Terms & Conditions

0. Who you are contracting with

OnTheTools is operated by ONTHETOOLS PTY LTD (ACN 702 914 172), a company registered in South Australia. In these terms "OnTheTools", "we", "us" and "our" mean that company. It is the party you are contracting with, and the party responsible for the platform.

You can reach us at support@onthetoolsapp.com.au or through the support link in the app.

1. Who these terms are for

These Terms and Conditions govern use of OnTheTools ("the platform") by clients posting jobs and tradies offering trade services (together, "users", "you"). By creating an account you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the platform.

2. What OnTheTools is (and isn't)

OnTheTools is a marketplace that connects clients who need trade work done with tradies who offer it. We provide the app, messaging, job posting, quoting, and payment-holding tools. We are not a party to the contract for work formed between a client and a tradie, we do not employ or supervise tradies, and we do not guarantee the quality, safety, timeliness, or legality of any work performed. Clients and tradies deal with each other directly and are responsible for their own arrangement.

Tradies use the platform as independent businesses. You decide whether to quote, what to quote, when to work and what work to take. Nothing in these terms makes a tradie our employee, partner or agent, and we do not direct how work is done.

2a. Before jobs open

OnTheTools is opening in two steps. Until opening day, the app shows that jobs haven't opened yet. While it does:

- You can create an account, set up your profile, verify your ABN, add licences and other credentials, set up payouts, post reels and photos of your work, browse and follow tradies, watch, like and comment on their work, and message our Support team.
- Posting jobs, quoting, booking, sending chat messages to anyone other than our Support team, and buying Pro or Platinum are switched off. They open for everyone on opening day.

The app shows the opening date once we have set it. Until then it says "soon". If we have to move the date, the app shows the new one.

If you turn on "Tell me when OnTheTools opens", we send you one notification on the day, as long as notifications are on for OnTheTools on your phone. We don't email you about it. You can turn it off at any time in the app's notification settings.

Once jobs open, this section no longer applies.

3. Eligibility and accounts

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use OnTheTools. You agree to provide accurate information (including any trade, licensing, insurance or ABN details), to keep it up to date, and to keep your sign-in details secure. You're responsible for all activity under your account.

4. What we check, and what it doesn't mean

We check every tradie's ABN with the Australian Business Register. That is what "ABN verified" means: the ABN is real and active. It says nothing about the tradie's licences, skills or work.

Tradies can also add licences, registrations, accreditations, certificates, insurance and a White Card. A person at OnTheTools looks at each one after it is added, and again at each re-check. If it passes, it can show as a badge on the tradie's profile, with the date we did it (9b and section 3 of the privacy policy say when clients see it). The badges mean:

- "Licence checked", "Registration checked" or "Accreditation checked" means that on the date shown we looked it up on the register or official list that issued it (for SA building, plumbing, gas, electrical and security licences, the SA Government's CBS register), and it showed as current. If the issuer publishes a dated list rather than a live register, the badge shows the list's date too. A business's licence, such as a building work, plumbing, gas fitting or electrical contractor licence, was held by the business behind the tradie's ABN (for a sole trader, the tradie; for a trust, its trustee; for a business run by partners, those partners). A licence, registration or accreditation that only a person can hold, such as a refrigerant handling licence or a cabler registration, was held by the tradie, and on a company or trust profile the badge names them. If anyone else holds it, it doesn't get this badge. Before clients see this badge, we confirm the tradie is the person named on it (for a licence held by a company, a person the register lists as a director or its nominee).
- "Certificate sighted", "Insurance certificate sighted", "Licence card sighted" and "White Card sighted" mean that on the date shown we looked at a copy of the document and the name on it matched the tradie's profile (for insurance, the business behind their ABN). We didn't confirm it with whoever issued it, and these badges don't mean we confirmed the tradie is the person named on it.

If a profile says "On file" or "Self-declared", the tradie told us and we haven't checked it.

