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Why do several contractors call after you fill in one quote form?

Read the consent text before you submit a quote form, because one home improvement quote site's form, read 15 October 2026, says that by submitting you authorize the site and up to four home improvement companies to make marketing calls and texts, and the FTC says a company calling with a sales pitch has to stop if you ask.

Source: Modernize, Frequently Asked Questions page and the quote form its Find Local Pros button opens, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.
Source: FTC, National Do Not Call Registry FAQs, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

Researched by the InstaBids editorial team. Last checked: 15 October 2026

Key facts

Why does one form lead to calls from several companies?

One quote form's consent text can mention more than one business: the shared consent text in Modernize's quote form, read 15 October 2026, says: "By submitting, you authorize Modernize and up to four home improvement companies, to make marketing calls and texts to the phone number provided to discuss your home improvement project."

Source: Modernize, Frequently Asked Questions page and the quote form its Find Local Pros button opens, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

The quote form opens from the Find Local Pros button on Modernize's FAQ page. Read on 15 October 2026, its consent text is hidden when the page loads and sits beside the form's submit button; the shared version begins: "By submitting, you authorize Modernize and up to four home improvement companies, to make marketing calls and texts to the phone number provided to discuss your home improvement project." The same form also holds a second version with space for a single company's name in place of Modernize and up to four companies.

Source: Modernize, Frequently Asked Questions page and the quote form its Find Local Pros button opens, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

Read that sentence slowly and a week of ringing makes more sense. You pressed one button once, but that version of the text mentions the site and up to four companies besides it. The wording sets an upper limit; it does not say how many companies will actually call you, in what order, or how often.

Source: Modernize, Frequently Asked Questions page and the quote form its Find Local Pros button opens, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

Forms are written by different businesses, and their wording can change. The only way to know what a particular form says is to read its own consent text on the day you use it, on the same step where you type your phone number or press submit. A form that names one business reads very differently from one that names several.

None of this means a caller has done anything wrong. A call after a form you submitted may simply be a business following up on that form. The useful question for you is simpler: before you share your number, how many people do you want to hear from?

What does the FTC say about permission and asking callers to stop?

Ask the caller to stop: the FTC's National Do Not Call Registry FAQs, read 15 October 2026, say companies can call you with a sales pitch after recent business or with your written permission, but if you ask them not to call, they have to stop, and the FAQs suggest you write down the date.

Source: FTC, National Do Not Call Registry FAQs, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

The FTC's Do Not Call FAQs, read 15 October 2026, answer the question of whether a company can still call you with a sales pitch, under the heading What the Registry Doesn't Do, this way: "Companies can call you if you’ve recently done business with them, or if you’ve given them written permission to call." The next sentence reads: "But if you ask them not to call you, they have to stop." The answer ends: "Be sure to write down the date you asked them to stop."

Source: FTC, National Do Not Call Registry FAQs, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

Those three sentences give you two things to do. Say clearly that you want no more calls from that company, and keep a dated note of when you said it. A note with the company name, the number that called and the day you asked takes a minute and is easy to find later.

Source: FTC, National Do Not Call Registry FAQs, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

Whether a particular form's wording gives a particular caller written permission is a legal question, and this page does not answer it. The FTC's own words are quoted above so you can read them yourself. This is not legal advice.

What happened to the FCC's one-seller-at-a-time consent rule?

One FCC consent rule had not gone into effect when a court vacated it: an FCC news release of 13 December 2023 said comparison shopping websites and lead generators must get consumer consent to receive robocalls and robotexts one seller at a time, and an Eleventh Circuit opinion filed 24 January 2025 vacated that part of the order.

Source: Federal Register document 2025-16641, 29 August 2025, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.
Source: FCC news release of 13 December 2023 on lead generator consent, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.
Source: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, opinion in No. 24-10277, 24 January 2025, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

The FCC news release dated 13 December 2023, read 15 October 2026, said: "The new rules make it unequivocally clear that comparison shopping websites and lead generators must obtain consumer consent to receive robocalls and robotexts one seller at a time – rather than have a single consent apply to multiple telemarketers at once."

Source: FCC news release of 13 December 2023 on lead generator consent, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

The Eleventh Circuit's opinion in No. 24-10277, IMC v. FCC, filed 24 January 2025 and read 15 October 2026, describes the challenged part of the order: "Part III.D of the 2023 Order states, categorically, that a consumer cannot consent to a telemarketing or advertising robocall unless (1) he consents to calls from only one entity at a time, and (2) he consents only to calls whose subject matter is “logically and topically associated with the interaction that prompted the consent.”"

