Common Questions.

Is There a Free Trial?

Yes. Pro comes with a 7-day free trial. A card or US bank account is required at checkout and is not charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel any time during the trial and nothing is charged. One trial per card or bank account. Members who join through another member’s invite get 30 days. Enterprise has no trial and bills from day one.

There is no plan that is free for good: without a paid plan or an active trial the feed is closed. You can still see how many bids are open in each state, but the bid cards themselves open with a Pro trial or an Enterprise plan. Pro ($99.99/mo or $899/yr) and Enterprise ($699.99/mo or $6,299/yr) both include all 12 Midwest states, full descriptions rather than the first line, unlimited saved bids, the weekly email digest, and the procurement contact the agency listed, on every bid.

What Plans Do You Offer?

Two:

• Pro ($99.99/mo, or $899/yr): bids across all 12 Midwest states for your trades, emailed weekly or daily as you choose, with full details on the bid card (the closing date and the full description), ranked by how far the work is from your base, plus the procurement contact the agency listed, on every bid, 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 7-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, managed from the same team page Pro has, plus a Company Pipeline where each bid is assigned to a person, automatic routing of new bids to the right teammate, and a weekly team report to the owner. Enterprise does not include a free trial.

What Happens When My Trial Ends?

When the 7 days are up, the card you put on file is charged for the Pro plan and billing period you chose at checkout, and you carry on with no gap. Cancel any time before then from Manage Subscription in your account and nothing is charged: your account stays, the feed is closed until you subscribe, and your saved bids and notes are kept and come back when you do.

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 isn't pro-rated. A yearly payment can be refunded in full within 7 days, from Settings; after that, and for monthly payments, the period you paid for is non-refundable. We email a receipt for every charge, including each renewal, naming the period it covers and how to cancel. We email you 7 days before any renewal with the date and the amount, so a charge is never a surprise.

Can I Upgrade or Downgrade My Plan?

Yes, any time, and it's self-serve. Move between 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. Cancelling waits out the billing period you already paid for, so you keep everything until it ends and you are not billed again; after that the feed is closed until you subscribe 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. On Enterprise the account owner also sets the seat count from the team page: seats past the 10 included are $29.99 per seat per month, or $269.91 per seat per year on the annual plan; adding one charges the prorated amount right away, and removing one credits your next bill.

How Do I Cancel?

Cancel yourself any time from Settings: open Membership and choose Cancel Plan. No phone call, nobody to talk you out of it, and no cancellation fees. Cancelling stops future renewals and takes effect at the end of your current billing period, so you keep access until then. On Enterprise only the account owner can cancel, and every seat on the team keeps access until the same date. A yearly plan, first year or renewal, can be refunded in full within 7 days of that payment, from Settings under Membership; other payments are non-refundable and aren'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 with contractors you work with, and anyone who signs up for Pro through it gets a 30-day free trial instead of the usual 7. Once they have paid for two months of Pro, you get a $99.99 credit off your next bill, whatever plan you are on, up to 3 a year. If their payment is refunded or disputed, the credit is taken back.

Heads up: the longer trial and the credit apply to Pro. Enterprise does not include a free trial and does not earn the credit, and neither do company seats.

Which Trades Do You Cover?

Seven trades: HVAC and mechanical, plumbing, electrical, roofing, general construction, masonry, and painting. 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?

Every plan covers the full 12-state US Census Midwest region: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, plus federal opportunities with place-of-performance in any of these states. The state you set in Settings is only your default; it never hides a state from you. All 12 Midwest states are live, but they are not equally deep. Some states have several times as many open bids as others, so we publish the live count for every state on Browse Bids so you can check yours before you pay.

Where Do the Bids Come From?

Every bid is a public solicitation from a government agency in the Midwest, including federal work performed in the region, and we cover 450+ government sources. Each card puts the scope, the deadline and the procurement contact the agency listed in one place instead of spread across a portal you have to register for.

How Current Is Your Data?

New bids are added throughout the day, as we check our sources.

How Accurate Are the Deadlines and Details?

We pull bid data from public government notices: agencies’ own websites and the bid portals they post to. We write each card’s description in one plain format from that material, and a description that carries a number or a date the material does not is never shown. 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” Mean?

Every bid on the feed carries a phone number or an email address for the agency that posted it. Every member sees that contact on every bid. When the agency names a specific procurement contact on the solicitation, you get that person’s name too, so you can reach the right desk instead of a general switchboard; when they don’t name one, you still get the agency’s phone or email. 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 Browse Bids page shows how many bids are open in each state; the cards themselves open with a Pro trial. Members get full descriptions, and much more, plus the procurement contact the agency listed, on every bid.

