Working draft — not yet legally reviewed. Some details (support email, ABN, effective date) are still placeholders.
Effective date: [DATE]
Operated by: [YOUR FULL LEGAL NAME], trading as Middleman (ABN [YOUR ABN])
Contact: [SUPPORT EMAIL] · [BUSINESS POSTAL ADDRESS]
1.1 Middleman is an online platform that introduces people seeking trade services ("Customers") to independent contractors offering those services ("Pros"). It also lets Pros publish a profile and showcase their work.
1.2 Middleman is an introduction service only. We are not a builder, contractor, tradesperson, employer, agent, or broker. We do not perform, supervise, manage, inspect, or guarantee any work.
1.3 Any agreement to perform work is made directly between the Customer and the Pro. Middleman is not a party to that agreement, has no rights or obligations under it, and is not responsible for its performance.
1.4 Middleman does not handle payment for work. Customers pay Pros directly by whatever method they agree. We never hold, escrow, or transmit money for the work itself. Our fees (described in section 5) are charged to Pros only, for use of the platform.
1.5 We do not guarantee that any Customer will receive quotes, that any Pro will win work, or that any particular volume or quality of work or leads will result from using Middleman.
2.1 You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter a binding contract.
2.2 You must provide accurate information and keep it current. You are responsible for activity under your account and for keeping your login secure.
2.3 One account per person or business. Accounts may not be shared, sold, or transferred.
2.4 Middleman currently operates in South East Queensland. We may change our service area at any time.
2.5 Pro membership is for individual contractors and small operators who personally perform, or directly and personally oversee, the work they quote on. Middleman is not intended for larger businesses that operate primarily through sales representatives, call centres, or teams of employees who did not themselves assess the job. The badge, the reviews, and the pricing on this platform are built around the person doing the work knowing the work — that promise doesn't hold if the person quoting has never seen the site.
2.6 We may investigate and remove any Pro account where we reasonably believe it is being used by, or on behalf of, a business that does not meet 2.5 — including where quotes are being handled by sales staff rather than the person performing the work, where the account is shared across multiple crews or franchise locations, or where a Customer reports a mismatch between who quoted and who showed up. This is a discretionary power we exercise based on the information available to us; we are not able to verify company structure at signup and do not represent that every Pro on the platform has been checked against this standard.
2.7 If we remove an account under 2.6, no membership fees already paid are refunded, and any pending connection fees remain payable. This reflects the seriousness with which we treat the promise in 2.5, and is separate from — not a substitute for — a standard cancellation under section 5.5.
3.1 Customer accounts are free.
3.2 Pro (Contractor) members may quote on and perform work within the scope of the licences they hold and have verified with us. A Pro must not quote on or perform work outside the class of work their licence covers.
3.3 It is your responsibility, not ours, to hold and maintain every licence, registration, insurance, and permit required for the work you perform, to work only within the scope of what you hold, and to comply with all applicable laws including work health and safety obligations. You must satisfy yourself that a job is within your licensed scope before quoting on it. You must notify us immediately if a licence or insurance policy lapses, is suspended, or is cancelled.
4.1 Before a Pro is marked "verified", we check documents they supply against the relevant public register or issuing body. This may include a QBCC licence number checked on the QBCC public register, an electrical or other occupational licence checked with the relevant issuing body, ABN details checked on ABN Lookup, GST registration status, photo identification, and a certificate of currency for public liability insurance. Our current requirements are published in our Verification Standard.
4.2 Verification is a check of documents at a point in time. It is not a guarantee, endorsement, warranty, or assurance of a Pro's skill, honesty, workmanship, safety, financial position, or ongoing licence or insurance status. The badge means the documents were confirmed on the date shown. It means nothing more.
4.3 Customers are responsible for their own due diligence before engaging a Pro, including confirming that the Pro's licence is current and covers the specific work, obtaining written quotes and contracts, and checking insurance where appropriate. Licence status can be checked independently at qbcc.qld.gov.au.
4.4 Keeping credentials current is your responsibility. We record licence and insurance expiry dates and will send reminders as a courtesy, but a reminder is not a condition of your obligation to maintain them. Where a document expires and is not replaced, we may remove the badge and unpublish the profile until it is renewed. We may re-check credentials at any time, and do so periodically.
