TERMS AND CONDITIONS

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1. LABOUR CHARGES (excluding GST)

 

HOURLY RATE $65 for waged clients and $55 for pensioners/concession cardholders

(You would need to show me a current pensioner/health care concession card and photo ID to get the discount.)

 

FOUR-HOUR HALF-DAY RATE (4 hours labour plus a 15-minute uncharged meal break): $240 ($200 concession)

 

EXTRA HOURS on top of the half-day rate will be charged at $65/$55 each or part thereof rounded up to the nearest dollar.

 

These charges include time taken to provide any horticultural work in your garden including: tending to garden beds, pot plants, irrigation, pruning, trimming, weeding, planting, transplanting, and recommendations for improvements.

 

Labour charges also include the use of any of Wholistic Solutions’ equipment such as: shovel, spade, secateurs, leaf blower/vacuum, wheel barrow, short and long handled loppers, rakes, axes, tiller, edging tool, trowels, saws, broom, dust pan and broom, cordless hedge trimmer, cordless line trimmer, and general hand tools as needed. In addition, any smaller disposable equipment such as gloves, respirator canisters, mask, goggles and other protective gear, such as rubber matting on paths, will be supplied by Wholistic Solutions. If the owners wish to help with any gardening tasks requiring safety gear, they are expected to supply their own.

 

Labour also includes, time taken to collect necessary materials or plants en-route, ie: trips to hardware stores and garden centres. NB I get a 5% trade discount at Bunnings; and any necessary time spent onsite researching and providing recommended solutions to various gardening problems, such as: pests and diseases, soil deficiencies, plant identification, and plant selection.

 

CALCULATING MY LABOUR TIME 

I run a digital timer each day from the moment I leave my base in White Rock to travel to your location, until I finish working on your job that day. I pause the timer for phone calls, loo and meal breaks. I save a screen shot of the time taken working on your project each day I’m onsite, or after completing work for you whilst offsite. This might be tasks such as completing your detailed quote in my office, visiting hardware stores or garden centres to collect materials for your project, taking rubbish to the dump for you and the like. I refer to those screen shots when calculating labour charges. I'm happy to send you the screen shots of my digital timer at the end of each day. Please request this if you would like a copy.

 

2. CALLOUT FEE

Instead of charging a call-out fee to travel to and from your residence/premises, I charge my time for one leg of the journey from my business location in White Rock. This time would be included in my labour charges.

 

3. EXTRA INVESTMENTS

The owners will be expected to pay fees for trashpacks or mini skips for carting rubbish from their premises to green waste disposal facilities, or for transportation of soils and other organic materials required for their garden.

 

4. PAYMENTS

Weekly payments for services rendered for the improvement of the garden are to be paid into my ING bank account:

Wholistic Solutions Business Account BSB: 923100 Acct: 65024313 on the day or day after receipt of invoice.

 

When purchasing products for your garden I will render an ‘anticipated costs’ invoice. Any purchase is conditional on you making payment in advance of that purchase. I require proof of deposit in advance of said purchase before I can go ahead with procuring it for you. Any surplus moneys will be subtracted from my next invoice, and listed as such. Copies of receipts will be provided to you at the earliest convenience.

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5. INCLEMENT WEATHER

Scheduled visits may be affected by variations in weather conditions. I won’t be able to work outdoors in the full sun if the weather becomes extremely hot (above 35ºC) or if there’s torrential rain, nor during severe thunder, lightning storms nor during high winds. Work health and safety decisions based on weather conditions will be at my discretion.

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6. CHANGES TO OUR ARRANGEMENTS

Changes to any agreements we set up in terms of service dates, start and end times, and durations of work periods, can be altered by either party with prior consultation. Please give a minimum of 3 days’ notice to avoid the 50% late rescheduling fee (based on the half-day rate of $240 this would be $120).

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7. SITE VISIT/QUOTE CHARGE/GRACE PERIOD

Quotes for landscaping projects are complex documents to create. A lot of time and effort goes into conducting site visits, client consultation, researching plant species, checking for underground utilities, drawing up site plans, creating lists of elements needed to complete the job, and chasing quotes from suppliers to come to a final figure.

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For simple jobs, I’m happy to come and work for you on an hourly basis without quoting. For more complex jobs, it's best to arrange a visit to your premises so I can have a look at your location, test the soil, take some photos for reference and design purposes, discuss your ideas for the project, and after returning to my office, provide you with a site plan and quote. Please be patient while you wait for me to complete your request for you. Once you’ve viewed the quote and plan, if you decide to hire me to complete the work, I’m happy to subtract $100 from the quoted total. However, if you decide not to go ahead with the project, I will invoice you for the time taken during consultation at your residence/workplace, and the research and preparation of the quote, which for small projects can take as little as 90 minutes, but for larger projects, can take up to 4 hours or more depending on the complexity of the project and any necessary research. My quotation hourly rate is: $90 for waged individuals or businesses, and $80 for concession card holders.

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For quoted clients who decide against commencing work on their project, there's a one month grace period where you can still change your mind and go ahead with the project as planned. In this case, I'm still happy to subtract $100 from the quoted total.

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8. AREAS SERVICED IN CAIRNS

To reduce my carbon footprint and to offer a more eco-friendly service, I limit the areas I service to within a 20km radius of the Cairns CBD. For suburbs outside the 20km radius, I can suggest some of my gardening colleagues to help you out.