Version 2026-08-29 · Effective August 29, 2026
Middleman is a marketplace that connects you with independent home-service professionals ("Contractors") for plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and minor-repair (handyman) work. Contractors on the platform are independent businesses — not employees, agents, or subcontractors of Middleman. Middleman is not a contractor, is not a party to your contract with a Contractor (Section 4), and does not itself perform, supervise, direct, or control the work. What Middleman provides is the platform: matching, the credential checks described in Section 2, payment handling through a licensed third-party payment processor, the dispute program in Section 8, and administration of your Contractor's workmanship warranty under Section 9. Middleman's own charges are the booking fee (Section 3) and the service fee (Section 5).
Before a contractor can see or accept jobs: for plumbing, electrical, and HVAC work, we verify a current Florida trade license for that trade against state (DBPR) records; for handyman work, we verify proof of liability insurance. Credentials are re-checked against their expiration dates, and a contractor whose credential lapses loses access to jobs in that trade until it is renewed. Where authorized, background checks are obtained through a licensed third-party consumer reporting agency; a background check of a business covers the screened individual (typically the owner or principal), not necessarily every employee or helper, except that on business (team) accounts each individual technician must pass their own check before they can be assigned a visit. Checks reflect the information available at the time they are run; other than expiration tracking and complaint review, we do not continuously monitor contractors between checks. These checks reduce risk but are not a guarantee of quality or safety — always use your own judgment. Before your pro arrives, the app shows you who is coming: name, photo, license number where applicable, vehicle, and plate.
Posting a job books an on-site diagnostic visit at one flat, all-in price set by trade: $50 for plumbing and handyman work, $79 for HVAC, and $99 for electrical — the price shown when you post is the entire amount charged for the visit. That price is your contractor's charge for the trip and on-site assessment, and it includes Middleman's 5% service fee, Middleman's own charge for matching, scheduling, and payment handling. Middleman also charges your contractor a 7% referral fee on the visit; that fee is your contractor's cost, never yours, so your contractor receives 88% of the visit price ($44.00 of a $50 visit; $69.52 of $79; $87.12 of $99). The visit is performed by — and is the service of — the independent contractor who accepts your request, not Middleman. When a contractor accepts, the app shows you who is coming (business name, and Florida license number where the trade requires one) and records a short Diagnostic Visit Agreement between you and that contractor; you can cancel at no charge any time before they head out (Section 7). Your card is charged only when a contractor has accepted, and Middleman collects the visit price as your contractor's limited payment collection agent (Section 5). The visit is not a deposit and is not deducted from the quoted job price. If you decline the quote, the visit converts to a credit for one second opinion: you may re-open the job once, and a different Middleman contractor can assess it with no further charge of any kind. The second contractor is shown that the job is a second opinion, your stated decline reason, and the first contractor's written diagnosis (never the first contractor's prices). The second contractor states on their quote whether the first diagnosis stands. The first contractor keeps their 88% of the visit price for the completed diagnosis unless you or the second contractor question the original diagnosis and Middleman's review determines the second assessment showed it was materially wrong — in that case the first contractor's 88% of your visit payment is credited to your job with the replacing contractor: it is deducted from that job's charge, or refunded to your payment method if that job is not paid through the platform. The replacing contractor is paid their quoted price in full either way and never receives any part of the visit payment. No further refund is owed in either case — the visit bought a diagnosis, and a correct one was ultimately delivered. After a second opinion, declining again ends the matching for that job: you may accept the standing quote or cancel. Once a contractor has arrived and performed the assessment, the visit price is non-refundable except as provided in Sections 7 and 8.
Every quote is made by the contractor in the contractor's own business name, and shows that name and the contractor's Florida license number where the trade requires one. When you accept a quote, a service agreement is formed directly between you and that contractor for the quoted work, on the quote's terms together with the provisions of these Terms that describe payment, completion, cancellation, disputes, and the warranty. Middleman is not a party to that service agreement and does not itself agree to perform the work. The diagnostic visit works the same way: the Diagnostic Visit Agreement in Section 3 is between you and the contractor who accepts your request, and Middleman is not a party to it. The same applies to fixed-price (Routine Care) bookings: your service agreement forms with the professional who accepts the booking, and the app identifies them to you before arrival. Customer-priced jobs work the same way and add one rule in both directions: the price you set is fixed for the work as you described and photographed it — it cannot go up, and contractors cannot send change orders on these jobs — and a contractor who finds materially different work at the door declines rather than re-prices. If that happens, Middleman reviews the contractor's report against your photos: if the posting matched the work, the job simply returns to the search at your price; if the posting materially differed from the job at the door, the booking is closed, a visit-floor amount (equal to the trade's diagnostic visit price) is paid to the contractor from your held payment for the trip you asked them to make, and the rest is returned to you. Your contractor — not Middleman — is responsible for performing the work to code, obtaining any required permits, and complying with Florida contracting law.
