Customer Terms & Conditions
Effective: June 2025 | Incorporated: Delaware | Operations: Arizona, expanding nationwide | Updated: May 2026
Welcome. You deserve a home service experience that actually works — an exact appointment time, a real professional, a fair price, documented work, and someone who stands behind it. That is exactly what you are getting here. Read these terms so you know your rights, what to expect, and how to use this platform effectively. The more you understand how it works, the better your experience will be.
1. What Ohana Helps Is and Is Not
Ohana Helps is a neutral technology marketplace. We connect customers with independent, self-employed home service professionals. We do not perform any work. We do not employ vendors. We are not a handyman company. Think of us the way you think of eBay or Amazon Marketplace — the platform creates the connection, documents everything, and enforces the rules. The seller — in our case the vendor — is the one responsible for what they provide. Here is exactly what that means for you: • The vendor you book is your service provider — an independent 1099 self-employed professional, not an Ohana Helps employee • The vendor is 100% responsible for the quality, safety, completion, warranty, and any damages related to their work • Ohana Helps has no liability for the work performed — our role is to connect, document, process payment, and enforce • Your agreement for the work is between you and the vendor — Ohana Helps facilitates and enforces it • If a vendor wrongs you, we will actively help you pursue them through our platform enforcement and arbitration process • If you wrong a vendor, we will actively help them pursue you — this platform protects everyone equally We vet vendors, require background checks, require insurance, and require training. But vetting is not a performance guarantee. The vendor is an independent professional and owns everything that happens on their jobs.
2. What You Get That Nobody Else Offers
Most home service platforms give vendors your contact information and walk away. That is not what we do. Every step of your experience — from quote to payment to warranty — is documented, timestamped, and stored. You are protected in ways no other platform provides. • AI-powered instant quotes based on 13,000+ real past appointments — no salesperson, no runaround • Real appointment times — not windows. Know exactly when your professional arrives. • Background-checked, vetted vendors with profiles, ratings, and bios you review before booking • Your card saved securely through Stripe — you never hand payment information to a stranger on your doorstep • Before and after photos on every single job — timestamped and stored in your account forever • Timer-based billing — you pay for actual time worked, not padded flat bids • Job-specific workmanship guarantees enforced through the platform against the vendor • A neutral platform that documents everything and enforces the rules on both sides • A leaderboard system that tracks vendor performance so the best ones rise to the top
3. Quotes and Pricing — Honest Estimates, Fair Billing
Our AI quotes are built from 13,000+ real past appointments. They are honest estimates — not flat bids and not guaranteed prices. Here is why that is actually better for you: Flat bids mean someone always loses. If the job comes in under bid, the customer overpays. If it runs over, the vendor eats the loss and cuts corners to compensate. Timer-based billing is transparent, fair, and honest. Nobody has to lose. By booking you acknowledge: • Quotes are estimates based on averages and standard conditions • Actual time varies based on job complexity, site conditions, and information provided • Providing accurate information gives you the most accurate quote • Once on site, the vendor assesses the job — scope adjustments happen before work begins, not after • Unforeseen conditions (hidden wiring, incorrect parts, structural surprises) may require more time or a licensed specialist — the vendor will tell you immediately • If a job will run over the estimate, the vendor tells you BEFORE proceeding and you decide how to continue Billing runs in 15-minute increments after the first hour. The timer is recorded through the platform — no rounding, no padding, no guessing. Our average appointment is approximately three hours. Shorter jobs (TV mounting, one-hour calls) bring this average down. Larger jobs bring it up. Any job running significantly beyond the standard duration for its category receives extra documentation and review.
4. Minimum One-Hour Call — You Get Full Value
Every appointment has a minimum one-hour charge. This is not a gotcha — it is how we protect both sides. The vendor shows up, they are yours for that hour. They will be productive the entire time regardless of whether the primary task takes 20 minutes. Use them for small tasks, walk-throughs, quotes on other work, minor repairs, whatever you need. The minimum ensures the vendor's time is respected and you always get value.
