Terms of Service

1. Who these Terms apply to

Kautus is a business service. You must be at least 18 and use it for business purposes only. If you sign up on behalf of a company, you confirm that you have authority to bind that company, and "you" then means that company (the "Customer") as well as you.

2. What the Service does

Kautus helps general contractors keep track of subcontractor compliance: certificates of insurance, licenses, W-9s, subcontract agreements, safety credentials, job safety analyses (JSAs), and lien waivers, with reminders and optional electronic signature. We keep improving the Service, so features can change. If we make a change that materially reduces what a paid plan includes, we will tell you in advance.

3. Accounts and users

• Give us accurate information and keep it up to date.
• Keep your sign-in secure. Account owners are required to set up two-step sign-in with an authenticator app.
• You are responsible for everything done through your account, including by the people you invite. Owners control who is on the account and what they can see.
• The number of users depends on your plan. Tell us promptly at support@kautus.net if you think someone has used your account without permission.

4. Plans, free trials and payment

Plans (Starter, Growth and Pro) differ in the number of subcontractors, active projects and users they include, and in which features are available. The current limits are shown when you sign up and inside the app.

• Free trials. A new account can try a plan without a payment card: 14 days on Starter, 30 days on Growth or Pro. We may limit a company to one trial. When a trial ends, the account is locked until the owner subscribes. Nothing is deleted when that happens (see section 11).
• Subscriptions. Paid plans are billed monthly in advance through our payment processor, Stripe, and renew automatically until cancelled. The owner can cancel at any time from the billing page; the plan then ends at the end of the period already paid for.
• Refunds. Fees are not refunded for a period that has already started, except where the law requires it. If something went wrong on our side, contact us and we will look at it fairly.
• Price changes. We may change prices. We will give you at least 30 days' notice before a change takes effect for you, and you can cancel before then.
• Taxes. Fees do not include taxes. Where we are required to collect sales or similar tax, it is added to the amount you pay.
• Failed payments. If a payment fails we may try the payment method again. If the payment can't be collected, we may lock the account until it is resolved.
• Changing plans. Changes are made in the billing portal. An upgrade starts right away and is charged pro rata. A move to a lower plan takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for. If your account is over the limits of the lower plan when it takes effect, we keep your existing data, but you can't add more until you are back within the limits.

5. Your data

"Customer Data" means everything that you, your team or your subcontractors enter or upload into the Service. You own your Customer Data. You give us a limited right to host, process, transmit and display it, using the service providers listed in our Privacy Policy, only so that we can provide, secure and support the Service for you.

You promise that you have the right to put Customer Data into the Service, including personal information about your subcontractors and their staff (such as the contents of a W-9), and the right to have us email the contacts you add.

• We do not sell Customer Data.
• We do not use Customer Data to train AI models.
• A W-9 contains a tax identification number. It is kept in restricted storage, and the owner decides who on the team can open it. Please don't upload other highly sensitive information, such as payment card numbers or health records.
• Account owners can download a copy of all their data, and delete the account, from the Account page at any time, even while the account is locked. You can also email support@kautus.net.

6. AI features

Some features use artificial intelligence to read documents you upload (insurance certificates, licenses, safety credentials and lien waiver templates) and to answer questions about contract text you provide. AI can be wrong. What it fills in or says is a suggestion: you must check it before you rely on it. Contract Q&A answers point back to your contract text, but they are not legal advice. W-9s are never sent to AI.

7. Not legal, insurance or tax advice

Kautus is software. We are not a law firm, an insurance agent or broker, a tax adviser or a notary, and nothing in the Service is professional advice. You stay responsible for your compliance decisions, including when to release a payment.

• Lien waivers. You upload the waiver wording for each state, and the Service fills in the details such as names, dates and amounts. We do not review your wording. You are responsible for making sure each form is legally sufficient for the state, the project and the payment, including any required statutory form, notarization or witness requirement, and any timing rules.
• Insurance. Certificate information is entered by you, your subcontractor, or extracted by AI. We do not check it with the insurance carrier or confirm that coverage is in force. Status labels such as Current, Due soon and Critical are aids, not a guarantee that a subcontractor is insured or compliant.
• Reminders. Reminders and alerts depend on email, which can be delayed, filtered or fail. They help you keep track; they do not replace your own diligence.

