Terms & Conditions
THE HANDY SQUAD LIMITED TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1 – PARTIES
1.1 For the purposes of these terms and conditions (“Ts & Cs”), “Client” shall mean the Client whose name and details appear in the Agreement to which these terms are a Schedule and “Contractor” shall mean The Handy Squad Limited (“The Company”) with whom the Client contracts upon the following terms and conditions in respect of the services to be provided. “Services” shall mean the work carried out by The Handy Squad and its appointed representatives, employees and subcontractors.
1.2 All estimates and quotations given by The Company, all orders and instructions given by the Customer, and all work authorisations, are governed by these terms. They supersede any other terms appearing elsewhere and override and exclude any other terms stipulated or incorporated or referred to by the Customer, whether in the order or instructions or in any negotiations or in any course of dealing established between the Company and the Customer, except where these terms are a schedule to a signed Agreement between the Customer and the Company, in which event these terms apply only to the extent not inconsistent with that Agreement.
2 – GENERAL
2.1 The Company reserves the right to refuse or decline work at its own discretion. Where the Company agrees to carry out works for the Customer those works shall be undertaken by the designated operative of Company at its absolute discretion.
2.2 If any provision set out in these Terms and Conditions is held by any competent authority to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the other provisions and the remainder of the provisions held invalid shall not be affected.
2.3 These Terms and Conditions shall be governed and construed in accordance with English Law and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
3 – CHARGES BY TIME TAKEN (“Rolling Rates”)
3.1 The total charge to the Customer shall consist of the cost of materials supplied by the Company (not exceeding the purchase price of materials + 25%) in addition to the amount of time spent by the operative in carrying out works both onsite and offsite (including all reasonable time spent in obtaining unstocked materials) charged in accordance with the Company’s prevailing rate card.
3.2 At the time of booking, our schedulers will estimate to the best of their ability and based on the information provided by the Customer the likely duration and scope of the work to be carried out. The tradesman will reassess the scope of work on arrival and on-going through the work and, if further time is likely to be required, will inform The Client as soon as possible of any changes and the reasons for them.
3.3 The Client shall only be charged for the time spent related to the Client’s work. The Client will be charged for all half hour periods fully or partly used (subject to a minimum of 1 hour for specialist services or Early Bird slots).
3.4 All charges are subject to VAT at the prevailing rate.
3.5 Parking and Congestion Charge costs will be passed on to the Client at cost.
3.6 Time required to source materials for a job will be charged at either a flat rate of £20 or be included in the time taken to carry out the job, but not both.
3.7 Unless otherwise stated, the price and all estimates and Quotations provided by The Company are shown inclusive of Value Added Tax at the prevailing rate. In any situation where Quotations state that Value Added Tax is excluded it will be payable in addition where properly chargeable.
3.8 Unless otherwise specified by The Company in the relevant estimate, an estimate is not a firm or fixed price quotation. It is an estimate of the likely minimum cost of the Works, based on the information made available to The Company. The Company’s final price will be calculated on the basis specified in the estimate, if any, or if none, in accordance with The Company’s Schedule of Rates applicable at the time the Works are carried out and may be increased above or reduced below the specified price. Furthermore, The Company reserves the right to increase the price before carrying out the Works by an amount equivalent to any increase to The Company in the cost of relevant materials, labour, parking, equipment hire or transport since the date upon which The Company’s estimate, written, emailed or oral, was given, save that if this would increase the estimated price by more than 10%, the Customer may cancel the Contract provided it does so before the Works are begun, any relevant materials are ordered or any relevant equipment is hired.
3.9 Any estimate which may be given either verbally or in writing by The Company is subject to withdrawal by The Company at any time before receipt of an unqualified acceptance from the Customer and shall be deemed to be withdrawn unless so accepted within thirty (30) days from its date
4 – DIAGNOSTIC / FAULT-FINDING WORK
4.1 By definition, it is impossible to predict correctly how long it will take to find and solve an unknown problem. The Company will advise an initial visit to start investigating the problem. If the problem is not found in this initial visit, the tradesman will outline what investigation has taken place and what the next steps will be. This initial visit is fully chargeable on the basis that work and expertise have been brought to bear on the issue and that progress has been made towards the solution through the ruling out of certain possibilities. The Company may then advise a further booking to continue the investigation.
5 – FIXED PRICE WORK
5.1.1 Fixed half- or full day rates: Half- or full day fixed price rates are discounted and apply, if thus booked, regardless of whether the time taken for the job is less than the time booked, at the Company’s discretion.
