Bid alerts are now instant

Until today, Terrabillion alert emails went out in a morning batch. If a county posted a plugging package at 9:05, you heard about it tomorrow. As of this morning, matching packages trigger an alert within a minute of entering the queue.

Why batching was wrong

Plugging packages move fast. Our data shows the median package collects its first serious bidder inquiry within 36 hours of posting, and the best-fit contractors are usually first. A 24-hour delay did not just feel slow — it measurably cost our users first-mover advantage on roughly one package in five.

Batching made sense when we ingested ten packages a week. We now ingest hundreds. The batch was a leftover, not a design.

What changed

The alert pipeline is now event-driven. The moment a package clears review and lands in the queue, we run it against every saved search and contractor profile:

• Match in seconds: searches evaluate against the new package, not the package against a nightly job.
• Fit score attached: each alert carries the contractor-fit score, so you can triage from the inbox.
• Quiet hours respected: alerts scheduled between 9pm and 6am local time wait for morning, unless you opt into night delivery.

Nothing about your saved searches changes. If you had alerts on, they are now instant automatically.

What to check

Open your alert settings and confirm two things. First, that your service-area counties are current — instant alerts are only as good as the geography feeding them. Second, that your fit-score threshold matches how aggressive you want to be; we default to 70, and most contractors settle between 60 and 80 after a month.

What ships next

Instant delivery is the foundation for the winter work we have planned: SMS alerts for perfect-fit matches, digest controls per search, and shared team inboxes so estimators and owners see the same queue. If you want input on the shape of those, reply to any alert — a human reads every response.