Terms of use

These Terms of Use (the “Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and Lead Dog Ventures LLC (“Lead Dog Ventures LLC”, “Job Hound”, “we”, “us” or “our”) governing your access to and use of askthehound.com, and any related pages, features, communications and services we provide under the Job Hound name (together, the “Service”).

By accessing or using the Service, submitting a project request, or contacting a service provider through the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

Section 17 contains a binding arbitration agreement and a class action waiver that affect how disputes between you and us are resolved. Please read it carefully.

Job Hound is an online directory and introduction service. It helps homeowners and other users (“Homeowners”) find and contact independent home-service businesses and contractors (“Pros”). That is the whole of what we do.

Job Hound is not a contractor, and does not:

• perform, supervise, direct, inspect or guarantee any work;
• employ Pros, or act as their agent, partner, joint venturer or representative;
• set, negotiate, collect or guarantee any price, estimate or payment;
• become a party to any agreement between a Homeowner and a Pro; or
• provide legal, financial, engineering, insurance or other professional advice.

Any agreement for services is made solely between you and the Pro. Pros are independent businesses solely responsible for their work, their pricing, their employees and subcontractors, their licensing, permits and insurance, and their compliance with law.

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use the Service. By using it, you confirm that you are. If you use the Service on behalf of a business or another person, you confirm you have authority to bind them to these Terms.

You agree that:

• the information you provide about yourself and your project will be accurate and yours to share;
• you will submit only genuine requests for work you are considering having done;
• you are solely responsible for evaluating and choosing a Pro, including independently verifying any license, registration, bond, insurance, permit, reference, review or credential that matters to you, before any work begins;
• you will get the scope, price, schedule, warranty and payment terms of any job in writing, directly from the Pro; and
• you use the Service, and hire any Pro, at your own risk.

Job Hound is free for Homeowners. We do not charge you to search, submit a request, or contact a Pro.

Listing information — including business names, trades, service areas, descriptions, photos, hours, typical prices and credentials — is supplied by Pros or drawn from third-party and public sources. We do not independently verify it, and we do not guarantee that it is accurate, complete or current.

Unless we expressly state otherwise for a specific listing, we do not perform background checks, and we do not verify licensing, bonding or insurance.

The order in which Pros appear is determined by our ranking methods, described on our How we rank pros page, which we may change at any time. Pros cannot pay for a higher ranking. A ranking, badge, rating or appearance on the Service is not an endorsement, recommendation, certification or guarantee of any Pro or their work.

Statements on the Service about pricing — including that Pros do not pay referral fees — describe how the Service operates. They are not a promise that any particular Pro will charge any particular price, or less than any other provider. Each Pro sets their own prices.

Pros are listed on Job Hound through a Lead Dog account. Your use of Lead Dog software, including any subscription fees, is governed by Lead Dog's separate terms of service. Job Hound does not charge Pros a fee to receive project requests.

As a listed Pro, you agree that:

• everything in your listing is truthful, current and not misleading, and you will keep it that way;
• you hold every license, registration, permit, bond and insurance policy required for the work you offer, and will produce proof if we ask;
• you will use a Homeowner's contact information only to respond to the request they sent you, and in compliance with all applicable laws, including those governing calls, texts, email and consumer privacy;
• you will not sell, share or transfer Homeowner information to anyone; and
• you are solely responsible for your work, your conduct, and your agreements with Homeowners.

We may edit, suspend, demote or remove any listing, at any time, for any reason, including inaccuracy, complaints, or a breach of these Terms.

When you submit a project request to one or more Pros, you ask and authorize those Pros to contact you about that request using the contact details you provide, including by phone call, text message and email. Message and data rates may apply. Consent is not a condition of any purchase.

We share your request only with the Pros you choose. We do not sell your request or contact details to other contractors. To stop hearing from a Pro, tell that Pro directly, or contact us and we will help.

We may also send you messages about requests you submit and about your use of the Service.

You are responsible for anything you submit to the Service, including reviews, ratings, photos, project descriptions and messages (“User Content”). Reviews must reflect your own genuine experience.

You keep ownership of your User Content. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable and sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, modify, adapt, display, publish and distribute it in connection with operating, improving and promoting the Service.

We are not obligated to monitor User Content and are not responsible for it. We may remove or decline any User Content, at any time, for any reason. User Content reflects the views of the person who posted it, not ours.

