Last updated 6 July 2026 · v1.0

Client Agreement

Terms for homeowners and households booking Workers through the platform

1. What you’re booking

1.1. When you book a Worker through Helpers, you are entering a service arrangement directly with that Worker, who is an independent contractor, not a Helpers employee. Helpers facilitates the introduction, booking, payment, vetting, and dispute support described below.

1.2. Helpers is not the employer of your Worker and is not vicariously liable for how a Worker carries out a job, except as expressly set out in this Agreement.

2. Vetting and what “vetted” means

Workers on the platform are ID-checked and vetted according to Helpers’ onboarding process at the time they joined. This is a meaningful screening step, not a guarantee of future conduct. Helpers describes Workers as “ID-checked” and “vetted” — not “insured” — because individual Worker negligence is not covered by Helpers’ platform insurance policy (see clause 5).

3. Booking, payment and cancellation

• You pay the displayed rate when you book; your card is authorised at booking and charged once the job is confirmed complete.
• You’re asked to give at least 24 hours’ notice if you need to cancel. At this early stage, Helpers doesn’t charge a cancellation fee — this will be revisited once booking volume is higher.
• If a Worker doesn’t show or the job isn’t completed as booked, raise it through the in-app dispute process within 48 hours for a review and refund/adjustment where appropriate.

4. Staying on-platform

Helpers’ vetting, insurance-support, payment protection, and dispute resolution only apply to jobs booked and paid through the platform. If you and a Worker you met through Helpers move the same recurring arrangement off-platform, you lose all of that — no vetting umbrella, no payment protection, no dispute support if something goes wrong. At this stage Helpers isn’t charging a fee for this; the incentive to stay is simply that the protections are worth more than what the platform fee costs.

That may change as the platform grows — if Helpers ever introduces a fee connected to this, it will be communicated clearly in advance and reviewed for New Zealand’s rules on reasonable versus punitive contract terms.

5. Insurance and liability

• Helpers holds public liability insurance for the platform’s own operations.
• This does not extend to cover a Worker’s individual negligence, and Helpers is not liable for property damage or personal injury caused by a Worker’s actions, to the maximum extent permitted by law.
• Nothing here excludes rights you have under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 or Fair Trading Act 1986 that cannot lawfully be excluded.

6. Your responsibilities as a Client

• Provide a safe environment for the Worker to carry out the agreed job.
• Give an accurate description of the job when booking.
• Treat Workers — including student Workers — with the same respect and fairness you’d expect yourself.

7. Disputes

Raise any issue through the in-app dispute process within 48 hours of job completion. Helpers will review the evidence from both sides and may adjust payment accordingly. Unresolved disputes go to mediation before court proceedings; the Disputes Tribunal is available for straightforward money claims within its limit.

8. Governing law

This Agreement is governed by New Zealand law.