InstaBidsInstaBids open data: home-job rules and figures
What home-job data does InstaBids publish for anyone to reuse?
Four tables, open to download as CSV or JSON under CC BY 4.0 with no sign-up: state statutes on contractor deposits for the 50 states and DC (7 with a limit on file), local permit rules, state license lookup links and home-system lifespan figures, each row with its source link and read date.
InstaBids is an AI-run marketplace for homeowners and property managers: describe a home job once, by chat or through your own AI assistant, add photos, and get multiple written quotes on the same scope, compared apples to apples, with no phone calls or home visits before you pick.
Updated 2026-10-28
- Describe it onceBy chat, or through your own AI assistant, and add photos.
- Post it and send itContractors bid in writing on that scope.
- Compare line by lineEvery quote is written against the same scope.
- You chooseContact details stay hidden until you pick and they confirm.
For your AI assistant
MCP connector · REST API · plain HTMLHand any of these to your assistant and it can help you write this job's request; you send the request yourself. What you type in the job box above goes into the prompt these buttons carry. The connector asks you to sign in to your InstaBids account the first time.
- MCP connector URL
https://instabids.ai/api/agent/mcp - Agent API (OpenAPI)
https://instabids.ai/openapi.json - Start-request link
https://instabids.ai/intake?from=us-data&utm_source=us&utm_medium=page&utm_campaign=open-data - Prompt for any AI, with your job
- ChatGPTOpens with the prompt
- ClaudeOpens with the prompt
- GrokOpens with the prompt
- GeminiCopies the prompt, then opens
Every page is plain HTML. Steps for every assistant: add to your assistant.
Which tables can I download?
Contractor deposit limits by state
One row for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia (51 rows): 7 with a statutory deposit limit for some home contracts, 1 with a limit only when the contract sets a maximum price, each shown only in the statute's own words, and 42 marked not found in the sources checked, and 1 with a timing rule only.
Contractor deposit limits by state (CSV) · Contractor deposit limits by state (JSON)
Cite this: Source: InstaBids
Full citation: InstaBids. Contractor deposit limits by state [Data set], version 1.0.0, updated 2026-10-24. https://instabids.ai/us/data. CC BY 4.0.
Local permit rules on file
57 local permit rules on file (45 places in 21 states), each quoted word for word from a city, county or town source whose archived copy is kept with the data. Permits are local, so no row is a statewide rule; more places are added as their copies are archived.
Local permit rules on file (CSV) · Local permit rules on file (JSON)
Cite this: Source: InstaBids
Full citation: InstaBids. Local permit rules on file [Data set], version 1.0.0, updated 2026-10-24. https://instabids.ai/us/data. CC BY 4.0.
State contractor license lookup links
One row for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia: 34 with a state agency lookup link on file, the rest marked not found in the sources checked. A lookup is an optional public-record step that InstaBids never requires, and these links give no view on any contractor.
State contractor license lookup links (CSV) · State contractor license lookup links (JSON)
Cite this: Source: InstaBids
Full citation: InstaBids. State contractor license lookup links [Data set], version 1.0.0, updated 2026-10-24. https://instabids.ai/us/data. CC BY 4.0.
Home system lifespan figures
58 service-life figures for 11 home systems, each stated by a U.S. government source and quoted from its archived copy. Ages and lifetimes only; there is no money column.
Home system lifespan figures (CSV) · Home system lifespan figures (JSON)
Cite this: Source: InstaBids
Full citation: InstaBids. Home system lifespan figures [Data set], version 1.2.0, updated 2026-10-29. https://instabids.ai/us/data. CC BY 4.0.
How are these tables built?
Every cell is read by code from the record that owns it when the site is built. No value is typed by hand, rounded, blended or averaged.
Quotes are the source's own words. Each exported quote matches, whitespace aside, an archived copy kept with the data, and each row names that copy and the day the source was read.
Not found means not found in the sources checked; it is not an official statement that the state has no cap.
Left out on purpose: figures InstaBids computed itself, figures from third-party tables that cannot be shared under this licence, figures from a withdrawn federal rule, and permit rules whose source copy is not yet archived with the data.
Download the table for your state and read the statute text yourself at its source link.
Can I reuse this data?
Yes. The tables are shared under CC BY 4.0: copy, adapt and republish them, with this credit line: Source: InstaBids.
CC BY 4.0 covers the InstaBids compilation (the selection and structure of these tables). Statute text and U.S. government figures are public domain on their own.
No sign-up, no email address and no link back are asked for. A link is welcome, never a condition; if you add one, link the word InstaBids to this page.
What changed, and when?
- 29 October 2026 - Home system lifespan figures v1.2.0 - lifespan guides worth-it 3.x rewrites of ac, furnace, heat-pump, septic-system and water-heater: 12 figures added (DOE, EPA and ENERGY STAR records the rewritten guides now cite), 9 removed (the 8 HUD multifamily planning rows these guides no longer cite and one DOE water heater record replaced by its average-life record); 15 figures re-read from the 2026-10-28 recapture of their sources.
- 27 October 2026 - Home system lifespan figures v1.1.0 - lifespan guides 0.5.0 retrofit: 2 figures added (DOE ceiling-fan average lifetime, DOE installed-window life expectancy); all 87 earlier figures re-read from the same-day recapture of their sources (read date 2026-10-24), 9 HUD quotes now include the table's column header line.
- 24 October 2026 - Contractor deposit limits by state v1.0.0 - first release, 51 rows (50 states and DC).
- 24 October 2026 - Local permit rules on file v1.0.0 - first release, 54 rows: the local permit rules whose source copy is archived with the data.
- 24 October 2026 - State contractor license lookup links v1.0.0 - first release, 51 rows (50 states and DC), 34 with a lookup link.
- 24 October 2026 - Home system lifespan figures v1.0.0 - first release, 87 service-life figures from U.S. government sources.