How paying through escrow works

The one thing to remember: once the contractor marks the job done, you have 72 hours to confirm it or flag a problem. If you do nothing, the money releases to them automatically when those 72 hours are up. Silence is not a way of holding your money — it is what pays it out.

Escrow means your payment is held by a neutral party instead of going straight to the contractor. It exists to kill the oldest scam in home repair: take the deposit, never come back.

The sequence

• You and the contractor sign the agreement. You pay the agreed price into escrow. The contractor receives nothing at this point.
• The contractor does the work.
• The contractor marks the job complete and submits photo proof.
• Your 72 hours start. Confirm the work, or flag a problem.
• Confirming releases the money. Flagging freezes it while we review. Doing nothing releases it when the window closes.

Why there is a deadline at all

Because the alternative is worse for everyone. Without a deadline, a contractor who did the work properly could be left unpaid indefinitely by a customer who simply stopped replying — so good contractors would price that risk into every quote, and you would pay for it. The 72-hour window is the balance: long enough to look at the work properly, short enough that finishing a job does not mean chasing someone for payment.

The trade-off is real and we would rather you hear it from us: the deadline is on you. Put a reminder on your phone when the pro submits.

If something is wrong

Flag it inside the window. That is the action that protects you — not staying quiet, not waiting to see, not calling later. Flagging holds the money in escrow while we look at the signed agreement, the chat history, and the photos. There is more detail in what to do if something goes wrong.

What escrow does not do

Escrow protects the money. It does not make a bad contractor good, and it is not a warranty on the work. It means you are never paying in advance for something that has not happened — which removes most of the risk, not all of it. Checking the license and reading the bid still matter.