Nothing, at any point. Recording your project is free because you do it yourself. The bids are free. Walking away is free. The contractor you choose pays us a fee when you choose them; you never pay us anything.
How long does recording my project take?
Most of it is photographs rather than measuring, and the form asks for one thing at a time, tells you how to take each shot, and explains why it matters. You can stop and come back as often as you like; nothing is lost. If you want to do a bathroom in a single sitting, set aside about forty-five minutes.
What if I measure something wrong?
Where you can, you photograph the tape in place, and contractors check your number against the picture before they bid. Where you cannot — ceiling height is awkward on your own — the packet says plainly that the figure is your word rather than photographed, so they know to verify it. And the contractor you choose comes and checks everything on site before anything is signed.
Is this a home inspection?
No, and nobody performs one. You are describing what you can see in your own home. Nothing behind a wall, under a floor or inside a ceiling is examined by anyone. Anything you could not reach or were unsure about is recorded as unknown so contractors price it as an unknown instead of assuming it away.
Who sees my address?
Nobody, until you choose a contractor. Contractors bidding your project see your town and the work. Your street address, name, phone number and email go to one contractor only, the one you accept, at the moment you accept them.
Do I have to hire one of the bidders?
Never. If none of them suits you, you owe nothing and nothing happens. The record of your project stays yours.
What is the walkthrough, then?
It is the visit the contractor you chose makes before anything is signed, to check what you recorded. That is the one walkthrough: one visit, by the person actually going to do the work, after you have picked them. If what they find changes the price, you hear it then rather than halfway through the job, and either of you can still decide not to go ahead.
How do I know the contractors are legit?
Before a contractor can be invited to bid, we record their New Jersey home improvement contractor registration number and its expiry date, and a certificate of general liability insurance showing at least the $500,000 per-occurrence coverage New Jersey requires, with its expiry date. Invitations stop automatically when either one lapses. Each bid arrives with those details and their expiry dates, plus the contractor's track record on our platform: jobs completed, on-time payments, disputes.
To be exact about what that is and isn't: we record what the documents say and check the dates. We do not audit the documents, inspect anyone's work, or supervise the job, and we do not guarantee any contractor's workmanship. Registration in New Jersey is a filing requirement, not a competency exam.
How do I pay my contractor?
However the two of you agree; that is between you. If you would rather pay in stages with the money held until you approve each part of the work, that is available through us and entirely optional. Full detail, including what it is not.
For contractors
What does it cost me?
Nothing to join, nothing per lead, nothing to bid, nothing when you lose. 1% of the job, once, at the moment a homeowner accepts you, minimum $50 and maximum $1,500. Launch partners pay half that, 0.5% with a $25 minimum, for their first twelve months. That is the whole charge unless you choose the optional payment system, which adds 1.5% of what actually runs through it, capped at $1,500 and not discounted for anyone. Pay each other directly and it never applies.
Do I have to go and look at every job I quote?
No, and that is most of the point. You bid from the packet at your desk. You visit only after the homeowner has accepted you, to verify it before signing.
Can I trust a homeowner's measurements?
You can see which ones to trust. Every figure is shown with or without a photograph of the tape behind it, and the packet lists what the homeowner could not capture. Bid it with your assumptions stated. If the verification visit shows the packet was materially wrong, tell us which line and send a photograph of what you found, and we refund the fee.
Do I have to maintain a profile?
No. Onboarding is one short session. After that, invitations come to you by email; the only recurring task is keeping your insurance certificate and your NJ registration current with us. Invitations pause when either lapses and resume as soon as you send the new one.
Help
Homeowners
I got stuck partway through recording my project: everything is saved as you go. Sign in with the same email and you pick up where you stopped.
I cannot photograph something: record the measurement anyway and write what stopped you in the “anything you could not capture” box. It is printed in the packet so contractors price it as an unknown rather than assuming.
My phone will not upload a photo: on an iPhone, Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible, then retake it. HEIC photos cannot be read by every browser.
I have not had any bids: contractors have a set window to respond and we chase the ones who go quiet. If the window closes short, we tell you plainly.
Something is wrong with a bid or a contractor: use the message thread on your project page. A human reads every one.
Contractors
Invitation did not arrive, or wrong trade or county: your matching settings may be stale; reply to any invitation or contact us to update trades and counties.
