1. Definitions
For the purposes of these terms and conditions:
- “You” are the person seeking building services from us.
- “I”, “We”, “our” or “us” shall mean Gaiger Brothers Limited.
- The “Work” shall mean the building repair and construction work which we carry out for you, as described in the Quotation.
- The “Quotation” is the quotation letter from us to you describing the scope of the Work and a quoted fee.
2. Scope of the Work, fee quote, Provisional Sums, and additional charges
2.1 Scope of work & fees
We confirm the scope and cost of the Work to you in writing, in the Quotation, which will be sent to you by email or by hand.
The fee quotation is a quotation for the costs of performing the Work only, and it is subject to variation or change.
2.2 Provisional Sums & additional charges
“Provisional Sums” described in the Quotation, are costs for work or materials that at the time of providing the quote, may possibly be required to complete the Work (the “Provisional Works”). The total Provisional Sums are included in the overall fee quotation.
If during performance of the Work, we discover that the Provisional Works need to be carried out, we will perform those works and notify you as soon as is practicable that they have been performed.
If any additional work or materials are required to perform the Work (beyond the scope of that described in the Quotation), except in the circumstance described below, and only if it is possible to do so, we will agree the additional fees with you before any such additional fees are incurred. However, where it is not possible to obtain your pre-agreement, we will perform the additional work and the charges for such work will be calculated on a time-spent basis.
We may charge you additional sums without pre-agreement if you do not give us information we have asked for about how we can access your property to perform the Work or if you don’t do preparatory work to prepare for the Work, as agreed with us. For example, we might need to return on another vehicle or with extra manpower or reschedule performance of the Work.
2.3 Accepting the Quotation
The contract between us will commence when you accept the Quotation, either verbally or in writing (which includes by email), and accordingly acceptance of the Quotation is also acceptance by you of these terms and conditions.
We or you may terminate the contract without penalty before the agreed commencement date for the Work.
You may terminate the contract before the agreed commencement date for the Work, however, if you terminate within 3 business days before the agreed commencement date, we reserve the right to charge you for all reasonable costs incurred by us in preparing to commence performance of the work.
3. Timescales & responsibility for delays
Once you have accepted the Quotation, we will arrange a date with you on which we will commence the Work, and we may at our discretion change that date.
We may provide an indication as to the amount of time it will take to complete the Work, and we will use our best endeavours to complete the work within that timeframe, but the timeframe is an estimation only and not definitive.
If our performance of the Work is delayed by an event outside our control, such as poor weather, shortages of stock/building materials, unforeseen ground conditions, existing building faults, third party failures, or changes to the Work specification, we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know and do what we can to reduce the delay. If we do this, we will not compensate you for the delay, but if the delay is likely to be substantial you can contact the manager who you are dealing with on 01380 722412 to end the contract.
If the Work is performed in less time than estimated, we will not apply any discount to the charges payable by you.
4. Access, working arrangements and facilities
4.1 Access
The fee quote and scope of work provided in the Quotation is provided on the assumption that we will have unimpeded access to the land and building on which we will perform the Work during our standard working hours which (unless otherwise agreed with you) are Monday to Friday 7.45am to 5pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm.
4.2 Facilities
To enable us to perform the Work and ensure the welfare of our staff, you will provide us with uninterrupted electricity and mains water supplies on the site where possible.
4.3 Protection of surfaces and items
Unless otherwise agreed with us, it is your responsibility to ensure that all existing surfaces such as floors, fabrics, carpets and soft furnishings are protected from dust and debris caused by our performance of the Work. Arrangements can be made for us to put in place protection of such surfaces, for an agreed additional cost. If we are required to move furniture in order to perform the Work, we will not be held responsible for any breakages or damage that may occur to those items. We advise that you keep all valuables and expensive items safe and secured for the duration of the Work as we will not be liable for any theft, damage, or loss of those items.
5. Charges
5.1 What we charge you
Unless otherwise agreed with you, we shall charge you in accordance with the Quotation (including any Provisional Sums for any Provisional Works undertaken) and any agreed additional fees. Some Quotations maybe provided to you in the form of budgets. Where this is the case, we will notify you as soon as is reasonable practicable if the budget is likely to be exceeded and why.
5.2 When we charge you
We charge you once we have completed performance of the Work, or earlier:
a. if the contract is terminated before completion of the Work (see paragraphs 13 and 14 below); or
b. if before commencement of the Work, we agree with you that we will charge you at regular intervals.
The Work will be deemed completed once the work described in the Quotation (and any pre-agreed additional work) has been performed by us.
We shall charge you by issuing an invoice with a payment term of 14 days form the date of the invoice.
Before issuing an invoice, we may provide you with a final account statement for approval, and you shall have 14 days to review it. Should your approval or otherwise not be received within that review period, the statement shall be deemed approved, and we will issue an invoice accordingly.