If the register shows conditions on a licence, the badge says so. On a quote, "Licence checked" means a person at OnTheTools matched the licence's class or conditions, as the register showed them, to the trade your job was posted under. It doesn't mean they cover everything your job involves, and we don't check that.

Each check is about the day shown. A licence can be suspended, cancelled or given new conditions, and insurance can end, after we look. A badge with an expiry date comes off on that date unless the renewal has been checked. A licence with no expiry date, such as a CBS licence, is re-checked every 12 months, and its badge comes off if that isn't done in time. We also re-check after a report about the tradie, or a public warning from CBS that names them. If we learn a licence has been suspended or cancelled, we take its badge off the same day. Between checks we may not know about a change.

We don't check the quality of anyone's work, their work history or police record, or whether they hold every licence a job needs. A profile lists the trades the tradie picked. Search and job alerts also include related work the app ticks with them, which the tradie can untick. Showing under a trade is not a statement by us that they hold a licence for it. No badge doesn't tell you a tradie is unlicensed, and it doesn't tell you they are licensed. It can mean they haven't added anything, we haven't checked it yet, we couldn't check it, it can't be shown yet, or a badge came off (for example, it expired or the register changed).

We don't charge for checks, a badge can't be bought, and a paid plan doesn't change what we check. A badge is not a recommendation, and it is not a guarantee.

Check for your job. Before work starts, look the licence up yourself on the register (the app links to it), ask to see the card, and ask for a current insurance certificate - especially for electrical, plumbing, gas and building work, and for bigger jobs. Holding the right licence for a job is the tradie's legal duty. Checking it before you hire is your best protection.

Some trade work also has its own legal requirements that sit outside this platform - for example, in South Australia domestic building work above a set value must be under a written contract with a cooling-off period. Those requirements are between you and the tradie. We do not provide that contract and do not check whether one exists.

5. How and when we take the payment

How we take the payment depends on the job and how you pay. The app tells you which one applies, and the date, before you confirm - and that is the date we use.

Sometimes your bank sets the amount aside instead of charging it - a card reservation. A reservation is not a charge: nothing has been taken, but it does lower your available balance while it is there, including on a debit card. We take it 24 hours before the start you and the tradie confirmed, or about six days after you book if the job is later than that or no day has been agreed - whichever comes first - and at the latest when the tradie marks the work done. We tell you the date when you book, and remind you the day before. We never take more than the amount reserved.

Otherwise we take the payment straight away when you book. That is how it works on jobs paid in stages, on site visits, if you choose to pay now, if a reservation has already failed once, and with payment methods that cannot be reserved - Link and buy-now-pay-later are always taken at once. It is also how we take every payment during any period when card reservations are switched off. If you are not sure which applies to your job, the pay screen says so before you confirm.

If the tradie marks the work done before your scheduled charge date, we take the payment then. From that point the booking can no longer be cancelled in the app. If you do not agree the work is done, raise a dispute - see section 11.

Either way, once we have the money it is a held payment: money we hold until the job is done and the payment is released. Held money is not our property. A platform fee is deducted from the amount paid to the tradie. Held funds are released to the tradie when the client confirms the work is done, or automatically 7 days after the tradie marks it done if the client doesn't respond (we warn the client at 5 days).

We only ever take one payment for a job. If money reaches us that a booking cannot take - a duplicate, or a payment for a job that has already been cancelled - we refund it in full without being asked.

5a. Refunds - the point of no return

Confirming a job complete is final. When you press "Confirm complete & release payment", you are instructing us to pay the tradie, and we release the money to the tradie straight away. It then reaches their bank on their Stripe payout schedule - usually the next business day. From that moment we cannot refund you, because we no longer hold your money - it is the tradie's. Do not confirm a job until you have actually inspected the work and are satisfied with it.

There is no cooling-off period on that action and we cannot undo it. That does not take away your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, and it does not affect any claim you have against the tradie for work that was not done properly - see 5b, which explains where those rights sit once the money has gone.

