Terms of Business

In short: accepting your quote forms a binding contract. A deposit (normally 50%) is due when you accept; the balance is due before the final drawings are released. Homeowners can cancel within 14 days (section 8). For business clients the deposit is non-refundable once the quote is accepted.

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1. About us and these terms

1.1 These terms apply to every survey and drawing service provided by Section Scale Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales with number 17539680, whose registered office is at SMA Studio, Prospect House, 2 Athenaeum Road, London, N20 9AE ("Section Scale", "we", "us"). You can contact us by email at enquiries@sectionscale.co.uk or by phone on 07484 334939. "You" means the person or organisation named on the quote.

1.2 If you are an individual acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside your trade, business, craft or profession (for example a homeowner having work done to their own home), you are a "homeowner" in these terms and you have extra legal rights, explained in section 8. Everyone else is a "business client".

1.3 These terms, together with your quote, are the whole agreement between us. If anything in the quote conflicts with these terms, the quote wins.

2. How the contract is made

2.1 Your quote describes the work, the deliverables and the price, and is valid until the date shown on it.

2.2 A binding contract is made when you accept the quote: online through your quote link (typing your full name and ticking to confirm), by signing it, or by confirming acceptance in writing. Accepting online has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature. We record the name typed, the time, the version of these terms and a secure record of the device used.

2.3 Business clients: the person accepting confirms that they are authorised to accept on behalf of the organisation named, and the organisation is bound by the acceptance.

2.4 We send you a written confirmation of the contract, with a copy of the accepted quote and these terms, by email straight after you accept.

3. The work

3.1 We will carry out the work described in the quote with reasonable care and skill, at the level of detail stated.

3.2 Drawings show what could be safely seen and measured on the day. Areas we cannot reach (for example locked rooms, hidden voids, roofs without safe access) are drawn from the best available information and marked as such.

3.3 Unless the quote says otherwise, our drawings are not a structural survey, a building condition report, a party wall or legal boundary determination, or a valuation, and must not be relied on as one.

3.4 If you need dimensions for manufacturing or fabrication (for example glazing, staircases or fitted joinery), check the critical dimensions on site first. Measured drawings are not a substitute for a fabricator's own check measure.

3.5 Utility surveys: no detection method can find every buried pipe or cable. Plastic or very deep services and congested or wet ground may not be detectable, so each service is shown with the quality level it was located to, and areas we could not survey are marked. Before any digging you must still follow the Health and Safety Executive guidance on avoiding danger from underground services (HSG47), including checking current utility records and scanning with a cable locator at the time of excavation.

3.6 If you want to change the scope, we will confirm any change in price and timing in writing before doing the extra work.

3.7 We may use suitably qualified surveyors and drafting staff to carry out the work. We remain responsible for the work as if we had done it ourselves.

4. Your responsibilities

4.1 You will arrange safe access to every area in the scope at the agreed time, tell occupiers and neighbours where needed, and arrange any permissions, keys and parking.

4.2 You will tell us before the visit about any known hazards, including asbestos (and share any asbestos register), unsafe structures, animals or restricted areas.

4.3 If we cannot carry out the visit because access is not available as agreed, we may charge for the wasted visit and a return visit at the rate shown in your quote, or if none is shown, our reasonable costs.

5. Price, deposit and payment

5.1 The price is the amount shown on the accepted quote. If we are registered for VAT, VAT is added at the current rate and shown on the quote.

5.2 A deposit of the percentage shown on your quote (normally 50%) is payable when you accept. We send the deposit invoice straight after acceptance, and it is due by the date shown on it. We confirm your survey date once the deposit has been received.

5.3 The balance is payable before the final drawings and files are released. When the drawings are ready we send the balance invoice, and we may share watermarked previews so you can check them. The final files are released as soon as the balance has been received.

5.4 Payment is by bank transfer to the account shown on our invoice, quoting the invoice number. We will never change our bank details by email alone: if you receive a message saying our bank details have changed, call us on a number you already know before paying.

5.5 Business clients: if an invoice is not paid on time, we may charge statutory interest and compensation for debt recovery costs under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, and suspend work until payment is received.

5.6 Homeowners: if an invoice is not paid on time, we may charge interest on the overdue amount at 4% a year above the Bank of England base rate until it is paid, and suspend work until payment is received.

6. Timing and changes to the visit

6.1 Your quote states how many working days after the survey visit we will deliver the drawings. We will confirm the survey date and the delivery date when we book the visit, and keep you informed of any change.