5.1.2 If the work takes longer than the designated 4 or 8 hour duration, then labour charges will be added at the Company’s rolling half-hourly rate as per [3] above.
5.2.1 Quote work: Fixed Price Quotes shall be presented as a firm cost payable by the Client. It is subject to change / variation in the following circumstances:
- If the Client changes the scope or scale of works subsequent to the signing of the quote
- If the price of materials is increased subsequent to the signing of the quote but before purchase
- If it becomes clear before or during completion of works that hidden issues have come to light which could not have been anticipated at the time of signing eg problems inside a wall or under a floor
- If there is a clear and manifest error in the quote in which case the law of quantum meruit applies
- Parking / congestion charge costs will be added to the bill once the final payment falls due and do not constitute part of the fixed price quote.
5.2.2 All variations to fixed price quotes must be made in writing. Orally agreed changes are not enforceable by either party.
5.2.3 On agreement of a fixed price quote, 50% of the consideration will be due ahead of the work commencing with the balance being due on completion. All quotes must be seen and agreed personally by the individual responsible for settling the bill as well as any representative thereof.
5.2.4 Cancellation of formally agreed quoted work: If the Customer cancels their instructions after formally accepting quoted work prior to any work being carried out or materials supplied then the Customer shall be liable for any related expenditure on both labour and materials.
6 – CANCELLATION
6.1 Any cancellation of work less than 48 hours in advance (excluding weekends and Bank Holidays) will be subject to a cancellation charge of £20+VAT at the Company’s discretion.
6.2 Cancellation on the day the work is scheduled to be carried out is subject to the minimum charge for the service booked (first 30 minutes for Handyman and first hour for specialist services) at the Company’s discretion.
6.3 Cancellation of work once the tradesman has arrived on site, assuming all reasonable efforts have not been made to alert the Company in advance, or if the tradesperson is unable, through no fault of their own, to gain access to the Customer’s premises to carry out the Works, will incur the full cost of the booked appointment, at the discretion of the Company.
6.4 All cancellation penalties will also include the cost of any materials purchased for the purpose of the proposed work if that work is not subsequently rescheduled and the materials used therein.
6.5 These cancellation conditions shall apply irrespective of the Works having been booked by the Customer or by someone acting on the Customers behalf e.g. tenant.
7 – PAYMENT
7.1 Payment is due at the end of the visit or as soon as practicably possible thereafter. Payment must be made by cheque, card or BACS – we cannot accept cash.
7.2 For account / invoice / credit customers, the Invoice is due for payment within 30 days of the Company’s issue of the invoice.
7.3 Persistent failure to settle an account may result in legal proceedings to recover the monies due to the Company.
7.4 The Company shall not be required to issue or deliver any certificates, guarantees or other similar documents regarding the Works until payment has been made in full.
7.5 Where the Customer is represented by a third party (such as a managing agent, contractor or other representative), in the event of non-payment by the Customer, the third party will be responsible for payment unless The Company has agreed otherwise in writing.
8 – DEFERRED PAYMENT (“DP”)
8.1 The Company will, at its discretion, ask at the time of booking for a Client’s payment details in order to create a DP roughly equivalent to the anticipated cost of the job. This amount will be held against the payment card and only be released to the Company once the work is satisfactorily completed. The Client is at liberty to settle the bill with a different card from that against the DP has been taken if desired. The Company does not store Clients’ financial details for security reasons.
9 – COMPLAINTS
9.1 If a Client judges work to have been carried out poorly or that the job as booked was left incomplete, they should contact the Company as soon as possible, and in any case within 12 months of the work, to register their dissatisfaction.
9.2 The Company will require evidence of any alleged shortcomings. If genuine, these shortcomings will be rectified by the Company free of charge.
9.3 If the Client chooses instead to rectify any issues through a third party regardless of whether they first notify the Company, the Company takes no responsibility either for the workmanship or the costs of the third party.
9.4 In the event of 9.3 above the bill for the Company’s work remains payable in full on the basis that the Company’s offer to rectify any genuine shortcomings for free still stands.
9.5 The Customer accepts that if he/she fails to notify the Company as aforesaid then the Company shall not be liable in respect of any defects in the works carried out.
10 – COLLATERAL DAMAGE
10.1 We ask our Clients to clear any areas to be worked on of any personal effects, furniture, art works or office equipment ahead of our tradesman’s visit. If not, our tradesman will take the utmost care in their removal, but neither the tradesman nor the Company can be held responsible for any inadvertent damage caused thereby.
