Terms and Conditions

The Abx-Handymanwebsite and mobile applications (the “Platform”) are operated by Abx Technologies Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales.

• Registered office: 77 Renfrew St. Glasgow, Scotland
• Email: info@abxhandyman.co.uk

By creating an account or using the Platform you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Platform. We recommend you save or print a copy for your records.

We may amend these terms — for example to reflect changes in the law or to our services. We will give you at least 30 days’ notice of any material change by email or in-app notice. If you do not accept the change you may close your account before it takes effect. Changes do not affect any job already booked.

• “Client” — a user who requests or books a service through the Platform.
• “Expert” — an independent, self-employed tradesperson or service provider who offers services through the Platform.
• “Job” — a service requested by a Client and accepted by an Expert.
• “Service Contract” — the contract for the Job, formed directly between the Client and the Expert.
• “Platform Services” — the matching, booking, messaging, payment-handling and support services we provide.
• “Consumer” — an individual acting wholly or mainly outside their trade, business, craft or profession.

We provide the Platform Services. We are not a builder, plumber, electrician, cleaner or contractor of any kind, and we do not carry out the work ourselves.

1. When an Expert accepts a Job, a Service Contract is formed directly between the Client and that Expert. We are not a party to it.
2. The Expert is solely responsible for the work: how it is performed, the materials used, compliance with building regulations and safety requirements, and any guarantee or warranty they offer.
3. We act as the Expert’s commercial agent for the limited purpose of collecting payment from Clients. Payment made to us discharges the Client’s payment obligation under the Service Contract.
4. We verify Experts before they join the Platform, but verification is a screening process, not a guarantee of the standard of any particular piece of work.

Where we describe an Expert as “verified”, we mean we have taken reasonable steps to confirm their identity, relevant qualifications or registrations, and insurance at the time they joined or last renewed. It does not mean we supervise or inspect individual Jobs.

• You must be at least 18 years old to use the Platform.
• You must give accurate registration information and keep it up to date.
• You are responsible for keeping your login details confidential and for all activity on your account. Tell us immediately at info@abxhandyman.co.uk if you suspect unauthorised use.
• One person may hold one Client account and one Expert account. You may not create an account on someone else’s behalf or transfer your account to another person.
• You may close your account at any time — see our account deletion page.

Requests, quotes and acceptance

1. Listings, indicative prices and estimates shown on the Platform are an invitation to treat, not an offer.
2. When you submit a request you are inviting Experts to make an offer. When you accept an Expert’s offer, or an Expert accepts a fixed-price request you have made, the Service Contract is formed and we will send you a confirmation.
3. Quotes are based on the information you provide. If the Expert reasonably finds on attendance that the work is materially different — additional parts, hidden damage, unsafe conditions — they may issue a revised quote. You are not obliged to accept it, but a call-out or inspection fee may apply if it was disclosed before the visit.

Your responsibilities

• Describe the work accurately and disclose anything relevant to safety or access.
• Provide safe access to the property at the agreed time, including any keys, codes, parking or permits needed.
• Confirm you own the property or have the owner’s permission for the work, and obtain any planning permission, landlord consent or building control approval required.
• Keep children and pets away from the work area, and move valuable or fragile items before the Expert arrives.
• Deal directly with the Expert, through the Platform, rather than arranging work off-platform (see Acceptable use).

Your status

Experts use the Platform as independent contractors running their own business. Nothing in these terms creates a relationship of employer and employee, partnership or joint venture between us. You decide whether, when and which Jobs to accept, and you are free to provide services outside the Platform, including to our competitors.

You are responsible for your own income tax, National Insurance contributions and, where applicable, VAT registration and returns, and for registering with HMRC as self-employed.

Your obligations

1. Hold and maintain all qualifications, licences and registrations required by law for the work you offer — including Gas Safe registration for gas work, and registration with a competent person scheme or notification to building control for notifiable electrical work under Part P of the Building Regulations.
2. Hold public liability insurance of at least the amount we specify during onboarding, and employers’ liability insurance if you engage staff. Provide evidence on request and tell us if cover lapses.
3. Carry out every Job with reasonable care and skill, in accordance with applicable building regulations, health and safety law and good trade practice.
4. Attend at the agreed time, or give the Client as much notice as possible if you cannot.
5. Comply with your own obligations to Consumers, including the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, and give any pre-contract information those rules require.
6. Not subcontract a Job to anyone who has not been verified on the Platform without the Client’s agreement. You remain responsible for work carried out by anyone you bring with you.
7. Meet the minimum rating, completion and cancellation standards published in the Expert area of the Platform.

