1. About these terms

These terms apply when you use the Gaffer website, whether you are looking for a tradesperson or you are a tradesperson looking for work. Gaffer is run by [Company name], a company registered in England and Wales (company number [number]) with its registered office at [registered address]. You can contact us at [contact email]. By creating an account, posting a job, joining as a tradesperson or buying credits, you agree to these terms.

2. Using Gaffer

• You must be 18 or over and able to enter into a contract.
• Give accurate information and keep it up to date.
• Keep your password private. You are responsible for what happens on your account.
• Do not use Gaffer to break the law, to mislead anyone, or to harass or threaten others.

3. What Gaffer does

Gaffer is a marketplace. We introduce customers to tradespeople. We are not a party to any agreement between them. We do not employ tradespeople, supervise or inspect their work, or guarantee its quality, price, timing or outcome. The contract for any work is only between the customer and the tradesperson.

We strongly recommend that customers agree the price, scope, start date and payment terms in writing before work begins, and that you pay the tradesperson directly, not through Gaffer.

4. Customers

• When you post a job, up to three tradespeople can send you a quote. You choose whether to reply to any of them.
• Quotes and profiles are provided by tradespeople. Check them for yourself before you agree to work.
• Leave reviews only for work you have actually had done, and keep them honest and fair.
• Posting a job and receiving quotes is free for customers.

5. Tradespeople

• You are self-employed or run your own business. You are not our employee, worker or agent.
• You must hold any licences, registrations and insurance needed for the work you offer, such as Gas Safe registration for gas work and public liability insurance, and you must keep them valid.
• You must follow the law that applies to your work, including consumer law, health and safety, and building regulations.
• Your profile, prices and quotes must be accurate. Do not claim qualifications or reviews you do not have.
• You are responsible for your own tax, including VAT where it applies.
• You must not take customers off Gaffer by misleading them, or contact customers for reasons unrelated to their job.

6. Verification checks

Tradespeople appear in search only after passing an identity check. We may also check insurance and trade registrations and show a badge when they are verified. These checks are carried out in good faith, but they are a snapshot at the time of checking. They do not guarantee a tradesperson's skill, honesty or current cover. We may ask you to repeat a check or send new documents at any time, and we may remove your profile if you do not.

7. Credits and payments

• Tradespeople use credits to send quotes. The number of credits a quote costs is shown on the job before you send it.
• Credits are bought in packs at the prices shown when you buy. Prices are [including / excluding] VAT.
• Credits are used when you send a quote. They are used whether or not the customer replies or hires you. We do not guarantee any amount of work.
• Credits are bought for business use. They have no cash value, cannot be transferred or exchanged for money, and [do not expire / expire after [number] months].
• Credits you have bought are not refundable, except where the law requires it, where we made a mistake, or where we choose to return credits for a quote sent on a job that turns out to be fake or a duplicate.
• If we close your account for a breach of these terms, any unused credits may be lost. If we close it for any other reason, we will refund the value of your unused credits.
• Card payments are handled by our payment provider, Stripe. We do not see or store your card details.
• When you pay, we add the credits to your account once the payment is confirmed. This can take up to one working day.

8. Reviews and scores

Reviews should come from real customers about real work. We do not allow fake reviews, reviews paid for or rewarded by a tradesperson, or reviews written about your own business or a competitor. A tradesperson's score is calculated from verified reviews. We may remove content that breaks these rules or is unlawful, abusive or misleading.

9. Content you post

You keep ownership of what you post, such as job descriptions, profiles and reviews. You give us a free, non-exclusive licence to display and use it on Gaffer so that the service can work. You promise you have the right to post it and that it does not break anyone's rights or the law.

10. Your personal information

We use your information as described in our Privacy Policy [link to your privacy policy]. You should have a privacy policy in place before you launch.

11. Our responsibility to you

We do not exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else the law does not allow us to exclude or limit.

Subject to that, we are not responsible for the work, conduct, prices or advice of any tradesperson or customer, or for loss that was not a foreseeable result of our breach. For tradespeople using Gaffer for business, we are not liable for loss of profit, loss of business or loss of opportunity, and our total liability to you is limited to the amount you paid us for credits in the 12 months before the claim.

We try to keep Gaffer running and accurate, but we do not promise it will always be available or free of errors.

12. Suspending or closing accounts

We may suspend or close an account, or remove a profile, job or review, if we reasonably believe these terms have been broken, if we are asked to by law, or to protect other users. You can close your account at any time by contacting us.

13. Complaints and disputes

If you have a complaint about Gaffer, contact us at [contact email] and we will reply within [number] working days. For a dispute with a tradesperson or customer, we encourage you to try to resolve it with them first. We may help by passing messages between you, but we cannot decide who is right. Consumers may be able to use an alternative dispute resolution service. [Add details of your chosen provider.]

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. We will say when they were last updated at the top of this page. If a change is significant, we will tell you before it takes effect. If you keep using Gaffer after that, you accept the new terms.

15. Law and courts

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction, except that a consumer living in Scotland or Northern Ireland may bring a claim in their local courts.