Quotes total labor + parts + a 5% service fee; the service fee is the platform's charge for payment handling and platform services. Nothing proceeds without your acceptance. When you accept, the full amount is charged and held by our third-party payment processor (currently Stripe) and released according to these Terms — the contractor is not paid until the release conditions in Section 6 are met. Middleman acts as each contractor's limited payment collection agent for the diagnostic visit charge and for quoted work: payment you make through the platform counts as payment to your contractor, and your payment obligation to your contractor is satisfied when the platform receives it. The 5% service fee — included in the diagnostic visit price (Section 3), included in every fixed price (a Routine Care booking, and any price you name on a customer-priced job), and added on quoted work — is Middleman's own charge, not a payment to your contractor; the 7% referral fee is charged to your contractor, never to you. Fixed prices are all-in: the number shown (or the number you set) is the entire amount charged. On a customer-priced job your card is authorized for your price when you post and charged only when a contractor accepts it; if your offer ends with no acceptance, the hold is released and you pay nothing. All payments must go through the platform; paying a contractor directly outside the app removes every protection described here.
When the contractor marks the job complete, you review the work and approve it in the app. Funds are then held for a further 5 business days — an extended review window — before they are released to the contractor. You may open a dispute at any time during that window. If you neither approve nor dispute, funds may be released automatically after a reasonable review window.
On-demand (ASAP) diagnostic visits, before a diagnosis is delivered: cancel while your contractor has accepted but not yet departed and the entire visit price and any rush bonus are refunded in full. Cancel while the contractor is en route and $25 is retained, whatever the trade ($22 to your contractor as trip compensation and $3 to Middleman); the rest of the visit price, the entire rush bonus, and any referral credit you applied are returned. Cancel after the contractor has arrived or begun the diagnosis and the full visit price is retained (88% to your contractor, 12% to Middleman, as in Section 3), and the contractor also receives the rush bonus per the Contractor Terms. If the contractor arrives, waits at least 10 minutes, and you do not answer, the visit may be closed as a no-show with the same effect as an after-arrival cancellation — you will be notified in the app and can contact support if the report is wrong. Scheduled (non-ASAP) visits: cancellation is free until 24 hours before the appointment; inside 24 hours the full visit price is retained in the same way, with the contractor whose slot was reserved receiving their 88% share. Once a diagnosis has been delivered, Section 3 governs instead. Fixed-price and customer-priced bookings: cancellation is free any time before your contractor heads out; en route, $25 of the held amount is retained as trip compensation; after arrival, up to the full amount may be retained, capped at what you paid. A customer-priced offer that ends with no contractor accepting is closed automatically and the hold on your card is released — no amount is charged or retained. If your customer-priced job is closed after Middleman's review because the posting materially differed from the work at the door, Section 4 governs: a visit-floor amount goes to the contractor and the rest returns to you. The exact consequence for your situation is always shown in the confirmation dialog before you confirm a cancellation. Repeated post-acceptance cancellations (three within 30 days) suspend posting until you contact support.
If something is wrong, open a dispute in the app — before approving completion, or during the 5-business-day review window after approval while your payment is still held. Held funds stay frozen while Middleman reviews evidence from both sides. Middleman may release funds to the contractor, refund you in full or in part, and that decision is final as between platform participants. You keep any independent legal rights you may have against the contractor. Once funds have been released to the contractor, the workmanship warranty in Section 9 applies instead.
Every contractor on Middleman agrees, as a condition of taking jobs on the platform, to warrant their workmanship to you for 30 days, measured from the day you approve the job in the app. This warranty is your contractor's promise, part of your service agreement with them — Middleman administers and enforces it. If the work fails or stops working within the window, file a warranty claim in the app with a description and photos. Your contractor gets the first chance to make it right: they have 7 days to offer a return visit at no charge to you. If they decline, do not respond within 7 days, miss the offered visit, or the repair does not hold, you may escalate the claim to Middleman. Middleman will review the claim, the contractor's repair record, and the original completion proof, and may arrange a further repair, refund the job payment in full or in part at the contractor's expense, or deny the claim — that decision is final as between platform participants. Middleman may also, in its sole discretion, fund a remedy itself as a goodwill gesture; any such goodwill payment is a courtesy, not an obligation, and not insurance. The warranty covers the workmanship of the original job only; it does not cover unrelated problems, damage caused by you or third parties after completion, misuse, or ordinary wear. A claim filed within the 30-day window remains valid even if its review extends past the window. Neither the service fee nor the referral fee is consideration for this warranty — the warranty comes with the work at no separate charge.