8. Electronic signatures

The Service can send a lien waiver for electronic signature through BoldSign, or through your own DocuSign account if you connect one. Signers receive an email from that provider, and the provider processes the document and the signing record under its own terms. You are responsible for deciding whether an electronic signature is acceptable for a particular document, project or state. We do not provide notarization.

9. Emails we send for you

Unless an owner turns it off on the Team page, Kautus emails your subcontractors reminders when their documents are about to expire or have expired, and when a JSA is due. These emails come from "Kautus" in your company's name, contain a link to upload documents, and replies go to your account owner. You authorize this. You confirm that you have a business relationship with each contact you add, that the addresses are correct, and that you will follow the email and privacy laws that apply to your contacts.

10. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• break the law or use the Service to infringe anyone's rights;
• upload malware, or try to probe, overload or break into the Service or another customer's data;
• get around plan limits, rate limits or access controls;
• resell the Service or let people outside your company use your account;
• use the Service to send spam or to harass anyone; or
• upload content you have no right to upload.

11. Suspension, ending your account, and your data afterwards

You can stop using the Service and cancel at any time. We can suspend or end your access if you break these Terms, don't pay, or use the Service in a way that puts us, other customers or anyone else at risk. When we reasonably can, we will tell you first.

If a trial or subscription ends, the account is locked. We keep your data for at least 90 days so that you can come back or ask for an export, and after that we may delete it permanently. Deleted data can remain in our encrypted backups for up to 30 days before it is purged. Sections that by their nature should continue after the account ends (including 5, 7, 12 and 14 to 19) do continue.

12. Our rights

Kautus, the software behind it and our branding belong to us. While your account is active, we give you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service for your own business under these Terms. You keep all rights in your Customer Data and your own names and logos. If you send us ideas or feedback, we may use them without owing you anything.

13. Other companies' services

The Service relies on, and can connect to, services run by other companies, such as Stripe, BoldSign, DocuSign and our hosting and email providers. Their terms apply to your use of them, and we are not responsible for how they perform.

14. No warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE". TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT PROMISE THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT AI OUTPUT WILL BE ACCURATE, OR THAT USING THE SERVICE WILL MAKE YOU COMPLIANT WITH ANY LAW OR CONTRACT.

15. Limits on our liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, LOST DATA, OR LOST OR INVALID LIEN RIGHTS, EVEN IF WE WERE TOLD THEY WERE POSSIBLE. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US FOR THE SERVICE IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE (OR $100 IF YOU HAVE NOT PAID US). Some places don't allow these limits, so they apply to you only as far as the law permits.

16. Your responsibility for claims

You will defend us against, and pay the costs and damages of, any third-party claim that arises from your Customer Data, your breach of these Terms or the law, your messages to your subcontractors, or the lien waiver forms and other documents you chose to use. We will tell you about the claim promptly and let you control the defense, and you will not settle it in a way that binds us without our agreement.

17. Privacy and security

Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect and how we use it, and describes the security measures we use. No system is perfectly secure. If we learn of a security incident that affects your data, we will tell you without undue delay.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. For a material change we will give you at least 30 days' notice by email or inside the app. If you keep using the Service after the change takes effect, you accept it. If you don't agree, cancel before then.

19. General

• Maryland law governs these Terms, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Maryland, and you and we consent to those courts.
• These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between us about the Service.
• If a part of these Terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies. If we don't enforce something right away, we haven't given up the right to.
• You can't transfer your rights under these Terms without our consent. We may transfer ours as part of a merger, sale or reorganization.
• Neither of us is responsible for delays caused by events outside our reasonable control.
• We may send notices to the email address on your account, and you may send notices to support@kautus.net.

20. Contact

Questions about these Terms: support@kautus.net.