Last updated 31 October 2026
Please read these terms. They include a binding arbitration agreement and a waiver of class actions (section 21), a release of claims (section 17) and limits on what HonestWork owes you (section 16). They decide how disputes with us are resolved. By creating an account, posting a job, taking a job or paying through HonestWork, you agree to them.
HonestWork is a platform where customers post work and independent workers take it. Workers are independent contractors, not our employees, agents or partners. They set their own prices, choose which jobs to take, decline freely, decide how to do the work, and use their own tools and vehicles.
When a customer awards a job, the agreement to do the work is between the customer and the worker. HonestWork is not a party to it. We are not the contractor. We do not perform the work, supervise it, direct it or inspect it, and we do not guarantee its quality, safety, timing or legality, or that it gets done at all.
We are not a neutral noticeboard. We take payment, hold it, schedule the work, keep the record and decide disputes. So we accept responsibility for that process: for holding the money safely, for releasing it only under the rules described here, and for deciding disputes on the evidence. That promise is about the money we hold. It does not make us responsible for the work itself, for anything that happens at the property, or for anything either side does.
Holding funds until work is verified is a payment process, not an insurance product, and nothing here is a policy of insurance. Where we offer to make good on a problem, it is a limited, discretionary goodwill remedy with a stated cap.
HonestWork does not require workers to carry insurance and does not insure the work. Workers are responsible for their own insurance, such as general liability, tools and vehicle cover, and any cover the law requires for the work they take on. A worker without insurance is personally responsible for damage or injury their work causes.
Customers: unless a worker's profile shows verified insurance, assume they have none. If that matters for a job, ask before you award it. Check what your own home insurance covers.
By taking a job, a worker confirms that they:
Work requiring a state licence — HVAC, electrical, plumbing, roofing, gas, pest control and similar — may not be posted or performed through HonestWork unless and until we enable it with verified licence checks. Posting such work as something else is a breach of these terms.
Handyman, drywall, appliance and "Something else" jobs must be minor work, priced under $2,500 in total for labour and materials, and must not need a building permit. Anything larger is contractor work and can't be booked here. We may remove, refuse or cancel any job we think needs a licence, a permit or more than these terms allow.
We may ask workers to match a photo ID to a live selfie through an outside provider. That shows a person is who they say they are, and nothing more. Unless a profile says otherwise, we do not run criminal background checks, and we do not check skills, licences, insurance or references. We don't promise that any check is accurate or complete, and passing one is not a recommendation.
Jobs introduced through HonestWork should be booked and paid through HonestWork. Work taken off the platform loses payment protection, dispute handling and any ratings for both sides, and anything that goes wrong with it is between the two of you. Persistent circumvention can end an account.
Reviews come only from paid, completed jobs, and are published without the author's name. The person reviewed may reply once publicly and may appeal. Reviews are removed for breaking the rules, not for being unflattering. Money decisions — refunds, cancellations, no-show findings — may also be appealed, and remain reversible until the appeal is decided. Our dispute and appeal decisions are about the money we hold. They do not stop either of you taking up a claim against the other.
Accurate job descriptions. Show up when you said. No harassment, no discrimination, no unsafe work. Nothing illegal, no false reviews, no fake accounts, no scraping or attacking the service, and no using HonestWork to reach people for anything other than the job. We can suspend an account for safety reasons at any time.
You keep ownership of the photos, messages and reviews you post. You give HonestWork a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to store, use, show and copy them to run the service, keep the job record, decide disputes and appeals, meet legal duties and protect our users. That licence lasts as long as we keep the record. Don't post anything you don't have the right to post. Copyright complaints go to support@findhonestwork.com with the details the law requires, and we close the accounts of repeat infringers.
HonestWork is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent the law allows, we make no promises or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the service, about any user, or about any job, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, workmanship, title and non-infringement. We don't promise that the service will be uninterrupted, error-free or secure, that a job will be taken, or that any information a user gives is true. Anything a worker promises about their work is their promise, not ours.
To the fullest extent the law allows:
This section does not reduce what we must do with money we hold under these terms: if these terms say we refund or release it, we will. And it doesn't limit any liability that the law does not allow to be limited, such as liability for our own fraud or intentional misconduct.
Disputes about a job are between the customer and the worker. To the fullest extent the law allows, you release HonestWork, its owners, officers, contractors and service providers from all claims, demands and damages, known and unknown, arising from a dispute with another user or from the work, the job or anything that happens at the property. This doesn't release us from our obligations about money we hold, or from anything the law doesn't allow to be released.
You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless HonestWork, its owners, officers, contractors and service providers against any claim, loss, damage, fine, cost or expense, including reasonable lawyers' fees, arising from: your use of HonestWork; your breach of these terms or of any law; any job you post, take or perform; anyone you bring to a job; or content you post. For workers this includes any claim that the work caused injury or damage, or needed a licence, permit or insurance that you didn't have. We may take charge of our own defence, and you will cooperate with it.
Home and yard work has real risks: ladders, roofs, tools, chemicals, heat, animals and other people's property. You choose whom to deal with and what work to do or have done, and you accept the risks of that choice. Take the care you would take with any stranger you invite to your home or any home you are invited into.
You can close your account at any time. We may suspend or close an account, remove content, or cancel a job if we think you have broken these terms, put someone at risk, or exposed us to legal risk. A suspension can be appealed. Money we hold when an account closes is still released or refunded under these terms. Sections 4 (amounts owed), 5, 6, 14 to 19, 21, 22 and 24 survive after an account closes.
Talk to us first. Before starting any claim against HonestWork, email support@findhonestwork.com with your name, what happened and what you want. We will try for 30 days to settle it.
Arbitration. If it isn't settled, any dispute between you and HonestWork about these terms or the service will be decided by binding arbitration with one arbitrator, under the American Arbitration Association's Consumer Arbitration Rules, and not in court. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this agreement. The arbitration takes place in the county where you live, or by phone or video. For a claim of $10,000 or less, we pay the filing and arbitrator fees beyond what you would pay to file in court, unless the arbitrator finds the claim frivolous.
Exceptions. Either of us may bring an individual claim in small claims court, and either of us may go to court over intellectual property or to stop unauthorised use of the service.
No class actions. You and HonestWork may bring claims only individually, not as a plaintiff or class member in a class, collective or representative action. The arbitrator may not combine claims of more than one person. If 25 or more similar claims are filed by or with the help of the same lawyers or group, they will be heard in batches of up to 25, with one arbitrator per batch.
Opting out. You may opt out of this section within 30 days of first agreeing to these terms by emailing support@findhonestwork.com from the address on your account with the words "arbitration opt-out". Opting out changes nothing else in these terms.
If the class action waiver is found unenforceable for a claim, that claim goes to court and not to arbitration. If any other part of this section is found unenforceable, the rest still applies.
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida and of the United States, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any court case allowed under these terms will be heard in the state or federal courts for St. Johns County, Florida, and you and HonestWork agree to those courts.