What to do if something goes wrong

Flag the problem as soon as you see it, rather than waiting. Raising it while the job is fresh is what gives the review something to work with.

Raise it in the app, inside the window

When the contractor submits the work, look at it against what was agreed. If the job is not right — not finished, not what was agreed, done badly — flag it rather than confirming. If you are not sure whether something counts as a problem, flag it anyway: it is easier to resolve a flagged job than to reopen a confirmed one.

What we look at

A dispute is reviewed against the record, not against who argues hardest:

• The signed agreement — the scope, price, and timeline you both agreed before work started.
• The chat history, including anything that changed along the way.
• The photo proof the contractor submitted, and any photos you add.

This is why the agreement matters more than it looks. A vague scope makes a dispute a matter of opinion; a specific one makes it a matter of fact.

What we can do, and what we cannot

We do not hold your money, so we cannot refund you — there is nothing of yours in our hands to give back. That is worth saying plainly rather than letting you find it out mid-dispute.

What we can do is act on the account. A contractor who does this loses access to the platform, and anything touching a licence goes to the CSLB, who are the regulator and carry weight we do not.

And you are not left with our opinion. You hold a contract both of you signed before work started, timestamped photos of what was actually done, and a chat log neither side can edit — which is exactly what small claims runs on. That is the real protection, and it is why the agreement matters more than it looks.

Talk to the pro first, if you can

Most problems are not disputes. A missed spot or a misunderstanding is usually fixed faster by a message than by a process — and the contractor generally wants it resolved too. But if a conversation is not going anywhere, flag it. Flagging is not an accusation.

If it is serious

Damage to your home, work that looks unsafe, or anything involving a license you doubt — flag it and contact us. Serious concerns about licensed work can also go to the CSLB directly; they are the regulator, and a complaint to them carries weight we do not have.

If the problem is the person, not the work

Everything above is about a job. Harassment, a scam, or someone pushing you to take the work off FastHands is a different thing and has a different control — one that acts on the person rather than the job. See reporting someone, and blocking them.