Terms of Service

These terms describe what Hearth & Kin does, what it does not do, and the arrangements that apply when we work together. We have tried to write them plainly. If anything here is unclear, please ask before enrolling.

1. Agreement to These Terms

By enrolling in a plan, scheduling a visit, or otherwise using our services, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use our services.

These terms work alongside our Privacy Policy and our Non-Medical Disclaimer, both of which form part of our agreement with you.

2. Who We Are

Hearth & Kin Home Concierge (“Hearth & Kin,” “we,” “us,” “our”) is a home-management concierge service based in Lodi, CA, operating under a registered fictitious business name. “You” means the person entering into these terms, whether for your own home or on behalf of a family member.

3. What We Provide

Hearth & Kin provides home-management and concierge coordination. Depending on the plan you select, this may include:

• Scheduled home watch visits and check-ins
• Coordination of vendors, contractors, and trade professionals
• Maintenance oversight and tracking
• Oversight and coordination of household projects
• Property access for approved appointments, deliveries, and service visits
• Updates and photographs for family members who live elsewhere

The specific services, visit frequency, and scope that apply to you are the ones described in the plan you select at enrollment. Current plans and pricing are published on our Age at Home page. Private Client engagements are individually designed and are described in a separate written scope agreed with you.

4. What We Do Not Provide

Hearth & Kin is not a home-care agency, healthcare provider, or emergency-response service. We do not provide medical care, personal care, nursing, emergency response, legal advice, financial advice, or licensed contracting services.

In particular, we do not provide bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting, transfers, medication reminders or administration, nursing, medical advice, emergency medical response, transportation, financial management, legal advice, contractor services, or personal caregiving of any kind. Our Non-Medical Disclaimer sets this out in full and applies to every engagement.

If your household needs any of the above, we are glad to discuss whether a referral to an appropriate licensed provider would help. Any such referral is a suggestion only, and the provider contracts directly with you.

5. Who May Agree to These Terms

You must be at least 18 years old. If you are arranging services for another person — a parent or other family member — you confirm that you have their permission, or the authority as their family member or representative, to arrange those services and to share the information needed to provide them. This includes authority to approve property access on their behalf.

If that authority changes or ends, please tell us promptly so we can update the arrangement.

6. Service Area

We serve Lodi, CA and surrounding communities. Private Client engagements are also available in the San Francisco Bay Area by consultation. If your property falls outside our current service area, we will tell you before enrollment rather than after.

7. Consultations and Enrollment

The initial consultation is complimentary and carries no obligation on either side. It exists so that both of us can decide whether Hearth & Kin is a good fit for the household. We may decline to take on an engagement, and you are equally free to decide not to proceed.

Services begin once you have selected a plan, we have agreed the scope in writing, and any property-access arrangement has been documented.

8. Scheduling, Cancellation, and Rescheduling

Visits are scheduled in advance at times agreed with you. To cancel or reschedule a visit, please give us at least 24 hours’ notice. There is no fee for cancellations made within that notice period.

We will give you the same courtesy. If we need to reschedule a visit, we will tell you as soon as we know and arrange an alternative time.

If we arrive for a scheduled visit and cannot gain access through no fault of our own — for example, because a code has changed without notice or a pet or other person prevents safe entry — we will contact you and treat the visit as attempted. We will reschedule it once at no additional cost.

9. Fees, Billing, and Payment

Fees depend on the plan you select and are set out on our Age at Home page or, for Private Client engagements, in your written scope.

• Single visits are payable at the time the visit is booked or on completion, as agreed with you.
• Monthly plans are billed in advance on a recurring monthly basis and renew automatically until cancelled under section 10.
• Payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number.
• Costs charged by third-party vendors and contractors are not included in our fees. Those providers bill you or your authorized family member directly.

If a payment fails, we will contact you and may pause services until it is resolved. We will not simply stop visiting without telling you.

We may change our prices from time to time. If a change affects an existing monthly plan, we will give you at least 30 days’ written notice before it takes effect, so you have time to decide whether to continue.

10. Changing or Ending a Plan

Plans are designed to be flexible. You may cancel a monthly plan at any time by giving us 30 days’ written notice — an email to hello@hearthandkinconcierge.com is enough. Your plan, and our services, continue through that notice period, and you are billed for it as normal.

You may move between plans at any time. A change takes effect at the start of your next billing cycle unless we agree otherwise.

Visits included in a monthly plan are available during that month and do not carry over into the following month.

11. Property Access and Authorization

Any access to a property — keys, lockbox codes, gate codes, alarm codes, or garage access — happens only under an arrangement you have approved in advance. We document that arrangement and follow it.

