Contractor Terms

P-1. These terms

P-1.1 These Contractor Terms apply to any business or individual that offers or performs Trade Work through the Platform ("you", the "Contractor"). They add to the Master Platform Terms, the US Schedule, the state addendum for each job site, and, if you refer jobs, the Referral Program Terms.

P-1.2 Authorized signer. The person who accepts these terms confirms they are an owner, officer or other person authorized to bind the Contractor organization. Each member you add to your organization must follow these terms.

P-1.3 How you accept. You accept these terms by tapping a button that names these Contractor Terms and the arbitration agreement in the Master Platform Terms and US Schedule (not a bare "Continue"), with the links underlined in a contrasting color and shown in your Preferred Language. This is a separate acceptance from the Master Platform Terms, and you accept again if the terms change materially. We record the time, the version, your language and the screen you saw.

P-2. Relationship

P-2.1 Independent business. You are an independent business. You are not an employee, partner, joint venturer or agent of the Company (except that the Company acts as your limited payment collection agent under P-5.2).

P-2.2 Your control. You decide whether to respond to a Request, your price, your methods, your schedule, your tools and materials, and who works for you. The Company does not supervise or inspect your work. We do not penalize, de-rank or deactivate you for declining a Request, and we do not require you to respond to any Request. If a Request is not answered in time, we may add another Contractor (P-3.7A); that adds a Contractor, and it does not lower your ranking or standing.

P-2.3 No exclusivity, no minimums. There is no territory, no exclusive ZIP code or area, no exclusive right, and no minimum number of Jobs. A Request is offered to one Contractor first. If that Contractor does not respond in time, declines, or is a low-confidence match, we may add a second and, only if needed to keep the Job, a third, each with the Customer's yes (P-3.7A). No more than three Contractors are ever offered one Request. You may decline any Request. You may work for anyone off the Platform, subject only to P-11 about Introduced Customers.

P-2.4 Your workers. You are solely responsible for your workers and subcontractors, including wages, workers' compensation, taxes, immigration status checks, and safety. Under Florida law a construction independent contractor is treated as an employee for workers' compensation, so you may not treat yourself or anyone else as "independent" to avoid coverage (P-3.3(d)).

P-2.6 Tools that help you write. We may offer tools, including AI, that suggest scope, line items, wording or price ideas for a Proposal. You decide whether to use them. Before a Proposal is sent, you must read it and be satisfied it is accurate, within your licenses and complete (P-5.4, P-5.6). A Proposal sent from your account is your offer and binds you, whether you or a tool wrote it. We do not send a Proposal for you unless you switch that feature on, and then only within limits you set. That feature is not available at launch. We do not warrant that any tool's output is correct, legal or within your license. If we mark a Proposal as AI-assisted, you will not remove the mark.

P-3. Eligibility

P-3.1 Before you can respond to Requests, you must:

• (a) give your legal business name, state of formation, and an active business registration (in Florida, an active Sunbiz record) or, for an individual, your legal name;
• (b) give each license number required for the trades you list, and tell us the license class, and keep each license active, including state licenses and county or city certificates of competency where required;
• (c) upload current certificates of insurance meeting P-3.3;
• (d) complete Stripe onboarding (P-4), including Stripe's identity steps, and give a completed Form W-9 (or Stripe's equivalent taxpayer-information step) at onboarding (P-14.2);
• (e) accept these terms through an authorized signer.

P-3.2 Licensed scope only. You will only quote and perform work that your licenses allow. If a task needs a license you do not hold, you will not quote it, or you will use a properly licensed subcontractor where the law allows and tell the Customer in the Quote. Dryer-vent and duct work. In Florida, cleaning that requires at least partial disassembly of an air-handling or air-conditioning system, and any repair, alteration, re-routing or replacement of ducts, needs a Class A or B air-conditioning, mechanical or sheet metal license. Cleaning a dryer vent by a method that does not disassemble the dryer exhaust system is not treated as needing a mechanical contractor's license (Construction Industry Licensing Board Declaratory Statement 2014-125). For dryer-vent cleaning you will state in each Quote the method you will use and confirm that it involves no disassembly of the dryer exhaust system. If a job needs disassembly, repair, replacement or re-routing, you will quote it only if you hold the license, have told us the license class and any Miami-Dade or municipal certificate that applies, and have uploaded it.

P-3.3 License and insurance documents. Before you can respond to Requests, and at all times while your profile is active, you will provide and keep current:

• (a) license: each license number required for the trades you list (P-3.1(b)), with a copy or the state database record;
• (b) certificate of insurance (COI) from your insurer or broker showing the policies in (c) and (d);
• (c) commercial general liability insurance of at least the greater of (i) the minimum your license category requires under the Florida Board's rule (Fla. Admin. Code 61G4-15.003: currently $300,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage for general and building contractors, and $100,000 and $25,000 for specialty categories such as plumbing, air conditioning, sheet metal, roofing and pool) and (ii) the Company's minimum of US $1,000,000 per occurrence and US $2,000,000 in the aggregate, and showing "Terragroupe, LLC d/b/a HammerConnect" as certificate holder, with the notice address we give you. The Company does not require you to name it as an additional insured. You must upload the certificate for each renewal. A certificate alone does not create coverage for anyone, so keep your policy and endorsements available if we or a Customer ask for them;
• (d) workers' compensation insurance as Chapter 440 requires. In Florida construction, an independent contractor is treated as an employee for workers' compensation, so being "independent" is not an exemption. The only exemption we accept is a valid certificate of election to be exempt filed by a corporate officer (in construction, no more than three officers per corporation or group of affiliated corporations, each owning at least 10% of the stock and listed as an officer with the Division of Corporations), uploaded as a document. A construction sole proprietor or partner cannot claim an exemption (they may choose to be covered), and an exemption never covers anyone you hire.
• (e) commercial auto insurance and any bond, as the law or your license requires.

