Terms of Service

1. What Relay is — and what it is not

Relay operates an online marketplace that introduces customers who need work done to independent tradespeople who can do it. That is the entire service Relay provides.

Relay is not: the employer, principal, agent or partner of any tradesperson; a party to the contract for the work itself (that contract is directly between the customer and the tradesperson); a provider of building, electrical, gas, plumbing, decorating or any other trade service; or an insurer, guarantor or warrantor of any tradesperson's work, conduct, competence, timeliness or safety.

Relay's role begins and ends at operating the platform that connects the two of you, running the vetting checks described below, processing payment between you via a third-party payment processor, and providing support in relation to the platform itself. Everything that happens at the address where the work is carried out is a matter between the customer and the tradesperson.

2. Eligibility and accounts

• You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract to use Relay.
• You must provide accurate, current information and keep your account details up to date.
• You are responsible for activity under your account and for keeping your login credentials secure.
• You must use Relay lawfully and not misuse the platform, other users, or our systems.

3. How the service works

A customer can either request an urgent tradesperson — in which case the request is offered to nearby, available, approved tradespeople and the first to accept is matched — or pre-book a specific tradesperson for a future slot, subject to their stated availability.

For urgent requests, an automated process decides which tradespeople are offered the job and in what order, based on factors that may include proximity, rating and review history, track record of accepting and completing jobs, and any prior relationship with the customer. An offer is not a guarantee of work, and Relay does not choose a specific tradesperson for a customer — it presents the opportunity, and acceptance is the tradesperson's independent decision.

Relay does not guarantee that a tradesperson will be available, will accept a job, or will attend at a particular time. If no one accepts a request, the customer will be told and offered alternatives.

4. Customer obligations

• Provide accurate details about the job, the property and any access arrangements.
• Provide the tradesperson with a reasonably safe working environment, and disclose anything that could affect their safety before work begins.
• Treat tradespeople professionally and lawfully.
• Pay for completed work through Relay in accordance with the agreed price and these Terms, and not attempt to pay a tradesperson directly to avoid Relay's fee for a job sourced through Relay.
• Leave honest, fair reviews based on genuine experience.

5. Tradesperson obligations and status

You act at all times as an independent business, on your own account, and not as an employee, worker, agent or partner of Relay. You are free to decide whether to go online, which offers to accept or decline, and how to carry out your work within the estimate given to the customer. Relay does not direct, supervise or control the manner in which you perform work, does not set your working hours, and does not restrict you from working for other platforms or your own clients.

• You must be legally entitled to work in the UK and to trade in the services you offer.
• You must hold, and keep current, every licence, registration and certification the law requires for your work (for example Gas Safe registration for gas work), and provide evidence on request.
• You must only accept jobs within your genuine skill, competence and legal authorisation.
• You must comply with all applicable health, safety, building and consumer-protection law.
• You must keep your profile information accurate and up to date.

6. Insurance — mandatory

You must hold, and keep in force for as long as you use Relay, public liability insurance with a reputable UK insurer, at a minimum indemnity limit of £2,000,000 per claim, covering your work carried out via the platform. You must provide evidence of cover on request and before it lapses.

Relay is not your insurer. Relay does not provide public liability, professional indemnity, tools or any other insurance cover for your work, your van, your tools or your conduct. Failure to maintain the insurance and credentials required by this section is a material breach of these Terms and may result in immediate suspension or removal from the service.

7. Vetting and verification — what it means, and what it does not mean

Before a tradesperson can accept jobs, Relay carries out checks that may include confirming identity, reviewing evidence of trade qualifications and registrations, reviewing evidence of public liability insurance, and, where relevant, reviewing a DBS (criminal record) check. A human reviews applications before a tradesperson is approved to go live.

Where our checks are satisfied, we may display a badge on a profile (for example "ID verified", "Insured" or "DBS checked"). A badge reflects the status of that check at the time it was last completed — it is not a live, continuous guarantee, and certificates, insurance and DBS checks can lapse between reviews. We take reasonable steps to keep this information current but do not warrant that it is complete, accurate or up to date at any given moment.

Our vetting process is a risk-reduction measure, not a warranty. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Relay does not guarantee that any tradesperson is safe, competent, reliable or properly insured at every moment, and accepts no liability for loss or harm arising from a tradesperson's conduct or compliance status, whether or not they held a verification badge at the relevant time.

8. Bookings, cancellations and no-shows

A booking is an agreement between the customer and the tradesperson for the described work, at the price the tradesperson quotes or invoices. Relay is not a party to that agreement.

• Pre-booked jobs may be cancelled free of charge up until 2 hours before the scheduled slot.
• Urgent jobs may be cancelled free of charge within 5 minutes of being matched to a tradesperson.
• Cancelling later than the free windows above may incur a late-cancellation fee of £20, charged to the customer's saved payment method. A tradesperson cancelling a job never results in a charge to the customer.
• Repeated late cancellations or no-shows by either party may affect that party's standing on the platform, including suspension.

