Common Questions.

Is There a Free Plan?

Yes. Free costs $0 and never expires. Sign up and browse a limited version of the live feed: you'll see bid titles, agencies, locations, and the deadline for one state you choose, to the minute whenever the notice publishes a time (any of the 12, switchable anytime). Free also includes one signed-in device and up to five saved bids, and it is browse-only on the website, with no email delivery. Upgrade to Pro ($99.99/mo or $899/yr) or Enterprise ($699.99/mo or $6,299/yr) any time to unlock all 12 states, full descriptions rather than the first line, unlimited saved bids, the weekly email digest, and the procurement contact the agency listed, when provided.

What Plans Do You Offer?

Three:

• Free ($0): browse the live bid feed for one state you choose (any of the 12, switchable anytime), one signed-in device, and up to five saved bids.
• Pro ($99.99/mo, or $899/yr): bids across all 12 Midwest states for your trades, emailed weekly, with full details on the bid card (exact deadline and the full description rather than just its first line), ranked by how far the work is from your base, plus the procurement contact the agency listed, when provided, the Pro Lounge, Bid Brief PDFs, similar-bid suggestions, unlimited saved bids, the ability to post your own jobs on the marketplace, and up to 3 team seats with 3 signed-in devices per seat. Starts with a 14-day free trial.
• Enterprise ($699.99/mo, or $6,299/yr): everything in Pro for your whole company, with 10 seats included (add more at $29.99/seat/mo, or $269.91/seat/yr on the annual plan) and 3 signed-in devices per seat, plus an admin dashboard where one owner invites and manages the team. Enterprise does not include a free trial.

Is There a Free Trial of Pro?

Yes. Pro starts with a 14-day free trial, and members who join through another member’s invite get 30 days. You aren’t charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel any time before then at no cost, so you can put Pro to work on real bids before you decide.

Heads up: Enterprise does not include a free trial. It bills from day one. If you want to try before you buy, start on Pro and switch to Enterprise whenever you’re ready.

Do You Offer Annual Billing?

Yes. Pro is $99.99 a month or $899 a year, and Enterprise is $699.99 a month or $6,299 a year, so paying yearly saves over 25% on either plan. You choose your billing period when you sign up. Plans renew until you cancel; cancelling stops future renewals, and the current period, including a yearly term, is non-refundable and isn't pro-rated.

Can I Upgrade or Downgrade My Plan?

Yes, any time, and it's self-serve. Move between Free, Pro, and Enterprise from Membership in your account Settings. The same panel switches you between monthly and yearly billing on the plan you already have. Plan changes are made there, not in the billing portal, which is for your card and your invoices. Upgrades take effect right away. Dropping to Free waits out the billing period you already paid for, so you keep everything until it ends and you are not billed again. Switching between two paid plans (for example Enterprise down to Pro) takes effect today, and the unused part of the period you already paid for is not credited back, so if you want the rest of what you paid for, switch on your renewal date instead. Changing between monthly and yearly is the one exception: that restarts the billing period, so what is left of the period you already paid for becomes credit on your account. Moving to yearly, that credit comes off the invoice for the year, so you pay the difference. Moving to monthly, nothing is charged that day and the credit covers your monthly invoices until it runs out. Either way it is credit on the account, not money back on your card.

How Do I Cancel?

Cancel yourself any time from Manage Subscription on your account, which opens our secure billing portal. There are no cancellation fees. Cancelling stops future renewals and takes effect at the end of your current billing period, so you keep access until then; the current period is non-refundable and isn't pro-rated. The unsubscribe link in our emails only stops the emails, it does not cancel a paid plan.

Is My Payment Information Secure?

Yes. Billing runs through a major PCI-compliant payment processor, and your card details go straight to them over an encrypted connection. Card numbers are never stored on our servers, so there is no card data here to expose.

You stay in control either way: update your payment method or cancel outright any time from Manage Subscription in your account, and switch plans, monthly and yearly billing included, from the Membership tab in Settings. No phone call, no email to support.