While a payment is still held, and only while it is still held, a refund is possible in these situations:

- The tradie cancels. If a tradie pulls out of a job you have paid for, they can cancel it in the app. You choose what happens to your money: take it back to your card, or put it toward another tradie's quote for the same job (if that quote costs less we refund the difference; if it costs more you pay the difference). Until you choose, it stays held as a credit on the job, because most people in that position want the job done rather than their money back - and your job is reopened so other tradies can quote. If you have not chosen after seven days we return it to your card without being asked. If a tradie cancels while your card is only reserved, the reservation is released, nothing is charged to anyone, and the cancellation still counts on the tradie's record.

- You raise a dispute. If the work has not been done, was not done as agreed, or the tradie has gone silent, you can raise a dispute from the job chat before confirming. Section 11 sets out how we handle it, what we can do about the money, and how long we take.

Once a release has started, neither route is available: the money is in transit to the tradie's bank. If a release cannot be completed for some reason and the money is still with us, section 11 still applies to it.

5b. Your rights under Australian Consumer Law

Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any guarantee, right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law, and nothing in them is intended to. Where a term would otherwise do so, it applies only to the extent the law allows.

In particular, sections 5a and 11 describe what OnTheTools can and cannot do with money it is holding - they do not limit any claim you may have directly against a tradie for work that is not of acceptable quality, not fit for purpose, or not delivered with due care and skill. Those consumer guarantees are owed to you by the tradie who did the work, and remain available to you regardless of whether the payment has been released, and regardless of anything we decide about held funds.

We also give consumer guarantees for our own service - the app itself and the payment tools we provide. Those are owed by us and nothing here limits them.

These terms are a standard-form contract that we offer to everyone, including tradies who are small businesses. The unfair contract terms regime applies to that, and we do not intend to rely on any term of this contract that is unfair within the meaning of the Australian Consumer Law. If you think a term here is unfair, tell us - we would rather change it than argue about it.

5c. If you cancel a job you have paid for

You can cancel a job you have paid for from the job chat, up until the tradie marks it complete. What it costs depends on how much notice you give, because that is what it costs the tradie.

More than 24 hours before the day and time you agreed - or where no day has been agreed yet - you are refunded in full and there is no fee. Nobody has turned work away yet.

Inside 24 hours of the agreed start, a cancellation fee comes out of your refund. It has two parts: our booking cost - what a booking that doesn't go ahead costs us to process, a percentage of the job plus 30c - and compensation to the tradie for the day they can no longer fill, which is 15% of the job with a $25 minimum and a $150 maximum. The total is capped so it is never more than 30% of the job or the amount you paid. The fee is the same whichever way you paid. The app shows the exact figures - the fee, what goes to the tradie and what comes back to you - before you confirm, and they are the figures we charge. The figures that apply to your job are the ones shown when you booked it; if we change the fee later, it never applies to a job already booked.

Only a day you and the tradie have both confirmed counts. If no day has been confirmed, or the tradie hasn't said they're on their way two hours after the agreed start, there is no fee.

OnTheTools takes no margin on a cancellation. Of the fee, we keep only the booking cost; the rest goes to the tradie.

A job being paid in stages cannot be cancelled this way (see 5f), and once a tradie has marked the work complete this is no longer a cancellation - raise a dispute instead.

5d. Money you owe us can come out of your payouts (tradies)

If you owe OnTheTools one of the amounts listed below, you agree we may recover it by deducting it from money we would otherwise pay you, before we pay it. This is the only collection route that does not depend on a card or a bank transfer going through. The list is exhaustive - we do not set off anything that is not on it:

- A cancellation charge, where you cancelled a job a client had already paid for. It is our cost of a booking that doesn't go ahead - a percentage of the job plus 30c, shown in the app before you confirm the cancellation - and we take no margin on it.
- A chargeback shortfall (see 5e).
- An advance we paid you that was later unwound - for example a cancellation fee paid to you on a job where the client's refund then failed.

How we deduct it. We deduct in instalments rather than all at once, oldest debt first, and we do not take more than half of any one payout unless you ask us to clear it faster. What you owe, why, and how much is left is shown on your Payments screen, and it is shown before it is taken, not after. Nothing is deducted for a reason you have not been told.

