Hiring 1099 pros: what Fixly verifies before we send them to your door

## The problem with "someone from an app"

Marketplaces make it easy to book a stranger. That's the value and it's also the fear. Fixly's job is to make the stranger feel like a colleague — someone who has been vetted the way you'd want a coworker vetted. Here's exactly what we do before a pro's first SMS ever fires.

Gate 1 — Identity verification

Every pro uploads:

• A government-issued photo ID (driver's license or state ID)
• A live selfie taken in the onboarding wizard, matched to the ID photo
• A phone number, verified by SMS
• A business address (or personal address if operating as a sole proprietor)

The name on the ID must match the name they use throughout Fixly. Mismatches route to human review before the pro is approved.

Gate 2 — Background disclosure and acknowledgment

Fixly is not a licensed background screener. What we do require is a signed self-attestation covering:

• Any felony convictions in the past 7 years
• Any pending criminal charges
• Any active protective orders
• Any denials or revocations of trade licenses

Pros sign this attestation as part of the Pro Services Agreement. Lying on it is grounds for immediate termination and, in most jurisdictions, fraud liability. For markets and job types that require a formal background check (Move-In / Move-Out Reports being the primary example), we run a formal check via a third-party CRA before the pro can accept those specific SKUs.

Gate 3 — Trade competency

Different SKUs have different competency gates:

• Handyman Quick-Fix — proof of insurance recommended; two customer references required
• Painting — trade experience attestation; photo portfolio of prior work required for interior room / accent wall / exterior door SKUs
• Smart Home — self-attested comfort with the specific device families (Nest, Ring, Ecobee, TP-Link, Eero); a rejected first customer job cancels the SKU for that pro
• Property Inspections — formal background check plus a 15-question knowledge assessment on wear-and-tear vs. damage classification

If a pro fails a job's rating twice in the same SKU within their first ten jobs, the SKU is auto-deactivated for them until they retest.

Gate 4 — The Pro Services Agreement

This is a full E-SIGN compliant agreement. It's not an EULA nobody reads. Key clauses:

• Independent contractor status. Pros are 1099 contractors, not employees. They control their own hours, their own tools, and their own taxes.
• Liability for damage. Pros are responsible for damage they cause on a job site. Fixly holds a general liability policy that indemnifies the customer, and the pro is on the hook to reimburse Fixly for any damage claims.
• Code of conduct. No side deals, no cash payments, no soliciting the customer for future work outside Fixly, no discriminatory refusal of service.
• Photo requirements. Before-and-after photos are mandatory on every job. Pros who skip them repeatedly are deactivated.
• Termination. Fixly may deactivate a pro's account at any time for cause. Cause includes rating below 4.0, repeated no-shows, code of conduct violations, or fraud in onboarding.

The agreement is digitally signed with IP address and timestamp captured to the `pro_signatures` table. See the Pro Playbook for the full document.

Gate 5 — Insurance and payout

• Insurance — general liability recommended, verified where required by state or SKU
• Payout method — ACH or PayPal, verified with a test deposit
• Tax form — W-9 collected before any payout is issued

Pros who complete steps 1–4 but haven't set up payout are marked "ready to receive jobs, not paid yet" — the SMS blast still fires, but no funds transfer until W-9 and payout method are on file.

Gate 6 — Ongoing performance

Verification isn't a one-time gate. Every pro's account is continuously monitored on:

• Rating — 4.0 average across last 20 jobs, or the account pauses
• Response rate — SMS claim rate above 15% within their radius, or they drop in dispatch priority
• No-show rate — one no-show is a warning, two in 30 days is a temporary pause, three is deactivation
• Photo compliance — before-and-after photos on every job, or dispatch priority drops

The pattern: a pro can enter the platform in ten minutes and start earning the same day, but every job after that is a small ongoing audit.

What customers should still do

Verification reduces risk. It doesn't eliminate it. A customer should still:

• Meet the pro at the door and confirm their name matches the SMS
• Not leave valuables in the immediate work area during the job
• Rate honestly right after the job so the platform-level performance signals stay accurate

What pros should know

If you're considering becoming a Fixly pro, the honest summary: onboarding takes about 10 minutes if you have your ID, W-9, and payout info ready. The bar to enter is not high. The bar to *stay* is real, and it's mostly about showing up on time and taking the photos.

Start the pro onboarding wizard — four steps, all in-browser, no app install required.