How Do Invites and Referrals Work?

Every member has a personal invite link in their account. Share it, and anyone who signs up for Pro through it starts with an extended 30-day free trial instead of the standard 14. It’s a simple way to bring the people you already work with onto the network.

Heads up: the extra trial days apply to Pro. Enterprise does not include a free trial, so an invite link doesn’t add trial days to an Enterprise plan.

Which Trades Do You Cover?

Seven trades: HVAC and mechanical, plumbing, electrical, roofing, general construction, masonry, and painting. Each one has its own tuned keyword filter so you only see bids relevant to what you actually do. Public work that falls outside the seven, like office supplies or vehicle contracts, is left out on purpose rather than padding your feed.

Which States Do You Cover?

Pro and Enterprise both cover the full 12-state US Census Midwest region: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, covering every county, state agency, and city portal we monitor, plus federal opportunities with place-of-performance in any of these states. The Free plan covers one state you choose (any of the 12), switchable anytime. All 12 states are live, but they are not equally deep. Coverage is strongest in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri; the Dakotas and Nebraska are thinner, and we publish the live count for every state and trade on How It Works so you can check yours before you pay.

Where Do the Bids Come From?

We pull directly from official government procurement sources: state agencies, county and city portals, and federal opportunities with a place of performance in the region. We monitor 250+ Midwest sources and keep adding more. Every notice we publish is read and rewritten onto the card itself, so the scope, the deadline and the procurement contact the agency listed are in one place instead of spread across a portal you have to register for.

How Current Is Your Data?

We check our highest-volume sources every 15 minutes and the rest of our 250+ Midwest sources once or twice a day, so most new bids reach your feed within a day of being posted.

How Accurate Are the Deadlines and Details?

We pull bid data directly from official government procurement sources. We tidy formatting for readability (for example, fixing ALL-CAPS titles and adding a plain-English summary) but never change the substance of a solicitation. When the notice names the issuing agency we show it; when it does not, the card says so rather than guessing.

That said, government agencies sometimes amend deadlines (addenda), cancel solicitations, or publish updates we may not see immediately. Always verify the deadline with the issuing agency before you bid. That is true of every aggregator, including this one, and it is standard contractor practice anyway.

If you see an inaccuracy, contact us and we'll look at it right away.

What Does “Procurement Contact, When Provided” Mean?

Many public agencies name a specific procurement contact on their solicitation. When they do, Pro and Enterprise surface that contact so you can reach the right person instead of a general switchboard. Not every agency publishes one; when they don’t, you still get the agency name whenever the notice gives one, and the agency’s own phone and address whenever we hold them. We show the contact the agency listed; we don’t invent one.

Can I See a Sample of What I'd Get?

Yes. See a real bid card, or browse the live feed. The free preview shows enough to confirm relevance; Pro and Enterprise members get full descriptions rather than the first line, and much more, plus the procurement contact the agency listed, when provided.

Can I Select Multiple Trades?

Yes. Every trade is included on every plan. Pick as many as you bid on; there's no extra charge and no cap. It's handy if you're a general contractor or run a multi-trade outfit. Free accounts browse the feed; Pro and Enterprise both get matching bids for all your selected trades by email once a week, on the day you pick.

What Are the Different Feed Views?

The live feed has a few lenses. Latest (the default Bids view) shows the newest public bids matched to your trade and states. My Network shows bids and posts shared by the members you’re connected with. Community is posts from across the network: showcases, questions, wins, and updates. The Pro Lounge is a paid-only filter of the top-scoring bids for your trades. Anyone can browse the feed; posting and reacting in Community is for paid members, and the Pro Lounge is included with both Pro and Enterprise.

Can I Save and Track Bids I'm Pursuing?

Yes. Save any bid to your pipeline, then move it through stages (Interested, Bidding, Submitted, Won, and Lost) and keep private notes on each one. It's a simple way to manage everything you're chasing in one place. Free accounts can track up to five bids; Pro and Enterprise are unlimited.

