Terms of service

01What HouseRules is

HouseRules is a marketplace where homeowners post home-improvement projects and licensed contractors bid on them. We introduce the two sides; we are not a party to any contract between a homeowner and a contractor, we do not perform the work, and we do not guarantee the work.

02Accounts and honesty

You must give us accurate information: your real email, and for contractors, your real business name and license number. We verify contractor licenses against the state registry (Oregon CCB, Oregon LCB, Washington L&I) before allowing bids, and we may re-check at any time. Misrepresenting a license, impersonating a business, or posting fake projects or bids gets your account removed.

You must be at least 18 and able to enter a contract. If you post a project, you confirm that you own the property or are authorized to arrange work on it, for example as the owner's agent or on behalf of a homeowners association. If you bid, you confirm that your business holds, and will keep, the license, bond and insurance your state requires for the work you bid on, and that you will tell us if any of them lapses. You are an independent business: HouseRules is not your employer, partner or agent, and your taxes are your own. For electrical and plumbing, the license we verify is the state specialty license (Oregon Building Codes Division or Washington L&I); listing those trades without one is grounds for removing them from your profile.

03How matching works

Every project has a bid limit, five to start, which the homeowner can raise. Contractors see the project details but never the homeowner's contact information. When a homeowner picks a bid, that contractor receives the homeowner's name, email, and phone number, and the contractor's identity is shared with the homeowner. A homeowner may pick more than one bid, for example to compare finalists in person, and each picked contractor receives the contact information. Contractors the homeowner does not pick never receive it. If a homeowner picks nobody, nobody receives their contact information.

Everything after the pick (site visits, quotes, contracts, payment, permits, the work itself) happens directly between homeowner and contractor, off the platform.

04Pricing

HouseRules is free for homeowners. For contractors, placing a bid holds a credit amount that scales with the size of the bid itself, using the midpoint of a range (the sheet is published on the FAQ page); the credits are kept only if the homeowner picks that bid (each picked bid is charged, including when a homeowner picks several), and unpicked bids are refunded automatically in every outcome: decline, expiry, project withdrawal, or the homeowner closing out the remaining bids. Founding Pros pay half the published amounts permanently, as promised at signup. There are no lead fees, there is never a charge for a homeowner's contact information, and there will never be a charge for a homeowner who does not pick you.

Purchased credits do not expire and have no cash value. They are not refundable for money, except where the law requires it: if your remaining purchased balance is under $5 after you have used credits, you may ask us to pay out the remainder in cash. Credits we give you for free, such as a founding grant, a referral reward or a promotion, may carry an expiration date, which we state when we grant them; grants made before September 8, 2026 have none.

Referral rewards, credits for bringing in a homeowner who posts a real project, are promotional credits. We decide what counts as a real project; self-referrals and test posts do not. Reward credits may carry an expiration date stated when they are granted.

05What we are not responsible for

We check licenses; we cannot guarantee workmanship, timelines, prices, or conduct of either side. Homeowners should verify bids, insurance, and references before signing anything. Contractors should verify project details before pricing. The platform is provided as-is; to the maximum extent allowed by law, our liability to you for anything arising from use of HouseRules is limited to the amount you have paid us.

06Your dealings are your own; you cover us for them

Everything that happens between a homeowner and a contractor, quotes, contracts, payment, permits, the work, and any dispute about any of it, is between those two parties. You release HouseRules from claims arising out of your dealings with other users.

You also agree to indemnify HouseRules, that is, to cover us and hold us harmless, against claims, damages, and reasonable legal costs arising from your projects, your bids, your content, your contracts, your work, or your violation of these terms. Plain version: if your project or your work generates a legal fight, that fight is yours, not ours.

07Acceptable use

No scraping other users' information, no using contact details for anything beyond the project at hand, no spam, no reselling leads (obviously), no posting content that is illegal or deceptive. We may remove content or accounts that break these rules.

A bid is a real price for the project as posted. Placeholder bids, bids placed to start a conversation or arrange a visit, and any other attempt to get around the bid-then-pick process may be removed, with the credits refunded. Repeated attempts can end your access to HouseRules.

08Your content

Project descriptions, photos, bios, bid notes and reviews are yours, and you are responsible for them. You give HouseRules permission to store, display and share them as the product requires: showing your project to verified contractors, or showing a contractor's business name, trades and reviews on a public profile page. You confirm you have the right to post what you post, including photos. We may edit, hide or remove content that breaks these terms or misleads people, and we may remove a review that did not come from a completed HouseRules project. To report content, email taylor@joinhouserules.com.

09Ending your account

You can leave at any time by emailing us, and we delete your data as the Privacy Policy describes. We may suspend or remove an account that breaks these terms, and any credits on it are forfeited. If we close your account for another reason, or wind HouseRules down, we will tell you in advance so you can use the credits you have. Credits have no cash value in either case, as section 04 says.

10The legal part

HouseRules is operated by HouseRules LLC, an Oregon limited liability company. These terms are governed by Oregon law, and disputes go to the state or federal courts in Washington County, Oregon, unless the law where you live requires otherwise. HouseRules is provided as-is and as-available, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential damages or lost profits, and our total liability is limited as section 05 says. Some states do not allow these limits, so they may not apply to you in full. If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still stands. These terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between us, and you may not transfer your account or these terms to anyone else.

11Privacy

How we handle your data is covered in our Privacy Policy. Short version: your contact info is never sold, and it is only revealed by the mechanism described in section 03.

If you give us a mobile number, you agree to receive transactional text messages about your own projects, such as a bid arriving or a contractor asking a question. Reply STOP to any message to opt out, or leave the phone field blank and everything comes by email. Message and data rates may apply.

12Changes and contact

We may update these terms as the product grows; material changes will be posted here with a new date. Questions, disputes, or anything else: taylor@joinhouserules.com, and a real person reads it.