Insurance certificate or registration expired: invitations pause until we have a current one on file. Send the renewed certificate and matching resumes immediately.
The packet was wrong when I got there: tell us which line and send a photograph of what you found. See the Contractor Agreement, section 4.
Reach a human: mike@onewalkthrough.com · We reply within one business day, usually much faster.
Terms of Use
Who we are. One Walkthrough is a New Jersey business operated as a sole proprietorship by Mike Kowalczyk. It is not yet incorporated; when it is, we will post the entity name here and tell anyone already signed up. Using this site means you accept these terms.
What the site does. The site gives homeowners a guided form for documenting their own project, assembles their answers into a bid packet, invites contractors from our roster to submit sealed bids on that identical packet, and, if both sides choose it, administers stage payments. One Walkthrough is a documentation and facilitation platform. We do not measure, inspect, verify or supervise anything. Contractors contract directly with homeowners; we are not a party to any construction contract and do not guarantee any contractor's work.
The packet is the homeowner's own description of their own home. Measurements, photographs and answers come from the homeowner. We do not check them. Every measurement is labeled to show whether a photograph backs it or whether it is the homeowner's word, and contractors are told that the packet is a bidding document to be verified in person before anything is signed.
Accounts and accuracy. You agree that information you submit (project details, credentials, bids) is accurate. We may suspend access for misuse, including circumvention of the bidding or fee process, scraping, or interference with other users.
Agreements and electronic signatures. Role-specific agreements are presented and accepted electronically during onboarding and submission flows. You consent to transact electronically; each acceptance is recorded with the agreement version, timestamp, and account.
Content. Your photographs and measurements remain yours. By submitting them you give One Walkthrough a license to assemble them into a packet, show that packet to the contractors invited to bid your project, and keep a copy as the record of what was bid. The packet as assembled, along with the questions, formatting and everything else on the site, belongs to One Walkthrough. Contractors receive it to price your project and for no other purpose; they may not forward, republish or reuse it elsewhere. Packets are watermarked with a packet identifier and the address they were prepared for.
Disclaimers and limits. The site is provided as-is; to the maximum extent permitted by law, our liability related to site use is limited to $500. This does not limit anything that cannot be limited under New Jersey law, and the role agreements' terms govern their subject matter.
Disputes. Binding arbitration in Somerset County, New Jersey; NJ law governs. Changes to these terms are posted here with a new effective date.
Effective date: 7 August 2026 · Version: 2.0
Privacy Policy
What we collect. Homeowners: contact details, project address, project details, and the photographs and measurements you record of the project areas; payment records if you use platform payments. Contractors: business and credential details, insurance certificates, tax forms, bids, and platform activity. Everyone: basic technical logs needed to run the service.
What we do with it. Run the service: assemble packets, invite contractors, manage sealed bidding, record credential documents and their expiry dates, process payments where used, resolve disputes, meet legal obligations. We also use aggregated, anonymized project data (never your name or exact address) to publish market statistics like typical project costs by county.
Your address stays private until you choose someone. Contractors bid from a packet that shows the town and the work, not your street address, your name, your email or your phone number. Those are released to one contractor only, at the moment you accept their bid. Nobody else ever receives them. We do not sell your personal information, and there are no lead lists and no data brokers.
Photos of your home. Project photographs exist to document your project for bidding and, if it comes to it, for resolving a dispute. They are shown to the contractors invited to bid your project and are not used in marketing without your separate written permission. Photographs you upload are stripped of embedded location and camera data before they are stored.
Texts and email. With your consent we send transactional messages (confirmations, bid notices, reminders that a bidding window is closing). Reply STOP to end texts; every marketing email has an unsubscribe link.
Retention and your choices. Project records are kept as long as needed for the purposes above and legal requirements, then deleted or anonymized. Ask us at mike@onewalkthrough.com to access or delete your information, and we'll honor it except where law or an active project requires retention.
Payments. Card and bank details are processed by our payment provider Stripe; we never store full card numbers.
Effective date: 7 August 2026 · Version: 2.0
Paying your contractor
Optional. Most projects on One Walkthrough are paid for directly between the homeowner and the contractor, and we are not involved. This page describes what is available if you would rather not do that.