5.3 Interest on late payments
If we are unable to collect any payment you owe us, we charge interest on the overdue amount at the rate of 4% a year above the Bank of England base rate from time to time. This interest accrues on a daily basis from the due date until the date of actual payment of the overdue.
amount, whether before or after judgment. You pay us the interest together with any overdue amount.
5.4 Changes in VAT
If the rate of VAT changes between the date of the Quotation and the date we perform the Work, we adjust the rate of VAT that you pay, unless you have already paid in full before the change in the rate of VAT takes effect.
5.5 Disputes concerning our charges
We endeavour to be transparent as to our charges, and will adopt a cooperative approach to resolving any dispute that you may have in relation to our charges. However, in the event of a dispute the only charges that shall remain unpaid are those which solely relate, in good faith, to the matter in dispute. Accordingly, you will not withhold (and will instead pay by the relevant due date) the full amount of the charges which are not disputed.
5.6 Charges if you change the specification of the Work
If, once the Work has commenced, you change the specification of the Work, we shall charge you for any goods or materials ordered by us (whether delivered or not, and if delivered, whether delivered on-site or off-site) relating to the original specification and which can no longer be used. We would take all reasonable steps to have such materials re-stocked and make appropriate allowances, but this is rarely possible.
6. Consents for the Work
Unless otherwise agreed with us in writing, you are responsible for ensuring the relevant legal consents (such as planning permission and building regulation approvals) are obtained in respect of the Work. If planning permission is required, we may request to see confirmation that it has been obtained before commencing the Work.
7. Insurance
During the period in which we are carrying out the Work, you are responsible for ensuring that the land and/or buildings in which we are to perform the Work are adequately insured against flood, fire, explosion, theft, vandalism and natural disasters.
We remind you that it is a common requirement for most domestic land and building insurers to require that they be informed when building works are undertaken on the land or building, and you are responsible for informing them.
We maintain Public Liability Insurance to the sum of £15,000,000 and Employer’s Liability Insurance to the sum of £10,000,000 and copies of the insurance certificates are available on request.
8. Suspending performance of the Work
We can suspend performance of the Work in the following circumstances:
a. to make changes to the scope of the Work to reflect changes in relevant laws and regulatory requirements; and
b. if you fail to make any payment to us when it falls due.
If we suspend performance, or tell you we are going to suspend performance, for more than 14 days you can contact the manager who you are dealing with on 01380 722412 to end the contract.
9. Ending the contract
9.1 Your right to terminate
You can end your contract with us at any time by providing at least 7 business day’s notice to stop performing the Work.
9. 2 Our right to terminate
We can end the contract with you by providing at least 14 days notice in advance, or without notice if:
a. you fail to make any payment to us when it falls due and you still do not make payment within 7 days of our reminding you that payment is due;
b. you do not, within a reasonable time of us asking for it, provide us with information, cooperation, or access that we need to perform the Work, for example, access to the property or area in which we are to carry out the Work, or information such as your choice of aesthetic building materials.
9.3 Refunds & charges on termination
When the contract ends, we will refund any sums you have paid in advance for Work which will not be provided, and/or we shall charge you for:
a. any Work performed; and
b. any goods or materials ordered by us relating to the Work (whether delivered or not, and if delivered, whether delivered on-site or off-site);
up to and including the date that we stop performing the Work. Termination of the contract will not omit your liability to pay any sums due to us.
10. Compensation for all losses caused by our breach of this contract
We are responsible for losses you suffer caused by us breaking this contract unless the loss is:
a. Unexpected. It was not obvious that it would happen and nothing you said to us before we commenced the Work meant we should have expected it (so, in the law, the loss was unforeseeable).
b. Caused by a delaying event outside our control. As long as we have taken the steps set out in paragraph 3.
c. Avoidable. Something you could have avoided by taking reasonable action, including following our reasonable advice.
11. Photos
We may take photos of the progress of the Work or any completed Work. Unless you instruct us not to, we will use those photos for marketing purposes, for example on social media and our website.
12. Personal Data
How we use any personal data you give us is set out in our Privacy Notice: https://gaigerbros.co.uk/cookies-privacy
13. If you have an issue
We will endeavour to employ a helpful attitude and will always attempt to complete the Work satisfactorily. However, should you have an issue with us or the Work, the manager who your are dealing with who are available on 01380 722412 will do their best to resolve any problems you have. If you do have an issue, you will not withhold any payment due to us, as per paragraph 5.5 of these terms.
14. Other important terms applying to our contract
a. We can transfer our contract with you, so that a different organisation is responsible for supplying your service. We will tell you in writing if this happens.
b. You may not transfer your contract with us to someone else.
c. Nobody else has any rights under this contract. This contract is between you and us. Nobody else can enforce it and neither of us will need to ask anybody else to sign-off on ending or changing it.
d. If a court invalidates some of this contract, the rest of it will still apply. If a court or other authority decides that some of these terms are unlawful, the rest will continue to apply.
e. Even if we delay in enforcing this contract, we can still enforce it later. We might not immediately chase you for not doing something (like paying) or for doing something you are not allowed to, but that does not mean we cannot do it later.