How we grade quotes

The four verdicts

• ✓In range

  The unit price sits at or below the top of the published range.

• !Worth questioning

  Above the published range, but not past the point where we would call it clear-cut. Scope and access can explain a gap this size.

• !!Well above market

  Past our upper threshold for that item. We still do not call it dishonest — we say it needs an explanation.

• ?No benchmark yet

  Either we have no sourced range for that line, or your quote did not give us the quantity we would need to work out a unit price. We say so instead of guessing.

What happens, in order

1. We read your quote in your browser and split it into line items. Nothing is uploaded.
2. If a line matches a known add-on pattern — attic insulation, for example — we flag it on what it is, not on its price, and explain the distinction.
3. Otherwise we look for a published range for that item. No match means no verdict.
4. We work out the unit price. If your quote states the quantity, we use it. If not, we use the perimeter you entered. If we have neither, no verdict.
5. We compare that unit price to the range and assign one of the four verdicts above.
6. We attach the sources and a confidence label, then repeat for the next line. The totals only add up lines we could actually benchmark.

What the confidence label means

Confidence starts at whatever the underlying benchmark carries, then drops a level in two situations: when we had to derive the unit price from the perimeter you typed rather than a quantity your quote stated, and when the benchmark has not been re-checked in six months. A wide published range — bait station installs run from $650 to $3,800 — stays labelled low, permanently. That spread is the honest answer.

What we will not do

• We do not rate companies. We judge line items. A high line can mean difficult access, not a scam.
• We do not guess. Missing data produces "no benchmark yet", never an invented midpoint.
• We do not hide the lines we could not read. They are listed back to you.
• We do not take money from pest control companies for placement. See who pays us.