When a Customer, an association or its manager requires it, you will name that Customer, association or manager as additional insured on your policy (Customer Terms for Associations and Businesses, section CB-4.1); that is between you, the Customer and your insurer. You will upload renewed certificates before expiry, ask your insurer to give the Company notice of cancellation (or, if the insurer will not, tell us yourself), and in any case tell us within 5 business days of cancellation or a material reduction. Your insurance does not limit your indemnity to the Company under P-16. Your insurance protects you and your Customers; the Company does not offer Customers any guarantee, insurance or reserve fund, and you must not say it does (P-9.4).

P-3.4 Checks we do. An Operator checks your license number in the public state database and reviews your insurance certificate and workers' compensation coverage or exemption certificate, on the dates shown on your profile. You authorize these checks. Our checks do not move your responsibility to us.

P-3.5 Changes. Tell us within 5 business days if a license is suspended, revoked or expires, if a disciplinary action is filed, or if insurance lapses. We may pause your profile until fixed.

P-3.6 Invitations. During the pilot, Contractors join by invitation from the Company or from an existing Contractor in good standing. An invited Contractor completes every step in P-3.1. Inviting a Contractor does not by itself earn a Referral Share; a Referral Share is earned only on a Qualifying Job under the Referral Program Terms.

P-3.7 Matching. You agree that we may match, filter, sort and show Requests and your profile using the information you give us and public license data, and, as we add features, as described in Master Platform Terms, section M-6.6. At launch, a Request goes first to the Contractor a Referrer nominated, if there is one, and then to Contractors that HammerConnect's team reaches out to and invites to respond; our team chooses whom to invite, using automated checks and people, based on the trade and service area, your license and insurance status, your availability, how quickly you respond and your past performance on the Platform. A person handles anything flagged and reviews every decision to decline a Request or remove a Contractor. Invitations. You agree that we may contact you to invite you to respond to a Request, and that being invited creates no duty on you to respond or on us to invite you again. We do not sell placement. Later. You agree that we may add filters, search, sorting that uses ratings and reviews, and recommendations or matching by Automated Tools, including AI, in the ways Master Platform Terms, section M-6.6(b) describes. We will tell you at least 30 days before a change that affects how you receive Requests (Master Platform Terms, section M-6.6(b)), describe the main parameters, and you may leave before it takes effect (P-18). Participation in automated matching is not a promise of any number of Requests or any rank, and you are not penalised for declining (P-2.2).

P-3.7A Response standard and added Contractors. We offer a Request to one Contractor first. We tell you the response standard (how quickly we expect your first message to the Customer and your replies) before you accept a Request, and we show it with each Request in the app. If you do not meet it, or you are a low-confidence match for the Request (for example, you have not yet completed Jobs on the Platform), we may add a second Contractor, and a third only if needed to keep the Job. Each added Contractor needs the Customer's yes, and during the pilot a person on our team approves each addition. We tell you when another Contractor is added and why. The Customer chooses whom to hire, and we do not cancel your chance unless the Customer picks someone else. No more than three Contractors are ever offered one Request. Adding a Contractor does not lower your ranking or standing (P-2.2), and a Referrer's Referral Share applies to whichever Contractor is hired.

P-4. Stripe Connect

P-4.1 Stripe account required. To be paid, you must open a Stripe connected account through the Stripe-hosted onboarding in the app. You finish on Stripe's page; the Company does not see your full bank or tax numbers. You accept Stripe's terms yourself in that hosted flow; the Company cannot accept them for you.

P-4.2 Stripe's agreement is part of these terms. Payment processing services for Contractors on HammerConnect are provided by Stripe and are subject to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, which includes the Stripe Terms of Service (together, the "Stripe Services Agreement"). By agreeing to these terms or continuing to operate as a Contractor on HammerConnect, you agree to be bound by the Stripe Services Agreement, as the same may be modified by Stripe from time to time. As a condition of HammerConnect enabling payment processing services through Stripe, you agree to provide HammerConnect accurate and complete information about you and your business, and you authorize HammerConnect to share it and transaction information related to your use of the payment processing services provided by Stripe.

P-4.3 Account type and dashboard. Your Stripe account is a connected account that Stripe onboards and collects the information it requires from. It has no Stripe dashboard. The Company shows your balance, payout history and any disputes in the app, and you change payout details through Stripe's hosted pages that the app links to. The Company, not you, sets your payout schedule (P-7).

P-4.4 Losses and negative balances. Under our Stripe setup, losses on your account (negative balances, refunds and chargebacks) are collected by Stripe, not by the Company. Stripe, and the Company where the Company has paid or advanced an amount for you, may recover those amounts from you, as set out in P-8. The Company will not hold a reserve of your money in the Company's own accounts.