10.2 Any time taken to move such items at the beginning and/or end of a visit will be chargeable time.
11 – GUARANTEES
11.1 The Guarantee shall be for labour & materials supplied by the Company in respect of faulty workmanship or failed parts for 12 months from the date of completion. The Guarantee will become null & void if the work completed by the Company is:
- Subject to misuse or negligence.
- Repaired, modified or tampered with by anyone other than a Company operative.
- The Company will accept no liability for, or guarantee suitability of materials supplied by the Customer & will accept no liability for any consequential damage or fault.
- The company will not guarantee any work in respect of blockages in waste & drainage systems etc.
- The company will not guarantee any work undertaken on instruction from the customer but against the written or verbal advice of our operative.
- Work is guaranteed only in respect of work directly undertaken by the Company and payment in full has been made. Any non-related faults arising from recommended work which has not been undertaken by the Company will not be guaranteed.
- The Company shall not be held liable or responsible for any damage or defect resulting from work not fully guaranteed or where recommended work has not been carried out.
- Work will not carry a guarantee where the customer has been notified by our tradesman either verbally or in writing of any other related work which requires attention.
- There is no guarantee on work carried out outside the initial scope of the job visit unless specifically agreed in writing. The Company particularly takes no responsibility for a pre-existing Client problem outside the job scope which our operative agrees to attend to on a “best efforts” basis, with or without success.
12 – INDEMNITY
12.1 The Customer shall indemnify The Company against all actions, suits, claims, demands, losses, charges, costs and expenses which The Company may suffer or incur in connection with a claim by any third party resulting from a breach of the Customer’s obligations, undertakings, representations and warranties in connection with this Contract.
13 – LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY
13 Limitation of Liability and Liability of The Company: liability shall be limited to:
13.1 the repair or making good of any defect pursuant to its undertaking in paragraph xx below and subject always to paragraph x above.
13.2 liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence in the course of carrying out The Company’s duties, and
13.3 the reasonable costs of repair or reinstatement of any loss or damage to the Customers property if such loss or damage results from The Company’s negligence or that of its associates or sub- contractors and the Customer incurs such costs.
13.4 In no case shall we be liable for incidental, indirect, or consequential damages; or any loss of income, revenue, profits, contracts, data, goodwill or savings.
13.5 Where the date and/or time for works to be carried out is agreed by the Company with the Customer, then the Company shall use its best endeavours to ensure that the tradesperson shall attend on the date and at the time agreed. However, the Company accepts no liability in respect of the non attendance or late attendance on site of the tradesperson or for the late or non delivery of materials. Time shall not be of the essence of the Contract.
14 – FORCE MAJEURE
14.1 The Company will use all reasonable endeavours to carry out the Works on the agreed dates but shall not be under any liability to the Customer if it should be either impossible or impracticable to carry out the Works on the agreed dates or at all, by reason of strike, lock out, industrial dispute, act of god or any other event or occurrence beyond The Company’s control.
15 – CUSTOMER’S LIABILITY
15.1 The Customer shall be liable for:
15.1.2 Any loss, damage or injury, whether direct or indirect or consequential, resulting from failure or delay in the performance of the Customer’s obligations under these terms
15.1.3 Providing all necessary power and a clean water supply for The Company’s use in the execution of the contracted works
15.1.4 The safety of both plant and machinery belonging to or hired in by The Company or its employees, agents, franchisees and sub-contractors and shall indemnify The Company against its loss, theft or damage
15.2 The Customer must let The Company know of any dangerous gases, liquids or other materials or of anything which the Customer believes may present a hazard or danger to any person who is due to carry out the Works before such work is started.
16 – REMOVAL OF WASTE MATERIALS
16.1 Unless agreed in writing between the parties, the Customer will be responsible for the removal from site of all waste materials resulting from the Works
17 – FROZEN PIPES
17.1 The Company will not be liable for any fracture found in frozen pipes attended by The Company.
17.2 The Company will not guarantee to clear blockages occurring in a frozen pipe or drain
18 – WAIVER OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
18.1 These terms & conditions may not be released, discharged, supplemented, interpreted, varied or modified in any manner except by an instrument in writing by a duly authorised representative of the Company & by the Customer. Further, these terms & conditions shall prevail over any terms & conditions used by the Customer or contained or set out or referred to in any documentation sent by the Customer to the Company; by entering into a contact with the Company the Customer agrees irrevocably to waive the application of any such terms & conditions.