What Is a Bid Brief?

For Pro and Enterprise members, a Bid Brief is a clean, downloadable PDF summary of a government bid: the scope, key dates, submission items, and things to watch for, pulled together so you can size up an opportunity fast or hand it to your team.

How Often Will I Get Emails?

Once a week. Pro and Enterprise members both get a single weekly digest with your top matching bids (ranked by trade fit, location, and how recently they posted) across all 12 Midwest states. It lands Monday mornings by default, and you can move it to any day and hour in your settings. The digest also includes the procurement contact the agency listed, when they name one, so you can reach the right person instead of a general switchboard. When an agency doesn’t publish a contact, the bid card still carries its name whenever the notice gives one, and the whole job description, so you know what is being asked for before you call. Prefer none? Turn bid emails off entirely anytime in your account settings.

The Free plan is browse-only on the website, with no email delivery, so you can see what we cover before you subscribe.

Do You Take a Commission on Posted Jobs?

No, never. Jobs & Bids never takes a commission, finder’s fee, or cut of any job. Your membership is the only thing we ever charge you for: Pro is a flat monthly or yearly price, and Enterprise is a flat price plus $29.99/seat/mo for each seat past the 10 included ($269.91/seat/yr on the annual plan). Nothing we charge is ever tied to the work you win. When a member posts a job and another member responds, you message and connect right here on Jobs & Bids, then contract directly; we never touch the money.

Are Member-Posted Jobs Verified by Jobs & Bids?

No. Member-posted jobs are submitted by other members and are clearly badged “Member-posted · verify independently.” They are kept separate from the government bids we aggregate. We screen submissions for offensive content and review them before they appear, but we do not vet, guarantee, or endorse the poster, the work, or the terms. Always verify a member, license, insurance, and scope independently before you contract or pay.

How Does Bidding on a Member-Posted Job Work?

When a Pro or Enterprise member posts a job, other paid members can place a bid on it right on the listing. The member who posted the job sees every bid come in and chooses the one they want to work with, then reaches out to that person. You set your own bid amount, and you contract and handle payment directly. Jobs & Bids never takes a cut of any of it.

Bid amounts are sealed. Only the member who posted the job sees what anyone bid. As a bidder you see your own bid and where it ranks, for example “#2 of 4”, which updates live as bids come in. You never see another contractor’s price and they never see yours. Rank 1 is simply the lowest price so far, and the poster is not obliged to take it: they weigh price, reputation, and fit.

Do I Have to Be the Lowest Bid to Win?

No. The member who posted the job picks whichever bid they want, and price is only one factor: reputation, reviews, timeline, and how you present your bid all matter. The lowest number doesn’t automatically win. Because of that there’s no advantage to waiting until the last second, so last-minute bids are perfectly fine.

Can I Post My Own Job for Members to Bid On?

Yes. Posting a job is included with Pro and Enterprise. Describe the work, set a deadline, and paid members can place bids that you review and choose from. Everything you post shows up under My Posted Jobs, and as always we never take a commission on anything you post or anything you win.

What Is The Network?

The Network is where members connect. You can search the member Directory, connect with other trades, message your connections directly, and share updates, wins, questions, and showcases in the Community. It all lives in one place under The Network in your account, laid out like a simple control panel so you always know where you are.

Can I Use My Account on More Than One Device?

Yes. Your plan sets how many devices can be signed in at the same time: Free is 1 device, and Pro and Enterprise are 3 devices per seat, enough for the office computer, your phone in the truck, and one more.

Seats are how you cover a crew. Pro includes 3 seats and Enterprise includes 10 (add more at $29.99/seat/mo, or $269.91/seat/yr on the annual plan), and every seat is its own login with its own 3 devices, so your team signs in as themselves instead of sharing one account. If you reach the limit, just sign out a device (you can do it from any signed-in device in Settings → Logins & Devices) and sign in on the new one.