6.2 If either of us needs to move the survey date, we will agree a new date as soon as possible. If you cancel or move a confirmed visit with less than two working days' notice, we may charge for the wasted visit as in section 4.

6.3 We are not responsible for delays caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as extreme weather, illness, strikes or access problems not caused by us. We will tell you promptly and agree a new date.

7. Cancellation by business clients

7.1 Business clients: once you have accepted a quote, the deposit is non-refundable if you cancel, because we reserve the survey date, surveyor and equipment for you and turn away other work. If the deposit has not yet been paid, it remains payable.

7.2 Business clients: if you cancel after the survey visit has taken place, you must pay for all work carried out up to cancellation, at the quoted price for completed parts and a fair proportion for parts in progress, and in any case not less than the deposit.

8. Homeowners: your right to cancel

8.1 Homeowners: if you accepted the quote online, by email or away from our premises, you have the right to cancel the contract within 14 days, starting the day after you accept, without giving any reason.

8.2 Homeowners: to cancel, tell us clearly before the 14 days end, by email to the address below or by post. You can use the cancellation form at the end of these terms, but you do not have to.

8.3 Homeowners: we will not start the work during the 14 days unless you ask us to. If you ask us to start within the 14 days and then cancel, you must pay for the work carried out up to the time you tell us, in proportion to the full price.

8.4 Homeowners: if you ask us to start within the 14 days and the work is completely finished within that period, you will no longer have the right to cancel. We will ask you to confirm you understand this when you accept.

8.5 Homeowners: we will refund any money owed to you within 14 days of the day you tell us you are cancelling, using the same payment method you used, unless you agree otherwise.

8.6 Homeowners: after the 14 days, if you cancel, sections 7.1 and 7.2 apply to you in the same way as to business clients, except that we will only keep the amount needed to cover the costs we have actually incurred and the work done.

9. Drawings, copyright and your use

9.1 We own the copyright in our drawings, models, scans and reports. Once you have paid in full, you may use them, and let your professional team use them, for any purpose connected with the property surveyed. Until you have paid in full, you may use them only to check them.

9.2 We keep a copy of the survey data and drawings for 15 years after delivery, in case you need further copies or a question arises about the work, and then delete them.

9.3 We will not publish your name, your property's address or images of the inside of your property without your permission.

10. If something is wrong

10.1 Please check the drawings when you receive them and tell us about any error as soon as possible, ideally within 30 days, so we can correct it while the survey is fresh. We will correct any error in our work promptly and free of charge. Homeowners: this request does not limit your legal rights in section 10.2.

10.2 Homeowners: this does not affect your legal rights. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the service must be carried out with reasonable care and skill; if it is not, you can ask us to repeat or fix it, or in some cases to give you some money back. For detailed advice, contact Citizens Advice.

11. Liability

11.1 Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot legally be limited.

11.2 Business clients: our total liability to you for all claims arising under or in connection with the contract, whether in contract, negligence or otherwise, is limited to the total fee payable under the contract. This limit does not apply to anything in section 11.1. We are not liable for loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of business or opportunity, delay costs or any indirect or consequential loss. Our fee reflects this limit; if you need a higher limit, tell us before you accept and we will quote for it.

11.3 Homeowners: we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or failing to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for loss or damage that is not foreseeable. We do not supply services for business use, so we are not liable to homeowners for any loss of profit or business opportunity.

11.4 We are not responsible for decisions you or others make using our drawings for a purpose they were not prepared for (see sections 3.3 and 3.4).

12. Your information

12.1 We use your personal information as explained in our Privacy Policy at sectionscale.co.uk/privacy.

13. Complaints

13.1 If you are unhappy with anything, please email enquiries@sectionscale.co.uk or call 07484 334939 with your quote or job reference. We will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days and aim to resolve it within 14 days.

14. General

14.1 We may update these terms. Any change will not affect a contract already made: the version you accepted continues to apply to that contract.

14.2 Neither of us may transfer the contract to someone else without the other's written agreement, except that we may transfer it to another company in our group or to a buyer of our business, provided this does not reduce your rights under the contract, and we will tell you if we do.

14.3 Nobody other than you and us has any right to enforce these terms.

14.4 If a court decides any part of these terms is unenforceable, the rest stays in force.

14.5 If we do not enforce our rights straight away, we can still enforce them later.

14.6 These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction. Homeowners living in Scotland or Northern Ireland may also bring proceedings in their local courts.

Homeowner cancellation form

Complete and return this form only if you are a homeowner and wish to cancel the contract within the 14-day cancellation period.