If you think an amount is wrong, tell us before your next payout and we will hold the deduction while we check it. If we deduct more than we should have, we pay the difference back on your next payout without you having to ask.

These amounts stay owing if you close your account, and we can still recover them from later payouts if you come back.

5e. Chargebacks (tradies)

A client can ask their bank to reverse a card payment - a chargeback - and a bank can do that months after the job, and after we have paid you. When it happens the bank takes the money back from OnTheTools regardless of who was right.

Where we have already paid you for that job, you agree we may reverse the transfer and recover the amount from your connected Stripe account. If your balance no longer covers it - because it has already reached your bank - the shortfall becomes an amount you owe us and is recovered under 5d.

We do this when the chargeback is raised rather than when it is decided, because by the time a bank decides, weeks later, the money is usually gone and cannot be recovered at all. If the bank finds in our favour, we return the full amount to you and cancel any shortfall we raised - you are not left short for a claim that failed. If we cannot send it back because your payout account is closed, under review or not set up, we hold it for you and pay it as soon as we can, and section 11's timeframes apply to how long we hold it.

A chargeback also freezes the job: nothing further is paid out on it until the claim is resolved.

5f. Jobs paid in stages

Larger jobs can be set up with a payment schedule, so the client pays one stage at a time and each stage is held and released on its own. A stage is released only when the work for that stage is signed off, and the client pays the next stage after that.

A staged job cannot be cancelled in one action by either side - some stages may already be with the tradie and others not owed at all. If a staged job needs to end early, raise a dispute under section 11.

Be aware of what we can and cannot do with a stage that is in dispute. We can send that stage's money to the tradie, or refund that stage to the client. We cannot split a single stage between you. So if you expect to be paid for part of a stage, or to get part of one back, that is something for you and the other party to agree - we can hold the money while you do, and we will say so in writing. Stages that have not been paid yet are simply not charged.

5g. Invoices, GST and tax

Every amount OnTheTools charges or shows you is in Australian dollars and includes GST where GST applies to it.

The contract for the work is between the client and the tradie, so the tradie is the supplier of that work and is responsible for their own GST and tax obligations, including whether they are registered for GST and what they must charge. OnTheTools is not the supplier of the trade work and does not give tax advice.

The platform fee and any subscription are our own charges to the tradie for using the platform. We will give you a tax invoice for them. The invoice the app produces for a job is a record of what was agreed and paid through the platform; it is the tradie's responsibility to make sure their own tax invoicing meets ATO requirements for their circumstances.

Australian law requires online platforms to report the transactions their suppliers make through the platform to the Australian Taxation Office. We do that for tradies, twice a year, as the Sharing Economy Reporting Regime requires. It is a legal obligation, not something you or we can opt out of. The privacy policy says what is reported.

Charges from OnTheTools appear on your statement as ONTHETOOLS* JOB followed by the job number shown in the app. If your debit card carries both eftpos and Visa or Mastercard, a payment may be processed over either network.

5h. Points, rewards and referrals

Tradies and clients earn points for completed jobs, and points can be redeemed for rewards shown in the app. Points and rewards have no cash value, cannot be transferred or sold, and cannot be exchanged for money.

Points are earned only on jobs where a real amount was collected and released - there is a minimum job value (currently $20) below which a job earns none, and jobs that are refunded, cancelled or charged back do not earn them.

Client vouchers. A voucher you mint from points expires 90 days after you create it, and the app shows the date. Vouchers are also limited by a monthly budget across the whole platform, so at busy times you may have the points and still not be able to mint one until the next month. A voucher applied when you book is set aside for that job; if the booking is cancelled before anything is taken, the voucher comes back to you. Vouchers have no cash value.

Referral rewards require a genuine referral: your code being used by a new tradie who then completes and is paid for a real job. Creating accounts to refer yourself, running jobs between accounts you control, or otherwise manufacturing activity to mint points or rewards is a breach of these terms, and we may cancel the points, withdraw the rewards and suspend the accounts involved.

