Our Commitment
Trust & Safety
Core principles
Our business is built on trust: the trust we put in the contractors in our network, the trust our clients put in us, and the trust that should exist between homeowners and the contractors they hire for their home renovations.
We’ve developed this Trust & Safety site to outline the core principles and values upon which our company is built:
Security
Trust
Transparency
Reliability
Quality
Please refer to this site frequently, as it may be updated from time to time. However; our commitment to building and maintaining trust as a pillar of our company will always remain the same.
Our Policy
What does our Trust & Safety policy cover?
Our commitment to build and maintain trust is at the center of everything we do.
Our Trust & Safety Policy covers all of these areas:
We review contractors to confirm they meet all of our requirements before they can accept project leads.
Projects submitted by homeowners are reviewed then matched with qualified and available contractors in our network.
Ratings and reviews help us assess contractors’ performance and recommend the best contractor for any given project.
We track the ongoing performance of all our approved contractors and we investigate all negative reviews and complaints.
Smart Reno contractors must respect our Code of Conduct to maintain membership in our network.
By becoming a member of the Smart Reno network, contractors commit to respecting our Trust & Safety policy and upholding these principles in all their interactions, both within our platform and outside of it.
If any contractor fails to follow the guidelines contained in this policy, they may be removed from the Smart Reno network.
Contractor verification
How do we vet contractors?
Our goal is to connect you with contractors you can trust. That means
we need to trust them, too, and that starts with each contractor meeting our criteria.
All Smart Reno contractors are vetted for the following:
Business Verification
Reputation Assessment
Contractors will be fully assesed and reviewed with real customers who have previously worked with them
Background Check
We search legal database to see if any lawsuit was filed against the contractor or business within the past 5 years
Liability Insurance
Contractors must have an up-to-date third-party liability insurance of a minimum coverage of $1,000,000
Relevant Certifications
Where required, we validate that contractors are licensed to work in their designated provinces.
How we track ongoing contractor performance
We track ongoing performance of contractors using ratings & reviews as well as any complaints & disputes.
Contractor Verification
We perform a thorough contractor verification at onboarding and monitor their performance on our network, to ensure that contractors maintain the same performance standards and continue to meet our requirements.
Customer Reviews
We maintain a report card on all approved contractors, which tracks ongoing performance ratings. Smart Reno also investigates all negative reviews and complaints.
Complaint Investigation
Contractors will be immediately suspended from our platform while we investigate complaints of fraud, mishandling payments, or other serious allegations.
Contractor Status
Acceptance, suspension or removal from the Smart Reno network
Smart Reno has the sole discretion to accept, remove or suspend a contractor, based on the information that is available to us at the time the decision is made.
At our discretion, we reserve the right to inform homeowners who have ongoing projects with any removed contractor that their contractor is no longer a member of the Smart Reno network. It will be up to the homeowners to decide whether they wish to continue working with the contractor despite their removal from our network.
Acceptance
All applications go through our contractor vetting process. Rejected applications will be reimbursed any pre-paid fees.
Suspension
Suspended contractors will not receive any new project leads while their profile is under investigation.
Removal
Contractors who are removed from our network for cause forfeit any membership fees already paid.
Have more questions?
Connect with us
Visit our FAQs for more answers or contact our Customer Service team for direct contact.
Project qualification
We use a combination of live project experts and a proprietary matching system to find contractors who are the right fit for each project. Homeowners may receive up to five proposed contractors when they search with Smart Reno.
Project Review
Contractor and Homeowner Connect
Any qualified contractors we identified will contact the homeowners to better understand the project and provide a quote.
Contractor Matched
When matched with a contractor, homeowners also receive an email with the contact details of the contractors provided to Smart Reno, so homeowners have the option to contact them directly.
Any contractors we refer for your project are vetted, may have already done several projects for our clients, and have received positive feedback. The choice is yours and there is no obligation to choose any of the contractors we match you with. Once you select a contractor, whether it’s within our network or outside of it, simply let us know so we can close the quoting process for other pros.
Have more questions?
Connect with us
Visit our FAQs for more answers or contact our Customer Service team for direct contact.
Ratings & Reviews
Transparency is an important element of building trust within our community.
All reviews – positive or negative – are welcome and encouraged, so long as they remain truthful, do not defame, slander or contain personal attacks against a contractor, its company, or employees.
Ratings and reviews help us assess a contractor’s performance and recommend the best contractor for any given project. Ratings and reviews also help other homeowners make better-informed decisions.
How we deal with negative reviews
Transparency also means that we will not tolerate false reviews. Paying for positive reviews is a breach of our code of conduct.
Monthly Internal Review
When a contractor receives a single negative review, we flag the contractor for a monthly internal review.
Review Investigation
If the contractor has received two negative reviews, we check to see if the reasons given by the homeowners have a recurring theme, and if so, we communicate this to the homeowners of any ongoing or newly awarded projects.
