Liability waiver

Both a teen and their parent or guardian have to individually agree to this before the teen can claim jobs on YardShift — the teen when they finish setting up their profile, and the parent on the same link that already approves the account. It covers the physical risk of doing yard work for a stranger, and what's expected in exchange.

What the work involves

Lawn mowing and snow shoveling are physical, outdoor jobs. They can involve gas or electric mowers, snow blowers, shovels, trimmers, and other yard tools; uneven ground, hidden obstacles (rocks, roots, buried items), slippery or icy surfaces; weather conditions like heat, cold, rain, or wind; and being on a property the teen doesn't know well, owned by someone they've only met through the app. Doing this kind of work carries a real risk of injury — cuts, strains, falls, and equipment-related accidents among them — and that risk exists no matter how careful everyone involved is.

Assumption of risk

By agreeing to this waiver, the teen and their parent or guardian both acknowledge and accept the risks described above as a normal part of taking a job through YardShift. Neither YardShift nor the homeowner who posted the job is responsible for injury, illness, or property damage the teen experiences or causes while working a job, except where that harm is caused by the homeowner's or YardShift's own gross negligence or willful misconduct — this waiver doesn't excuse a homeowner who, say, deliberately conceals a known hazard, and it isn't meant to.

This waiver is about physical risk, separate from the question of who a teen is working for — a teen taking a job through YardShift is doing so as an independent worker, not as an employee of YardShift or of the homeowner. See the terms for the fuller statement of that.

Protective gear, required

Whenever a teen is actively working a job, they're expected to wear:

Closed-toe, sturdy shoes or boots — never sandals or open-toe footwear; long pants; gloves; and eye protection when operating a mower, trimmer, or blower. Hearing protection is strongly recommended for gas-powered equipment, and weather-appropriate outerwear (sun protection in summer, insulated layers in winter) is the teen's own responsibility to bring. A teen who shows up without this gear should ask the homeowner if any is available on-site before starting, or decline the job.

Keep your personal information private

YardShift is built so a teen never has to hand out personal contact info to book a job or get paid. Don't give a homeowner your phone number, home address, email, or social media — even after a few jobs, even if they seem friendly and trustworthy. Keep every conversation about a job inside that job's YardShift chat. Payment happens automatically through the app, so there's never a reason to exchange banking or e-transfer details directly either.

Your exact address is never shown to a homeowner up front — only your general service area. It's shared automatically, through the app, once a homeowner has approved your claim on their job, and only for that one job. If a homeowner asks you to meet, message, or get paid outside the app, say no and tell your parent or guardian — message quinn@mattperreault.ca too, so we can look into it.

If something goes wrong

Call 911 for any injury that feels serious or you're unsure about. Otherwise, stop work, tell the homeowner, and have the teen tell their parent or guardian as soon as possible. Message the homeowner through the app afterward so there's a record of what happened — see the terms for how in-app messaging works.

A note on enforceability

Waivers signed on behalf of a minor — even by a parent — don't always hold up the same way an adult's own waiver does; how enforceable this kind of release actually is depends on where you live and hasn't been tested in court for YardShift specifically. Agreeing to this waiver is still meaningful: it's a clear, on-the-record acknowledgment that everyone involved understood and accepted the risk going in, and that the teen agreed to work safely. But like the rest of the pages in this section, this hasn't been reviewed by a lawyer, and it shouldn't be treated as a guarantee that YardShift or a homeowner can never be held responsible for an injury.