Provide accurate information about the job and the property, ensure safe access for the contractor, and communicate through the app so there is a record. You must be the property owner or authorized to order the work.
Because contractors are independent businesses, responsibility for the quality, safety, and legality of the work — including any damage or injury arising from it — rests with the contractor, and claims arising from a contractor's work or conduct are between you and that contractor. You agree that Middleman is not liable for the acts or omissions of contractors. This section does not reduce your rights under the dispute program (Section 8) or the warranty (Section 9), and nothing in these Terms limits any liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including liability for Middleman's own gross negligence or willful misconduct. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Middleman's total liability for any claim related to a job is limited to the amounts you paid through the platform for that job.
Most concerns can be resolved through in-app support, and Section 8 covers disputes about a job. For legal disputes between you and Middleman: first, send a written description of the dispute to legal@middleman.llc, and both sides will try in good faith to resolve it within 60 days. If that fails, you and Middleman agree that the dispute will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, rather than in court, and each side waives the right to a jury trial. Either side may instead bring an individual claim in small claims court. Arbitration will be conducted in Lake County, Florida or remotely at your election, and fees are allocated as the AAA consumer rules provide. You and Middleman each waive the right to participate in a class action or class-wide arbitration; if the class waiver is found unenforceable as to a claim, that claim must proceed in court, not in arbitration. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement entirely, with no effect on your account, by emailing legal@middleman.llc with the subject "Arbitration opt-out" within 30 days of first accepting a version of these Terms containing this section. These Terms are governed by Florida law, and any court proceedings must be brought in Lake County, Florida.
Middleman may update these Terms. We will notify you in the app, and continuing to use Middleman after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.
Middleman operates a marketplace that connects independent home-service professionals ("Contractors") with customers who need work done. By creating a contractor account, submitting an application, or accepting jobs through the platform, you agree to these Terms. If you operate through a business entity, you accept for the entity and represent you are authorized to bind it.
You are an independent contractor. You are NOT an employee, agent, partner, or joint venturer of Middleman, and nothing in these Terms creates an employment relationship. You control how you perform your work, supply your own tools, vehicle, and materials, set your own availability and your own pricing on quoted jobs, elect whether to offer diagnostic visits at the platform's standard per-trade rates, may decline any job, and are free to work for other platforms or clients — Middleman does not set your hours and does not require exclusivity. You are solely responsible for your own income taxes, self-employment taxes, business licenses, permits, and insurance, and you bear your own business expenses. Middleman does not withhold taxes or provide employee benefits of any kind. For jobs within the scope of Florida's marketplace-contractor law, these Terms are the written contract described in section 451.02, Florida Statutes, and the parties intend the independent-contractor treatment it provides.
While you work for yourself, jobs sourced through Middleman must meet Middleman platform standards: (a) arrive within the time window you accept; (b) communicate with customers through the app; (c) perform work to applicable code and professional trade standards; (d) hold — and keep current — every license, registration, and insurance policy required for your trade in your service area; (e) treat customers and their property with respect; and (f) never solicit or accept payment for a Middleman-sourced job outside the platform. These standards define the results the marketplace requires, not the manner or means of your work. Middleman reviews complaints and may suspend or remove contractors who fall below these standards.
Access to the jobs feed requires an approved application. You must submit accurate information about your experience, business entity (e.g., LLC), trade licenses, insurance, and certifications, and keep it current — credentials are verified against state records and re-checked at expiration, and a lapsed credential closes the matching trade until renewed. You authorize Middleman to verify your credentials and, where permitted by law, to obtain a background check through a third-party consumer reporting agency. Misrepresenting credentials is grounds for immediate removal. Trade licensing notes: plumbing, electrical, and HVAC jobs require a current Florida contractor license for that trade (certified, or registered for the local jurisdiction); a journeyman card does not authorize contracting with the public and does not qualify — journeymen are welcome as technicians on a licensed contractor's team account. Handyman-lane work is limited to minor, non-trade tasks under a $2,500 aggregate per project, requires verified liability insurance, and must never be advertised or represented as "contracting" — the app's copy rules for that lane are a condition of using it. Workers' compensation: for work in the construction trades you must maintain workers' compensation coverage or hold a current Florida officer/member exemption (s. 440.05, F.S.), and anyone who helps you on a job must be covered by you — Middleman may require proof of coverage or exemption as a credential. On request, you will provide certificates of insurance for your general liability policy, and Middleman may require that it be named as an additional insured on reasonable notice.