Referral months are applied as a credit against a subscription we bill by card. If your subscription is billed through Apple we cannot apply a credit to it, because Apple controls that billing - so referral months you earn while on an Apple-billed plan cannot be spent while you stay on it. We will tell you if that is your situation before you rely on one.

Tradie rewards are fulfilled by hand. When you claim one we aim to send it within 10 business days, and we will tell you if it will take longer. We may substitute a reward of equal value if the one you chose is unavailable, and we will ask you first. Where a reward is a gift card from a third party, that card is subject to the issuer's own terms, including its expiry, which is set by the issuer and not by us.

We may change the earn rates, the rewards on offer, or the programme itself, and we will show current rates in the app. A change to the earn rate applies from the date we make it and never takes away points you have already earned, and we will give you at least 30 days before withdrawing a reward tier you already have enough points to claim.

5i. When a reservation ends

If a booking is cancelled before we take the payment, we release the reservation and nothing is charged. Releasing a reservation is not a refund - your bank decides how long the pending amount keeps showing, and some banks take several days. If we can't take a reserved payment when it's due, we'll ask you to pay another way by a stated time; if you don't, the booking is released at no cost to you or the tradie. That deadline can be short if the job is close, so the app shows you the exact time.

For tradies: a reserved payment is not yet yours or ours - it becomes a held payment when we take it, and your payout timing starts from then. If a client's payment can't be taken and the booking is released, there's no compensation, and it doesn't count against you. Your quote on that job is closed, so if the client comes back you will need to quote again.

5j. Site visits

Some jobs start with a paid site visit: the client pays a set amount for the tradie to come and look at the work before anyone commits to a price. It is a separate, smaller job of its own, and it is paid for straight away rather than reserved.

What the fee buys is the visit - the tradie's time and travel to attend and assess the work. It does not buy the work itself, a quote at any particular price, or any obligation on either side to go ahead.

The fee is a percentage of the visit amount to us, and the rest goes to the tradie. There is a cap on what a site visit can cost, which depends on the trade, and the app shows the amount before you pay.

After the visit, the tradie marks it done and you have 2 days to confirm or raise a dispute; if you do neither, the money is released to them. If the tradie does not attend, raise a dispute under section 11 - not attending is exactly what a dispute is for, and we hold the money until it is resolved.

If you then book that tradie for the main job, what you paid for the visit comes off the main job's price as a credit, so you are not paying twice for the same visit. Because of that credit, a quote for the main job has to be at least the visit amount plus a small margin. The credit only applies to a job you book with the same tradie, and it does not expire while that job is still open. If you never book the main job, the visit fee is not refunded - the visit already happened.

A site visit cannot be cancelled under 5c. If you need to call one off, raise a dispute.

5k. If you go to your bank instead (clients)

If something has gone wrong with a job, raise a dispute in the app first. It is faster than a bank, we still have the money at that point, and we can actually refund you - section 11 sets out how, and what we must do.

If you ask your bank to reverse a payment instead, you agree to two things. First, that we may give your bank or card scheme what they ask for to answer the claim: the job record, the quotes, the chat on that job, the photos, the payment and completion record, and the record of which version of these terms you accepted and when. We will not send them more than the claim needs. Second, that where your bank reverses a payment we have already released to the tradie, the money has gone to the tradie and your claim for that work is against them - we may ask you to repay us what the bank took back, and we may hold your account while that is sorted out.

None of this applies where the payment was not authorised by you, or where the bank finds in your favour. If your bank decides against us we accept it, and if your bank decides for us we will explain why and what you can do next. Using your bank is always open to you and we are not trying to talk you out of a genuine claim - we are asking you to try us first, while we still hold the money.

6. Conduct we expect from everyone

Be honest and fair. Clients should describe jobs accurately, respond to quotes in good faith, and release payment promptly once work is genuinely complete. Tradies should quote honestly, perform work as described, and communicate delays or issues promptly. Both sides should communicate respectfully - harassment, threats, discrimination, or abusive language toward another user will not be tolerated and may result in account suspension.