9. Fees and commission

Relay's charge for the introduction is calculated automatically and is never negotiated per job:

• Customer service fee: 6% of the job subtotal, itemised on the invoice and added to the customer total, on every paid booking.
• Tradesperson platform fee — job sourced by Relay: 4% of the job subtotal, deducted from the tradesperson's payout.
• Tradesperson platform fee — customer is the tradesperson's own direct client: 0% (waived). A job is only treated this way where the customer joined Relay via that tradesperson's own invitation, as recorded automatically at sign-up.

VAT is applied to the tradesperson's labour at the prevailing UK rate and passed through. Relay may change these rates on reasonable notice; the rate that applied when a job was booked governs that job.

10. Payments

Payments are processed by a third-party payment processor. Relay does not store your full card number. After the tradesperson issues an itemised invoice, the customer reviews and approves it before the saved payment method is charged. Tradespeople are then paid out to their own account with the payment processor, less Relay's fee and on the processor's payout schedule.

If a payment fails, is disputed, or is charged back, Relay may suspend the customer's ability to book further work until it is resolved.

11. Refunds and disputes about the work itself

If a customer is unhappy with completed work, they should raise it directly with the tradesperson first. Relay may, at its discretion, help facilitate a resolution — including reviewing job records and issuing a full or partial refund — but Relay is not obliged to resolve, mediate or pay for a dispute about the standard of a tradesperson's work, because that work is a contract between the customer and the tradesperson, not with Relay.

This does not affect a customer's statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 against the tradesperson who performed the work. Nothing in these Terms limits those statutory rights.

12. Reviews and content

Users may post reviews, ratings and other content after a completed job. Content must be honest, based on genuine experience, and must not be defamatory, abusive or unlawful. You grant Relay a licence to host and display content you submit for the purpose of operating the platform. We may remove content that breaches these Terms.

13. Liability — please read this section carefully

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Relay is not liable for any loss, damage, injury, illness, theft or other harm arising from, or in connection with, the acts, omissions, conduct, work or presence of a tradesperson — including damage to a customer's property or home, personal injury, theft or loss occurring during a visit, or defective or non-compliant work. Any claim of this kind is a matter between the customer and the tradesperson (or their respective insurers), not a claim against Relay. This reflects that Relay is an introduction platform, not the party carrying out the work, and that tradespeople are required to hold their own public liability insurance for exactly this purpose.

The service is provided "as is". Relay does not warrant that it will be uninterrupted or error-free, that a tradesperson will be available when requested, or that any information on the service (including ratings or verification badges) is accurate at every moment.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by Relay's own negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation by Relay, a customer's statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English law.

Subject always to the paragraph above, Relay's total aggregate liability to you arising out of the service — for claims relating to the platform itself, such as a failure of the booking or payment system that is Relay's fault — is limited to the greater of the fees Relay actually received in respect of the specific booking giving rise to the claim, or £100. Relay is not liable for any indirect, special or consequential loss, or for loss of profits, business or data.

14. Indemnity

Tradespeople agree to indemnify Relay against any claim, loss, liability or expense arising from their breach of these Terms, their work or conduct in connection with a booking, their failure to hold required licences, registrations or insurance, or their breach of any law. Customers agree to indemnify Relay against any claim, loss, liability or expense arising from their breach of these Terms, misuse of the service, or provision of false information. This indemnity is in addition to, and does not replace, the limitation of Relay's own liability above.

15. Suspension and termination

You may stop using Relay and close your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate access, immediately where reasonably necessary, if you breach these Terms, if a tradesperson's insurance or credentials lapse or are found inaccurate, if we reasonably suspect fraud or a safety risk, or where required by law. Where practical, we will act proportionately and give notice, but we are not required to where we reasonably believe there is a safety risk.

16. Complaints and dispute resolution

If you have a complaint about the service itself, contact us and we will investigate and respond within a reasonable time. Customers may also be entitled to use an approved alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service under the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes Regulations 2015. Nothing in this section affects your right to bring a claim in the courts of England and Wales.

17. Intellectual property

The Relay name, logo, app, website and content (excluding user-submitted content) belong to Relay or its licensors and are protected by intellectual property law. You may not copy, modify or reuse them without our permission, except as permitted by law.

18. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms, and any dispute arising in connection with them, are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, except that if you are a consumer, you may also be entitled to bring proceedings in the courts of the country you live in within the UK, and mandatory consumer-protection laws of that country may apply.

19. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms as Relay develops. We will change the "last updated" date above and, for material changes, take reasonable steps to notify you before they take effect. Continued use after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms.

20. How to contact us

For any question about these Terms, email us at the address below.