4.5 We may suspend or remove verification at any time, including where documents lapse, cannot be confirmed, where a member is found working outside their licensed scope, where credentials have been misrepresented, or where a licensing or regulatory body takes action against a member.
4.6 Providing false, altered, or fraudulent documents is a serious breach of these Terms, results in permanent removal without refund, and may be reported to the relevant authority.
5.1 Membership fees. Pro memberships are charged monthly in advance at $[150] per month.
5.2 Connection fees. When a Customer accepts your quote, a connection fee of $[25] is charged.
Connection fees are added to your next monthly invoice. Submitting quotes is free — the connection fee applies only when a Customer accepts.
5.3 We charge no commission on the value of any job, ever.
5.4 Fees are for platform access and the introduction only. They are not conditional on a job proceeding, on the Customer and Pro reaching agreement, or on you being paid. Except as set out in 5.6, connection fees are non-refundable.
5.5 Cancellation. You may cancel your membership at any time. Your access continues until the end of the paid period. We do not provide partial refunds for unused time. You remain liable for connection fees already incurred.
5.6 Connection fee appeals. If a Customer becomes uncontactable after accepting your quote, you may appeal the connection fee within [14] days by submitting evidence of your attempts to make contact. We will review each appeal and, at our discretion, may credit the fee to your account. Credits are applied to future invoices and are not paid as cash refunds. Our decision is final.
5.7 Locked founding rate. Members who join under a designated founding offer keep the membership rate stated at signup for as long as their membership remains continuously active. This lock applies to the base membership fee only. Optional add-on products and services released in future are priced separately for all members. If a founding membership is cancelled, the locked rate does not apply on rejoining.
5.8 Price changes. We may change membership and connection fees for non-founding members with at least [30] days' notice. Continuing to use Middleman after the change takes effect means you accept the new fees.
5.9 Failed payments. If payment fails we will retry. If payment remains unpaid, we may suspend your ability to quote and post until the account is brought up to date. We will not delete your profile or your posted work solely because of a failed payment.
5.10 GST. [SELECT ONE: Middleman is not currently registered for GST, and fees are not subject to GST. / Fees are inclusive of GST. Tax invoices are available in your account.]
5.11 Payments are processed by Stripe. We do not store your full card details. Your use of Stripe is subject to Stripe's own terms.
6.1 You keep ownership of the photos, text, and other content you upload ("Your Content").
6.2 By uploading Your Content, you grant Middleman a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display, reproduce, and promote it on the platform and in Middleman's marketing and social media, for as long as you maintain an account and for a reasonable period afterwards.
6.3 You warrant that you have the right to post Your Content, including that you have permission to photograph and publish work performed at a client's property, and that Your Content does not infringe anyone else's rights.
6.4 Your public profile page may be visible to anyone on the internet, including people without a Middleman account. This is a core feature of the service.
6.5 You must not post content that is false or misleading, offensive, discriminatory, infringing, unlawful, or that misrepresents work as your own when it is not.
6.6 Featuring you in marketing. The licence in 6.2 covers your posted work and captions. It does not by itself allow us to use your name, business name, logo, likeness, or a quote from you in a case study, testimonial, advertisement, or promotional campaign. We will ask for your written permission before doing so, and you may decline or withdraw permission at any time for future use. Members featured through an award, leaderboard placement, or spotlight are identified by their public profile details only, which is part of how those features work.
7.1 Customers may review Pros they have engaged through Middleman. Reviews must be honest, based on genuine first-hand experience of the work, and must relate to the work performed.
7.2 Reviews must not be posted in exchange for payment or benefit, must not be posted by the Pro or anyone connected to them, and must not contain abuse, threats, discriminatory language, or personal information about others.
7.3 We may remove a review that we reasonably consider breaches 7.1 or 7.2, or that is fraudulent, malicious, or unrelated to work performed. We are not obliged to remove a review simply because a Pro disagrees with it or considers it unfair. Negative but honest reviews will not be removed.
