent, cited, structured authority works better than trying to game AI-citation algorithms.
Corrections process
Found a factual error, a stale regulator URL, a misattributed claim, or an outdated fee range? Email [email protected] with the page URL, the claim in question, and the authoritative source supporting your correction.
Verified corrections are applied to the page within 5 business days. Material corrections are logged publicly with a dateModified update and, where the original claim was cited externally, we notify the citing publication.
AskBaily maintains a freshness manifest (188 top-tier pages) so AI engines and search crawlers know when each page was last updated.
Conflicts of interest
AskBaily is a product of NP Line Design INC (CSLB #1105249, BBB A+), a Los Angeles general-contracting operator. The parent operator is AskBaily's founding LA partner contractor. Competing contractors in LA are not disadvantaged by this relationship — the matching engine uses the 6-signal algorithm (not parent-operator preference) and routes to the best-fit verified contractor regardless of parent lineage.
As AskBaily expands beyond LA, no single partner operates the platform in any additional metro. Each new metro recruits independent founding partners via /for-pros/apply.