Indemnity

As an Expert acting in the course of your business, you agree to indemnify us against any loss, damage, claim or reasonable cost we suffer arising out of your breach of these terms, your negligence, or any claim by a Client relating to work you have carried out. This clause does not apply to Consumers.

1. Prices are shown in pounds sterling and, where the Client is a Consumer, include VAT where it applies. The total price, including any call-out charge and our service fee, is shown before you confirm a booking.
2. We collect payment from Clients on the Expert’s behalf using our third-party payment provider. Funds are held and released to the Expert after the Job is marked complete, less our fees, in accordance with the payout schedule shown in the Expert area.
3. Our fees.We charge Experts a commission on each completed Job, and may charge Clients a booking or service fee. Current rates are shown on the Platform before you commit. We will give at least 30 days’ notice of any increase.
4. If a payment fails or is charged back, we may recover the amount from your next payout or by other lawful means, together with any charge our payment provider passes on to us.
5. Additional work agreed on site must be added through the Platform. Payments arranged privately are outside the Platform’s payment protection and dispute process.

This section applies to Clients who are Consumers. Because bookings are made at a distance, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give you the right to cancel the Service Contract within 14 days of the contract being formed, without giving a reason.

1. To cancel, tell the Expert or us before the 14 days end — through the Platform, or by emailing info@abxhandyman.co.uk. A clear statement is enough; you may also use the model cancellation form in Schedule 3 to the Regulations.
2. If you want work to start during the 14 days — which is usually the case for urgent or same-day jobs — you must expressly request this. The Platform asks you to confirm this when you book.
3. If you then cancel within the 14 days after work has begun, you must pay a proportionate amount for the service already provided up to the point you told us you were cancelling.
4. You lose the right to cancel once the service has been fully performed, provided performance began with your express request and you acknowledged that you would lose the right on completion.
5. We will refund any amount due within 14 days of being told you are cancelling, using the same payment method you used to pay.

This right to cancel is separate from, and in addition to, the cancellation arrangements in the next section.

• Client cancellation. Outside the statutory cancellation period, you may cancel or reschedule free of charge up to the notice period shown at booking. Later than that, a cancellation fee may apply to cover the Expert’s reserved time and any materials already bought for the Job.
• Expert cancellation. If an Expert cancels, we will help you find a replacement and you will receive a full refund of anything you have paid for that Job. Repeated late cancellation may lead to removal from the Platform.
• No access. If the Expert cannot get access at the agreed time and cannot reach you, the Job may be treated as a late cancellation.
• Unsafe conditions. An Expert may decline or stop work if the site is unsafe, if the work requires a qualification they do not hold, or if proceeding would breach building or safety regulations. This is not a breach of the Service Contract.

Where the Client is a Consumer, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies to the Service Contract. Under that Act the Expert must:

• perform the service with reasonable care and skill (section 49);
• where a price was not agreed in advance, charge a reasonable price (section 51);
• where a time was not agreed in advance, perform the service within a reasonable time (section 52); and
• honour anything said or written about the service or the trader that you took into account when deciding to enter into the contract (section 50).

If the service does not meet those standards you are entitled to repeat performance, or a price reduction where repeat performance is impossible or not done within a reasonable time. Any goods or materials supplied as part of the Job must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described.

These rights are against the Expert as the supplier of the service. We will support you in raising them — see Complaints and disputes. Report any problem within a reasonable time, and in any event as soon as you notice it, and allow the Expert a reasonable opportunity to put it right.

• Reviews must be honest, based on genuine first-hand experience of a completed Job, and must not contain unlawful, defamatory, discriminatory or personally identifying content about third parties.
• We do not pay for reviews, edit them to change their meaning, or suppress negative reviews. We may remove content that breaches these terms or the law, and we may show whether a review relates to a verified booking.
• You keep ownership of content you upload. You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce and display it for the purpose of operating and promoting the Platform. You can end this licence for future use by deleting the content or your account.
• You confirm you have the right to upload any content you post, including photographs of a property.