7.4 Pros may publicly respond to any review once. We encourage a right of reply rather than removal.
7.5 We do not verify the accuracy of reviews and are not responsible for their content.
8.1 You must not: use Middleman for anything unlawful; harass, abuse, threaten, or discriminate against anyone; misrepresent your licences, insurance, identity, or experience; scrape, copy, or bulk-extract content or member data; attempt to interfere with the platform's security or operation; or use Middleman to advertise a competing platform.
8.2 Off-platform circumvention. You may communicate and contract off-platform once introduced — that is normal. However, deliberately arranging introductions in a way designed to avoid connection fees for work sourced through Middleman is a breach of these Terms. Where we reasonably believe this has occurred, we may issue a warning, charge the connection fee that was avoided, or suspend or remove the account. As under clause 2.7, no membership fees already paid are refunded on removal.
8.3 Reporting a suspected non-contractor account. If, as a Customer, you believe a Pro you've engaged is not actually the person performing the work — for example, you were quoted by a sales representative, a different crew turned up than the one on the profile, or the "Pro" appears to be a larger company operating through this platform rather than an individual contractor — you can report this to us at [SUPPORT EMAIL]. We treat these reports seriously and will assess them under clause 2.6. We may not be able to tell you the outcome of our investigation into another member's account.
9.1 Disputes about work, payment, quality, timing, or conduct are between the Customer and the Pro. Middleman is not a mediator, arbitrator, or adjudicator and has no obligation to resolve them.
9.2 We may, at our sole discretion, act on reports of misconduct by warning, suspending, or removing a member. We are not obliged to investigate, to reach any particular outcome, or to explain our decision.
9.3 Queensland has statutory bodies for trade and building disputes, including the QBCC. Nothing in these Terms limits your right to use them.
10.1 We may suspend or terminate any account, with or without notice, where we reasonably believe there has been a breach of these Terms, a risk to other members or the public, fraudulent activity, or a lapse of required licences or insurance.
10.2 You may close your account at any time. Section 5.5 applies to fees.
10.3 On termination, your public profile and posts may be removed. We may retain records as required by law or for legitimate business purposes (see the Privacy Policy).
10.4 Lapsed and inactive memberships. If a Pro membership lapses for non-payment or is cancelled, we may unpublish the public profile and posted work, so that Customers are not shown Pros who are no longer active or verified. We will retain that content for [90] days, during which reactivating the membership restores the profile, including reviews and awards history. After that period the content may be permanently deleted. Reviews already given may remain on the platform in accordance with section 7 and the Privacy Policy.
10.5 If an account shows no login activity for [12] months, we may treat it as inactive and apply clause 10.4, after first attempting to contact you at your registered email address.
11.1 If you are unhappy with Middleman — including a billing issue, a decision to suspend or terminate your account, a verification outcome, or the way we have handled your information — contact us at [SUPPORT EMAIL] with the details.
11.2 We will acknowledge your complaint within [3] business days and aim to give a substantive response within [14] days. Some matters take longer, and we will tell you if that is the case.
11.3 If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate to an external body. Depending on the issue this may include the Office of Fair Trading Queensland, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, or the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner for privacy matters. Nothing in these Terms limits your right to do so.
11.4 Complaints about another member are dealt with under section 9, not this section.
12.1 Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts, or modifies any guarantee, right, or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot lawfully be excluded.
12.2 To the maximum extent permitted by law, Middleman is not liable for: the acts, omissions, conduct, workmanship, or solvency of any member; loss or damage arising from work arranged through the platform; the accuracy of member-supplied information, including licences, insurance, reviews, and quotes; or indirect or consequential loss, including lost profits or lost opportunity.
12.3 Where our liability cannot be excluded but can be limited, our total liability to you is limited, at our option, to resupplying the service or refunding the fees you paid us in the [3] months before the claim arose.
12.4 The platform is provided "as is". We do not warrant uninterrupted or error-free availability.
12.5 You indemnify Middleman against claims, losses, and costs arising from your breach of these Terms, your content, or work you perform or engage through the platform, except to the extent caused by our own breach or negligence.
13.1 We may update these Terms. Material changes will be notified by email or in-app at least [14] days before taking effect. Continuing to use Middleman after that date means you accept the updated Terms.
14.1 These Terms are governed by the laws of Queensland, Australia, and you submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of its courts.