What normally happens
When you accept a bid, we release your address and contact details to that contractor, and they release theirs to you. From that point you deal with each other directly: they visit to verify the packet, you agree a contract, and you pay them however the two of you decide. One Walkthrough is not part of that arrangement and does not hold, handle or route any of that money.
If you would rather pay in stages, through us
You can choose to run the project's payments through the platform instead. The project is split into stages from your contractor's bid. You fund each stage as it begins rather than paying a large sum up front, and the money is released to your contractor when you approve the completed work, or five business days after they report it finished if you neither approve nor raise a specific objection.
One exception: if your contractor includes a materials stage, that stage is paid out when you fund it so they can place orders. It is capped and shown separately in their bid, so you see it before you choose them.
What it costs
Nothing to you. Your contractor pays One Walkthrough a further 1.5% of the money run through the platform, on top of the introduction fee they already paid when you accepted them, capped at $1,500. You are not charged anything and no fee is added to your price by us.
We would rather say this plainly than have you find it out later: it is a cost to your contractor, and a contractor who expects to be paid this way may have priced it into their bid. If the two of you pay each other directly, the 1.5% never applies and there is nothing to price in. Either of you can raise it before you sign.
What this is, exactly
Money for a stage sits in your contractor's own payment account with Stripe, our payment provider, under a hold that prevents them withdrawing it. Your approval is what lifts the hold.
It is not a legal escrow arrangement. One Walkthrough is not an escrow agent, a bank, or a trustee, and we are not licensed as a money transmitter. Your funds are not FDIC insured and are not held in a trust account. We control when funds are released under the schedule above. We do not hold them, and they never pass through any account of ours.
If something is not right
You tell us which part of the work is wrong and attach a photograph, and that stage is held. You are never asked to decide what a defect is worth. Your contractor then answers in one of four ways: they offer money back, they promise a repair within 10 business days, they tell you it is already fixed and you have 3 business days to look, or they tell you the two of you cannot agree. Saying nothing for 10 business days is treated the same as saying you cannot agree: the project stops on its own and the money stays where it is.
One Walkthrough does not decide the dispute. We do not inspect the work, form an opinion on it, decide what a defect is worth, or issue any finding for or against either party. We record what each of you says, attributed and unedited, and hold the funds where they are. Anything you do not settle between yourselves goes to binding arbitration under your agreement.
Refunds of a stage you funded but which has not been released are handled case by case through support. Once a stage is approved and paid out, the money is your contractor's. If a payment fails or bounces after we recorded it, that stage returns to unpaid and you will see it on your project page.
One Walkthrough is not a party to your construction contract and does not guarantee any contractor's workmanship.
Effective date: 7 August 2026 · Version: 2.0
What we promise, in plain words
It costs you nothing. Recording your project is free, because you do it yourself. The bids are free. If you do not like any of them you owe nothing and you walk away. The contractor you choose pays us; you never do, at any point, for anything.
Your address stays private until you choose. Contractors bidding your project see your town and the work, never your street address, your name, your phone number or your email. Those reach one contractor only, the one you pick, and only at the moment you pick them.
Every bid is for the same job. Contractors price the identical packet and none of them sees anyone else's number. That is the entire reason the prices can be compared to each other.
Nobody comes to your house until you have chosen them. One visit, by the contractor you picked, to verify what you recorded before anything is signed.
You can still walk away after that visit. So can they. Nothing is signed until you both agree the job is what the packet said it was.
We never sell your contact information. Not to contractors, not to anybody.
Homeowner Agreement
Version 2.0.
1 · What this is
One Walkthrough gives you a guided form for recording your own renovation project: what to measure, what to photograph, and what to check. What you record becomes a packet. We invite contractors from our roster, whose current New Jersey home improvement contractor registration and certificate of insurance we hold on file, to submit sealed bids on that identical packet. Using it costs you nothing.
2 · You are describing your own home, and we are not checking it
You measure, photograph and describe your project. One Walkthrough does not visit your property, does not verify what you record, and does not inspect anything. The packet is your description of your own home and you are responsible for its accuracy.