P-5. Merchant of record and payment collection

P-5.1 You are the merchant of record. For every Job, you are the seller of the Trade Work and the merchant of record for the Customer's payment. Payments are processed through Stripe Connect as a direct charge on your connected account, with the Platform Fee taken as Stripe's application fee. Your funds sit in your own Stripe balance, not in a Company bank account; the Company receives only its Platform Fee. The Customer's card statement shows your business name (HammerConnect may appear as a prefix). You are responsible for the sale, including taxes on it, receipts that the law requires, and compliance with card-network rules for your business.

P-5.2 Limited payment collection agent. You appoint the Company as your limited agent solely to accept payments from Customers through Stripe on your behalf, to deduct the Platform Fee, and to direct transfers and refunds under these terms. A Customer's payment successfully processed by Stripe satisfies the Customer's obligation to you for that amount. You will not seek that amount from the Customer again, even if you have not yet received a payout, and the Customer bears no risk if the Company fails to pass money on to you. You agree that the Company may tell Customers, on the payment page and the receipt, that it collects the payment as your agent, and you will not describe it any other way. The Platform Fee (the marketplace service fee) is a fee for the Company's services. It is not a payment toward the improvement of the property, and you remain responsible for paying your labor, subcontractors and suppliers from the proceeds you receive.

P-5.3 All Introduced Jobs through the Platform. For any Job with a Customer introduced through the Platform, you will issue the Quote, change orders and invoices in the Platform, and accept payment only through the Platform. You will not ask for or accept cash, check, or another payment app for an Introduced Job.

P-5.4 Your Quote. Your Quote must state the price, scope, materials, schedule, any deposit or milestones, any cancellation charge, any sales tax, your license number, and the notices the law requires for the job site (see P-5.6 and P-9). You enter the price and scope yourself; the Company does not set, propose or approve either. Your license number must appear in each Quote and bid (s. 489.119(5)(b)). You, not the Company, decide whether sales tax applies to your work and charge it if it does; the Platform does not override your decision. The Customer pays the quoted price. You may not add a surcharge for paying through the Platform. A Quote is a Proposal made in the Platform: it is your offer, in your name, not the Company's. Each Proposal and each profile or message that offers your services must show your name and your license number as required by s. 489.119(5)(b), including any Proposal or message written or sent through the Platform on your behalf. If a tool inserts the number, you remain responsible for checking it is correct and current. In Miami-Dade County the license or certificate number must also appear in every advertisement or listing (Miami-Dade Code s. 10-4.1).

P-5.5 Payment schedule rules. The app applies these rules by Customer type and job-site market, and shows them before you send a Quote:

• (a) Default: pay at completion. The Customer pays when you mark the Job complete.
• (b) Individual (consumer) Customers: optional deposit, capped. You may ask for one deposit before work starts, of no more than the lower of 10% of the Quote price (a Company rule) and any limit set by the law of the job site. The Quote must state what the deposit is for. For residential work in Florida, an initial payment of more than 10% triggers the duty in s. 489.126 to apply for permits within 30 days and start work within 90 days after permits issue (unless you have just cause or the Customer agrees in writing to longer periods), and you must state those dates in the Quote (Florida Addendum, section FL-4.4). Section 489.126 is not a cap on deposits; the limit here is the Company's rule.
• (c) Large Jobs: milestones. For a larger Job, meaning a Quote above the milestone threshold that the Company sets and shows in the app before you send a Quote, you may split the price into milestones. Each milestone states the work it covers and its amount, and is paid only after you mark that work complete (plus any allowed deposit). You may not bill a milestone for work not yet done.
• (d) Commercial Customers: negotiated terms. With a Commercial Customer, you may agree in the Quote to a different deposit and milestone schedule, within the law. A residential condominium is residential real property for s. 489.126, so more than 10% before work triggers the permit and start deadlines there too, including for work the association orders on common elements.
• (e) No waivers. You will not ask a consumer Customer to give up a chargeback right, a deposit limit or a home-solicitation cancellation right, in the Quote or anywhere else. The Platform's payment screen gives the Customer plain-language information instead (Customer Terms for Homeowners, section C-6.9). The Platform never offers or collects an emergency waiver of the right to cancel. If you rely on the federal emergency exception, you must obtain the Customer's separate handwritten, dated and signed statement outside the app and keep it (P-9.3).
• (f) No surcharges. You will not add a surcharge or convenience fee to a Customer's price for a Job because of the payment method the Customer uses through the Platform (credit card, debit card, bank debit (ACH) or any other method). This is the Company's own rule and applies in every state. Separately, Florida law bars a seller from imposing a surcharge for credit-card use (s. 501.0117); the all-methods ban goes further than the statute.

P-5.6 Statements the law puts in a residential Quote. For a Florida residential Quote above $2,500 (labor and materials), the Platform adds locked template text to the Quote and you cannot send the Quote until you tick that each notice is included: (a) the construction lien notice in the exact statutory wording, in at least 12-point bold capital letters, on the first page or on a separate page the Customer signs and dates in the Platform (s. 713.015, which applies to dwellings of up to four units, and to unit-owner contracts; the Platform also includes it for larger buildings as a precaution); (b) the Homeowners' Construction Recovery Fund statement, followed by the Board's address and telephone number (s. 489.1425); (c) the sentence about Chapter 558 (s. 558.005); (d) the permit and start statement if you take more than 10% before work (P-5.5(b)); and (e) in Miami-Dade County, the notices in Miami-Dade Code ss. 10-33 and 10-33.1 (Florida Addendum, section FL-4.8). The Platform supplies templates as a convenience; you are responsible for checking that they are current and complete, and the Platform does not write or change your contract.