5. How Billing Works — Transparent and Fair
The first hour of every appointment is billed as the minimum call. After the first hour, time is billed in 15-minute increments for as long as the job takes. The vendor is expected to be productive and expeditious throughout. The timer is recorded through the platform. You see exactly what you are paying and why before you sign off. This model is fair for everyone: • You pay for actual time worked — never a padded flat bid • The vendor is paid fairly for their skill and time • Neither side wins by gaming the clock — the platform monitors both
6. Materials — How It Works and Why It Protects You
Vendors on Ohana Helps never front materials and never accept any payment from you outside the platform. Your money never passes through a stranger's hands. Every material purchase is documented and receipted in your name. When your job requires materials: • Your vendor assesses what is needed and communicates with you before any purchase • They go to a major retailer — Home Depot, Lowe's, Ace Hardware, Floor and Decor, Sprinkler World, or similar • Most major retailers allow phone sales for contractors — the vendor calls you from the store, you authorize payment directly • You pay the store directly. You get the receipt. The vendor never touches your money. • The vendor returns with materials and completes the job — the timer accounts for reasonable travel time • This means you never front materials either — the vendor is not waiting on reimbursement ZERO TOLERANCE: If any vendor ever asks you for cash, asks you to pay them directly, or asks to hold your card — report it immediately. This is grounds for immediate permanent removal from the platform.
7. Cancellation and Rescheduling — Please Respect the Vendor's Time
This is a professional's full-time job. When you cancel last minute, that time slot is almost certainly lost income for them. We have maintained a 24-hour cancellation policy for seven years because it is the right thing to do. The policy: • Cancel at least 24 hours before your appointment — no charge, no problem • Same-day cancellations: fee equal to one hour of the applicable service rate • Rescheduling to a different day with less than 24 hours notice = same-day cancellation — fee applies • Adjusting your time slightly on the same day: contact us immediately, we will do our best Real emergencies: Life happens. We are not trying to add insult to injury. Contact us immediately when an emergency occurs. We review these case by case. The policy is not punitive for genuine emergencies — it exists to prevent avoidable ones. On-site cancellations: If you cancel after the vendor has arrived, the minimum one-hour charge applies. The vendor showed up, prepared, and gave up another opportunity for that time slot. The vendor may choose to waive or discount the fee — that is their call. Comeback visits vs. rescheduling — know the difference: Once a job has started it cannot be rescheduled — it becomes a comeback visit, scheduled through the platform before the vendor leaves. Rescheduling an appointment that has not started follows the standard 24-hour policy.
8. What Vendors Can and Cannot Do — Handyman Exemption
Our vendors operate under state handyman exemption laws. In Arizona: ARS §32-1121(A)(14) — total job cost must be under $1,000 (labor + materials combined), no permit required. This is the law, not a preference. Vendors cannot perform: • Any job with a total cost exceeding $1,000 in Arizona (thresholds vary by state as we expand) • Any work requiring a permit • Structural or foundational work, roof work of any kind • New electrical wiring or new circuit installation • New plumbing installation or pipe replacement • Any work legally requiring a licensed contractor, electrician, or plumber Vendors can perform: • Fan and fixture installation on existing wiring, outlet/switch/breaker/GFCI replacement • Toilet, faucet, garbage disposal replacement, minor plumbing on existing connections • Drywall repair, painting, caulking, minor carpentry, assembly, mounting, hanging • Any of our 530+ listed services If your vendor tells you a job is outside their scope, trust them. Do not pressure them. They are protecting you both from legal risk.
9. Your Vendor Is Your Service Provider — Talk to Them
Your vendor is standing right in front of you. They are the professional who assessed the job, accepted the work, and is carrying it out. They are not an Ohana Helps employee — they are an independent self-employed professional. Talk to them. Ask questions. Give feedback. If something is not right, say so in the moment. There is no boss at Ohana Helps you can call to override the vendor's professional judgment on site. The vendor makes the professional decisions. That is what accountability looks like when it is placed in the right hands.
