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RouteHouse Terms of Service

Provider: NextForge LLC, an Illinois limited liability company ("NextForge," "we," "us," or "our"), operator of the RouteHouse service.

Effective date: July 21, 2026 Last updated: July 21, 2026 Version: 1.0 (interim — published pending attorney review)

1. Agreement to these Terms

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") are a binding agreement between NextForge LLC and the person or entity that creates a RouteHouse account or uses the RouteHouse software and related services (the "Service"). In these Terms, "you," "your," and "Customer" mean that person or entity.

By clicking "I agree," creating an account, subscribing, or otherwise accessing or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you are entering into these Terms on behalf of a company or other organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization, and "you" refers to that organization.

If you do not agree to these Terms, do not access or use the Service.

The Service also incorporates the following, each of which is part of these Terms by reference:

  • the RouteHouse Privacy Policy;
  • the RouteHouse Acceptable Use Policy;
  • the RouteHouse Messaging (SMS) Terms, if you enable text messaging; and
  • any Data Processing Addendum ("DPA") entered into between you and NextForge.

2. The Service

RouteHouse is a software-as-a-service application for field-service businesses (for example, septic, well and pump, pool and spa, and similar trades) that helps you schedule jobs, capture on-site service details, generate service reports and PDFs, communicate with your own customers, and manage related business operations. The specific features available to you depend on your subscription plan and the industries and add-ons you have enabled.

RouteHouse is provided as a hosted, cloud-based service that you access over the internet, including through a web and progressive web application. We do not sell or deliver a copy of the software for you to install and own.

We may update, improve, add, or remove features of the Service over time. We will not make changes that materially reduce the core functionality of your paid plan during your then-current subscription term without offering you a reasonable remedy.

3. Accounts and eligibility

To use the Service you must create an account and provide accurate, current, and complete information. You are responsible for:

  • maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials;
  • all activity that occurs under your account, including activity by your employees, technicians, contractors, and other authorized users ("Authorized Users"); and
  • ensuring your Authorized Users comply with these Terms.

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use the Service. The Service is intended for business use, not for personal, family, or household purposes.

You are responsible for the acts and omissions of your Authorized Users as if they were your own.

4. License and access rights

4.1 Grant to you

Subject to your compliance with these Terms and payment of applicable fees, NextForge grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable right to access and use the Service during your subscription term for your internal business operations.

4.2 Restrictions

You will not, and will not permit anyone to:

  • copy, modify, translate, or create derivative works of the Service;
  • reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Service, or attempt to derive its source code, except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by law;
  • rent, lease, lend, sell, sublicense, distribute, or provide the Service to any third party, including as a service bureau or on a timesharing basis, except to your Authorized Users as permitted here;
  • remove or obscure any proprietary notices;
  • access the Service to build a competing product, or to benchmark or copy its features;
  • circumvent or disable any security, usage, billing, or access-control features; or
  • use the Service in violation of the Acceptable Use Policy or applicable law.

4.3 Reservation

NextForge reserves all rights not expressly granted. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of the Service or any intellectual property to you.

5. Subscriptions, plans, and add-ons

5.1 Plans

The Service is offered on a subscription basis. Your plan, price, billing frequency, included capacity (such as the number of trucks or users), and enabled industries are shown at sign-up and in your account. Your first industry is included in your base plan; each additional industry and any optional add-on (including business text messaging) is billed as described at the time you enable it.

5.2 Adding capacity or industries

You may add trucks, users, industries, or add-ons during your term. Charges for mid-cycle additions are prorated and typically appear on your next invoice. Adding capacity increases your recurring fees going forward.

5.3 Third-party pricing

Some features rely on third-party providers (for example, payment processing and text-messaging carriers). Add-on prices, message allotments, and overage rates for those features are disclosed when you enable them and may change on notice as described in Section 7.

6. Billing, payment, and taxes

6.1 Payment processor

Subscription fees are billed through our third-party payment processor, Stripe. By subscribing, you authorize us and Stripe to charge your payment method on a recurring basis for all fees due, including subscription fees, add-ons, usage-based charges (such as message overages), and applicable taxes, until you cancel.

