Provider Research Terms of Service

Effective date: 2026-10-20

Seller: MING ZHANG, 1968 S. Coast Hwy #5536, Laguna Beach, CA 92651, USA. Support: [email protected]. Telephone: (909) 619-4946.

Contractor research is available free during launch: up to 3 reports per account every 30 days, with no purchase or subscription. An optional one-time purchase, Project Guard ($39 for one home project, no renewal), is described in Service and Pricing. It covers contractors licensed by the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB). It is not a verified provider network or a quality ranking.

This update applies prospectively. Previously accepted terms and purchase receipts continue to govern existing agreements and their rights. This page does not replace those agreements, change a completed purchase, or remove support, privacy, refund, cancellation, receipt, or retained-record access rights.

Research scope

Each report reads the public CSLB records of licensed businesses whose address of record is near the California city or ZIP code you give. For each business it shows the license status, whether it holds the license class your job needs, its bond, workers' compensation coverage or exemption, LLC liability insurance where required, and complaint or legal-action disclosures, with the source and the time the record was read. Each report also states what was not checked, including reviews, experience with similar repairs, availability, and who would perform the work. Records can change after we read them, and CSLB may not have entered every recent event.

You independently contact, choose, contract with, and pay any repair provider. Our service is limited to researching public contractor information; it does not perform repair work, contact contractors, or act on your behalf.

Research is informational. It is not a promise that a provider is reliable, available, suitable, or free from complaints. We do not guarantee the accuracy of every third-party statement or any provider's work. We remain responsible for our own representations and obligations under applicable law.

Price and corrections

Research is free during launch and no payment is taken for it. Project Guard, below, is the only paid service; its price, scope, limits, and refund terms are shown before you pay, and you buy it only by choosing it and paying. Using the free research or visiting this website does not authorize any charge or convert an existing purchase.

Anyone, including a contractor named in a report, can ask us to correct our information free of charge with the correction form at app.acostekai.com or at [email protected]. A reviewer checks the original CSLB record. Payment never changes what a report shows.

Project Guard (optional, paid)

Project Guard is an optional service for one home project. It costs $39 in total, paid once by card through our payment processor, Stripe, Inc.; there are no other charges. It is not a subscription and does not renew. It is active for 90 days from payment. It includes: checking and comparing up to five bids against California contract rules with live CSLB records; checking your final contract and setting up a payment schedule within California's down-payment and payment-timing rules; before each payment, a fresh CSLB check of your contractor and a checklist of the lien releases to collect; a weekly CSLB check of your contractor while the pass is active, when CSLB's website is available; and a project file you can download.

Project Guard gives general information and organizes your own records. It is not legal advice, and we are not your lawyer; for advice about your situation, consult a California attorney. It reduces risk but cannot guarantee a contractor's work, availability, or price, or that you will not lose money. We do not hold, send, or insure your money, we do not reimburse losses, we do not contact contractors for you, and we are not a party to your contract with a contractor. We take no money from contractors, and paying never changes what a report shows.

Refunds: you can ask for a full refund within 7 days of paying, for any reason; see the Refund and Cancellation Policy.

Existing accounts and customer rights

Existing agreements, including any accepted subscription, trial, or project-access terms, remain governed by their original terms and receipts. Existing cancellation, renewal-notice, refund, export, and support obligations continue. Launching the free research does not cancel an existing agreement or remove a statutory remedy.

Sign in to your existing account or contact [email protected] for account help. New-service availability does not remove existing customer rights.

Use the Refund and Cancellation Policy for existing billing matters and the Privacy Notice for data requests. Access necessary for cancellation, receipts, accepted legal documents, key removal, retained-record export, and support remains available under accepted terms and applicable law.

Use and information quality

You must be an adult with authority to share any information you provide. Protect account access and use the service lawfully. We may restrict abusive, fraudulent, or unsafe use while preserving rights and access required by law.

California consumer notice

Under California Civil Code section 1789.3: the provider of this service is MING ZHANG, 1968 S. Coast Hwy #5536, Laguna Beach, CA 92651, USA, telephone (909) 619-4946, email [email protected]. Contractor research is free; Project Guard costs $39 per project, with no other charges. To resolve a complaint or get more information, contact us by email or at (909) 619-4946. You may also contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.

Liability, disputes, and mandatory rights

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the total liability of the seller arising out of or relating to the service, whatever the theory of liability, will not exceed the greater of (a) the amounts you paid for the service in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred United States dollars. The seller is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, or business interruption, even if advised of the possibility. Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited or excluded under applicable law, including liability for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, willful injury to the person or property of another, or violation of law, whether willful or negligent, as provided by California Civil Code section 1668. You remain responsible for decisions you make using research output. This allocation does not excuse our own unlawful conduct or eliminate duties that cannot be waived.

If a dispute arises, contact the seller first at the support address and allow thirty days to resolve it informally; most issues are resolved this way. If it is not resolved, these terms are governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, and you and the seller submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in California. Nothing in this section prevents either party from bringing an individual claim in a small claims court of competent jurisdiction, and nothing in it prevents either party from seeking injunctive relief to protect intellectual property or confidential information. Neither party waives any right that cannot be waived under applicable law, and no term of this section limits your rights under the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act.

Nothing in these terms excludes a duty, liability, warranty, remedy, privacy right, or consumer protection that cannot be waived. In particular, research limitations do not remove our own account-support, privacy, or refund duties. Mandatory statutory and marketplace rights control where applicable.