It is not a home inspection, an appraisal, an engineering evaluation, or a code-compliance certification, and nobody performs one. Nothing behind a wall, under a floor or inside a ceiling is seen by anyone. Conditions you cannot see are recorded as unknown and priced as unknown, which is why the form asks you to write down whatever you could not reach or were unsure about.
Each measurement is shown to contractors with or without a photograph of the tape behind it, so they can see which figures they can check and which are your word.
3 · What it costs you
You are never invoiced by One Walkthrough. There is no fee, no deposit and no subscription for homeowners, at any stage, and you owe us nothing whether or not you hire anyone. The contractor you accept pays us an introduction fee at the moment you accept them.
We do not add anything to a contractor's bid, and we have no way to. A contractor may well decide to cover our fee inside the number they quote you, the same way they cover fuel, insurance and every other cost of being in business. Nobody's bid here is lower because of us; the reason to use this is that six of them priced the same document.
There is one charge you can see and control. If you and your contractor pay in stages through us, that costs them 1.5% of the money that goes through, never more than $1,500. The scoping form asks how you expect to pay so that every contractor prices the same thing, and any contractor who has added that charge to their bid shows the amount on its own line beside their price. Pay your contractor directly and the charge does not apply.
4 · Bids
Bids are sealed; no contractor sees another's number. Each arrives with the contractor's New Jersey registration number and insurance certificate details as we recorded them, including the date each expires, plus their business profile and platform track record. We record and date-check those documents. We do not audit them, and we do not vouch for any contractor's work. You may choose any bid or none.
5 · Your privacy while bidding
Contractors invited to bid see the municipality and the project. They do not see your street address, your name, your telephone number or your email address, and the system does not release them. On acceptance, those details are released to the accepted contractor alone.
6 · Accepting a bid, and the walkthrough
Accepting a bid is not a construction contract and does not commit you to the work. It releases your details to that contractor and theirs to you, so that the two of you can deal with each other.
That contractor then makes one walkthrough: a visit to verify what you recorded, before anything is signed. If what they find differs from the packet, they tell you then and their price may change. Either of you may decline to proceed after that visit, and neither owes the other anything for doing so.
7 · Your contract is with your contractor
Any construction contract is between you and the contractor, directly. One Walkthrough is not a party to it, does not supervise the work, does not manage the project, and does not guarantee any contractor's workmanship, timeliness or conduct. Your rights under New Jersey law, including the three-business-day right to cancel a home improvement contract under N.J.S.A. 56:8-151, are against the contractor and are unaffected by anything here.
8 · Paying your contractor
How you pay your contractor is between the two of you. Staged payments through the platform, with funds held until you approve each part of the work, are available and entirely optional; if you use them, the Your Money page and its terms apply. If you do not, we are not involved in your money at all.
9 · Your packet and your photographs
The measurements and photographs are yours; you made them, of your own home. The prepared packet is licensed to you for your own use in connection with your project, not for soliciting bids outside One Walkthrough. We retain a copy for platform operations and for aggregated, anonymised statistics. We never sell your contact information.
10 · Limits of our responsibility
We provide a form, a roster and a sealed bidding process, with reasonable care. We do not measure, inspect, verify, supervise or perform any work. To the maximum extent permitted by law, One Walkthrough's total liability arising from this service is limited to [the greater of $500 or the total fees we received in connection with your project]. We are not liable for the acts, omissions or workmanship of any contractor, who contracts with you directly. Nothing in this section limits liability that cannot be limited under New Jersey law.
11 · The practical stuff
You may stop using the service at any time and owe nothing. New Jersey law governs. Disputes between you and One Walkthrough are resolved by binding arbitration in Somerset County, New Jersey; this does not affect any dispute between you and your contractor. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest survive.
Version 2.0 · Effective 7 August 2026 · Accepting this agreement electronically is recorded with the version and a timestamp.
Contractor Agreement
Version 2.0.
1 · What you get
Invitations to bid sealed on packets recorded by homeowners, in the trades and counties you nominate. Nothing to join, no subscription, no charge per lead, and nothing owed when you bid and lose.
2 · What the packet is, and is not
The packet is the homeowner's own description of their home, recorded through our guided form. One Walkthrough does not visit, measure, inspect or verify it. Every measurement is presented to you with or without a photograph of the tape in place, so you can see which figures are checkable and which are the homeowner's word, and the packet lists what the homeowner could not capture. Price accordingly, and state your assumptions in your bid.
