Legal

Terms of service.

Last updated 6 July 2026

These terms govern your use of What's The Damage (the "Service"), operated by Focus Search Pty Ltd (ABN 70 167 781 946) of Victoria, Australia ("we", "us", "our"). By using the Service — including by submitting your details to receive leads, or by purchasing a lead — you agree to these terms.

1. The service

What's The Damage matches Australian homeowners requesting residential trade work with registered Australian tradespeople. Homeowners submit jobs via our website. Our system qualifies them and dispatches the resulting screened leads to up to 2 tradies, or to a single tradie holding Exclusive Territory Lockdown for the relevant trade and city. Tradies pay a per-lead fee to access the homeowner's full contact details.

2. Eligibility

To purchase a lead or receive dispatches you must:

• Be at least 18 years old.
• Be operating a legitimate trade business in Australia.
• Hold any required licences or registrations for your trade in your state or territory.
• Not be on any current consumer protection blacklist or warning notice.

We may, at our discretion, refuse service to any tradie or remove any business from our dispatch list at any time.

3. Lead pricing

Lead fees are displayed at the point of purchase and are inclusive of GST. Prices may vary by trade, location, and lead quality. We may change pricing at any time, but pricing for a specific lead is locked at the price shown when you click to pay.

4. Payment

All payments are processed via Stripe. We do not store your card details. You authorise us to charge the displayed amount when you complete a checkout. Failed or disputed payments may result in suspension of access until resolved.

4A. Exclusive Territory Lockdown

Exclusive Territory Lockdown ("Territory Lock") reserves a single trade in a single city (a "territory" - for example, roofing in Geelong) exclusively to your business. While your Territory Lock is active, qualified leads for that trade and city are dispatched only to you, instead of to up to two tradies. One Territory Lock covers one trade-and-city combination.

Price and billing. A Territory Lock is $250 per month, inclusive of GST. Your first month is free. Unless you cancel during that free month, your subscription automatically converts to a paid monthly subscription and your first payment is taken at the end of the free month. You are then billed $250 on the same day each month, automatically, via Stripe, until you cancel.

Auto-renewal. Your Territory Lock renews automatically each month. By subscribing you authorise us to charge your nominated payment method each month until you cancel.

Cancelling. You can cancel at any time by emailing contact@whatsthedamage.com.au. Cancellation stops your next payment and ends the subscription at the end of the current paid month. Your territory stays exclusive to you until the end of that paid period, after which it reverts to standard dispatch (up to two tradies) and becomes available for another tradie to lock.

No partial-month refunds. Territory Lock fees are not refundable for part-months. If you cancel mid-cycle you keep exclusivity until the end of the month you have paid for; we do not pro-rata or refund unused days. The 48-hour lead guarantee in our Refund Policy applies to per-lead fees only, not to subscription fees.

Price changes. We may change the monthly price. If we do, we will give you at least 30 days notice by email before the new price applies to your subscription. If you do not wish to continue at the new price, you can cancel before it takes effect.

Failed payments. If a monthly payment fails, we may retry it over a short period. If it remains unpaid, your Territory Lock may be suspended or released and the territory may be offered to other tradies. Where reasonably practicable we will email you before releasing a territory for non-payment.

What it does and does not guarantee. A Territory Lock guarantees that leads for your trade and city are dispatched exclusively to you while it is active. It does not guarantee any minimum number of leads, any particular lead value, or that a homeowner will hire you. Lead volume depends on homeowner demand in your area, which varies.

Suspension for breach. If your account is suspended or terminated for breach of these terms (see section 6, Acceptable use), your Territory Lock ends immediately and is not refunded.

4B. Advertiser products, leads, and acceptance

Two separate products. What's The Damage offers two separate advertiser products: (a) Exclusive Territory — a monthly subscription that includes exclusivity for one trade-and-city combination, a featured listing on the relevant cost-guide and trade pages, and forwarding of the qualified enquiries for that combination at no charge beyond the subscription fee; and (b) Pay-per-lead — qualified enquiries charged individually, with no subscription, no exclusivity and no featured listing. A given trade-and-city combination is offered as one product or the other at any one time, not both at once: while a combination is held as an Exclusive Territory, its enquiries go only to that holder and it is not sold on pay-per-lead.

What a “qualified enquiry” is. “Qualified enquiry” (or “lead”) means an enquiry from a person indicating interest in the relevant trade and city, where we have sent an SMS to the number provided and, where they respond, confirmed basic details such as job type and suburb. “SMS-screened” refers only to this limited check; it does not mean we have verified the person's identity, budget, seriousness or intention to proceed.

Homeowner details. Homeowner details we forward to you are provided solely so you can respond to that enquiry. You must handle them in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), use them only for that enquiry, and must not add them to marketing lists or use them for any other purpose without the person's consent.

Accepting these terms. By ticking “I have read and agree to the Terms” when you apply or at checkout, or by starting a subscription or a pay-per-lead purchase, you agree to these Terms. If you are agreeing for a business, you confirm you are authorised to bind it. We may update these Terms; the version that applies to you is the one in force when you accept, and we record the date you accepted.

5. Refunds

Refund eligibility is governed by our Refund Policy, which forms part of these terms.

6. Acceptable use

When using the Service or interacting with homeowners whose details you have received, you must not:

• Resell, share, transfer, or republish a homeowner's contact details to any third party.
• Contact homeowners outside reasonable business hours or with unsolicited marketing unrelated to the original job.
• Use the homeowner's details to add them to mailing lists, newsletters, or marketing automation.
• Misrepresent your business, qualifications, or insurance status.
• Harass, abuse, or threaten any homeowner or any member of our team.
• Use automated tools to claim leads, manipulate dispatches, or scrape our website.
• Attempt to circumvent the lead fee by encouraging the homeowner to contact you outside our system to "avoid the fee".

Breach of any of the above may result in immediate suspension or termination, forfeit of pending refunds, and — in serious cases — referral to the relevant authorities.

7. No guarantee of work

We SMS-screen each enquiry to check the person is contactable and to confirm basic details such as job type and suburb before we pass it to you. We do not guarantee that the homeowner will choose to hire you, accept your quote, or complete the job. The 48-hour refund covers reachability only.

8. Intellectual property

The Service, including all text, graphics, logos, and software, is owned by Focus Search Pty Ltd. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works without our written permission.

9. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by Australian law, our total liability to you arising from or in connection with the Service is limited to the total lead fees you have paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages, including lost profits or lost business opportunities.

Nothing in these terms excludes any non-excludable consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law.

10. Privacy

Our handling of your personal information is governed by our Privacy Policy.

11. Changes

We may update these terms from time to time. Material changes will be notified by email or by a banner on the website. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Victoria, Australia. You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria for any dispute arising under or in connection with these terms.

13. Contact

Questions about these terms? Email contact@whatsthedamage.com.au.