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. You get matching bids for all your selected trades by email once a week on the day you pick, or every day if you choose Daily.

What Are the Different Feed Views?

The live feed has two views. Latest (the default) shows the newest public bids matched to your trade and states. My Connections shows bids shared by you and the members you are connected with. The live feed is for members on a plan. Posts from other members are under Posts in The Network, not in the live feed.

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. Saved bids are unlimited on every plan; an account with no plan yet cannot save bids.

What Is a Bid Brief?

For 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 by default, or every day if you choose Daily in Settings. You get a 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 on every bid: a phone number or an email, and the person’s name when they name one. Prefer none? Turn bid emails off entirely anytime in your account settings.

Bid emails go to members on a plan; an account with no plan yet gets none.

Do You Take a Commission or Any Fee on Jobs?

No, never. Jobs & Bids takes no commission, finder’s fee, cut or fee of any kind on any job, whether you post it, bid on it or win it. 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 block offensive language when a job is submitted, but we do not vet, guarantee, or endorse the poster, the work, or the terms, so double-check any detail you rely on for yourself.

How Does Bidding on a Member-Posted Job Work?

When a member posts a job, other 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 takes no commission, cut or fee of any kind on 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 every plan. Describe the work, set a deadline, and members can place bids that you review and choose from. Everything you post shows up under Jobs I Posted in the Jobs tab of The Network, and as always we take no commission, cut or fee of any kind on anything you post or anything you win.

What Is The Network?

The Network is the members’ side of Jobs & Bids, and it has four tabs. Posts is where members share work, questions and updates. People is where you search for members, connect with them and see Top Members. Jobs is work other members have posted for bids, plus the jobs you posted and the jobs you bid on. Me is your profile, with your posts, every comment you have made, your reviews and your trophies. Messages and notifications are in your Inbox.

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: 3 devices per seat on every plan, 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 Network, including People and your 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. We email you as soon as a renewal is declined, and a notice at the top of the site shows the last day your plan stays on.

That day is never more than 30 days after the payment was due (14 days if the declined payment was your very first one). It can come sooner if the automatic retries run out first. The one exception is a bank account: if the first payment from your bank account after a free trial does not go through, the plan ends straight away, and it comes back by itself if a retry clears.

If the card still hasn’t gone through by then, the plan ends. Your account stays, the feed is closed until you subscribe again, and your saved bids and notes are kept and come back when you subscribe.

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.

You can cancel it yourself. Open Settings and go to the Membership tab. Under the note about your company seat there is a box headed You’re also paying for a plan of your own. Choose Manage Subscription there and cancel your own plan. It ends at the end of the period you already paid for, and you are not billed for it again.

Cancelling your own plan does not touch your seat: you keep everything your company pays for. If you do not see that box, contact us and choose the Billing or account topic.

My Plan Ended and My Saved Bids Are Gone.

They are kept, not deleted. When a plan ends the feed is closed, and your pipeline goes with it: every saved bid, with the stage and notes you set on each one, is stored. Subscribe again and they all come back.

Changing your state never hides or removes anything. Every member sees all 12 Midwest states at once, and the state in Settings is only your default.

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 Link and Landed on the Bid List.

That bid is not on the live feed. Only bids that have passed every one of our checks are shown, so a link to any other bid takes you to the open bids in its state instead.

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 Passed Bids 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 See the Counts but Not the Bids.

That means your account has no plan yet, or its plan has ended. Without a paid plan or an active trial the feed is closed, and so is the rest of Jobs & Bids: you see how many bids are open right now, and the cards themselves open with Pro’s 7-day free trial or an Enterprise plan.

Every member sees all 12 Midwest states at once. The state in Settings on the Bid Fit tab, under Your state, is only your default, so changing it never hides or removes anything, and there is no limit on how often you change it.

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 for members on a plan. An account with no plan yet gets no bid emails, 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 choices too narrow? The trades and the kinds of work you picked on the Bid Fit tab decide which bids match you. Pick narrowly enough and a quiet week 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 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. Your home state, and just your default: every plan has all 12, so changing it never hides anything.

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: three per seat on every plan. 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?

Both are in Settings, on the Account tab. To change your email, enter the new address and your password; nothing changes until you click the link we send to it. To close your account, use Close my account at the foot of the same tab. Your password is changed from there too.

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.

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 People search, 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 have no paid plan. Only members on a plan can 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 Jobs I Posted in the Jobs tab of 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.