Is There a Mobile App?

Mobile apps for iPhone and Android are coming soon. In the meantime, the full site works great in your phone’s browser, so you can browse bids, place bids, post jobs, and message members on the go today.

Can I Add a Profile Picture?

Yes. Go to Settings and add a photo under Profile photo. Your picture then appears next to your name across the Directory, The Network, and your Community posts, so members recognize you. It’s optional; if you don’t add one, we simply show your initials.

Do You Sell My Data or Read My Email?

No. We never sell your data, and we never connect to or read your email inbox. The only emails involved are the bid digests and account notices we send you, which you control in your settings.

How Do I Get Help With Something Not Listed Here?

Reach us any time through the contact page and a real person will get back to you. If you spot anything inaccurate in a bid, tell us and we’ll look into it right away.

My Card Was Declined. Have I Lost Access?

No. Nothing is switched off the moment a payment fails. Your states, your saved bids, your weekly digest and everything else keep working while the card is retried automatically over the following weeks. We email you as soon as a renewal is declined, and where we can work it out the email names the date the retrying stops.

If the card still hasn’t gone through by then, the plan ends and your account moves to Free. You are not locked out and your saved bids are not deleted: Free keeps your five most recent and stores the rest, and they come back if you subscribe again.

To fix it now, open Settings, go to the Membership tab and choose Manage Subscription. That is where you put a new card on file.

I Cancelled and Never Heard Anything. Did It Work?

Check two places. We email a confirmation when a cancellation is recorded, and it names the exact date your plan ends. On the site, open Settings and go to the Membership tab: if a cancellation is scheduled, a panel at the top says Your plan ends on and the date. If neither is there, it did not register, so try again or contact us.

That same panel is the undo. The button on it reads Keep My Pro Plan (or Keep My Enterprise Plan), and pressing it any time before the end date leaves you exactly where you were, with no gap and nothing to buy again.

This works the same if you cancelled inside the billing portal rather than on our site. We pick that up, send you the same dated confirmation, and show you the same undo.

I Joined My Company’s Plan but I’m Still Being Charged.

Taking a seat on your company’s plan does not cancel a paid plan you already had. They are two separate subscriptions, and yours keeps billing until it is cancelled.

Once you are on a company seat, Settings stops showing you billing controls: the Membership tab replaces them with a note saying your company pays for your seat. So this one is not self-serve today. Contact us, choose the Billing or account topic, and tell us the email address on the personal plan. We will cancel it and confirm by email with the date it ends.

I Downgraded and Some of My Saved Bids Are Gone.

They are stored, not deleted. Free keeps the five most recent bids in your pipeline and puts the rest in storage, along with the stage and notes you set on each one. Subscribe again and they all come back.

One case is permanent, and we warn you before it happens. On Free you see one state, so saved bids outside that state would no longer open. If you change your state, we show you a red panel first saying how many saved bids would be removed, with Switch anyway, Keep your current state, and Go Pro and keep them all. Press Switch anyway and those bids are gone for good.

If a bid was withdrawn by the agency, your save is kept too. Your pipeline has a Saved bids no longer listed block holding the ones that closed or were pulled, with your notes and stage intact.

Why Does This Bid Show Two Closing Dates?

Because the agency published the same job on two portals and the two do not agree. Rather than pick one and hope, we fold them into one card, show you the earlier of the two dates, and name both portals and both dates in a row headed Closing date conflict.

We use the earlier date because working to it costs you nothing if the later one turns out to be right, and working to the later one costs you the job if it is the other way round. Confirm the closing date with the agency before you bid.

I Opened a Bid and It Said It Was Being Updated.

That is a real, open bid whose full listing we have not finished checking. Every bid has to clear our quality bar before we publish the whole card. Rather than show you a half-checked listing, or a page-not-found for a job that genuinely exists, we show the four things we do stand behind: the title, the agency, the location and the closing date. The Status field reads Being updated.

