TERMS OF SUPPLY
Our terms for marvellous noise assessments

A) Quotes and booking

1. Quotes are valid for 30 days from the date on the quote itself unless is it stated as an annual quote

2. All quotes are a total price (plus VAT) and do not have additional charges such as travel, accommodation, etc. to be added.

3. All quotes are based on 30 day payment terms. Discounts may be included for advance payment before any booked date.

4. To accept a quote, all I need is a PO number, or written confirmation that PO numbers are not used.. I will also ask for the email address of the person in Accounts to whom the invoice will be sent after the job.

5. The provision of a purchase order number, returned Booking Form or emailed booking request, is confirming acceptance of the terms of supply as detailed here, including payment terms, cancellation periods and on-site arrangements.

B) