Terms & Conditions
Smart Home Maintenance General Terms and Conditions – Handyman Service
1.INTERPRETATION:
- The Company or We: Smart Home Maintenance operate the website www.smarthomemaintenance.com.
- The Client/customer or You: The person/company to whom the Company supplied Labour and/or associated services.
- Operative/Specialist/Tradesman: the representative appointed by the Company to undertake the work.
- Site: Any land or premises occupied by the Client and any other place provided by the Client on, over or through which the Labour is to operate.
The Company reserve the right to refuse or decline work at our discretion. Where we agree to undertake works for a Customer those works shall be performed by the designated Operative of the Company at its absolute discretion.
2.ESTIMATES
Where a written estimate has been supplied to the Customer the total charge to the Customer referred to in the estimate can be revised in the following circumstances:
- if after submission of the estimate the Customer instructs the Company (whether orally or in writing) to carry out additional works not referred to in the estimate.
- if after submission of the estimate there is an increase in the price of materials.
- if after submission of the estimate it is discovered that further works need to be carried out which were not anticipated when the estimate was prepared.
- if after submission of the estimate it is discovered that there was a manifest error when the estimate was prepared.
Our quotations/estimates are valid for fourteen days and are subject to availability of resources. All quotations are provided as estimates unless specified as fixed price jobs.
We will endeavour to complete the work in the estimated time, but any additional chargeable hours will be included in the final price.
We shall not be under any obligation to provide an estimate.
3.HOURLY RATE WORK.
The Customer shall only be charged for the time spent related to the Customer’s work.
4.BOOKING TERMS:
When you make a booking enquiry by phone/email, you will be required to acknowledge that you have read and understood these terms.
Any cancellations or changes to bookings with regard to date and time must be made at least 24 hours in advance; otherwise, a cancellation fee of £50.00 may apply.
Any date(s) mentioned in estimates/quotes either in writing or over the phone are estimated dates only and we shall not be in breach of this agreement for failing to start or finish work by any date given in estimates/quotes.
If the services requested prove to take longer than estimated/quoted due to unforeseen events, you will be charged accordingly at a cost that is first confirmed with you. Unless the amended cost is confirmed, we will not proceed with the works.
Smart Home Maintenance issues an official invoice, which is sent to you via email within 7 days from completion of the works. The Customer should then make payment within 7 days of receiving the invoice.
Invoices paid late carry a interest rate of 10% per month. However, this is applied at the sole discretion of the company and is not applied automatically.
5.MATERIALS:
At the time Smart Home Maintenance performs the services, it may not have all the materials it needs. In this case, the company may need to purchase materials. If materials are available at local suppliers, then the tradesmen will travel to the supplier, purchase materials and return to the property to continue the works. The travel time is charged at standard charging rate. If the materials are not available from a local supplier, Smart Home Maintenance normally orders them and returns on another occasion to continue to perform the services.
Parts/materials required to undertake your job will be added to your bill with a mark-up of 20%. While Smart Home Maintenance does carry parts, if additional parts are required to be collected from the builders merchant etc then travel time will be included in the final bill but: – time taken shall be kept to a minimum and reasonable.
Smart Home Maintenance accepts no liability with respect to faulty parts/materials. If the part is found to be faulty during fitting, the operative will return to store to exchange, however if the fault becomes visible after the job has been completed, should the customer require further visit for replacement, additional labour cost will incur.
If parts or materials are supplied by the customer and Smart Home Maintenance deems those parts are not suitable, the company reserves the right not to install or use the incorrect materials or parts.
Smart Home Maintenance accepts no liability in respect of late or non-delivery of materials.
6.YOUR OBLIGATIONS:
You will provide, on request, any information that Smart Home Maintenance reasonably requires to enable Smart Home Maintenance to provide the services. Smart Home Maintenance will contact you about this. If any information you provide is incomplete or incorrect, Smart Home Maintenance may make an additional charge of a reasonable sum to cover any extra work that is required. Any additional charges will be agreed with you in advance.
Where access to your property is required, you will allow Smart Home Maintenance to gain access to your property at the agreed dates and times when Smart Home Maintenance will perform the services. If keys are provided, they must open and close all locks without any special effort. If the property is protected by an alarm, you must provide full details of how to disable and reset it. You agree to notify Smart Home Maintenance if you provide the keys. If you require collection from agency and returning of the keys, you must give reasonable notice of this request (at least 24 hours). If the operative is unable to get access to the property on the agreed date and time that you have booked, you will be liable to pay £50.00..