Source: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, opinion in No. 24-10277, 24 January 2025, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

The same opinion gives the court's holding: "After careful review and with the benefit of oral argument, we agree with IMC that the FCC exceeded its statutory authority under the TCPA because the 2023 Order’s new consent restrictions impermissibly conflict with the ordinary statutory meaning of “prior express consent.”" Its last paragraph reads: "For these reasons, we grant IMC’s petition for review, vacate Part III.D of the 2023 Order, and remand for further proceedings."

Source: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, opinion in No. 24-10277, 24 January 2025, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

FCC Order DA 25-621, adopted and released 14 July 2025 and read 15 October 2026, states: "Specifically, this Order repeals the revised version of section 64.1200(f)(9) of the Commission’s rules adopted in the Second Text Blocking Report and Order and reinstates in our codified rules the version of section 64.1200(f)(9) as it existed prior to the Second Text Blocking Report and Order."

Source: FCC Order DA 25-621, 14 July 2025, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

The Federal Register notice for that order, document 2025-16641, published 29 August 2025 and read 15 October 2026, says: "Pursuant to F. R. App. P. 41(b), the court issued its mandate on April 30, 2025, which vacated, as of that date, the rule change for the first full paragraph of § 64.1200(f)(9) that the Commission adopted in 2023." It adds: "Prior to the court's mandate, the Commission had postponed the effective date of the revised rule and the revised rule had not gone into effect."

Source: Federal Register document 2025-16641, 29 August 2025, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

Taken in order, the documents show a rule announced in December 2023 that had not gone into effect, an appeals court opinion of January 2025 vacating it, a court mandate that the Federal Register says vacated it as of 30 April 2025, and an FCC order released in July 2025 that put the earlier wording back in the codified rules. They describe what happened to one rule. They do not tell you whether a given form or call follows the law. This is not legal advice.

Source: FCC news release of 13 December 2023 on lead generator consent, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.
Source: Federal Register document 2025-16641, 29 August 2025, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.
Source: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, opinion in No. 24-10277, 24 January 2025, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.
Source: FCC Order DA 25-621, 14 July 2025, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

What can you do before and after you submit a quote form?

Read every step of a quote form before you press submit; if calls come anyway, ask each caller to stop and write down the date, and know that DoNotCall.gov offers registration at no charge and, once your number has been on the Registry for 31 days, a place to report unwanted sales calls.

Source: FTC, National Do Not Call Registry FAQs, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.
Source: National Do Not Call Registry home page, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.
Source: National Do Not Call Registry report page, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

  1. Before you submit, read the consent text on the step where you type your phone number or press submit. Look for a list or a count of companies, and decide whether you want each of them to have your number. If the form names more callers than you want, you can close it and contact one business directly instead.
  2. When a company calls, say plainly that you want no more calls from it. Note the company name, the number that called and the date. The FTC's FAQs, quoted above, say: "Be sure to write down the date you asked them to stop."

    Source: FTC, National Do Not Call Registry FAQs, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

  3. Register your number if you choose. DoNotCall.gov, read 15 October 2026, says: "You can register your home or mobile phone for free." The FTC's FAQs add: "Your phone number should show up on the Registry the next day, but it can take up to 31 days for sales calls to stop."

    Source: National Do Not Call Registry home page, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.
    Source: FTC, National Do Not Call Registry FAQs, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

  4. Know what the Registry leaves out. DoNotCall.gov says: "After you register, other types of organizations may still call you, such as charities, political groups, debt collectors and surveys." The FTC's FAQs say: "The Registry is for personal phone numbers."

    Source: National Do Not Call Registry home page, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.
    Source: FTC, National Do Not Call Registry FAQs, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

  5. Report a call the way the FTC describes. Its FAQs say: "If you didn’t lose money and just want to report a call, use the streamlined reporting form at DoNotCall.gov." The DoNotCall.gov report page, read 15 October 2026, says: "After your number is on the registry for 31 days, you can report unwanted sales calls." The same page says: "Robocalls: Report calls that use a recorded message instead of a live person (whether or not your number is on the Registry)."

    Source: FTC, National Do Not Call Registry FAQs, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.
    Source: National Do Not Call Registry report page, read 15 October 2026, read 15 October 2026.

Keep your notes in one place: each company's name, the number it called from, the date you asked it to stop and any later call. A stop request goes to one company at a time, so a short list is easier to manage than memory, and it is ready if you decide to file a report.

How does InstaBids handle your contact details?

Read the line below before you post a written scope anywhere. Contact details stay hidden until the homeowner picks a contractor and they confirm the connection.

Source: InstaBids process and privacy, live-page excerpts reviewed 15 October 2026., read 15 October 2026.

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