P-5.7 Prices are yours. The Company does not set, propose, adjust, cap or approve your price at launch. If we show an estimate range or a benchmark, it is general information for the Customer, not your offer, and you are free to ignore it. We will not use another Contractor's nonpublic prices or a Customer's other Proposals to tell you what to charge. Any future price-suggestion tool will use only your own data and public sources unless you agree otherwise, and will not be a condition of receiving Requests. During a declared state of emergency you must still comply with s. 501.160 (P-9.6).

P-6. The Platform Fee and how the amounts are worked out

P-6.1 Fee Base. "Fee Base" means the amount the Customer pays through the Platform for a Job, excluding taxes and tips, measured when each payment is collected. It includes deposits, milestone payments and approved change orders for that Job. It is not reduced by a later refund or chargeback, except under P-6.8. Amounts not collected through the Platform (unpaid balances, cash) are not part of the Fee Base. Taxes you separately state and tips the Customer adds pass to you in full and carry no Platform Fee. ("Collected Amount" in the Master Platform Terms means the same amount net of refunds and is still used for your proceeds and for reporting.)

P-6.1A Insurance claim Jobs. The Platform does not currently accept Requests for work that will be paid in whole or in part with property insurance proceeds, whether the property is residential or commercial. If you learn that a Job is an insurance claim Job, you must tell us, and we may cancel the Request. No Platform Fee is taken and no Referral Share is paid on it through the Platform, and P-11 does not apply to it. You must not offer a Customer any rebate, gift, cash, coupon or deductible waiver, and you must not adjust or interpret an insurance claim.

P-6.2 How the amounts are worked out. For each payment, the Company calculates its Platform Fee (10% of the Fee Base) and, if there is an eligible Referrer, the Company pays the Referrer 5% of the Fee Base out of the Company's own Platform Fee. The Referral Share is not money from the Customer's payment; it is the Company's payment obligation to the Referrer.

The Referral Share and the platform share together are the "Platform Fee" (10%). The Platform Fee is the "marketplace service fee" (verification, payments, dispute tools and introductions); that is its label in the app and in every Contractor- and Customer-facing document. It is calculated as a percentage of the Fee Base and is earned when the Customer pays through the Platform. It is not a commission and is not a payment for a licensed trade service.

P-6.3 When there is no Referrer. If a Job has no Referrer (for example, a Direct Request, or the Customer came to the Platform directly or through the Company) or no eligible Referrer, the Company keeps the full 10%. A Referral Share is paid only on a Job that came to the Platform by a valid Referral under the Referral Program Terms (R-5). If the Referrer has not finished payout setup, the Company still owes the Referral Share to the Referrer as its own payment obligation and holds it under the Referral Program Terms (R-9); it is not returned to you. Your share is 90% in every case. You do not pay the Referrer directly.

P-6.4 Card and bank-debit processing costs. You bear Stripe's processing fees for the Customer's payment (card, wallet or bank debit). Stripe charges them to your connected account and they come out of your 90%; the Company does not pay them for you. Stripe does not return its processing fee when a payment is refunded, and you bear that too. Current Stripe pricing is shown in the app before you accept these terms and in each payout statement.

P-6.5 When it is calculated. The split is calculated when each payment is collected. It is not recalculated for a later refund or chargeback, except under P-6.8. The Referral Share is reduced or recovered when the Customer is refunded, as the Referral Program Terms say (R-9.3, R-9.3A); that never increases what you pay. Rounding: half-up to the cent once on the total for the Job, not per payment.

P-6.6 Example. Quote $1,000, no sales tax, referred by an eligible Referrer, paid in full by card:

• Fee Base (amount paid): $1,000.00
• Platform Fee (10%): $100.00, of which Referral Share $50.00 and platform share $50.00
• Your 90%: $900.00
• Card processing (example only: 2.9% + $0.30 = $29.30), borne by you
• Transferred to you after completion and the Dispute Window (7 days in this Consumer example): $870.70
• If the Customer later receives a $200 refund (not a P-6.8 carve-out): the Platform Fee you pay stays $100.00; the Referral Share is reduced by 5% of the refund ($10.00) if it has not been paid, or recovered from the Referrer if it has (Referral Program Terms, section R-9.3, R-9.3A), and the part not paid to the Referrer stays with the Company, not returned to you; you bear the $200 refund from your proceeds (P-8.2).

P-6.7 Fee changes. We may change the Platform Fee on 30 days' notice. A change does not apply to a Quote the Customer accepted before the change. Each Job stores the fee version that applied. A new or different fee for a new kind of service (for example paid placement or fees for Requests) applies only if you opt in, or on 30 days' notice with the right to leave without penalty.

P-6.8 When the Platform Fee is earned; carve-outs. The Platform Fee is earned when the Customer pays and is not returned to you if the payment is later refunded or charged back, except in these cases, where the Company returns the Platform Fee on the refunded amount:

• (a) Early cancellation: the Customer cancels before any work starts and within 48 hours after paying, or cancels lawfully under a statutory cancellation right at any time (Florida Addendum, section FL-3.5);
• (b) Platform fault: the refund is caused by a Company error (for example a duplicate charge or a wrong amount caused by the Platform);
• (c) Goodwill: the Company decides, at its discretion, to return all or part of the fee on a particular Job. A goodwill return on one Job does not create a right on any other Job.