6.2 Automatic renewal

Unless otherwise stated, subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period (monthly or annual) at the then-current rates, until canceled. You may cancel future renewals at any time through your account or billing portal; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.

6.3 Non-payment and dunning

If a charge fails, we may attempt to re-charge your payment method and will notify you (for example, by in-app notice and email) that your account is past due. If the amount remains unpaid after a grace period, we may suspend or limit your access to the Service, including placing the account in a read-only state or blocking new devices, until payment is made. We aim not to interrupt work already in progress, but we are not obligated to provide the Service while your account is past due. Continued non-payment may result in cancellation of your subscription. Suspension does not relieve you of the obligation to pay amounts due.

6.4 No refunds

Except where required by law or expressly stated, fees are non-refundable, and there are no refunds or credits for partial periods, unused capacity, or features not used.

6.5 Taxes

Fees are exclusive of taxes. You are responsible for all sales, use, and similar taxes, excluding taxes on NextForge's net income.

6.6 Price changes

We may change subscription prices, allotments, or fees. For recurring subscriptions, we will provide at least 30 days' notice before a price change takes effect, and the change will apply to your next renewal.

6.7 Payments from your own customers (payment-processing feature)

The Service may offer, now or in the future, a feature that lets you collect payments from your own customers through a third-party payment processor (for example, Stripe and Stripe Connect). If you enable this feature:

  • You are the merchant. You — not NextForge — are the merchant of record for payments from your customers. NextForge is not a party to, and is not a bank, money transmitter, or payment processor for, those transactions. We simply help you connect to and use the payment processor.
  • Processor terms apply to you. Your use of the payment feature is subject to the payment processor's own agreements (for example, the Stripe Connected Account Agreement and Stripe Services Agreement). You must accept and comply with those agreements, and the processor may impose its own fees, verification, reserve, and payout requirements directly on you.
  • Disputes, refunds, and chargebacks. Refunds, chargebacks, disputes, and the quality of the goods or services you sell are solely between you and your customer. You are responsible for any fees, reversals, or losses arising from those transactions. NextForge is not responsible for, and does not guarantee, the collection, settlement, timing, or availability of any funds.
  • Our fees. NextForge may charge a fee for use of the payment feature, disclosed when you enable it. Any such fee is separate from the payment processor's fees.
  • Your compliance. You are responsible for complying with all laws applicable to accepting payments, including tax, consumer-protection, and card-network rules, and for the accuracy of the amounts you charge your customers.

7. Customer Data and privacy

7.1 Definitions

"Customer Data" means the data, content, and information that you or your Authorized Users submit to or generate through the Service, including your business records, your own customers' contact and service information, service reports, and message content.

7.2 Ownership

As between the parties, you own your Customer Data. You grant NextForge a worldwide, non-exclusive license to host, copy, process, transmit, and display Customer Data solely as needed to provide, maintain, secure, and improve the Service, to prevent or address technical or security issues, and as otherwise permitted in the Privacy Policy or required by law.

7.3 Your responsibilities for Customer Data

You are responsible for the accuracy, quality, and legality of Customer Data and for having all necessary rights and consents to provide it to the Service and to have us process it. This includes, where the Service is used to contact your own customers (for example, by email or text), obtaining any legally required consent from those recipients. See the Messaging (SMS) Terms for specific consent requirements.

7.4 Roles and DPA

For much of the Customer Data you provide — particularly personal information about your own customers — you act as the controller (or business) and NextForge acts as your processor (or service provider). Our processing of that data on your behalf is governed by the DPA, which is incorporated into these Terms. Our handling of data for which NextForge is itself the controller (such as your account and billing information) is described in the Privacy Policy.

8. Third-party services

The Service integrates with or relies on third-party services, including subscription payment processing (Stripe), customer-payment processing (Stripe / Stripe Connect, per Section 6.7), text messaging (currently through Sent, Inc.), email delivery (currently through Resend), and cloud hosting and infrastructure (currently Railway) — any of which we may change or replace. Your use of those integrations may be subject to the third party's own terms, and NextForge is not responsible for third-party services. If a third-party service becomes unavailable or changes, the corresponding Service feature may be affected.

