In the following “Chapeltree” refers to Martin Puckett t/a Chapeltree.

This page states the terms and conditions under which you use the services of Chapeltree, and notes on conduct of business. Use of services provided contractually implies you agree to these terms & conditions. If you do not agree with these terms and conditions you are not permitted to use the services of Chapeltree.

It is the intention to provide a personal, friendly service tailored to the individual client’s needs with a thoughtful and creative approach. Please do bear in mind the following:

Descriptions & Notes on Services Provided

Maintenance refers to any on site work that is normally conceived of as regular or seasonal, whether it be regular or not, and is part of keeping a garden or exterior space well-kept. Examples include pruning, dead-heading, weeding, management of herbaceous perennials, lawn mowing. This type of work is normally charged at the stated hourly rate, unless the occasion and circumstance is better suited to a fixed price quote, usually being where the significant majority of the work is one off, e.g clearance. See also Chargeable Hours.

Advice and Discussion generally means any relevant professionally-oriented conversation, thoughts, opinion, recommendations and so forth, be it verbally or in writing, and for regular clients will commonly and usually occur during hours of maintenance, and is included in the hourly rate. Any advice or discussion which occurs before or after maintenance or other work activities, or at a time separate to this, will normally be regarded as part of the chargeable hours. Advice is given only as professional opinion, and there may occasion where more suitable or expert advice may be recommended or advisable.

Design refers to services that involves some or all of the following: measurements of an area, drawing or illustration of some kind, choosing or recommending plants for an area be this described as planting ideas, design or otherwise. Plant selection alone, such as the provision of a simple list of plants thought suitable or recommended for any area, is still generally regarded as part of design, since it is a usual and core part of garden design process, and will normally be treated as such for invoicing, unless it is minimal and in passing or agreed otherwise.

Any design or related material remains the sole property of and in legal ownership of Chapeltree until such times as any relevant and outstanding balance is received and settled in full. Additionally, it is not permitted that any works commence based on any design material provided by Chapeltree until the same such times.

Due to the specialisms involved, customarily, anything beyond smaller and relatively straightforward hard landscaping, Chapeltree will recommend that the work be carried out by landscaping professionals of the clients choosing, and any such work will be an arrangement solely between the client and these professionals and will definitively not constitute sub-contracting.

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Further Terms & Conditions

Communication (General):

1. Gardening, generally speaking, is a very consultative profession. It is therefore usually necessary to consult on matters on a regular basis, the frequency being appropriate to the type and level of work being undertaken. It is expected the client will, one way or another, make themselves available for this consultation during the pre-booked work period, or, if this is not possible, by arrangement and on any day between the hours of 10am & 6pm. The only and exclusive exception to the above is where the property where work is being carried out is not the main & usual residence of the client, and in this case alternative means will be established. (See also 'Advice and Discussion' above)

2. It is also very likely that, at least from time to time, there will be communication required in addition to this, for example, for the purposes of planning, arrangements, deliveries and similar. It is expected this communication will proceed in an applicable and timely manner, as a normal courtesy and to facilitate the smooth operation of business.

3. Electronic communication, inc phone calls, text and email : While certain flexibility and accommodation can be applied to each arising situation if needed, Chapeltree does not operate on an 'open all hours' basis. As guidance, unless there is particular and good reason otherwise, communications of these types will take place between the hours of 8am - 6pm. Note: emails are not handled through any mobile device and are therefore the less intrusive out-of-hours, but may not be suitable for urgent communication.

Chargeable Hours: For maintenance, and advice, meetings etc where applicable, chargeable hours are noted from the timer app used, and accurately charged.

Note: coffee & lunch breaks, time taken out to purchase materials, and other time where work, advice and chargeable activities are not taking place are also recorded to the best ability using the timer app, and are not included in the chargeable hours.

Minimum Charges:

1. For maintenance & similar activities - for very local clients - the minimum charge is that which would apply to one half an hour. Clients further afield will be charged more for the minimum at a rate notified.

2.(a) For regular clients: Any meetings, discussions etc which take place outside of the work session a minimum charge of one half an hour is applied at the same rate as maintenance, save for on Sundays where the charged rate is double. (b) For non-regular clients: Any discussion, advice etc carries a minimum charge of one hour & is double the rate of regular maintenance.

3. For any design related appointments, these will be either covered under the quote, or be charged at double the normal whole hourly rate with a minimum of one and a half hours.

Invoicing: For maintenance work, it is preferred to invoice at the end days of the month, or the first days of the next month unless requested otherwise. New clients may, at the discretion of Chapeltree, be invoiced weekly or fortnightly for a period. The invoice will show dates and hours worked plus a brief description of work undertaken in the relevant invoice period.

Exceptions to this are where the value of the work done plus any plants, goods or materials has reached or exceeded £500 before the end days of the calendar month or usual invoice period. In this case the invoice will be issued on the date or shortly thereafter where the outstanding amount exceeds the value specified above, and normal terms will apply regarding payment.

For other work such as design, the invoice will be raised on receipt of communication that indicates agreement to proceed. See also Deposits.