In cases (b) and (c) the Company pays any return from its own share. What happens to a Referral Share on a refunded amount is set by the Referral Program Terms (R-9.3, R-9.3A), not by this clause. A fee that stays with the Company after a full refund looks more like payment for an introduction, which is why it matters under s. 489.147 (insurance Jobs are excluded by P-6.1A) and why the worked example below is shown at onboarding, at each bid and on each payout statement.

P-6.8A Example. You bid $1,000. The Customer pays $1,000. We keep a $100 Platform Fee and you receive $900 less Stripe's card cost. If the Customer later gets a full refund, the $1,000 comes from you, and we do not return the $100, except in the cases in P-6.8. We show this example when you join, when you confirm each bid, and on each payout statement.

P-6.9 Requests are not promises. A Request or lead is information a Customer gave us. We do not promise it is genuine, that the Customer will hire anyone or you, that the Customer's description is complete, or any conversion or win rate. We review Requests for spam and fraud only. If we later charge for Requests, we will refund the fee for a Request that we find is fake, duplicate or outside your stated trade or area.

P-7. Payout timing and holds

P-7.1 When funds are released; timing set by the Company. Every Customer payment (including a deposit or milestone payment) is held pending completion and the Dispute Window. Your 90% less processing for a payment is released to you only after the Job (or, for a milestone, that milestone) is marked complete and the Dispute Window in the applicable Customer Terms (7 days for Consumers and for Commercial Customers) closes with no open dispute, or earlier as stated in (c). Payout timing is set by the Company and shown in the app:

• (a) Pilot: you agree to this release method by accepting these terms. An Operator releases each payout manually, normally within 2 business days after the Dispute Window closes.
• (b) After the pilot: once you have completed the number of successful Jobs that the Company sets and shows in the app, with no upheld dispute, release may be automated for Jobs within the limits in P-7.6. Jobs above a limit, or with an open issue under P-7.3 or P-7.4, stay on manual release.
• (c) Early confirmation by the Customer. A Customer may confirm completion before the Dispute Window ends. Early confirmation allows the Company to release your payout (and then the Referral Share) before day 7, at the Company's discretion; it does not oblige the Company to release early. During the pilot an Operator releases early payouts manually. Early confirmation does not waive any legal right of the Customer or the Customer's right to dispute the payment with the Customer's card issuer or bank, so a later chargeback or dispute can still affect you as P-7.3 and P-8 describe.

The Company will give you notice in the app before your release method changes. Stripe then pays out to your bank when the Company triggers the payout (your payout schedule is manual and set by the Company); the app shows your balance and payout history.

P-7.2 Deposits and milestones. (a) A deposit is held until the Job is complete and the Dispute Window closes, like the final payment, so you should plan to fund materials yourself or use milestones. (b) Each milestone payment is released after that milestone is marked complete and its own Dispute Window (same customer-segment window as above) closes. (c) Outer limit. No payment is held for longer than 90 days after the Customer paid, unless a dispute, a Stripe restriction or a documented fraud concern under P-7.4 is open. At that point the held payout is released.

P-7.3 Disputed amounts. If the Customer reports a problem within the Dispute Window, only the amount in question is held. The rest is released as normal. You may respond within 3 business days; your response is shown to the Customer. An Operator decides within 5 business days after the response window: release, partial refund, or full refund of the held amount. You agree to follow that decision for the held amount. It does not limit either party's legal rights against the other. The Company's decision under this clause is about when and how the Company releases or returns the held payout under these Contractor Terms. It does not decide the Customer's legal rights, and it does not limit a Customer's right to dispute a payment with the Customer's card issuer or bank. The Dispute Window is 7 days for Commercial Customers too (P-7.1).

P-7.4 Other holds. We may hold a transfer, but only the amount reasonably related to the issue, if: (a) Stripe requires it or your Stripe account is restricted; (b) we have a reasonable, documented suspicion of fraud or off-Platform payment for that Job; (c) the Customer filed a chargeback; (d) a required license or insurance has lapsed. We will tell you the reason and what you can send to resolve it, and review your response within 5 business days.

P-7.5 No interest. No interest is earned or paid on amounts awaiting transfer.

P-7.6 Payment caps. During the pilot, no single payment through the Platform may be more than $15,000, and the Platform handles at most $90,000 in payments a week across all Jobs. The limits are shown in the app before you send a Quote. A Quote above $15,000 must be split into milestone payments of no more than $15,000 each, or cannot be paid through the Platform until the limit is raised. The Company may raise the limits during or after the pilot and will tell you in the app.

P-8. Refunds, chargebacks and negative balances

P-8.1 Refunds before transfer. An approved refund is paid from the held funds.

P-8.2 Platform Fee on refunds. The Platform Fee is not returned when a payment is refunded, except under P-6.8. So the full refunded amount comes from your proceeds (see the example in P-6.8A): if the held funds are not enough (because the Platform Fee was already taken), the difference is recovered under P-8.3. Stripe's processing fee on the original payment is not refunded by Stripe and is borne by you (P-6.4).

