Payment Terms, Funding, Release & Dispute Policy

SafeBilled uses a Stripe Connect-based payment flow or a substantially similar processor-supported multi-party payment structure selected by SafeBilled.

Homeowners fund approved project amounts, milestones, or change orders using an approved payment method through their SafeBilled account. SafeBilled may require role-specific onboarding, verification, project acceptance, or payment-method steps before a funding event or release request can proceed.

Contractors must complete Stripe-hosted payout setup before receiving payouts through SafeBilled. Stripe may require identity, business, tax, and bank account information before payouts are enabled.

Funds are released pursuant to the project documents, homeowner approval instructions, this policy, and applicable processor rules.

SafeBilled is not a bank, trust company, insurer, licensed escrow provider, licensed money transmitter, or fiduciary to project participants.

References to funding, protected funds, approval, or release describe the processor-supported payment flow and SafeBilled project release controls, not a legal escrow relationship.

A project may include milestone funding, change-order funding, final payment, or other funding events shown in the project flow.

Each funding event should identify the amount, milestone or purpose, completion criteria, and any release conditions required by the project agreement or change order.

Before homeowner acceptance, a contractor may revise a bid or Project Work Agreement to correct scope, pricing, milestones, or other details. The latest homeowner-review version controls what can be accepted, and earlier sent versions should be treated as superseded.

Approved payment methods may include card payments and ACH or bank payments, subject to processor availability, verification, and risk controls. ACH transactions may take time to clear or settle.

Homeowner payment screens should disclose applicable homeowner-side fees before payment authorization, including the Homeowner Protection Fee and any other fee added to the funding total.

The ACH Payment Fee is not added to the normal funding total. If configured, it may be retained or deducted only when an ACH-funded payment is canceled or refunded to recover unrecovered ACH processing cost. The Homeowner Protection Fee covers SafeBilled's project protection workflow, milestone approvals, release documentation, and homeowner support.

The Contractor Merchant Fee applies to card-funded work when configured and is deducted from contractor payout. The Contractor Project Fee is the contractor-side value fee for bid-opportunity projects and is deducted from funded bid-opportunity payouts unless the project flow clearly states otherwise. Contractors do not make a separate payment to SafeBilled for these fees.

If a homeowner cancels after funding and requests a refund before contractor payout, the refund may be reduced by a Homeowner Cancellation Fee for unrecovered payment processing costs.

As a default rule, release is initiated by the homeowner through the platform after review of the applicable milestone, invoice, completion request, or funded change order.

SafeBilled may initiate a release, reversal, or related payment instruction without fresh homeowner approval only in narrow circumstances, including the unresponsive homeowner release review process described below, compliance with law, court order, card-network rules, processor requirements, fraud-prevention requirements, sanctions or compliance restrictions, or correction of a duplicate payment, misapplied allocation, or other clear processing error supported by platform and processor records.

A contractor may submit a completion or release request for a funded milestone, funded change order, final payment, or other documented funding event with evidence showing the covered work was completed or is ready for homeowner approval.

SafeBilled may notify the homeowner through the platform, email, and other available transactional channels and give the homeowner clear options to approve, dispute, request more information, or contact support.

If the homeowner takes no action for two calendar days after notice is sent, SafeBilled may route the request to internal advisors or support for review.

If the homeowner takes no action for five calendar days after notice is sent, and no dispute, question, fraud report, payment issue, legal or processor hold, or other blocker exists, SafeBilled may authorize release of the undisputed funded amount after internal review of project documents, contractor evidence, platform records, fairness, and risk.

This process does not create automatic contractor self-release. SafeBilled may deny, delay, partially release, request more evidence, or keep funds protected when circumstances warrant.

Recognized disputes may include alleged non-performance, defective performance, delay, scope disagreement, pricing disagreement, unauthorized payment, fraud, or other materially documented concerns relating to the funded milestone or payment request.

A report that a contractor requested off-platform payment, attempted to move a change order outside SafeBilled, or otherwise sought to circumvent platform controls may also be treated as a recognized dispute or integrity event.

When a recognized dispute, question, request for more information, or support issue is opened before release, SafeBilled may pause the disputed release, request documents, separate disputed and undisputed amounts where supported, recommend negotiation, invite mediation, or take other reasonable administrative steps consistent with this policy and processor rules.

Once funds have been released, SafeBilled cannot guarantee recovery of funds.

A post-release complaint may still be reported to SafeBilled, and SafeBilled may request documents, freeze future payouts where permitted, support a refund workflow, support a processor claim, or exercise contractual offset or clawback rights against a contractor where the agreements permit.

Before a funding instruction is submitted to the payment processor, a homeowner may request cancellation.

SafeBilled may deny or limit the request if the transaction is already in process, the request is incomplete, or the project documents make the amount immediately payable.

After funding has been processed but before release, cancellation is not automatic. SafeBilled may approve, deny, or condition a reversal based on the project documents, contractor reliance, processor limits, risk, and fairness of the circumstances.

If a chargeback, ACH return, reversal, or other negative balance event occurs after contractor payout and relates to contractor conduct, scope, performance, delay, misrepresentation, refund obligation, or project dispute, the contractor remains financially responsible for the resulting amount and related fees to the extent permitted by law.

SafeBilled may offset such amounts against future payouts, hold reserves, reverse transfers where processor tools allow it, or require reimbursement after notice.

SafeBilled governs only the amounts, releases, change orders, and related records that remain on-platform.

If a project is split between on-platform and off-platform payments, SafeBilled may limit its records, support, release controls, and dispute handling to the on-platform portion.

Intentional off-platform movement may be treated as a platform-integrity issue under the applicable user agreements.

Payment, dispute, and release notices may be sent to info@safebilled.com.