Terms & Conditions

Tree work and related services for domestic and business customers

These terms explain how we agree the work, what we each need to do and what happens if the job changes or you need to cancel. Please read them with your written quote before you accept it.

1. Who we are

We are ICS Tree Services Ltd, registered in England and Wales under company number 07886071. Our registered office is Gilandi, Great North Road, Micklefield, Leeds, LS25 4AQ.

Phone 01977 680666. Email ian@ic-s.org.uk.

A consumer is an individual acting wholly or mainly outside their trade, business, craft or profession. Your statutory rights as a consumer apply alongside these terms.

2. Your quote and contract

Your written quote sets out the work, the price, any exclusions and any dates or timeframes we have agreed. Quotes are valid for 90 days from the date shown unless the quote states a different period. We label estimates separately. An estimate is a guide and we will explain how we calculate the final price. Consumer quotes show the total price, including any VAT due and unavoidable charges known at the time. If we cannot reasonably calculate a mandatory charge in advance, we explain how we will calculate it before you agree. The contract starts when you accept our quote as instructed in it. Keep the quote, these terms and any written changes we both agree. If the quote sets a specific term for your job, it takes priority over the general wording in this document, subject to your statutory rights. If we separately sign a commercial contract with you, its agreed order of precedence applies.

3. Changes to the work

If you ask for extra work, or if site conditions differ from what we agreed, we will explain the effect on the scope, price and timing. We will agree the change with you in writing, including by email, before starting the changed work or adding a charge. If we cannot agree a change, we will continue with the original work where it remains safe and practical to do so. If we find an immediate safety risk, we will stop the affected work and take reasonable steps to leave the area safe. Any separate chargeable work needs your agreement.

Working on your site

4. Access and site information

Please arrange the access we agree, including permission to enter land you do not control. Before work starts, tell us about known hazards and changes since our visit. These include overhead cables, buried pipes and cables, drains, fragile surfaces, restricted access and any changes to site layout. Share relevant plans if available. Please keep people and pets out of the work area, clear any animal waste and move items we identify as at risk. We will assess site hazards and take reasonable precautions. If the site is unsafe, we will pause and discuss how to proceed. Any extra charge for cleaning or other additional work needs your agreement under section 3.

5. Tree permissions and wildlife

Before work starts, we will agree who will check for Tree Preservation Orders and conservation area restrictions and who will obtain any consent or give any notice. We will also agree who will deal with any felling licence or other approval needed. We will not start work requiring permission or notice until the legal requirements are met. If you ask us to prepare and submit a Tree Preservation Order application or conservation area notice, our administration fee is £60 including VAT. We agree the fee before starting and invoice it in advance. The fee is for our work on the application or notice. We do not guarantee the authority’s decision. Your cancellation rights and remedies still apply. If work involves a neighbour’s tree or land, we will confirm what written permission we need. We will check the proposed scope before any work on overhanging branches goes ahead. We will pause or change work where needed to comply with wildlife law, including where we find signs of active bird nests or bat roosts.

6. Work standards and stump grinding

We will work with reasonable care and skill. For relevant tree work, we follow BS 3998 recommendations where applicable. If we agree a departure, we will record it in the quote or in a written change. Pruning dimensions are approximate. We choose suitable pruning points. Unless the quote states otherwise, we aim to grind the stump and buttress roots to about 300 mm below the adjoining ground level, where safe and practicable. Lateral roots are outside the standard scope. The quote will say whether it includes backfilling or removal of grindings.

7. Clearing and leaving the site

Unless the quote says otherwise, we remove branches, logs and other tree waste from the agreed work. If you want to keep logs or chips, agree this with us before work starts. We will leave the work area reasonably tidy and safe. Some sawdust or minor debris may remain. For work lasting several days, we will leave the area safe between visits.

Payment and changes to your booking

8. Delays and rescheduling

We may postpone or pause work for safety, unsuitable weather, protected wildlife or outstanding permissions. We will tell you promptly, explain the reason and discuss a new date. If a delay is substantial, or we cannot meet a date you told us was essential and we agreed to, you may end the affected work and receive a refund for the part we have not supplied. This does not limit any other rights you have by law.

9. Cancelling outside a statutory right

If you cancel when no statutory cancellation right applies, and the cancellation is not due to our breach, we may charge for work properly completed and reasonable, evidenced costs caused by the cancellation which we could not avoid. We will take reasonable steps to reduce the loss, deduct savings and amounts recovered by rebooking or reusing materials, and explain any charge in writing. We will not charge twice for the same cost. We will credit any advance payment against the amount properly due and refund the balance. If we cancel because we cannot carry out the remaining work, we will refund any advance payment for work we have not supplied. Your rights if we breach the contract still apply. If you are a consumer exercising a statutory right to cancel, section 13 applies instead.

10. Invoices and payment

Unless we agree different terms in writing, we invoice when the agreed work is complete. Consumer invoices are due within 7 days of the invoice date and business invoices within 30 days. You can pay by bank transfer using the invoice details, or by cash or cheque if agreed. Any deposit or staged payments must appear in the quote.

11. Problems with the work

If you have a concern, please contact us promptly using the details in section 1 so we have a chance to investigate. If you are a consumer, you may be entitled to have work put right at no extra cost or to a price reduction, depending on the circumstances. Your rights for faulty goods or materials also apply. We will explain any applicable dispute resolution arrangements when we respond to your complaint. If we supply and plant trees or shrubs, we will explain any aftercare you need to carry out. Your responsibility for aftercare does not affect your rights if the plants or our work fail to meet the contract or the law.

12. Insurance and responsibility

We hold public liability and employers’ liability insurance. Ask us for current evidence of cover. We remain responsible for losses for which the law holds us liable, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence. These terms do not exclude liability for fraud or limit your statutory rights.

Consumer cancellation rights

13. When and how to cancel

For a qualifying service contract agreed at a distance or away from our business premises, you normally have 14 days after the day the contract starts to cancel without giving a reason. For qualifying contracts to supply goods, including some supply-and-fit jobs, the period normally ends 14 days after you or your nominated recipient receives the goods. We will give you the cancellation and return information relevant to your job before you agree. The law has limited exceptions. One example is where you specifically ask us to visit for urgent repairs or maintenance and the legal conditions are met. This exception does not extend to unrelated extras or goods other than replacement parts necessarily used for the urgent repair or maintenance. We will explain any exception we rely on. Tell us clearly you wish to cancel. Email ian@ic-s.org.uk, write to the address in section 1 or use another clear means of telling us. You only need to send your notice before the deadline. The form below is optional. For a service contract, we will refund payments due without undue delay and within 14 days of being told you are cancelling. We use the original payment method unless you expressly agree to another, and we do not charge a refund fee. For goods, the return and refund rules in your cancellation notice apply.

Starting work during the cancellation period

If you want us to start early, please expressly ask us to do so by email or in writing. If you cancel after work starts, we will charge only the proportionate amount the law allows for services already supplied, and only if we gave you the required information before you agreed and you made a valid early-start request. For a service contract, you lose the right to cancel once we fully perform the service if you expressly requested the early start and acknowledged beforehand that full performance would end that right.

Model cancellation form

To ICS Tree Services Ltd, Gilandi, Great North Road, Micklefield, Leeds, LS25 4AQ. Email ian@ic-s.org.uk. I/We give notice that I/we cancel my/our contract for the following goods or services. Delete whichever does not apply.

• Goods or services _________________________________________________
• Date ordered or received ____________________________________________
• Name __________________________________________________________
• Address ________________________________________________________
• Signature if sent on paper ____________________________________________
• Date ___________________