7. Reviews and ratings

Reviews (of tradies by clients, and of clients by tradies) must reflect genuine experiences from a completed job. Fake, retaliatory, or manipulated reviews are prohibited. We may remove reviews that violate this or that contain abusive content, but we are not obligated to mediate every rating dispute.

8. Photos and content you upload

You retain ownership of photos, videos and other content you upload. By uploading job-posting photos, you agree they may be shown publicly to tradies browsing jobs. Completion photos a tradie uploads are only shown publicly if the client explicitly consents via the in-app consent choice - otherwise they're used only to confirm the job between the two of you. Don't upload anything you don't have the right to share, or anything illegal, offensive, or identifying people without their consent.

So that we can actually show your content in the app, you give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, copy, resize and display it for the purpose of running the platform, and to show it to the people these terms say can see it. That licence lasts while the content is on the platform and ends when you delete it, except for copies we have to keep for a dispute or by law. We do not sell your content, license it to anyone else, or use it in paid advertising without asking you first.

9. Prohibited conduct

You agree not to: circumvent the platform's payment or fee system by arranging off-platform payment for a job originated on OnTheTools; provide false information about your identity, qualifications, or a job; add a licence, certificate, insurance certificate or other document that is false, altered, or not yours or your business's, or use someone else's licence number; use the platform for unsafe, unlicensed, or illegal work where licensing is legally required, including quoting for work your licence's class or conditions don't cover; or attempt to scrape, hack, or disrupt the platform.

9a. Subscriptions (Pro and Platinum)

Tradies may subscribe to a paid plan. Plans are billed monthly in Australian dollars, include GST, and renew automatically until cancelled. The price and the platform fee rate for each plan are shown in the app before you subscribe, and the plan you are on sets the fee deducted when a job is paid out to you.

Where you subscribe on iPhone, the purchase is made through Apple and billed to your Apple Account. Payment is taken when you confirm, and again at the start of each renewal period unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the current period ends. Cancelling is done in your Apple Account settings, not in OnTheTools - we cannot cancel or refund an Apple subscription on your behalf, and deleting the app does not cancel it. A small number of accounts hold an older plan billed by card through Stripe rather than through Apple. If yours is one of them, you can cancel it from the app.

If a renewal payment fails, your plan enters a grace period (currently 14 days) during which your existing rate is kept. If it is still unpaid at the end of that period, the account drops to the Free plan and the Free fee rate applies to jobs paid from that point on. Dropping to Free also changes how often we pay out, from daily to weekly.

Cancelling stops future renewals; it does not refund the period already paid for, and you keep your plan until the end of it. The rate that applies to a job is the rate in force when the job was booked and paid for - a later change to your plan does not change what was already agreed on that job.

9b. Licences, certificates, insurance and White Cards (tradies)

When you add a licence, registration, accreditation, certificate, insurance certificate or White Card, you confirm that it is yours or your business's, that it is genuine, current and unaltered, and that the details you enter match it.

You agree that we can look it up on the register, or with the body, that issued it, and show the badge and the details the privacy policy lists on your profile and your quotes. Clients only see a licence, registration or accreditation badge once we have confirmed you are the person named on it (for a licence held by a company, a person the register lists as a director or its nominee). White Cards have no public register, so for a White Card we can only look at the card.

Your part:

- Keep it current. If a licence is suspended, cancelled or given new conditions, or your insurance ends or changes, update it in the app or tell us at support@onthetoolsapp.com.au within 7 days.
- Hold every licence and registration your work legally needs, keep to its class and conditions, and only quote for work it covers. Don't present a licence with conditions as if it had none. A badge doesn't change what the law lets you do.
- Show your licence number where the law says you must. In South Australia, building work, plumbing, gas fitting and electrical contractors must show their licence number in their advertisements, and building work contractors must show the name on their licence too. That is your duty, and a badge on OnTheTools doesn't meet it for you. Your badge doesn't show the number. If you want it on your OnTheTools profile, add it to your bio.