You may change or withdraw property access at any time by telling us. We ask that you do so in writing where possible, so that both of us have a clear record. On withdrawal or at the end of an engagement, we return any physical keys and cease use of any access codes you have given us.

You are responsible for making sure that anyone else with authority over the property is aware of the access arrangement, and for telling us promptly when codes or locks change.

Access information is treated as confidential and handled as described in our Privacy Policy.

12. Home Watch Visits Are Observations, Not Inspections

Home watch and check-in visits are visual observations of the property. They are not a licensed home inspection, and they are not a health, wellness, or medical assessment of any person.

We report what is visible and apparent to us during a visit. We cannot detect conditions that are concealed, intermittent, or outside the scope of a visual check, and a visit is not a guarantee that the property is free of problems.

13. Third-Party Vendors and Contractors

Vendors, contractors, and trade professionals are independent businesses. They contract directly with you or your authorized family member, and they are responsible for their own work, licensing, insurance, and conduct.

Hearth & Kin coordinates their work — finding them, scheduling them, providing access, and following up — but does not guarantee or warrant their workmanship, pricing, or timeliness, and is not a party to your agreement with them. Where a vendor causes loss or damage, the claim lies with that vendor.

14. Your Responsibilities

To let us do our work safely and well, we ask that you:

• Give us accurate information about the property, its access, and its systems
• Tell us promptly when access details, contacts, or circumstances change
• Keep the property reasonably safe to enter, including securing pets
• Tell us about known hazards — a faulty step, an aggressive dog, a gas issue, recent flooding
• Maintain your own homeowner’s or renter’s insurance on the property
• Make decisions about repairs, vendors, and expenditures; we coordinate, you decide

15. Updates, Photographs, and Communications

Depending on your plan, we provide updates and photographs of the property so that family members who live elsewhere know how things stand. These are shared only with you and the people you have authorized.

We do not use photographs of your home, or any information about your household, in marketing or on our website without your separate written permission.

16. Emergencies

Hearth & Kin is not an emergency-response service and cannot be relied upon for emergency monitoring or response. We are present at a property only during scheduled visits.

If an apparent emergency occurs while we are present, we contact appropriate emergency services and follow the emergency-contact protocol you have established with us. For medical or life-threatening emergencies, call 911.

17. Confidentiality and Privacy

We treat what we learn about your household as confidential. What we collect, how we use it, and who we share it with are described in our Privacy Policy. We do not sell your information or the information of anyone you submit on their behalf.

18. Insurance

Hearth & Kin carries business liability insurance. Details are available on request. Our insurance does not replace your own homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, which you are responsible for maintaining on the property.

19. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by California law, and except as stated in the paragraph below, Hearth & Kin’s total liability arising out of or relating to these terms or our services is limited to the total fees you paid us in the three months immediately before the event giving rise to the claim.

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability for fraud, willful injury, gross negligence, violation of law, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited. Nothing in these terms affects any rights you have under California consumer protection law.

We are not liable for the acts, omissions, workmanship, or pricing of independent third-party vendors and contractors, or for loss arising from information you have not given us — for example, an access code that changed without notice, or a known hazard that was not disclosed.

20. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify Hearth & Kin against claims, losses, and reasonable costs arising from your breach of these terms, from information you gave us that was inaccurate or that you were not authorized to share, or from your instructions to us. This does not apply where the claim arises from our own negligence or misconduct.

21. Suspension or Ending of Services by Us

We may pause or end services if a property becomes unsafe to enter, if we are asked to do something outside our scope or unlawful, if payment remains unresolved after we have contacted you, if the authority under which services were arranged is in dispute, or if the working relationship breaks down.

Except where safety requires immediate action, we will give you reasonable notice and, where we can, help you arrange alternative support. If we end a monthly plan mid-cycle, we refund the unused portion of that month.

22. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms from time to time. The effective date above reflects the most recent revision. If a change materially affects an existing plan, we will give you at least 30 days’ notice before it applies to you.

23. Governing Law and Disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.

If a dispute arises, we ask that you contact us first so we can try to resolve it directly and in good faith. Most problems are best solved with a conversation. If a dispute cannot be resolved that way, it will be brought in the state or federal courts located in San Joaquin County, California, and both of us consent to the jurisdiction of those courts. Nothing here prevents either of us from bringing a matter in small claims court where it qualifies.

24. General

If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. These terms, together with the Privacy Policy, the Non-Medical Disclaimer, and any written scope agreed with you, form the entire agreement between us about our services. You may not transfer these terms to someone else without our written agreement.

25. Contact Us

Questions about these terms are welcome at any time.

Hearth & Kin Home Concierge
hello@hearthandkinconcierge.com
(209) 200-8260