Safety & privacy
How the Vendor List protects vendors and the contractors who use it.
Invite only
- Two ways in. A current member sends you their referral link and you're in right away, or you send a request and an EstSub admin reviews it.
- Members vouch for who they invite. Each member's link has 10 uses and their company is recorded as the one who invited you. If someone invites bad actors, we can turn their link off and remove them.
How we protect vendors
- Private directory. Contact details are only shown to signed-in GCs and subcontractors who were invited or approved. Search engines are blocked from the directory.
- Logged, capped contact views. Each time a contractor opens a vendor's contact info it's recorded, and each contractor can open 40 vendors per day. That stops scraping and means we know who had your info if something goes wrong.
- You're in control. Your private manage link lets you edit, hide, or delete your listing at any time. Hiding and deleting take effect immediately.
- Minimal info. We never ask for Social Security numbers, tax IDs, bank or card details.
How we protect GCs & subs
- License links on every listing. Each vendor gives a link to their official license lookup, either their CSLB page or another .gov lookup. Tap it to check status, classifications, bond, and workers' comp yourself. A "CSLB verified" badge means an admin also checked it.
- No silent changes. When a vendor edits a live listing, the changes wait for review. The current version stays up until then, so nobody can swap in a different phone number or email.
- Reports. Any member can report a listing. After 3 separate reports it's paused automatically until an admin looks.
- We don't check insurance. Ask vendors for a certificate of insurance before they work on your job.
Rules for contractors using the directory
- Use vendor contact info only to ask about pricing, scope, or availability for real projects.
- No reselling, sharing the list, mass marketing, or automated copying.
- Only invite people you'd vouch for.
- Breaking these rules gets your access removed.
Payment scams
Business email compromise ("our bank info changed, please send payment here") is common in construction. Always confirm payment changes by calling a phone number you already had, not one from the email. EstSub never handles payments between vendors and contractors.
What we collect and who sees it
Vendors: the business details on the sign-up form. Public visitors see nothing; members see the listing and, when they ask for it, the contact details the vendor chose to show. Admins see everything.
Contractors: your EstSub account name plus the company, contact, and license details you give us. Admins see this. Vendors see a count of how many contractors viewed their contact info, not who.
Removing your info
Vendors can delete a listing from their manage link. If you've lost the link, contact us and we'll send a new one after confirming it's you. Contractors can ask us to remove their access the same way.
Our role
EstSub runs a directory. We don't endorse, guarantee, or take part in any deal. Before you hire or buy, check the license, insurance, and references yourself.