Quotes you send are made in your own business name and show your license number where the trade requires one. When a customer accepts your quote (or your acceptance of a fixed-price booking is confirmed), a service agreement is formed directly between you and the customer for that work — you, not Middleman, are the contracting party. You are solely responsible for compliance with Florida contracting law on your jobs, including performing to code, pulling any required permits (Florida law requires a contractor who receives more than 10 percent of the contract price up front to apply for necessary permits within 30 days of receiving payment and start work within 90 days of permit issuance — s. 489.126, F.S.), honoring the cancellation schedule shown to customers, and working only within the scope your license allows.
You appoint Middleman as your limited payment collection agent for jobs sourced through the platform: customers pay through the platform, payment received by the platform (via its third-party payment processor) counts as payment to you and satisfies the customer's obligation to you on receipt, you agree not to seek payment from the customer outside the platform, and your sole recourse for any payment the platform received but did not remit is against Middleman — never the customer. Diagnostic visits: a diagnostic visit is YOUR service to the customer, at the platform's standard flat price for your trade — $50 plumbing, $50 handyman, $79 HVAC, $99 electrical, all-in — which you elect to offer when you open a trade lane (you may decline any request). When you accept a request, a Diagnostic Visit Agreement forms directly between you and the customer for the visit at that price, and the app shows the customer your business name and license number. Your visit remittance is 88% of the flat fee — $44.00, $44.00, $69.52, or $87.12 by trade; the other 12% is Middleman's 7% referral fee plus its 5% service charge to the customer, both built into the flat price and disclosed to the customer (there is no separate booking fee, and nothing beyond the 12% is deducted from you). Payout timing: your 88% remittance is released to your connected payout account on the first payout run after five business days from delivery of your diagnosis (your quote), unless the customer has opened a dispute about the diagnosis in the app, in which case it is held until the dispute resolves. It is NOT deducted from the quote. Second opinions: if the customer declines your quote, they may re-open the job once as a clearly badged second-opinion job. The replacing contractor is shown the decline reason and your written diagnosis (never your prices) and offers that visit at a $0 rate — disclosed on the job card before they accept; their earnings are the job itself. Your remittance remains yours for the completed diagnosis unless the customer or the replacing contractor questions it and Middleman's review determines the second assessment showed it was materially wrong — in that case your remittance is credited to the customer's job with the replacing contractor (it is never paid to that contractor), recovered from you by the methods in Section 9 if it was already paid; your visit payout holds while such a review is open, and you may file one written response in the app. When you are the replacing contractor you must state on your quote whether the first diagnosis stands; you are paid your quoted price in full whatever the outcome and receive no part of the first visit payment. Fixed-price bookings (Routine Care) and customer-priced jobs: the price shown is the customer's all-in total. On jobs posted under these Terms your payout is 88% of that price; the other 12% is the same referral-plus-service structure as the diagnostic (nothing else is deducted). Jobs posted before this version keep the exact split shown when you accepted them — the share is pinned per job and never changes mid-flight. Customer-priced jobs add three rules, each shown before you accept: (1) the price is FIXED — accepting is agreeing to do the pictured work at that price, and change orders are not available on these jobs; (2) if the job at the door is materially different from the customer's photos, decline there using the app's scope report — you are released without penalty, and if Middleman's review confirms the mismatch you receive trip compensation equal to your trade's visit floor from the held payment; (3) if the review finds the photos matched the work you declined, no compensation is paid for that trip and the walk-off is recorded against your account standing — the way to avoid this charge-free but standing-affecting outcome is simply not to accept jobs you may not do. A geofence-unverified arrival pays $0 on every branch, as elsewhere in these Terms. Quoted jobs: you set your own labor and parts pricing in the quote you send through the app. When a customer accepts a quote, the full amount (labor + parts + the customer's 5% service fee) is held by the platform's third-party payment processor (currently Stripe) and released according to these Terms. Your payout is labor + parts minus a 7% platform referral fee, released to your connected payout account 5 business days after the customer approves the completed work — the customer's extended review window. Fee rates in effect at the time a quote is sent apply to that job. Cancellation compensation: if a customer cancels after you accept a visit, you receive $22 trip compensation while en route; your full 88% remittance plus any earned rush bonus after arrival or a system-confirmed 10-minute no-show wait; and your 88% remittance for a scheduled visit cancelled inside 24 hours of the reserved slot. Rush bonuses always pay out at 93%, like labor. If a customer opens a dispute before funds release, held funds are frozen until Middleman resolves the dispute per Section 8. Payouts are subject to warranty clawbacks per Section 9.
