DMSW: Defects, Maintenance & Small Works, made easy/Terms & privacy

Host terms

Version: 1 · Last updated: 02/10/2026 · Applies to: builders, real estate agencies and other organisations that host an account ("you", the "host")

These terms apply with the Platform terms. If you also do the work and receive payments, the Contractor terms apply too.

1. Your account

1.1 DMSW sets up your account and invites your admin. Your admin accepts these terms for your organisation and confirms they're authorised to do so.

1.2 You can brand your account with your logo, colours and contact details. Emails to your clients are sent in your name "via DMSW".

1.3 You're responsible for:

  • who you invite (staff, clients and contractors) and the permissions you give them
  • removing people who should no longer have access
  • the accuracy of your project details, including defects liability period (DLP) dates, warranties and maintenance schedules
  • keeping your after-hours contact details up to date, because residents are told to contact you directly in an emergency

2. Your obligations to your clients

2.1 DMSW is a tool. Your obligations to your clients under your own contracts and the law, including the Building Act 2004 implied warranties and your defects obligations, are unchanged.

2.2 Defects are fixed free of charge through DMSW. You won't be able to charge for a job you accept as a defect. You can decline to quote maintenance or small works, but you can't decline a defect. You can only dispute whether it is one.

2.3 DMSW records what you do in the platform, including photos, notes and dates. Those records may be used as evidence by you or by your clients.

3. What you pay DMSW

3.1 Platform fee. DMSW charges a platform fee on maintenance and small works jobs paid through the platform. It's a percentage of the GST-inclusive amount the client pays and is treated as GST-inclusive. The rate is set out in your account settings. At the date of these terms it's 10%. It's deducted from the payout for each job. The client pays the quoted price only and never sees the fee.

3.2 Other charges. DMSW may also charge a monthly subscription, per-site or per-unit fees, or a fee on defects, as set out in your account settings or agreed in writing. There is none unless your settings show an amount.

3.3 How you pay. Monthly charges are taken automatically each month from the card or bank account you save with Stripe. If a charge fails, we'll tell you and retry it.

3.4 Tax invoices. DMSW issues you a monthly tax invoice for its fees.

3.5 Changes. We'll give you at least 30 days' written notice of any change to your fees.

4. Non-payment and lockout

4.1 If an amount you owe DMSW is overdue, DMSW may lock your account. Locking is a manual decision by DMSW, not automatic. We'll try to contact you first.

4.2 When your account is locked:

  • you, your staff, your clients and their end users can't sign in. They'll be shown a message asking them to contact you
  • jobs that have been paid for are frozen, and the money stays held
  • a client can ask for a full refund of a frozen job at any time. If they do, DMSW will refund them, and Stripe's processing fee on that refund is added to what you owe
  • if your account is still locked 85 days after a payment was received, DMSW will move that money into a DMSW trust account. It remains the client's money. It will be refunded if the client asks, or used for the job if your account is unlocked
  • DMSW will never use a client's payment to pay your debt

4.3 When you pay what's owed, DMSW will unlock your account and frozen jobs continue.

4.4 DMSW may recover what you owe from future payouts to you.

5. Quotes and payments through the platform

5.1 Quotes. Quotes you send through DMSW are your quotes, in your name. DMSW never shows your P&G, margin or DMSW's fee to the client.

5.2 Payment before work. For maintenance and small works, the client pays through Stripe before work starts. Don't start paid work until the platform shows the job as paid.

5.3 DMSW as your payment agent. You appoint DMSW as your limited agent to collect payments from your clients through Stripe, hold them until the job is signed off or auto-closes, and then release them to you, less DMSW's fee, as these terms allow. Tax invoices to your clients are issued in your name and under your GST number by DMSW as your agent.

5.4 Release. A payment is released when the client or end user signs off the job, or 7 days after you mark it complete if nobody signs off or disputes it.

5.5 Payout timing. You're paid monthly. On the 20th of each month, DMSW pays you by bank transfer for every job signed off (or auto-closed) by the end of the previous month, less DMSW's fee. You'll get a statement listing each job, the amount the client paid, DMSW's fee and what you receive.

5.6 Refunds. A payment is refunded if you can't do a paid job, if both admins agree after a dispute, if a court or the Disputes Tribunal orders it, or as clause 4 allows.

5.7 Client cancellation. If a client cancels a paid job before work starts, you have 3 working days to upload receipts for materials already bought. Receipted materials are paid to you, and DMSW's fee applies only to that amount.

5.8 Chargebacks. If a card payment is disputed with the card issuer, DMSW may recover the amount, and any Stripe fee, from your future payouts.

5.9 Materials deposit. If your settings allow it, a percentage may be released to you when work starts, to buy materials.

6. Disputes on jobs

After two rounds of rework or quote dispute, a job is escalated to you and the client admin to resolve directly. DMSW will act on your written agreement, or on a Disputes Tribunal or court decision uploaded to the job. DMSW won't decide the dispute.

7. Your data and your clients' data

7.1 You're responsible for having a lawful basis to give DMSW the personal information of your clients, staff and end users, and for telling them how it will be used. Our Privacy policy helps you do that.

7.2 Your pricing data, including rate library, quotes and margins, is private to you.

8. Ending your account

8.1 You can close your account with 30 days' written notice, once all paid jobs are closed or refunded and anything you owe is paid.

8.2 After closure, DMSW keeps job records for 10 years from each job's close date, as the platform terms say. Your clients and end users keep read-only access to their own job history for that period.