The bid is open and the closing date shown is the agency’s, so you can act on it right now. Check back for the full listing, or press Browse open bids for the ones that are ready.

A Bid Disappeared From My Feed.

Almost always because it closed. The feed shows work you can still bid on, so a bid drops out the moment its closing date passes, Central time. Nothing is deleted when that happens.

Two places to find it again. If you saved it, it is still in your pipeline with your stage and notes, and it still opens. And the feed has an Expired view in the toolbar next to Active if you want to look back over closed work.

If a bid vanished and its deadline has not passed, tell us and we will look at it.

Why Do So Many Cards Say “We Didn’t Find One in the Notice”?

Because we would rather tell you we don’t have something than make it up. That line is an answer, not a gap: it means we read the agency’s notice and the field was not in it.

It matters most on the fields it would be tempting to guess. When you see We don’t have a contact for this one, We didn’t find an estimate in the notice or Agency not listed, that is us saying the agency did not publish it, not that it does not exist. Every bid card carries the same reminder: a blank field means we didn’t find it in the notice, not that the agency doesn’t require it.

When you need something we don’t have, use the agency contact on the card, or the agency’s name and phone number, and ask them directly.

I Can Only See One State.

That is the Free plan: one state you choose, out of the 12. Change it in Settings on the Bid Fit tab, under Your state, then press Save Settings. There is no limit on how often you switch.

One warning before you do. On Free, saved bids have to sit in the state you are showing, so if you have any saved outside the state you are switching to, we stop and tell you how many would be removed. That removal cannot be undone.

Pro and Enterprise see all 12 Midwest states at once. On a paid plan the state setting is only your default, so changing it never hides or removes anything.

My Feed Is Empty.

Usually a filter you forgot was on. The feed remembers what you set in Refine, including a trade, a search term and a state, and if that combination has no open work today it will honestly show you nothing. When filters are the cause, the empty-feed message says so and gives you a Clear them link.

If the message instead says there are no open bids in that trade and state right now, that is the real answer. Agencies post in batches, so it changes through the week. Try another trade, or another state if your plan covers them.

Does Travel Distance Hide Bids From Me?

No. Base ZIP and Travel Distance, both under Where You Work on the Bid Fit tab, only change the order: closest work first, across every state your plan covers. Nothing is ever hidden because of them, so a job outside your travel distance is still in the feed, just further down.

I’m Not Getting the Weekly Email.

Work through these in order. All of them live in Settings on the Bid Fit tab.

• Is your plan paid? The digest is a Pro and Enterprise feature. Free is browse-only on the website, with no email delivery, and there is nothing to schedule on it.
• Is it switched off? Under Bid alert emails the setting is either Weekly: one summary a week or Off: no bid emails.
• Has it already been sent this week? When your digest arrives tells you in plain words when it is due and lets you pick any day and hour. Times are Central, the same as every deadline we show.
• Are your own filters too tight? What goes in your digest has a bid-quality setting, a cap on how many bids per email, and a Never email me bids mentioning box. Set narrow enough, these can leave nothing to send.
• Was there anything to send? If no new bid matched you that week we send no email rather than an empty one, so a quiet week looks the same as a problem.
• Check your junk folder, and add our address to your contacts so the next one lands in the inbox.

Still nothing? Contact us and we will look at your account.

How Do I Stop the Emails Without Cancelling?

Two ways, and both do only that. In Settings on the Bid Fit tab, set Bid alert emails to Off: no bid emails. Or use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any bid email, which flips the same switch.

Neither one cancels a paid plan. Your subscription keeps running and you keep the feed, the contacts, the Pro Lounge and everything else. To end the plan itself, use Manage Subscription on the Membership tab.

How Do I Change My Trades, My ZIP, or My State?

All three are on one screen: Settings, the Bid Fit tab. Change what you need and press Save Settings at the bottom.

