Whole House Plan service terms and conditions (as of 25th January 2021)
GENERAL
1 The Service is the Whole House Plan (“Service”) laid out in the preceding Description of the Service (“the Description”) applies.
2 The Consultants who provide the Service will be competent persons who have sufficient knowledge and is suitably qualified to carry out and provide the Service.
Please note that the term “Survey” referred to in these terms are not a Building Survey and therefore the Whole House Plan will not report on the condition of the fabric or structure of the building being surveyed. If you require a building survey it is advised that a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, who is competent to survey, value and report upon the property is engaged.
3 Unforeseen Structures/Incorrect Information. The success of the Service is dependent on the information gathered during the survey and provided by the Client. If it is not possible to obtain access to all parts of the property, then assumptions will be made on the construction of the parts that cannot be accessed based on the Consultant’s knowledge and experience and also information provided by the Client. A note in the Report will highlight areas which could not be accessed and where information has been provided by the Client. No liability will be accepted for the assumptions made or the information provided by the Client.
4 Terms of Payment. The Client agrees to pay the fee and any other charges agreed in writing as set out in the pricing schedule. The Whole House Plan fee shall be paid for in advance as directed. It may be that the survey has been carried out at short notice upon request of the customer and the fee has not been paid in advance. In this situation, payment must be made within 10 days of the survey and only when payment has been received will the report be issued.
Any errors found following payment will still be addressed in line with our terms and conditions.
As per the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, we have the right to charge interest on any invoice payments outstanding after 15 days will be subject to a daily simple interest charge of annual 8% + the Bank of England reference rate.
5 Cancellation. The Client will be entitled to cancel this contract by notifying the Consultant’s office at any time before 24 hours of the survey. The Consultant will not proceed with the provision of the Service (and will so report promptly to the Client) if, after arriving at the Property, he or she concludes that it is of a type of construction of which he or she has insufficient specialist knowledge to be able to provide the Service satisfactorily.
In case of cancellation by the Client within 24hours of the proposed survey time, we reserve the right to charge £75.00 to cover Consultant time and expenses. In the case of cancellation by the Consultant, there will be a full refund of any monies paid and the reason for cancellation will be explained to the Client.
6 Liability. The Report provided is solely for the use of the Client and no liability to anyone else is accepted. We are not liable for design or installation work completed as a result of the advice from this document.
7 Complaints Handling Procedure. A copy of the Consultants complaints handling procedure is available on request.
8 Independence. RetrofitWorks is financially independent of suppliers and manufacturers. In general brand names are not included in the report. RetrofitWorks will make it clear if there are any areas which are covered in which we have a commercial interest.
Part 2: DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVICE
A The Service
A1 The Whole House Plan Service comprises:
- a Survey of the Property (Section B below);
- a Report based on the Inspection (Section C);
A2 The Consultant’s main objective in the provision of the Service is to give Clients a complete report that sets out the most cost efficient route for achieving the maximum environmental or energy gain achieved by lifestyle changes and investment in their property by:
- identifying areas of the property where significant improvements can be made to reduce energy bills and CO2 reduction by employing energy saving systems and equipment or the installation of insulation
- advising the occupants on the benefits of changing their lifestyle and living habits
- advising on the latest systems and materials (non branded) that are available in the market and the estimated cost of installation
- ranking the options available to the client to ensure that the client is able to target the most cost effective solutions
B The Survey
B1 The survey is a general surface examination of those parts of the Property which are accessible. Accessible is defined as, visible and readily available for examination from ground and floor levels, without risk of causing damage to the Property or injury to the Consultant.
Due care is therefore exercised throughout the Survey regarding safety, practicality and the constraints of being a visitor to the Property (which may be occupied). So, furniture, floor coverings and other contents are not moved or lifted. In advance of the Survey, the Client is welcome to provide inspection holes etc in various parts of their house at their own risk e.g. removing recessed spotlights to allow visibility behind, cutting section of plasterboard out of sloping roof areas and lifting floorboards.
B2 The services are inspected (in the case of flats the public areas outside of the property are excluded), and an assessment of the efficiency of electric, and heating installations made and their usage recorded.
B3 Where necessary, parts of the Inspection are made from adjoining public property. Leisure facilities and non-permanent outbuildings (e.g. pools and timber sheds) are not examined or reported on unless specifically requested by the client and, if so requested, will be subject to an additional fee.
B4 Air Tightness Test –Our standard assessment applies engineering judgment to include a figure for the likely heat loss due to draughts. For an extra charge we can subcontract testing equipment to measure this element exactly although we do not usually recommend this at the early stages of a project.
C The Report
C1 The Report will provide the Client with sufficient information to enable an informed decisions on the use of their property, the installation of efficient heating and electric systems and insulations that will reduce energy consumption and reduce CO2 emissions. The report will set out:
- Recommendations linked to lifestyle changes, use of heating and electrical use
- Recommendations to the property that will achieve savings for a range of different costs
- Appropriate renewable technologies and calculations of their savings and potential revenues
- As there are an inexhaustive number of potential interventions, we will use our judgment, along with information peculiar to the Client, to evaluate a finite number of appropriate measures for the situation.
- Measures evaluated should not be seen as recommendations, in actual fact some measures may be evaluated to show that they are either suboptimal or in some circumstances detrimental in terms of cost or CO2.
- If any substantial measures are deemed to be omitted, and are possible to be evaluated by our software, then these will be further evaluated at no additional cost. Where they are material and have a substantial impact on the report, the report will be reissued. Where they are minor, then information will be provided via email.
C2 The Report is in a standard format arranged in the following sequence:
- Introduction
- Energy use and CO2 emission of your property
- Area by area commentary on your property and options analysed
- Bespoke recommendation packages
- Full details of all evaluated measures and general information
C3 Recommendations will be made based on the latest available quantifiable information and knowledge on materials and systems
C4 Delivery of the Report will be made in a timely fashion to meet the timescales of the Client. 10 working days from completion of survey data collection is usually achieved.
D Information and Access to be provided by the Client
D1 The following whilst not required, should be made available on the agreed date of the Survey or order to the service to be most effective:
- Electricity and Gas Bills for the preceding 12 months (if available)
- Safe access to loft or other roof voids (if applicable)
- Access to boiler and other major components of the heating system (tanks, timers, valves etc.)