P-8.3 Refunds after transfer and negative balances. A refund on a direct charge is paid from your Stripe balance and can leave it negative when funds are still pending or already paid out. If a refund is approved after funds were transferred to you, or the held funds do not cover a refund, Stripe may recover the shortfall from you under the Stripe Services Agreement. Where the Company has advanced or returned an amount for you, the Company may also deduct it from future payouts and Referral Shares owed to you, or invoice you, payable within 15 days. The Company will show you each recovery.

P-8.4 Chargebacks. If a Customer's card issuer reverses a payment: (a) you will give us evidence within 5 business days of our request so we can contest it; (b) when a dispute is opened, Stripe debits your connected account the disputed amount plus the dispute fee that Stripe charges (shown in the app) and does NOT reverse the Platform Fee; if the chargeback is lost, you bear the lost amount and the network dispute fee, and the Platform Fee is not returned, unless the chargeback resulted from a Company error (P-6.8(b)); (c) the Company may recover the amount under P-8.3.

P-8.5 Referral Share on refunds. The Referral Share is paid from the Company's Platform Fee after the Dispute Window, and only if the Job is not refunded or charged back. It is reduced or voided if the Customer is refunded before it is paid, and the Company may recover it from the Referrer if the refund comes after (Referral Program Terms, section R-9.3, R-9.3A). You are never charged for a Referral Share.

P-8.6 Your refunds to Customers. You may offer a partial refund through the dispute screen. You may not refund an Introduced Job outside the Platform.

P-9. Legal compliance and required notices

P-9.1 You will follow all laws that apply to your work and business, including licensing, permits, building codes, lien law, consumer protection, home-solicitation cancellation rules, advertising rules (including showing your license number where required), sales tax, employment and safety law.

P-9.2 Required notices. You are responsible for giving the Customer every notice the law requires for the job site. The Platform's Quote includes a "required notices" block for you to fill or confirm. In Florida this includes, where applicable, the construction lien notice (s. 713.015), the Homeowners' Construction Recovery Fund statement (s. 489.1425), the Chapter 558 sentence (s. 558.005) and the permit and start statement for a deposit above 10% (s. 489.126); see P-5.6 and the Florida Addendum. The Platform shows the statutory wording as a template. You are responsible for checking it is current and complete. Our block is a convenience; it is not legal advice and does not make the Company responsible for your notices.

P-9.3 Home solicitation. If you meet a Customer at their home or any place other than your business address before the Customer accepts your Quote, you will give the federal Notice of Cancellation (two copies) in the language you used with the Customer, tell the Customer about the right to cancel out loud, and honor cancellations (FTC Cooling-Off Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 429: contracts of $25 or more at the Customer's home, $130 or more elsewhere, with three business days to cancel). This applies even if the Customer asked for the visit. If you rely on the emergency exception, you will keep the Customer's handwritten, dated, signed statement; the Platform does not collect it. The federal rule does not apply to a sale made and completed entirely by mail, telephone or the Internet with no in-person contact before delivery, but any in-person visit before the Customer accepts your Quote brings the sale within it.

P-9.4 Accurate profile and advertising. Your profile and Quotes must be true, must not promise anything you cannot lawfully provide, and must not use the HammerConnect name to suggest the Company performs, guarantees or insures your work, or keeps any fund to pay for it.

P-9.5 Condominium reserve study and milestone work. If a Quote is for repair or replacement work recommended in a structural integrity reserve study (SIRS) or a milestone inspection for a condominium or cooperative, you state in the Quote, and tell the association in writing, whether you have any interest, direct or indirect, in the firm that performed the study or inspection, or are related (within the third degree of blood or marriage) to anyone who has one (ss. 718.112(2)(g)3.b., 719.106(1)(k)3.b. and 553.899(12), added by ch. 2025-175). If you bid to perform the SIRS itself, you also tell the association in writing that you intend to bid on any related repair work. A contract signed without the required disclosure is voidable, ends when the association gives written notice, and can lead to discipline.

P-9.6 Declared emergencies. While the Governor has declared a state of emergency for the job site, you will not quote an unconscionable price (s. 501.160), the Company does not use surge pricing or raise its fee, and you may quote only work your license allows. Unlicensed contracting during a declared emergency is a felony (s. 489.127).

P-9.7 Local registrations. Since July 1, 2025, many local licenses for trades with no matching state license no longer apply, but you must still hold any local registration that Florida law lets Miami-Dade County or a city keep. The Platform's check covers the state license and the local items shown on your profile. Miami-Dade County Code ch. 10 requires a state license or a county certificate of competency for the classified trades and requires the license or certificate number in every advertisement or listing (ss. 10-3, 10-4, 10-4.1); the Platform shows it on your profile and Quotes.

P-10. Warranty and quality

P-10.1 Workmanship warranty. For each Job paid through the Platform, you give the Customer a written workmanship warranty of at least one year from completion, covering defects in your labor. You confirm this when you bid and when you mark the Job complete.

P-10.2 You honor manufacturer warranties you pass through and do not void them by your installation.

P-10.3 Your promises to us. You promise that: your information is true; you hold the licenses and insurance you claim; you will perform each Job in a good and workmanlike manner and in line with the Quote; and you will not discriminate unlawfully.

P-11. Introduced Customers (non-circumvention)

P-11.1 Introduced Customer. An "Introduced Customer" is a Customer (and the property) that you first came to know through the Platform. A Customer you can show you had a documented business relationship with before the Introduction is not an Introduced Customer.