You will be responsible (at your own cost) for preparing the property for the supply of the services, where necessary, making safe any appliances or equipment, removing (if you are able to) any items from the areas in the property where Smart Home Maintenance will be performing the services, covering any items, furniture or fitings which you will not be moving, to protect them from dust or dirt, as well as for securing or removing any valuables, breakables or sentimental items by the date and time when Smart Home Maintenance is due to commence the works.
You shall provide at your expense, clear access to the work area, all necessary electricity/water supplies that might be required to enable the operative to carry out the work. Additional charges might apply otherwise.
7.WORK GUARANTEE:
All work carried out by Smart Home Maintenance is guaranteed against faulty workmanship under normal usage for a period of three months from the date on the work report given after completion of the job when payment is made. If a fault has occurred due to misuse of the repaired item then a fee may be chargeable to remedy the work. Notice will be given to the customer before any remedial work is carried out if an additional cost is to be incurred.
Smart Home Maintenance is not obliged to offer a guarantee. If after inspecting the work carried out, we consider we are unable to offer a guarantee, we shall notify you of the reasons accordingly.
Any guarantees offered refer strictly to labour, in respect of faulty workmanship. The guarantee becomes null and void if the work completed is subject to misuse or negligence, repaired, modified or tampered with by any other person other than an official Smart Home Maintenance operative.
8.IF THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE SERVICES:
Please contact Smart Home Maintenance either by phone or email and explain the issue as soon as possible. Give as many details as possible regarding the issue, including photos, where necessary.
Please allow Smart Home Maintenance a reasonable opportunity to investigate the problem and, if Smart Home Maintenance was at fault, arrange to correct the problem
If Smart Home Maintenance was at fault, it will use every effort to correct problems as soon as reasonably practicable.
The Customer accepts that if they fail to notify the Company within 3 months regarding a problem then the Company shall not be liable in respect of any defects in the works carried out.
9.GENERAL
Where the provision of the services cannot be completed within a day, you will allow Smart Home Maintenance to leave any tools or materials at your property overnight or at any other times when it is not performing any services, if necessary.
Smart Home Maintenance cannot accept liability for its failure to complete all or part of the services where such failure is caused by your failure to book for the recommended number of hours or where you require Smart Home Maintenance to carry out additional tasks over and above what was originally booked.
Smart Home Maintenance shall not be held liable for unavoidable damage caused, or any unforeseeable loss the customer or any other party may suffer as a result of the work carried out, nor shall we be liable for any loss of any nature which is not caused by our negligence or our breach of the terms and agreement between us.
For the avoidance of doubt, Smart Home Maintenance shall have no responsibility or liability in relation to the following:
- pre-existing wear and tear, damage, defects or faults in your property, its contents or belongings .
- Disruption to the services or damage to the property or belongings caused by third parties who are present on site during the performance of the services.
- Damage to the property, its contents or your belongings caused by faulty products, materials or equipment provided by you and used by Smart Home Maintenance in the performance of the services.
These terms & conditions may not be released, discharged, supplemented, interpreted, varied or modified in any manner except by an instrument in writing signed 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.
The Company shall not be liable for any delay or for the consequences of any delay in performing any of its obligations if such delay is due to any cause whatsoever beyond its reasonable control, & the Company shall be entitled to a reasonable extension of the time for performing such obligations.
10.PAYMENT TERMS:
For jobs estimated at under £250, payment for materials may be requested up front. Payment is required on completion of work. Additional appointments will not be booked in until payment is made
For jobs exceeding £250, payment for materials may be requested up front. Payment installments may be required for labour each day at the agreed day rate. Smart Home Maintenance shall raise the invoices accordingly. Work may cease to continue until payments are up to date.
Payment can be made by cash or bank transfer. The customer shall pay all amounts due under the agreement in full without any deduction or withholding except as required by law and the customer shall not be entitled to assert any credit, set-off or counterclaim against Smart Home Maintenance in order to justify withholding payment of any such amount in whole or in part.
Where the Client is represented by a third party (such as a managing agent, contractor or other representative), in the event of non-payment by the Client, the third party will be responsible for payment unless Smart Home Maintenance has agreed otherwise in writing.
We reserve the right to collect unpaid debts using a debt collection agency.