Lead Qualification Standard

This page is published for two audiences. Contractors should know exactly what they are paying for. Homeowners should know what happens to a request and why some are not passed on.

It is stated as a standard rather than as marketing, and it is the standard we hold ourselves to.

A qualified lead must meet all of these

It concerns a real property within a supported service area.
It includes usable contact information.
It describes a legitimate septic service need.
It contains enough information for a contractor to follow up meaningfully.
It includes the homeowner’s consent to be contacted.
It is not obvious spam or an automated submission.
It is not a vendor solicitation.
It is not a job application.
It is not an unrelated plumbing request with no septic component.
It is not a duplicate from the same homeowner for the same project within the duplicate window.
It falls within the assigned contractor’s accepted service scope.

What is explicitly not a qualified lead

A request outside every supported market.
A submission with no reachable contact method.
A test submission.
A marketing or partnership enquiry.
An employment enquiry.
A request that is entirely an interior plumbing matter.
A repeat submission for the same project inside the duplicate window.
A request for a service category the assigned contractor does not perform.
A submission whose content indicates it is not from a property owner or authorised decision-maker.

How exclusivity works

A qualified lead is assigned to one provider during the exclusive period. It is not sent simultaneously to several contractors, and it is not resold.

If the assigned provider declines the work, indicates they cannot serve it, or does not respond within the agreed response expectation, the lead may be reassigned to another provider. Reassignment is sequential, never simultaneous. If we ever cannot honour that, we will stop describing leads as exclusive.

Service tiers

Leads are classified by service category, because a routine pumping enquiry and a replacement planning enquiry are worth very different amounts to a contractor. Classification is based on what the homeowner has described, and it is applied at review.

Tier	Covers
Maintenance	Routine pumping, cleaning, maintenance planning, riser or lid enquiries without a larger problem.
Inspection	Buyer, seller and transaction inspections; system location and condition inspections; deadline-driven inspections.
Repair or diagnostic	Alarm, pump, baffle, line, repeated slow drains, odor with suspected system cause, repair evaluation.
Drain-field evaluation	Standing water, persistently wet field area, surfacing wastewater, suspected field restriction or failure.
Replacement or installation	Confirmed or suspected replacement, replacement planning, new construction, system design and install estimates.

Duplicate policy

A duplicate is a submission from the same homeowner for the same project inside the duplicate window.
A duplicate is not charged.
A new submission for a genuinely different project at the same property is not a duplicate.
A submission from a different party about the same property — for example a buyer where the seller previously enquired — is not a duplicate.
A homeowner returning after the window with the same project is treated as a new lead only if circumstances have materially changed.
Where there is doubt, it is resolved in the contractor’s favour.

Invalid leads and disputes

The contractor raises the dispute within the agreed dispute window, with the reason.
The reason is checked against the qualification criteria above.
The original submission and its attribution data are reviewed.
If the lead fails any qualification criterion, it is credited.
If the dispute is that the homeowner did not buy, that is not grounds for a credit — a qualified lead is not a guaranteed sale.
If the dispute is that the work was outside the contractor’s accepted scope, it is credited and the scope record is corrected.
The outcome and the reason are recorded.
Repeated disputes on the same ground trigger a review of how leads are being classified.

What we will not claim about a lead

That it is phone verified, unless actual phone verification has been performed.
That the homeowner is ready to buy immediately.
That a budget has been confirmed.
That the described problem has been diagnosed.
That the service category is definitely correct — it is a classification, not a diagnosis.
That volume will reach any particular level.
That a lead is exclusive if it has been sent to more than one provider at once.

For homeowners

If your request is not passed to a contractor, the usual reasons are that no provider covers your area, that the request is about interior plumbing rather than a septic system, or that we could not reach you with the contact details given.

The most useful thing you can do is describe the situation specifically and give a contact method you actually monitor. A request that says what is happening, when it started and what you have already tried is far more likely to result in a useful contractor conversation.

Common questions

Is a qualified lead a guaranteed sale?

No, and we will not describe it as one. A qualified lead is a genuine homeowner with a real septic need in a supported area, who has consented to contact and supplied enough information to follow up. Whether they buy depends on the contractor, the price, the timing and the homeowner.

Are leads verified by phone?

Not unless a specific lead has actually been verified by phone, and we will not describe leads as phone verified as a general claim. Requests are reviewed by a person against the qualification criteria — that is a different and more modest claim, and it is the accurate one.

What if the same homeowner submits twice?

A second submission for the same project inside the duplicate window is a duplicate and is not charged. A genuinely different project at the same property, or a submission from a different party such as a buyer, is not a duplicate. Doubtful cases are resolved in the contractor’s favour.

How do I dispute a lead?

Raise it within the agreed dispute window and state which qualification criterion it fails. Failing a criterion results in a credit. A homeowner who simply did not buy is not grounds for a credit, and we say so upfront rather than arguing about it later.