P-11.2 Fee owed on Jobs taken off the Platform. If, within 12 months after an Introduction, you are paid outside the Platform for a Job with that Introduced Customer that came from that Introduction, the Platform Fee is owed on that Job as if it had been paid through the Platform. This fee is the agreed price of the Introduction. It is the same fee you would have paid on the Platform, and it is not a penalty. This clause covers the introduced Request and any further Job for the same Customer at the same property in the same trade that you obtain within those 12 months. It applies only to work you were licensed to do; we will not enforce it for a Job you were not licensed to perform.

P-11.3 The remedy is the fee. The amount owed is the Platform Fee (10%) on the amount you were paid for that Job, payable within 30 days of our invoice. That fee is the only money remedy. There are no liquidated damages, penalties, multipliers, minimum amounts or interest. Before invoicing, we will tell you what we found and give you 10 business days to respond (P-15.2). Separately, repeated or deliberate circumvention may lead to suspension under Master Platform Terms, section M-17 after notice.

P-11.4 What is not restricted. You may work for any customer who did not come through the Platform, and for an Introduced Customer on any Job after the 12 months. A Customer may always choose whom to hire. Nothing in P-11 stops you from working in any area or for any competitor.

P-11.5 This section sets a fee. It does not stop you from working for any Customer. It does not stop a Customer from hiring you. You may tell us if you think a Job was not from our introduction, and we will review it before any fee is charged.

P-11.6 Record of acceptance. You accept these terms by electronic signature, and the Platform keeps the record (P-1.3).

P-12. Customer information and privacy

P-12.1 Use only for the Job. You will use a Customer's address and messages only to quote, schedule and do the Job they were shared for. You will not sell or share them, copy them into a marketing list, or use them to offer other work outside the Platform, unless the Customer separately agrees. When the Job ends or is cancelled, you will stop using the address and delete any copy you do not need for your own legal records. The Company logs each time an address is revealed to you.

P-12.1A Relay-only contact. You reach Customers only through HammerConnect: texts, calls and email go through a HammerConnect relay number and relay email address, and the Customer's exact address is released to you when the Customer books you for the Job. You will not ask a Customer, a Referrer or another Contractor for a direct phone number or email address, give yours, or use one you learn another way, and you will not move the conversation off HammerConnect. Messages that contain a phone number, an email address or a "text me at" request are held, and you are asked to keep the conversation in HammerConnect; repeated attempts go to a person for review. If you do this to take a Job off the Platform, P-11 applies: the Platform Fee is owed on any Job you are paid for outside the Platform within 12 months (P-11.2), and repeated or deliberate attempts can lead to suspension (P-11.3).

P-12.2 No texting from your contacts as HammerConnect. You will not send texts or calls that appear to come from HammerConnect.

P-12.2A No recording. HammerConnect does not record relayed calls. You will not record a call with a Customer unless every person on the call has agreed first (Florida s. 934.03).

P-12.3 Security. You will protect Customer information with reasonable care, limit it to the workers who need it, and tell us within 48 hours if you think it was lost or misused. Customer information you receive is for the Job only. You may not sell it.

P-12.4 Deletion. When asked, and in any case 12 months after the Job ends, delete Customer information you no longer need, unless the law requires you to keep it (for example, permit and warranty records).

P-12.5 Messages. Messages in the Platform may be read by Operators for disputes, safety and enforcement.

P-12.6 Platform Data and aggregated data. The Platform Data (see Master Platform Terms, section M-8.10), including ratings, response times, win rates, pricing and Job-completion statistics about you and any index built from them, belongs to the Company. You give the Company a perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable licence to use information about your business and performance on the Platform, and information in your Quotes and invoices, in De-identified or aggregated form, to show your ratings and badges under P-17, and to build, train, test and tune our matching, ranking, summarizing and writing tools (Master Platform Terms, section M-6.6 and the Privacy Policy). The Company will not name you, or share anything that identifies your prices or your performance, in a benchmark or index shared outside the Platform unless you have agreed in writing for that release. The Company will combine your information with other contractors' information only in groups large enough that no one contractor's prices can be worked out, and will not give you or any other Contractor another Contractor's nonpublic prices, a price recommendation based on them, or a ranking by price (see P-5.7). The Company will not show your non-public prices, win rates or Quotes to another Contractor in a form that identifies you, and will not license information that identifies you or your business, other than your public profile, to third parties for decisions about credit, insurance or employment. You do not own, and may not copy, scrape or resell, data from the Platform.

P-13. Referrals by Contractors

P-13.1 You may refer Requests outside your specialty under the Referral Program Terms and earn a Referral Share on qualifying Jobs.

P-13.1A Only Contractors may be Referrers. A Job with no Referrer pays no Referral Share; the Company keeps the full Platform Fee (P-6.3).

P-13.1B Licensed referrers; introduction only. For a Florida job site, you must hold an active Florida contractor license (or be lawfully exempt) when you make the Referral and when the share is paid; an inactive, suspended or expired license is treated as no license. You introduce only: you must not quote, negotiate price or scope, attend the Job as the performing Contractor's agent, sign for anyone, or handle the Customer's money, and you must not say or imply that you can do the work unless you are licensed for it and are the Contractor on the Job.

P-13.2 You may not refer a Request to yourself, your own organization, or an affiliate (ownership, family, employee, common control or regular profit-sharing), and you may not take part in pricing or performing a Job you referred. You may not split a Referral Share with the performing Contractor or the Customer, and you may not offer the Customer any gift, rebate or discount to hire. You may not agree to refer Requests to another Contractor in return for referrals from them.