What we can do. We decide whether to show a badge. We can take one off at any time - for example when it expires, when a re-check is due or fails, when the register shows it suspended or cancelled, or while we look into a report - and the app tells you why. If you change a credential's number, expiry or photo, its badge comes off until we check it again. Adding a document that is false, altered or someone else's is grounds for immediate suspension (see section 12), and we may tell the body that issued it.

Our records. Within OnTheTools, only you and the people who check credentials can open the photos and files you add. Our storage provider can reach them only to run the service, and we disclose a document only as the privacy policy (4a) says, for example to the body that issued one that looks false, or where the law requires it. We keep a record of every check, including a copy of what the register showed, for seven years after the badge comes off (or after the check, if no badge ever showed), even if you delete your account. The privacy policy (3b and 5) explains who sees what and how long we keep it.

9c. Reels, photos and public content

Tradies can post short videos (reels) and photos of their work, and other users can bump, comment on, save and share them. Anything you post this way is public to anyone using the app. Do not post work that is not yours, footage of a client's property without their agreement, or anything that identifies a person who has not agreed to appear. We may hide or remove content that is reported and found to break these terms, and repeated breaches may suspend the account. Files you send in a chat (such as plans or quotes) are visible only to the two people in that conversation. The licence in section 8 covers this content too.

9d. Location

Job alerts are matched on distance, so tradies choose how far they are willing to travel and we compare that against the job's suburb. If you share your live location with a client on the way to a job, it is shared only with that client, only for that job, and only until you stop sharing or the share expires. You can turn location off in your device settings; job alerts by distance will stop working if you do. The privacy policy explains what we collect, including while the app is in the background, and how long we keep it.

10. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

We give the consumer guarantees the Australian Consumer Law requires for our own service, and nothing in this section limits them or any other right you have that cannot be limited by agreement - see 5b.

Beyond those rights, and to the extent the law allows us to say so: we do not promise the platform will be uninterrupted or error-free, and we are not liable for the acts or omissions of any user, the quality or safety of work performed, property damage, injury, or any dispute between a client and a tradie. Users engage each other at their own risk and should check credentials and consider their own insurance. A badge records a check on the date shown (see section 4). It is not a promise about anyone or their work.

Where the law allows us to limit what we owe you, our total liability to you for everything arising out of these terms or your use of the platform is limited to the greater of $1,000 and the total fees we charged you in the 12 months before the claim arose. We are not liable for loss of profit, loss of business, or loss you could have avoided by taking reasonable steps. Where a law lets us choose, our liability for our own service is limited to supplying it again or paying the cost of having it supplied again.

Tradies: you are responsible for the work you do and you agree to cover us for what we have to pay because of it - a claim by a client or anyone else arising from your work, your conduct on the platform, or your breach of these terms, including a credential you added that was false or not yours, or that you didn't keep up to date (section 9b). That does not extend to anything caused by us. You should hold public liability insurance appropriate to your trade, and any licences your work legally requires.

11. Disputes over money we are holding

While we are holding the money for a job, either of you can raise a dispute in the app. Raising one freezes the money - nothing is paid out and nothing is refunded until it is closed. You can raise a dispute from the moment we take the payment until the money is released. Once it is released it has left us and this section no longer applies.

How we hold the money. When you pay for a job, we collect that payment as the tradie's agent. Paying us is the same as paying them, so your debt to the tradie is settled at that moment. The money then sits in our account with Stripe, our payment processor, until it is paid out or refunded under these terms. We do not treat it as ours and we do not use it for anything else.

What we do with a dispute. We ask both of you for your side and anything that backs it up, and we look at the job record, the chat and the photos in the app. We decide on what the two of you give us. Before we decide, each of you gets to see what the other has said and answer it.

What we can do. One of three things: send the money to the tradie, refund it to the client, or leave it held and tell you both to settle it between yourselves. We cannot split the money between you - see 5f. We will tell you which, in writing, with our reasons.

