Safety center

Every booking is covered. Here is exactly how.

The checks every pro passes, how your money is held, and what happens when something goes wrong.

How pros are vetted

Before a pro can be booked, a person on our team reviews their application.

01
Identity
A photo of a government-issued ID, checked by our team against the name on the account.
02
Background check
A criminal background check through our screening partner, with the pro’s consent.
03
Licenses
Electrical and plumbing pros must have a state license verified before those services are shown.
04
Ongoing quality
Ratings from paid jobs, on-time rate and response time are tracked on every job.

$10,000

Accidental damage to your property during an eligible job is covered up to $10,000.

30 days

If the work fails within 30 days, we send a pro back to fix it at no cost. 60 days with Plus.

Escrow

Small jobs are authorized, not charged. Bigger projects are paid milestone by milestone from escrow, released only when you approve each one.

3-step

ID verification, a criminal background check and a skills review before a pro takes their first job.

To make a claim, contact support within 72 hours of the job with photos and your booking reference. Full terms are in the Terms of Service.

When you book, we place a hold on your card for the top of the estimate. Nothing is charged.
After the job, your pro invoices for the time actually worked. You approve it — or it is approved automatically after 48 hours if you do nothing.
Only then is your card charged, for the invoice total. The rest of the hold is released.
If the invoice looks wrong, report it before approving. Payment waits while support reviews it.

Quoted projects run on a contract split into milestones, each with an amount and a due date.
You fund one milestone at a time. The money sits in a segregated escrow account — the pro cannot touch it. Escrow protection is 1.9% of each milestone.
When the pro submits the work, you have 5 days to approve, ask for changes, or open a dispute. With no response it releases automatically.
A dispute freezes the funds. A HandyMan mediator decides — release, refund or a split — within 5 business days.

Free within 5 minutes of booking, before your pro confirms, or with 24 hours’ notice.
Later than that, a one-hour fee at your pro’s rate applies — it goes to the pro who kept the time for you.
Pros who cancel are never paid for it, and it counts against their ranking.