P-13.3 Insurance claims. No Referral Share is paid on a Job connected to a property insurance claim, residential or commercial (P-6.1A).

P-13.4 Excluded roles. You may not refer, and no share is paid, if you are in a role excluded by the Referral Program Terms (R-2.3), such as a community association manager, an association director, officer or committee member (or a relative of one), or a real-estate, insurance or public-adjuster professional acting in that role. You must answer the role question in the app truthfully.

P-14. Taxes and tax reporting

P-14.1 Your taxes. You are responsible for income taxes, self-employment taxes, and sales and use taxes on your sales, and for registering with tax authorities.

P-14.2 Form W-9 from every payee. Every Contractor (and every Referrer) gives a completed Form W-9, or Stripe's equivalent taxpayer-information step, at onboarding, whatever the amount it expects to receive. No payout or Referral Share is released until it is complete. You authorize the Company and Stripe to use it for information reporting. If you are not a US person, you give Form W-8BEN (or W-8BEN-E) instead, and cash Referral Shares to a person outside the United States need Company approval.

P-14.3 Information returns. Tax forms for payments to you come from whoever is legally required to file them. Stripe files Form 1099-K for card and bank payments it settles to you, where Stripe is the payment settlement entity. The Company files Form 1099-NEC for any Referral Share it pays you, and any other form the law requires of it. You will not need to ask for either one. These terms do not state a dollar threshold, because thresholds change and can differ by state and payment type. You must keep your tax information current.

P-14.4 Sales tax on the Platform Fee. The Platform Fee does not include sales tax. If a tax applies to it, it will be shown separately.

P-14.5 Backup withholding. If your taxpayer information is missing or the IRS tells us it is wrong, the law may require us (or Stripe) to withhold tax from payments to you and send it to the IRS. We will tell you if this happens.

P-15. Records and audit

P-15.1 Records. For 24 months after each Introduced Job, keep records of the Job, including contracts, invoices, permits and payments received.

P-15.2 Audit. If we reasonably suspect that payment for an Introduced Job was taken off the Platform, we may ask for those records, and you will provide them within 10 business days. We may also review public permit and inspection records. A public record alone is not a finding of breach; we will give you the chance to explain before any fee is charged under P-11.3.

P-16. Indemnity

P-16.1 You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Company and its members, managers, employees and agents from all claims, losses, fines and reasonable legal fees arising from: (a) the Trade Work, including property damage, bodily injury and death, to the extent caused by the acts or omissions of you or your workers or subcontractors; (b) your workers and subcontractors, including any claim that they are the Company's employees; (c) your breach of these terms or the law, including licensing, lien and tax law; (d) liens filed by your suppliers or subcontractors; (e) your misuse of Customer information.

P-16.2 This indemnity survives termination.

P-16.3 The indemnity covers third-party claims and the Company's reasonable costs of responding to them. It does not cover claims caused by the Company's gross negligence or willful misconduct.

P-16.4 Where a fee-shifting term in these terms favors the Company, it applies equally to you (s. 57.105(7)).

P-17. Ratings and Premier status

P-17.1 Customers may rate you. You may appeal a rating once, within 14 days after the rating is posted, and an Operator reviews the Job record within 10 business days. The rating stays visible during review unless it breaks Master Platform Terms, section M-9. The Company does not hide a rating because it is negative. You must not offer anything for a review or ask a Customer to post one in return for anything.

P-17.2 Premier is a badge based on ratings and record under the criteria published in the app and on hammerconnect.com. The criteria must be disclosed, evidence-based and consistent with what the badge says, and a badge is removed when the criteria stop being met (Master Platform Terms, section M-6.4; FTC Act s. 5, FDUTPA). Ratings used in any sort or badge include every eligible review, positive or negative, and the Company does not suppress negative reviews (16 CFR Part 465; Master Platform Terms, section M-6.5). It is not a guarantee by the Company and has no cash value, and no fee is needed to get it. A status badge (for example "License checked" or "Insurance certificate on file") shows the date it was checked or expires and is removed automatically when that date passes or when we learn the license or insurance has lapsed.

P-18. Term and termination

P-18.1 These terms continue until ended.

P-18.2 By you. You may end them at any time by closing your Contractor profile. Jobs already accepted must be completed or cancelled under their terms, and paid through the Platform.

P-18.3 By us. We may suspend or end your profile under Master Platform Terms, section M-17, including for lapsed license or insurance, failed checks, repeated upheld disputes, circumvention, or Stripe closing your account. For breaches that can be fixed, we will give you 10 days to fix them first, unless there is a safety, fraud or legal risk.

P-18.4 After termination. Amounts earned and not subject to a hold are transferred to you. Sections P-8, P-11, P-12, P-14, P-15, P-16 and P-19.2 survive.

P-19. Changes

P-19.1 Changes follow Master Platform Terms, section M-18. A change to the Platform Fee follows P-6.7.

P-19.2 Disputes with the Company. Disputes between you and the Company are resolved as set out in Master Platform Terms, section M-19 and the US Schedule (US-6): individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association, with a 30-day opt-out, a small-claims option for either side, and the carve-outs listed there. This does not apply to a Commercial Customer's disputes, which follow the Customer Terms for Associations and Businesses.

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