14.2 If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.
14.3 These Terms are the entire agreement between you and Middleman about the platform.
Effective date: [DATE]
Entity: [YOUR FULL LEGAL NAME] trading as Middleman (ABN [YOUR ABN])
Privacy contact: [PRIVACY EMAIL] · [POSTAL ADDRESS]
This policy explains how we handle personal information, consistent with the *Privacy Act 1988* (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.
All members: name, email address, phone number (if provided), suburb, password (stored encrypted, never in readable form), profile photo, and records of your activity — messages, posts, likes, saves, jobs, quotes, and reviews.
Pros additionally: business name, ABN, GST registration status, trade type, licence numbers (including QBCC), certificates of insurance, identification documents, and payment records.
Customers additionally: details of jobs you post, including the suburb and description of the work.
Automatically: IP address, device and browser information, and usage data such as pages visited. We use this for security and to improve the platform.
We do not collect or store your full payment card details. These go directly to Stripe.
To create and operate your account; to verify Pros' credentials; to match Customers with Pros; to enable messaging, quotes, and reviews; to bill membership and connection fees; to display public profiles and posts; to send service communications; to investigate reports and enforce our Terms; to comply with legal obligations; and, where you have not opted out, to send occasional platform updates and offers.
Job details and guided intake. When you post a job we collect what you tell us about the work — your description, measurements, site conditions, access notes, and any photos you upload. We use this to show the job to relevant Pros and to let them quote accurately without needing a site visit first.
We also use this information to improve the platform: to refine the questions we ask for each trade, to understand what work is being requested across South East Queensland, and to develop tools that help Pros quote more accurately. When we use it for those purposes we use it in aggregated or de-identified form — combined with other jobs and stripped of anything identifying you, your property or your address. We do not sell it, and we do not publish your individual job details beyond what section 3 sets out.
The following are visible to anyone on the internet: your public profile page, your posted work and captions, your trade, suburb, verification badges, reviews about you, and your responses to reviews.
Not public: your email address, phone number, exact street address, identity documents, insurance certificates, payment records, and your private messages.
Jobs you post are visible at two levels. Anyone on the internet can see the job title, trade, suburb, budget range and how recently it was posted. The full description, your answers to the intake questions and any photos are visible only to verified Pro members, who see them in order to quote. Your name and contact details are not attached to the job at either level: a Pro receives them only once you accept their quote.
Customer accounts are not publicly listed. Reviews you leave display your first name and suburb.
We share personal information only with:
- Other members, as needed for an introduction — for example, a Pro whose quote you accept receives your contact details so they can arrange the work.
- Service providers who help us operate: Supabase (database and file hosting, Sydney region), Stripe (payment processing), Vercel (application hosting), and our email provider. Each handles data under their own obligations.
- Regulators, law enforcement, or professional advisers, where required or permitted by law.
We do not sell your personal information. We do not provide member lists to third parties for their own marketing.
Some providers may store or process data overseas. We take reasonable steps to ensure appropriate protections are in place.
We use encrypted connections, encrypted password storage, access controls that restrict data to the account it belongs to, and a private storage area for identity and insurance documents that is never publicly accessible. No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a data breach occurs that is likely to cause serious harm, we will notify affected people and the OAIC as required under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.
We keep your information while your account is active. After closure, we remove your public profile and posts, and retain records needed for legal, tax, and dispute purposes — generally up to [7] years for financial records. Reviews may remain visible in anonymised form so the record for other members stays accurate.
You may access the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete your account and data (subject to the retention obligations above), opt out of marketing emails at any time via the unsubscribe link, and complain about how we handle your information.
You may also request a copy of your data in a portable format. On request we will provide the personal information you have given us — including your profile details, posted work and images, and the reviews you have received — in a common machine-readable format, so you can keep it or use it elsewhere. We may charge a reasonable fee for repeated or unusually large requests, and will tell you before doing so.
Contact [PRIVACY EMAIL]. We will respond within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.
We use cookies necessary to keep you logged in and to keep the platform secure, and basic analytics to understand how the platform is used. You can control cookies in your browser, but the platform may not work properly without the essential ones.
Middleman is not intended for anyone under 18 and we do not knowingly collect information from children.
We may update this policy. Material changes will be notified by email or in-app. The effective date at the top shows when it was last updated.
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