You must not:

• use the Platform for any unlawful or fraudulent purpose;
• impersonate anyone, or misrepresent your identity, qualifications, insurance or affiliation;
• circumvent the Platform by arranging or taking payment for a Job outside it, where the Client and Expert were introduced through the Platform;
• harass, threaten or discriminate against any user or member of our staff;
• scrape, copy or systematically extract data from the Platform, or use it to build a competing service;
• introduce malicious code, or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Platform or its infrastructure;
• post false reviews or manipulate ratings, including by offering incentives for positive reviews.

You may stop using the Platform and close your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access, on notice where reasonably possible and immediately where necessary, if:

• you materially breach these terms;
• we reasonably suspect fraud, illegality, or a risk to the safety of other users;
• an Expert’s insurance, licence or registration lapses, or they fall below published performance standards; or
• we are required to do so by law or a regulator.

If we suspend or terminate your account we will tell you why, unless doing so would be unlawful or compromise an investigation, and you may appeal by writing to info@abxhandyman.co.uk. Termination does not affect accrued rights, payment due for completed Jobs, or any clause intended to survive.

The Platform, its software, design, text, graphics, logos and the Abx-Handyman name are owned by or licensed to Abx Technologies Ltd and protected by intellectual property law. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-transferable licence to use the Platform for its intended purpose. All other rights are reserved.

If you are a Consumer

• We are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking these terms or failing to use reasonable care and skill in providing the Platform Services. Loss is foreseeable if it is obvious that it will happen, or if you told us about it before we contracted.
• We are not responsible for the performance of the Job itself — that is the Expert’s responsibility under the Service Contract. If work is defective, your claim is against the Expert, although we will help you pursue it.
• We only supply the Platform for domestic and private use. If you use it for any commercial purpose we will have no liability to you for loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption or loss of business opportunity.
• If defective digital content we have supplied damages a device or digital content belonging to you, we will either repair the damage or pay you compensation.

If you are a business user

• We exclude all implied conditions, warranties and representations to the fullest extent permitted by law.
• We are not liable for loss of profit, revenue, business, goodwill, anticipated savings, or any indirect or consequential loss.
• Our total liability to you in connection with the Platform in any 12-month period is limited to the greater of £1,000 and the total fees you paid to us in that period.

We provide the Platform “as is” in the sense that we do not promise it will always be available or uninterrupted. We may suspend it for maintenance, and will give notice where we reasonably can.

1. Raise it with the Expert. Most issues are resolved quickest by messaging the Expert through the Platform and giving them a chance to put the work right.
2. Raise it with us. If that does not work, contact info@abxhandyman.co.uk within a reasonable time. We will acknowledge within 5 working days and aim to give a final response within 8 weeks. Where a Job was paid for through the Platform, we may hold funds while we investigate and issue a refund where appropriate.
3. Alternative dispute resolution. If we cannot resolve your complaint, you may be able to refer it to a certified ADR provider. We will tell you in our final response whether we are willing to use ADR and, if so, which provider.
4. You can also get free, impartial advice from Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133. Nothing here affects your right to take court proceedings.

We are not liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations caused by an event outside our reasonable control, including severe weather, flood, fire, power or network failure, industrial action, epidemic, or acts of government. We will tell you as soon as reasonably possible and take reasonable steps to minimise the effect. If the event lasts more than 30 days, either of us may cancel the affected booking and you will be refunded for anything not provided.

• Transfer. We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another organisation, and will tell you if we do. Your rights will not be affected. You may only transfer yours with our written agreement.
• Third parties. Except as stated in these terms, no one other than you and us has any right to enforce them under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
• Severance. If a court finds any part of these terms unlawful, the remaining paragraphs stay in force.
• Waiver. If we delay in enforcing a term, that does not prevent us from enforcing it later.
• Entire agreement. These terms, together with our Privacy Policy, form the whole agreement between us about the Platform Services.
• Language. These terms are written in English, and the English text governs.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and disputes may be brought in the courts of England and Wales.

If you are a Consumer, you benefit from any mandatory provisions of the law of the country where you live, and nothing here takes those away. If you live in Scotland you may bring proceedings in either the Scottish or the English courts; if you live in Northern Ireland, in either the Northern Irish or the English courts.

• General enquiries: info@abxhandyman.co.uk
• Telephone: +44 7448 788659
• Post: Abx Technologies Ltd, 77 Renfrew St. Glasgow, Scotland