You are solely responsible for the quality, safety, and legality of the work you perform, including any warranties you offer, damage you cause, and injuries arising from your work. You agree to indemnify and hold Middleman harmless from claims arising out of your work, your negligence, or your violation of law or these Terms. Middleman is not a general contractor and does not supervise, direct, or control your work.
Customers may dispute a job any time before funds are released — including during the 5-business-day window after they approve the work. Disputed funds stay held while Middleman reviews evidence from both sides (photos, messages, the quote, and the job timeline). Middleman may release funds to you, refund the customer, or split the amount, and that decision is final as between platform participants. You retain any independent legal rights you may have against the customer.
Every job you take through Middleman includes YOUR 30-day workmanship warranty to the customer, measured from the customer's approval of the job. You are the warrantor: the warranty is part of your service agreement with the customer, offered as a condition of taking jobs on the platform, and Middleman administers and enforces it. If the customer files a warranty claim in the window, you get first right to repair: you have 7 days to offer a return visit at no charge to the customer, and you record the completed repair in the app with a summary and photos. Claims you decline, ignore past the 7-day window, no-show, or fail to fix may be escalated to Middleman for review. If Middleman determines the work failed and refunds the customer in full or in part, the refund is at your expense, and you expressly authorize the following recovery methods: reversal of the related payout transfer (your connected payout account balance may go negative), and deduction of any remaining amount from your future payouts, oldest debt first, until repaid. Your current warranty balance and each deduction are itemized in the app, and you may raise any deduction with support. A standalone Payment & Clawback Consent restating these authorizations is (or will be) presented at onboarding; it and this section are read together. Middleman may instead, at its sole discretion, fund a refund itself as a goodwill gesture, in which case nothing is charged to you. Warranty decisions are final as between platform participants; repeated warranty failures affect your standing on the platform. The warranty covers the workmanship of the original job only — not unrelated problems, damage caused by the customer or third parties after completion, misuse, or ordinary wear.
If you operate a business account: you accept these Terms for the entity, and business-level facts (the qualifying agent's license under ss. 489.119 and 489.1195, F.S., liability insurance, workers' compensation coverage, and the payout account) belong to the entity. Your field personnel are your employees or subcontractors — never Middleman's — and you are responsible for their supervision, pay, and workers' compensation. Only individuals registered on the platform and cleared by their own background check may be sent to Middleman jobs, and the customer is always shown the named individual who will arrive. Each technician accepts a short individual conduct agreement (communication through the app, customer privacy, no off-platform solicitation). Payouts go exclusively to the entity's payout account; Middleman never splits or advances pay between you and your personnel. For handyman-lane team accounts, workers' compensation coverage (or officer exemptions covering every active member) is verified before the account can take jobs.
Either party may end this relationship at any time. Middleman may suspend or terminate your account for standards violations, credential lapses, fraud, off-platform circumvention, or conduct that endangers customers. Completed, undisputed work is always paid out, even if the account is terminated afterward — subject to any outstanding warranty balance under Section 9.
Section 8 covers job disputes with customers. For legal disputes between you and Middleman: first, send a written description of the dispute to legal@middleman.llc, and both sides will try in good faith to resolve it within 60 days. If that fails, you and Middleman agree to resolve the dispute by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules, rather than in court, and each side waives the right to a jury trial. Either side may instead bring an individual claim in small claims court. Arbitration will be conducted in Lake County, Florida or remotely by agreement. You and Middleman each waive the right to participate in a class or collective action or class-wide arbitration; if the class waiver is found unenforceable as to a claim, that claim must proceed in court, not in arbitration. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement entirely, with no effect on your account, by emailing legal@middleman.llc with the subject "Arbitration opt-out" within 30 days of first accepting a version of these Terms containing this section. These Terms are governed by Florida law, and any court proceedings must be brought in Lake County, Florida.
Middleman may update these Terms. We will notify you in the app, and continuing to accept jobs after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. Material changes to the fee structure will be announced at least 14 days in advance.