3 · The fee
The introduction fee is 1% of the accepted bid, once, at the moment a homeowner accepts you, subject to a minimum of $50 and a maximum of $1,500 per project. Nothing to join, nothing to bid, nothing when you lose, no subscription and no charge per lead.
Launch partners pay 0.5%, with a $25 minimum and the same $1,500 maximum, for twelve months from the date you join. Exactly half the introduction fee on every project in that period. When the twelve months end the standard rate applies to projects accepted after that date, and we will tell you before it happens rather than letting you find out on an invoice. The reduced rate applies to the introduction fee only; the payments charge below is the same for everybody.
The fee is charged to the payment method you have on file. The homeowner's address and contact details are released to you when that charge succeeds, and not before. If it fails, nothing is released and we will tell you.
The fee is for the introduction and is earned when the homeowner accepts you. It is not refunded because you or the homeowner later decide not to proceed, except as set out below.
If, and only if, the two of you choose to run the project's payments through the platform, there is a further 1.5% on the money actually paid through it, taken as each stage is funded, capped at $1,500 per project. Pay each other directly and this never applies. Nothing about accepting a bid commits either of you to using it, and the choice can be made after you have met.
4 · If the packet was materially wrong
If your verification walkthrough shows the packet materially misdescribed the project, you may withdraw and claim the fee back. Identify the packet line that was wrong and send a photograph of what you actually found. One Walkthrough decides these claims in its own discretion about its own fee; we are not deciding anything between you and the homeowner, and we express no view on the work, the price, or who is right about anything else.
5 · The walkthrough, and the contract
After acceptance you make one visit to verify the packet before anything is signed. If what you find changes your number, say so then. Either you or the homeowner may decline to proceed after that visit.
Any construction contract is between you and the homeowner, directly. You are an independent business, not our employee, agent or partner. You are solely responsible for your work, your people, your subcontractors, your permits and your compliance with New Jersey law, including the written-contract and notice requirements of the Contractors' Registration Act.
6 · What you must keep current with us
An active New Jersey home improvement contractor registration in good standing, with its expiry date; commercial general liability insurance of at least $500,000 per occurrence on a certificate naming One Walkthrough as additional insured, with its expiry date; and any bond required under New Jersey law. You are responsible for sending the renewal before the old one expires. Invitations pause automatically the day either lapses and resume when a current document is on file. Nothing is charged while paused.
7 · Non-circumvention
The introduction is what you are paying for. Arranging with a homeowner introduced through One Walkthrough to cancel or restructure an acceptance in order to avoid the fee is a breach of this agreement, as is soliciting a homeowner off-platform before acceptance. The fee remains payable on any contract with a homeowner we introduced to you, on or off the platform, within 18 months of that introduction.
Asking for the fee back. The fee buys an introduction, not a contract, and it is not refunded automatically. If the introduction went nowhere you may ask for it back after seven days: name which of the listed reasons applies, describe what happened, and confirm that you have not contracted with that homeowner and will not within the 18 month window. A person reads it alongside what the homeowner has told us about the same project and decides. A false confirmation is a breach of this agreement and grounds for removal.
It is also cause for removal. Asking a homeowner to pay you directly to avoid the fee, to cancel here and deal privately, or to pay in cash so the work stays off the books, and pressuring a homeowner out of a payment arrangement they chose, are each grounds for removal from the roster, with or without notice, in addition to any fee that remains owed. We ask homeowners about this directly after the walkthrough and after the work. What they tell us is not shown to you and is not published anywhere; it is read by a person here.
8 · If you use platform payments
Where a homeowner chooses staged payments through the platform, funds sit in your own connected payment account under a hold that lifts on their approval of each stage, or automatically five business days after you report a stage complete if they neither approve nor object with specifics. Objections follow the process on the Your Money page. One Walkthrough does not decide disputes and issues no findings.
9 · Leaving
Leave at any time with notice; fees already earned survive. We may remove any contractor from the roster at our discretion. Disputes between you and One Walkthrough are resolved by binding arbitration in Somerset County, New Jersey; New Jersey law governs.
Version 2.0 · Effective 7 August 2026 · Acceptance is recorded with the version and a timestamp at first bid.