The standoff at the start of every job is simple. The artisan cannot buy cement and cable out of pocket for a stranger. The customer cannot hand cash to someone they have never worked with. Somebody has to move first, and whoever does is exposed.
Escrow removes the choice. The money leaves the customer’s wallet — so the artisan can see the job is genuinely funded — but the artisan cannot withdraw it. It sits with HandLancer until specific things happen.
Why escrow is split in two
Holding the entire amount until the end sounds safer, but it recreates the original problem: the artisan is still funding your materials. So every quote is itemised into material line items and labour line items, and those two totals become the two halves of escrow.
- 01The materials portion is released early, so the artisan buys supplies with your money rather than their own.
- 02The workmanship portion — their actual profit — stays locked until you have seen the finished work and rated it.
The four moments money moves
- 01You approve a quote. The artisan is hired, the other quotes are rejected, and nothing has moved yet.
- 02The job is funded. The full amount leaves your wallet and is locked.
- 03You release materials. Only the material line items move across.
- 04You rate and release. The workmanship portion moves, and the job closes.
What if the work is wrong
Do not release the workmanship portion. Opening a dispute freezes the money exactly where it is while the case is reviewed. Because artisans photograph the site on arrival and on completion, and that media is filed against the job record rather than a chat thread, both sides have a timestamped record neither can quietly delete.
Nothing gets released because one side got tired of arguing. That is the whole point.