Terms of Service

1. Agreeing to these terms

You accept these Terms of Service by ticking the box when you create an account. Clients also confirm the acknowledgement in section 5 each time they book, and BesHandymen confirm the agreement in sections 3 and 4 when they sign up and again whenever it changes. We record which version you accepted and when.

If you do not agree, do not use BesHandyman. You must be at least 18 and able to enter a binding contract.

2. What BesHandyman is — and is not

BesHandyman is an online marketplace that introduces people who need work done around the home (“clients”) to independent professionals who do that work (“BesHandymen”), and handles booking, messaging, invoicing and payment between them.

In these terms, “a BesHandyman” means one of those independent professionals, and “BesHandyman”on its own, or “we”, means the company that runs the marketplace. A BesHandyman is never the company, and the company is never a BesHandyman.

BesHandyman does not perform any of the work. We are not a contractor, a home-improvement company or an employer of BesHandymen. We do not direct, supervise or control how a BesHandyman carries out a job, and we are not a party to the agreement for services, which is made directly between the client and the BesHandyman when a booking is accepted.

BesHandyman assumes no responsibility or liability for the services BesHandymen provide. The quality, safety, legality and permitting of the work are matters between the client and the BesHandyman who performs it. Listing a kind of work on BesHandyman — including electrical, plumbing or HVAC work — is not BesHandyman offering to perform it: each BesHandyman decides for themselves whether to offer it, and performs it, if at all, as their own business.

3. BesHandymen are independent contractors

Every BesHandyman on BesHandyman is an independent contractor operating their own business. In particular:

• Nothing in these terms or in the use of BesHandyman creates an employment, partnership, joint venture, franchise or agency relationship between the company and any BesHandyman.
• BesHandymen decide whether to accept any job, set their own hourly rates, set their own working hours, supply their own tools and materials, and decide how the work is done.
• BesHandymen are free to work for anyone else, including through other platforms, at any time.
• BesHandymen are not entitled to wages, overtime, benefits, workers' compensation or unemployment insurance from BesHandyman, and are responsible for their own taxes. Any tax reporting we are required to do treats BesHandymen as independent contractors, never as employees.
• BesHandymen have no authority to make any agreement or commitment on BesHandyman's behalf.

Rate guidance, training modules and profile badges on BesHandyman are information and optional credentials. They are not instructions about how to do the work.

4. Licences, permits and the law

Work that needs a licence

Standard handyman tasks — assembling furniture, mounting TVs, painting, patching small holes in drywall — typically do not require a state or city licence. Electrical, plumbing and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) work is different: it usually must, by law, be performed by a licensed professional. Licensing rules differ from state to state, and many counties and cities add their own, so BesHandyman lists this work state by state. Today it is listed only in Texas, where electricians and air-conditioning and refrigeration contractors are licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), and plumbers by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (TSBPE).

BesHandymen on BesHandyman are independent contractors. They may complete BesHandyman's own training for a skill; that training is internal to BesHandyman and is not a trade licence, certification or accreditation of any kind.

What every BesHandyman promises

By signing up as a BesHandyman, and every time you accept a job, you represent and warrant that:

• you hold, and will keep current, every licence, registration, certification and permit that state, county and city law requires for the work you offer and the jobs you accept;
• you alone decide whether to offer electrical, plumbing or HVAC work, and you understand that turning one of those categories on does not make it legal for you to do that work. Licensing authorities such as TDLR and TSBPE impose fines and other penalties for unlicensed work on the person who did it;
• you will not perform work that requires a licence you do not hold — including extra work a client asks for on the day that falls outside the service they booked — and you will decline or stop any such work;
• you will obtain any permit the job requires where the law places that on the person doing the work, or tell the client before starting that a permit is needed; and
• you will do the work in line with applicable building, electrical and safety codes.

You must tell us promptly if a licence you rely on lapses, is suspended or is revoked. We may remove a skill from your profile, suspend your account or close it if we learn that a representation in this section is untrue.

Electrical, plumbing and HVAC, and what our licence look-up covers

On BesHandyman these services are limited to work on systems that already exist. Electrical Help means work such as installing ceiling fans and light fixtures and replacing outlets and switches, including smart switches and dimmers; Plumbing means repairing or replacing taps, toilets, garbage disposals and shut-off valves; HVAC means service and small repairs, such as thermostats, filters and drain lines, and finding out why a system is not heating or cooling. None of them includes new circuits, lines or systems, panel work, or any work that requires a permit.

In Texas, any BesHandyman may choose to offer these services, and confirms when they do that holding any licence or permit the work needs is their own responsibility. BesHandyman does not require a licence number and does not check whether a BesHandyman holds the licence a particular job needs. A BesHandyman may add their licence number — in Texas, a TDLR licence for electrical or HVAC work, or a TSBPE licence for plumbing. If they do, a member of our team looks that number up on the authority's public register, and if it matches, the BesHandyman's profile shows that a licence number is on file.

That look-up is a one-time check of a public record at the time the licence number is added or changed. It is not a guarantee that the licence is still active on the day of your job, that it covers the specific work you want done, or that the work will be done safely or correctly. Apart from that look-up, BesHandyman does not verify, manage or guarantee professional licences or permits for any service. A BesHandyman's profile, reviews, background check and BesHandyman training are not evidence that they hold a licence, and a BesHandyman with no licence number on file may not hold one.