For design work, if the quote or invoice indicates clearly separate parts, e.g. outline design and detailed planting, the separation and associated payment structure will constitute effective break clauses which either party, i.e Chapeltree or the client, may exercise and Chapeltree is not obligated by payment for and delivery of one part to fulfill any other part, nor likewise and similarly is there obligation from the client.

If applicable, notice of termination of services will be consistent with and implicit of the exercise of a break clause as above, and will render any contractual obligation on the part of Chapeltree immediately null and void.

Payments: The preferred method of payment is bank transfer. Chapeltree does not currently take card payments.

Deposits: For non-maintenance work, such as design etc. it is normally the case this will require a deposit. For any hard landscaping not undertaken by a third party, the deposit will be sufficient to cover at least the cost of materials and any associated charges such as delivery.

Late Payment: The terms of payment will be specified on the invoice, and will customarily be to pay within 7 calendar days from the date of issuance noted on the invoice. Thereafter, if payment has not been received, weekly reminders to pay will be sent using the email address of contact on record. Failure to pay following two weekly reminders will incur a an administrative fee of £20 with the third reminder. This will be invoiced with this third reminder, and for the purposes of payment and terms will be added to the original invoice. Failure to pay within terms specified may result in the suspension of any services provided until such times as all amounts due are settled in full.

Should payment of the invoice not be received within 30 days of the date the invoice was sent an additional charge on the money owed of 4% above the base rate of the Bank of England will be applied on a weekly and ongoing basis. You will be notified in advance of this charge being applied using the email provided. Should the email address of contact prove dysfunctional a letter will be sent to the address of contact, usually the address at which the work was carried out. Other reasonable means of contact may also be used.

As a last resort legal action or third party formal debt collection may be considered to recover the amounts owed.

Repeated or frequent late payment may result in termination of services.

Late Notice Cancellation: Appointments for paid hours work are usually arranged at least a numbers of days or more in advance, either explicitly verbally or in writing. For regular clients, i.e those for whom a specific time and day is set aside on an ongoing basis, the appointment is implied by this regularity. NOTE: Chapeltree reserves the right to fulfill the broader regularity, e.g once a fortnight, on days and times suitable to the operation of business, and has no ongoing obligation to specific clients and days in this regard. Advance discussion may be needed from time to time to change regular days and times.

Cancellation of less than 24 hours notice will normally and in most cases incur a fee of 70% of the expected hours. Expected hours will normally be either a) the stated or pre-agreed number of hours or b) the median or usual number of hours. Any waiver of this fee will only occur at the sole discretion of Chapeltree.

The only exception that occasionally occurs is due to significantly inclement weather, and the cancellation will be by mutual agreement on a basis that the ability to carry out intended work will be impeded.

Two late notice cancellations within a period of two months, saving for reasons of inclement weather, will likely result in termination of services.

Failure to provide access or adequate information regarding access resulting in an inability to fulfill the appointment and expected work will be regarded as, and treated the same for the purpose of conditions as late notice cancellation.

Watering: Watering, in terms of ongoing maintenance or a post-planting schedule, is strictly not the responsibility of Chapeltree unless by specific arrangement or implied within the general arrangement. Examples of the latter may be where the client has little presence at the property, or is mostly not present when work is undertaken, and must unequivocally include unimpeded access, i.e keys or equivalent, to enable access at any time within reason. Should such access not be provided then any responsibility cannot and does not exist. Under no circumstance will Chapeltree be held liable or accountable for any losses or damages which may occur as a result, or perceived or interpreted to be a result, of this responsibility. If there is an arrangement then minimum charges apply.

Deliveries : On ordering of plants, plant materials, composts, soils etc the client address will be given as the delivery address unless agreed or stated otherwise. Because of the nature and characteristics of e-commerce and the way Chapeltree operates as a business, Chapeltree does not guarantee, nor is required to supply presence at the client address at the delivery time, and is strictly not responsible or liable for any losses, damages etc that may result from unsecured deliveries. (See also Communication (General), 2)

Mistakes: These may happen very occasionally, horticulture is a very broad and detailed field and mistakes are part of life and work. Where an offer is proposed to make good the mistake in some way, this is to be understood as gesture of good will and in no way constitutes, nor should be perceived as acceptance of legal liability.

Intellectual Property Rights: The rights in the designs and content of this website are owned by Chapeltree, insofar as they are original and generated by Chapeltree. They are protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. You may not copy, reproduce, modify, distribute, display, post or transmit any part of any website, promotional materials, business cards etc. including all photographic images and all communications that either are owned by or originated with Chapeltree without permission. All trademarks, company names or logos featured on the above are the property of their owners.

Sanctions: Derived from United Nations Resolutions and associated legal issues, Chapeltree cannot provide any services for any property located in, owned by any legal entity established in, or for any individuals, companies or organizations domiciled in the following countries: Belarus, Crimea, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Zimbabwe.

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Rights are reserved to alter the terms and conditions without notice and are effective from date of alteration. Any material changes to these terms and conditions, which significantly affect the way Chapeltree conducts it’s business, or significantly impacts the services provided, for example, a change in the minimum charge, the client will be notified in reasonable advance, either verbally and/or in writing. Continuation of use of services provided by Chapeltree will signify acceptance of the changes.