Contractor Suspension
If a contractor receives two or more negative reviews in the same year, the contractor is placed on suspension while an investigation occurs and will not be recommended for projects until the investigation concludes. Should the findings of the investigation be unsatisfactory, the pro will be removed from our network. This decision will be at our sole discretion.
Have more questions?
Connect with us
Visit our FAQs for more answers or contact our Customer Service team for direct contact.
Complaints & disputes
Disputes between homeowners and the contractors they hire for a project can happen. Although we try to select the best contractors for the job, a misunderstanding may occur. We encourage homeowners and contractors to resolve their issue in good faith.
Although we do our best to match homeowners’ projects with competent contractors, homeowners and contractors enter into a contract separately and Smart Reno is not a party to that contract. Therefore, Smart Reno does not accept any liability for the work performed by our contractors and will not intervene in legal disputes between homeowners and contractors.
Please refer to our terms and conditions.
If you would like to understand your options for legal recourse in each province, please refer to the Smart Reno blog and consult a legal professional.
How we deal with complaints and disputes
We investigate all negative reviews and complaints.
Internal Review
If a complaint is lodged against a contractor where accusations of fraud, mishandling of payments or other serious allegations are made, the contractor will be immediately suspended from our platform while we investigate the complaint or dispute.
Contractor Removal
We reserve the right to remove contractors from the Smart Reno network at any time for failure to pass our annual or more frequent reviews, or for any violations to our Code of Conduct. All decisions regarding removal from the Smart Reno network are final and communicated to the contractor in writing, at the email address that we have on file.
Client Notification
If our investigation confirms fraud, mishandling of payments or other serious allegations occurred, we reserve the right, at our discretion, to inform homeowners who have ongoing projects with the contractor. It will be up to the homeowners to decide whether or not they wish to continue working with the contractor.
Have more questions?
Connect with us
Visit our FAQs for more answers or contact our Customer Service team for direct contact.
Code of Conduct for Contractors
By becoming a member of the Smart Reno network, contractors commit to respecting our Trust & Safety policy and upholding these principles in all their interactions, both within our platform and outside of it. If any contractor fails to follow the guidelines contained in this policy, they may be removed from the Smart Reno network.
All contractors on the Smart Reno
network commit to:
- You will comply with all applicable legal and regulatory obligations, including the laws, bylaws, regulations, and codes of the municipality, region, and province in which you do business or perform work;
- You will provide your renovation services in a professional manner, using at least the same degree of care, skill, and supervision as would be exercised by a reasonable and prudent person experienced in providing similar services;
- You will place and keep in force, at your sole cost, an insurance policy that meets our requirements;
- You will obtain and maintain, at your cost, all permits, and certifications that may be required to perform your activities;
- You will provide fair and safe working conditions for your workers in accordance with health and safety regulations;
- You will ensure that your employees and/or workers stay current with any required health and safety training;
- You will comply with any public health and workplace safety measures, advice, and guidelines affecting the subcontractors as well as Users;
- You will maintain a clean and safe space, free of unnecessary waste and debris, throughout the project;
- You will ensure that upon completion of the project, the space is left in a clean and safe state;
- You will provide regular updates to the homeowners regarding the project’s status;
- You will inform the homeowner and/or contractor of any change(s) in pricing from what was outlined in the accepted quote, Homeowner Renovation Agreement, or Subcontractor Agreement (as the case may be) and will not incur additional costs without obtaining written agreement from the homeowner and/or contractor;
- You will ensure that your work is completed on schedule and in accordance with the Homeowner Renovation Agreement or any other agreement between you and the homeowner and/or any Subcontractor Agreement between you and a contractor;
- You will not perform any work that you are not qualified or licensed to perform;
- You will not consume, use or be impaired by alcohol or illegal drugs or be under the influence of prescription drugs that impair your ability to perform work in a safe and efficient manner;
- You will deliver quality work that meets or surpass industry standards;
- You will promptly pay all subcontractors that you engage for the project;
- You will cooperate with any Smart Reno investigation, inquiries or follow-up on complaints lodged by any homeowner, contractor or subcontractor, and you will not retaliate against the complainant for any such investigation, inquiry or complaint;
- You will not retaliate against any person who gives you a negative review;
- You will not make any acts or threats of physical or verbal violence, intimidation, harassment, or engage in any conduct that is deemed abusive, threatening, obscene, defamatory, libelous or racially, sexually, religiously or otherwise discriminatory, objectionable or offensive to any member of the Smart Reno network;
- You will not (a) rent, lease, provide access to or sublicense the Services, including the provision of any leads to projects listed on the homeowner marketplace or Pro Network to any third party; or (b) use the Services to provide, or incorporate the Services into, any product or service You offer to a third party;
- You will not use another Smart Reno member’s account without permission;
- You will not attempt to re-register with Smart Reno if we have terminated your account for any or no reason.
Have more questions?
Connect with us
Visit our FAQs for more answers or contact our Customer Service team for direct contact.