5. What clients are responsible for

The responsibility for verifying credentials is yours. Because BesHandyman does not verify, manage or guarantee professional licences or permits (apart from the look-up described in section 4), by agreeing to these terms you accept that the burden of confirming any licence, permit or credential your job requires rests with you, the client, and not with BesHandyman.

Each time you book, you confirm that you understand and agree that:

• the BesHandyman is an independent contractor and not a BesHandyman employee;
• it is your responsibility to confirm that the BesHandyman holds any licence or permit your particular job requires, and to obtain any permit the law requires of the property owner. If a BesHandyman has added a licence number, it is shown on your booking once they accept, with a link to the authority's register, so that you can check it yourself; if none is shown, nobody has checked whether they hold one;
• you will describe the job accurately, and will not ask a BesHandyman to do work outside the service you booked that needs a licence — for example, asking a BesHandyman booked for Home Repair to change an outlet;
• you have the right to have the work done at the address you give, including any permission needed from a landlord, homeowners' association or co-owner; and
• you will give safe access and tell the BesHandyman about any hazard you know of, such as exposed wiring, asbestos, mould or an aggressive animal.

6. Background checks

BesHandymen are screened before their profile is visible to clients. Screening is carried out by a third-party consumer reporting agency; we receive a decision and a reference, and we do not collect or store Social Security numbers or report contents. A background check is a review of records at a point in time. It is not a guarantee of anyone's conduct, honesty or workmanship.

7. Pricing and payment

A BesHandyman sets the amount they wish to take home. The hourly price shown to clients includes our commission, which is currently 20% of the amount charged for the work, or 15% when the client has booked that BesHandyman before or came to them through the BesHandyman's own QR code or link — so the BesHandyman earns an extra 5% on those jobs.

Each booking also carries a flat trust & support fee paid by the client, currently $3.99. It is shown before the client requests the booking and charged together with the invoice. It is not charged if a request is declined, expires or is cancelled, and none of it comes out of the BesHandyman's earnings.

Jobs are billed for the time actually worked, in 15-minute increments with a one-hour minimum. A booking's estimated duration reserves time; it is not a quote. After the job the BesHandyman issues an invoice for the time taken, and the client approves it before payment is taken — except where the client chose automatic payment when booking, in which case an invoice that has been neither approved nor disputed within three days may be charged to the client's saved card.

8. Cancellation and disputes

Booking places a hold on the client's card for one hour of the job. Either party may cancel before the job begins. If the client cancels within 24 hours of the start time after the BesHandyman has accepted, that one-hour hold is charged and paid to the BesHandyman; otherwise it is released. A client who disputes an invoice should flag it before approving it, and we may withhold payment to the BesHandyman while a dispute is open.

9. No warranty

BesHandyman is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the fullest extent the law allows, we make no warranty, express or implied, about the quality, safety, legality or timeliness of any work performed by a BesHandyman, or about the accuracy of anything a BesHandyman or client says about themselves. Profile badges, background checks and licence checks are limited in the ways described in sections 4 and 6 and are not an endorsement or a guarantee.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, BesHandyman is not liable for the acts or omissions of any BesHandyman or client, or for any property damage, personal injury or other loss arising out of work arranged through BesHandyman. BesHandyman is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits or data.

If BesHandyman is found liable to you for anything, our total liability is limited to the greater of the commission we earned on the booking concerned and one hundred US dollars ($100).

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law, including liability for fraud or gross negligence.

11. Indemnity

BesHandymenagree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless BesHandyman and its owners, employees and agents from any claim, loss or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of the work they perform — including a claim by a client, a client's insurer or anyone else, and any fine, penalty or proceeding by a licensing authority — any representation in section 4 being untrue, work performed without a licence or permit it required, their status as an independent contractor, or their breach of these terms. This includes a claim that BesHandyman itself offered or performed work that a BesHandyman chose to offer and performed.

Clients agree to do the same for claims arising out of an inaccurate description of the job, conditions at their property they knew of and did not disclose, a request for work outside the booked service, or their breach of these terms.

12. Insurance

BesHandyman does not insure the work BesHandymen carry out. BesHandymen are responsible for carrying any insurance their trade or the law requires, and we encourage every BesHandyman to carry general liability insurance — particularly a BesHandyman who offers electrical, plumbing or HVAC work, where the cost of a mistake is highest and, under section 11, theirs. Clients may wish to check what their own homeowner's or renter's policy covers before work begins.

13. Disputes between clients and BesHandymen

A dispute about the work itself is between the client and the BesHandyman who performed it. We will help where we can — the booking's message history and invoice record are available to both sides — but we are not obliged to resolve it, and to the fullest extent the law allows, you release BesHandyman from claims arising out of such a dispute.

14. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or close an account, remove a skill or a listing, or cancel a booking if we reasonably believe these terms have been broken — including if a BesHandyman misrepresents a licence or a client asks for licensed work from a BesHandyman who does not hold it. You may close your account at any time.

15. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Subject to any mandatory law that says otherwise, disputes with BesHandyman will be heard in the state or federal courts located in Bexar County, Texas.

16. Changes to these terms

We record the version of these terms each account agreed to. When we change them, we publish the new version here with a new date. BesHandymen must accept a new version before accepting further jobs, and clients accept the current version when they next book. The version you accepted continues to apply to bookings made under it.

17. Contact

Questions about these terms: support@beshandyman.com or (210) 908-6366, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Central. See also our Privacy Policy.