You agree not to:

• submit false, fraudulent, test or spam requests, or impersonate anyone;
• post fake, paid-for, incentivized or retaliatory reviews, or reviews of your own or a competitor's business;
• scrape, crawl, harvest or collect data from the Service by automated means without our written permission;
• use the Service, or information from it, to build a competing product or to market to Homeowners or Pros;
• interfere with, overload, probe or bypass the security of the Service;
• upload anything unlawful, infringing, defamatory, harassing, hateful or obscene, or any malware; or
• use the Service for any unlawful purpose, or to harm anyone.

The Service, including its design, text, graphics, logos, software and the Job Hound and Lead Dog names and marks, is owned by Lead Dog Ventures LLC or its licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Service for its intended personal purpose, subject to these Terms. No other rights are granted.

The Service may link to or rely on websites, tools and services we do not own or control, including Pros' own websites. We are not responsible for their content, practices, availability or terms, and your use of them is at your own risk.

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied or statutory, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy, and any warranties arising from course of dealing or usage of trade.

Lead Dog Ventures LLC makes no representation or warranty about any Pro, or about the quality, safety, legality, timeliness, pricing or outcome of any work or service a Pro provides, and is not responsible for any act, omission, statement or conduct of any Pro or any user, whether online or offline.

We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure or error-free, or that any information on it is accurate, complete or current.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event will Lead Dog Ventures LLC, its affiliates, or their members, managers, officers, employees, agents, licensors or service providers be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, use or goodwill, or for any property damage, personal injury or death, arising out of or relating to the Service, any Pro, any work performed or not performed, or any interaction between users, however caused and under any theory of liability, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability for all claims arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will not exceed the greater of (a) the amounts you paid us to use the Service in the twelve months before the claim arose, or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain of these exclusions or limitations, so some may not apply to you. In that case, our liability is limited to the smallest extent permitted by law.

Any dispute about work, pricing, payment, damage, delay, warranty or conduct is between you and the Pro or other user involved. We may, but are not obligated to, try to help resolve it.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, you release Lead Dog Ventures LLC and its affiliates, and their members, managers, officers, employees and agents, from all claims, demands and damages of every kind, known and unknown, arising out of or connected with any such dispute.

If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code §1542, which says: “A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party.” You waive any similar law in any other jurisdiction.

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Lead Dog Ventures LLC and its affiliates, and their members, managers, officers, employees and agents, from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of or relating to (a) your use of the Service, (b) your User Content, (c) your breach of these Terms or of any law, (d) any work you perform or have performed, or (e) your dealings with any other user.

We may suspend or end your access to the Service, or modify or discontinue any part of the Service, at any time, with or without notice, for any reason. Sections that by their nature should survive — including those on User Content licenses, disclaimers, limitation of liability, release, indemnification and dispute resolution — survive any termination.

Talk to us first. Before starting any formal proceeding, you agree to email info@betheleaddog.com with a description of your claim and to try in good faith to resolve it with us for at least 60 days.

Binding individual arbitration. Except as described below, any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved by final and binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, before a single arbitrator. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section. The arbitrator, and not any court, decides questions of arbitrability to the extent permitted by law.

You and Lead Dog Ventures LLC each waive the right to a jury trial and the right to bring or participate in any class, collective, consolidated or representative action. Claims may be brought only on an individual basis. The arbitrator may not consolidate claims or preside over any representative proceeding.

Exceptions. Either party may bring an individual claim in small claims court if it qualifies, and either party may seek injunctive relief in court for infringement or misuse of intellectual property.

Opting out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing info@betheleaddog.com within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, with the subject line “Arbitration opt-out” and including your name, contact details and a clear statement that you opt out of arbitration.

If the class action waiver is found unenforceable as to any claim, that claim will be decided in court, not in arbitration.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the state in which Lead Dog Ventures LLCmaintains its principal place of business, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, except that the Federal Arbitration Act governs Section 17. For any claim not subject to arbitration, you and we submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts serving the county in which Lead Dog Ventures LLC maintains its principal place of business.

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will change the effective date at the top of this page, and for material changes we will make reasonable efforts to give additional notice. Changes take effect when posted. Continuing to use the Service after that means you accept the updated Terms. Changes to Section 17 will not apply to any dispute of which we already had notice.

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service. If any provision is found unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted and the rest will remain in effect. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent; we may assign them without restriction. Headings and the plain-English summary are for convenience only and have no legal effect.

Questions about these Terms can go to info@betheleaddog.com.