The model gets you close. Real invoices make it true. Drop in the job, your state, and the number on the bill — no account, no name, no contractor named. Every verified submission moves the band for the next person who looks it up.
No account required, no homeowner name collected, no contractor named in the submission.
A submission is checked for plausibility before it ever touches a published band.
Real invoices are the one input that pulls a band directly, rather than through the model.
A submission doesn't touch the band the moment it arrives. It goes through the same four steps every time, for every trade, in every state.
The amount is compared against the current band for that task and state — wildly out-of-range submissions are flagged for manual review instead of auto-accepted.
Submissions are checked against recent entries for the same task and state to avoid one job being counted more than once.
Verified submissions don't replace the model — they nudge the published percentile toward what people are actually paying, weighted by how many verified entries exist.
Individual invoices are never displayed. Only the effect on the aggregate band is visible — no name, no contractor, no address, ever surfaces.