10. Payment — Secure, Simple, Transparent
• All payments processed through Stripe — bank-level security, PCI compliant • Your card saved securely through Stripe — never handed to a stranger • A card hold is placed at booking to protect the vendor — this is not a charge • Payment collected at job completion through the platform — you see exactly what you are paying and why • Materials paid by you directly at point of purchase — your receipt, your record • Itemized receipt provided for every appointment
11. Before and After Photos — Your Permanent Record
Every single job requires before and after photos uploaded to the platform before the vendor leaves. Timestamped. Immutable. Stored in your account. This is your documentation of what your property looked like before work began and what it looks like after. It protects you in any warranty or dispute. It protects the vendor from false claims. It is the truth, on record, forever. Non-negotiable on both sides.
12. Warranty — How to Use It and What to Expect
Workmanship guarantees are job-specific. A ceiling fan that falls is not a warranty issue — it is a safety and liability matter handled immediately. A faucet that leaks shortly after installation is a workmanship issue. Drywall that looks poor within a reasonable period of completion is a workmanship issue. Work that fails due to customer misuse, neglect, or conditions outside the vendor's control may not be covered. The vendor assesses each situation professionally and determines the appropriate response. To request warranty work: • Go to your dashboard, find the appointment, tap 'Schedule Warranty Visit' — it is right at the top • Your vendor is notified and must respond within 48 hours • They come back out, assess the issue, take before and after photos, and handle it • Whether there is a charge depends on the nature of the issue — the vendor makes that call • If it is a workmanship issue, they fix it. If it is a defect or customer-caused, they will tell you. The entire warranty visit is run through the platform the same way as a regular appointment — documented, timestamped, photographed. If your vendor does not respond within 48 hours or fails to show up for the scheduled warranty visit, contact us. We will step in, enforce our platform terms against the vendor, and actively support you in pursuing resolution.
13. Arbitration — Neutral, Fair, Enforced
Ohana Helps provides arbitration to help resolve disputes that cannot be resolved directly between customer and vendor. Arbitration is not a shortcut around the warranty process — it activates when a vendor has failed to honor their obligations after being given the proper opportunity. Arbitration reviews everything — photos, timestamps, communications, platform data. We seek the truth. We do not automatically side with customers. We do not automatically side with vendors. We enforce the terms both parties agreed to and we stand behind that process completely. All disputes between you and Ohana Helps as a platform entity shall be resolved by binding arbitration under AAA rules in Delaware. You waive the right to participate in class action litigation against Ohana Helps.
14. Ohana Helps' Role — Facilitator, Enforcer, Not Performer
Ohana Helps has no liability for the work performed by any vendor on our platform. We are a marketplace. The vendor performs the work. The vendor is responsible for the work — its quality, its safety, any property damage, any warranty obligations, any legal compliance. Your remedy for any claim related to vendor services is against the vendor and their insurance directly. Ohana Helps will actively help you pursue that remedy through our platform enforcement systems and arbitration process, but we are not financially responsible for vendor performance. By using this platform you agree to hold Ohana Helps harmless from any claims arising from services performed by vendors, and you agree that your sole recourse for such claims is against the vendor directly.
15. Customer Conduct — Your Responsibilities
This platform works because both sides take their responsibilities seriously. As a customer you agree to: • Treat every vendor with respect and professionalism — they are skilled professionals doing real work • Provide accurate and complete information about the job when booking — bad information leads to inaccurate quotes • Be present or have an authorized adult present during work • Not request work that violates state law, the handyman exemption, or platform policy • Never arrange off-platform payments of any kind with vendors • Follow the warranty and dispute process through the platform — not informally • Honor the 24-hour cancellation policy — a professional's livelihood depends on it Customers who repeatedly violate vendor rights, attempt to defraud vendors, or abuse the platform will be removed. This platform protects vendors too.
16. Geographic Expansion
Ohana Helps currently operates in Arizona and is expanding to Texas and additional states. State-specific handyman exemption thresholds and local regulations apply in each market. By using this platform in any state you agree to comply with all applicable local, state, and federal laws relevant to your use of the platform.
17. Text Messaging (SMS) Communications
By providing your mobile phone number when booking or creating an account, you consent to receive transactional SMS messages from Ohana Helps related to your service request — including booking confirmations, job-status updates, payment-setup links, appointment reminders, and cancellation notices. Message frequency varies based on your booking activity. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out at any time, or HELP for assistance. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.
Ohana Helps
A technology platform for booking real handyman appointments.