9. Intellectual property

The Service, including all software, features, designs, text, graphics, and the RouteHouse and NextForge names and logos, and all related intellectual property rights, are and remain the exclusive property of NextForge and its licensors. These Terms grant you a right to use the Service, not any ownership interest in it.

9.1 Feedback

If you provide suggestions, ideas, or feedback about the Service, you grant NextForge a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use them without restriction or obligation to you.

9.2 Aggregated and de-identified data

NextForge may collect and use aggregated or de-identified data derived from operation of the Service (data that does not identify you, your Authorized Users, or your customers) to operate, analyze, improve, and market the Service. NextForge owns this aggregated and de-identified data.

10. Acceptable use

Your use of the Service must comply with the Acceptable Use Policy, incorporated by reference. Among other things, you must not use the Service to send unlawful, infringing, deceptive, harassing, or unsolicited communications, to store or transmit malicious code, or to violate the rights of others. We may investigate suspected violations and may suspend or terminate access for violations, as described in Section 13.

11. Confidentiality

Each party may receive non-public information of the other that is marked or reasonably understood to be confidential ("Confidential Information"). Each party will protect the other's Confidential Information with at least reasonable care and will use it only to perform under these Terms. This section does not apply to information that is public through no fault of the receiver, independently developed, or rightfully received from a third party. Confidential Information may be disclosed if required by law, provided the disclosing party gives reasonable notice where lawful.

12. Warranties and disclaimers

12.1 Limited warranty

NextForge will provide the Service in a professional and workmanlike manner and will use commercially reasonable efforts to make the Service available.

12.2 Disclaimer

EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED IN THESE TERMS, THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," AND NEXTFORGE DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. NEXTFORGE DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE, OR THAT IT WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS. You are responsible for maintaining your own backups of critical business records and for verifying the accuracy of any service reports or documents generated through the Service.

13. Suspension and termination

13.1 By you

You may stop using the Service and cancel future renewals at any time as described in Section 6.

13.2 By NextForge

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, in whole or in part, if: (a) you materially breach these Terms (including non-payment) and, where the breach is curable, do not cure it within 10 days of notice; (b) your use poses a security risk or may harm the Service or others; or (c) required by law.

13.3 Effect of termination

On termination, your right to access the Service ends. For 30 days after termination (unless prohibited by law), we will make Customer Data available for export on request; after that period we may delete Customer Data as described in the Privacy Policy and DPA. Sections that by their nature should survive (including Sections 6, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16) survive termination.

14. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW:

(a) NEITHER PARTY WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY.

(b) EACH PARTY'S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE TOTAL FEES YOU PAID TO NEXTFORGE FOR THE SERVICE IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE LIABILITY.

These limitations do not apply to your payment obligations, a party's indemnification obligations, or liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.

15. Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless NextForge and its officers, members, employees, and agents from and against any third-party claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your Customer Data; (b) your or your Authorized Users' use of the Service; (c) your violation of these Terms, the Acceptable Use Policy, the Messaging Terms, or applicable law; or (d) communications you send through the Service to your own customers, including any claim that such communications were unsolicited or violated messaging or privacy laws.

16. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Subject to any agreement to arbitrate, the parties consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in Winnebago, Illinois, for any dispute not subject to arbitration.

17. Changes to these Terms

We may modify these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice (for example, by email or in-app notice) before they take effect. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of the updated Terms constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree to the changes, you must stop using the Service.

18. General

  • Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the documents incorporated by reference, are the entire agreement between the parties regarding the Service and supersede prior agreements on the subject.
  • Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent. NextForge may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
  • No waiver. A failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver.
  • Severability. If any provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in effect.
  • Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond its reasonable control.
  • Independent contractors. The parties are independent contractors; these Terms create no partnership, agency, or employment relationship.
  • Notices. Legal notices to NextForge should be sent to [email protected] and 3209 Auburn St., Rockford, IL 61101. We may provide notices to you by email or through the Service.

19. Contact

NextForge LLC (RouteHouse) 3209 Auburn St., Rockford, IL 61101 Email: [email protected] Website: GetRouteHouse.com