How long we take. We decide within 10 business days of receiving the last thing we asked for. If we need longer we will tell you why and give you a new date. We will not hold money for more than 30 business days from the day the dispute was raised unless you both agree, or unless a bank or card scheme has frozen it - in which case we are waiting on them and we will tell you.

If you think we got it wrong. Tell us within 10 business days and a different person here will look at it again. That is the end of our process.

What our decision does and does not do. It settles what happens to the money we are holding, and nothing else. We are not a court and this is not arbitration. It does not decide who was right, it does not affect any claim either of you has against the other, and it does not affect your rights under the Australian Consumer Law - see 5b. We are not a party to the job (see 2) and we are not responsible for the work.

When we hold money without anyone raising a dispute. Sometimes we have to. For example: the tradie never marks the job done; the tradie's account is suspended or under review; we cannot pay a tradie because their payout account is not set up; a stage of a staged job is never signed off; a cancellation and a completion land at the same moment; or a bank reverses a payment. If we are holding your money for one of those reasons we will tell you both within 2 business days what we are holding and why, and the timeframes above apply to it from that day - so held money always has an end date, whether or not anyone raised a dispute. If we get to the end of that and the two of you have not agreed, we will refund the client, because it is their money we took.

12. Suspension, termination and what happens to money

We may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms, involves fraud, or creates a real risk to other users or to us.

Before we do, we will tell you what the problem is and give you a fair chance to explain or fix it, and we will tell you our decision and our reasons. We may suspend first and ask afterwards where there is a risk of harm, fraud or loss that will not wait, or where the law requires it - and in that case we will tell you why within 2 business days and you can still respond. If you think we got it wrong, tell us and a different person here will look at it again.

Money is not affected by a suspension. If your account is suspended or closed: a card reservation on a booking you can no longer go ahead with is released; money we are holding for a job is dealt with under section 11 and its timeframes, including the end date; a payout already on its way to your bank still goes; an amount you owe us under 5d stays owing and can still be recovered from later payouts; and a live dispute is still decided. We do not keep money because an account was closed.

You may stop using the platform and close your account at any time. You can delete your account in the app. We may refuse a deletion while money is in flight on one of your jobs - a payment we are holding, a payout in transit or an open dispute - because deleting the account would strand it. We will tell you what is outstanding and you can delete once it is resolved. The privacy policy explains what survives deletion and why.

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. If a change makes things worse for you, we'll tell you in the app at least 14 days before it takes effect, and ask you to accept the new version before you next pay or get paid. A change to a fee never applies to a job that was already booked or paid when the change took effect. We keep a record of which version you accepted and when.

If you don't accept a change you can stop using the platform and close your account, and the version you last accepted keeps applying to jobs already under way.

14. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of South Australia and the Commonwealth of Australia. You and OnTheTools submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of South Australia. Nothing here prevents you from bringing a claim in a tribunal or forum that the law gives you access to regardless of this clause, including a state consumer tribunal, a small business commissioner, the Fair Work Commission, or the Australian Financial Complaints Authority where it applies.

15. Contact

Questions about these terms can be sent to support@onthetoolsapp.com.au, or through the support link in the app.

16. General

If part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, that part is read down as far as needed to make it work, or removed if it cannot be - and the rest keeps applying.

Sections that are meant to outlast the account do: 5d (amounts you owe us), 5e and 5k (chargebacks), 5g (tax), 8 (the licence, for content we still have to hold), 10 (liability), 11 (money we are holding) and this section.

If we don't enforce something straight away, we haven't given up the right to enforce it later. We may transfer these terms to someone who takes over the business, and we will tell you if that happens; you can't transfer your account to someone else.

We send you notices in the app, by push notification, or by email to the address on your account. Notices to us go to support@onthetoolsapp.com.au.

These terms, the privacy policy, and the figures the app shows you before you confirm something, are the whole of what is agreed between us about the platform. Nothing anyone said outside them adds to it.