• Which trades do you bid on? Tick every trade you bid on. This drives your alerts and the member jobs we match you to. It does not limit what you can browse.
• Where You Work. Your Base ZIP orders the feed and your weekly email closest-first. Travel Distance is optional and never hides anything.
• Your state. On Free this is the one state you see. On Pro and Enterprise you already have all 12, so it is just your default.

I Can’t Sign In, or I’m Signed In on Too Many Devices.

Forgotten password: use the Forgot your password? link under the sign-in form. We email you a secure link that signs you in and lets you choose a new password. The link is good for 30 minutes and works once.

Too many devices: your plan sets how many browsers can be signed in at the same time, one on Free and three per seat on Pro and Enterprise. Go past it and you land on a page reading You’re signed in on too many devices, with a button that says Sign out other devices and continue here. That frees a slot on the spot.

You can also manage this before it bites, from Settings on the Logins & Devices tab. Sign out any single device there, or use Sign Out All Other Devices.

How Do I Change My Email Address or Close My Account?

Neither of these is self-serve yet, so we do them for you. Contact us and choose the Billing or account topic, saying which you want. Most replies happen within a business day.

If you are on a paid plan, cancel it first from Manage Subscription so billing stops, then ask us to close the account. You can change your password yourself any time from Settings on the Account tab.

Someone Is Bothering Me. How Do I Block Them?

Open that member’s profile and expand Report or block this member at the bottom, then press Block. You can add a reason for our records, or leave it blank. Blocking is on every plan, including Free.

A block works both ways at once. They can no longer message you and you can no longer message them, their posts and comments drop out of your feeds, each of you disappears from the other’s Directory results, and either profile opened by the other simply says the page does not exist. Any connection between you is removed, along with any pending request either way.

They are not told. Nothing notifies, emails or flags the person you blocked. Everything of yours just stops being there for them, the same as if the account had never existed.

To lift it, go to Blocked members, which is linked from Settings on the Bid Fit tab and from the block panel on a profile, and press Unblock. Unblocking lets you both see each other again but does not restore the connection you had, so send a fresh request if you want one.

How Do I Report a Member or a Post?

On a member’s profile, expand Report or block this member and use Report to a moderator. On a post, use Report this post. Saying what is wrong is optional but it helps.

Nothing is sent to the person you reported, and reporting does not take anything down on its own: the content stays up until one of us looks at it and decides. Reporting is also not the same as blocking. If you want them to leave you alone as well, block them too.

I Can’t Send a Member a Message.

Three things stop a message, and the screen tells you which one it is.

• They are on Free. Free accounts cannot receive direct messages, so the Message button is not there. Leave a comment on one of their posts instead.
• A block is in place either way. If you blocked them, lift it from Blocked members. If the block is theirs, the conversation simply is not available and there is nothing to fix on your side.
• You are sending too fast. There is a generous hourly limit to keep the network clean. Wait a few minutes and carry on.

You do not need to be connected to message someone. Both of you just need to be on a paid plan.

I Posted a Job and Need to Change or Remove It.

There is no edit or delete button on a posted job today, so this one is not self-serve. To correct a job, post a fresh one with the right details, then contact us and we will take the old one down. To pull a job entirely, ask us the same way.

You can close a job yourself once it has bids: open it and use Pick as winner, which closes the job and leaves you and the winning bidder to settle terms directly.

Everything you post is listed under My Posted Jobs in The Network, with a status of Live, In review or Not approved. A new job sits in review for a few minutes while it is checked, then goes live and we notify you. If nobody bids, comments or asks a question on a job, it is removed automatically after 14 days, so repost it if you still want the work.

Can I Change or Withdraw a Bid I Placed?

You can withdraw one any time before the job closes: open the job and press Withdraw on your bid.

There is no way to edit a price in place. To change a bid, place a new one at the price you want and then withdraw the old one, otherwise both stay active. Remember the poster is not obliged to take the lowest price, so bid the number the work is worth to you rather than chasing the rank.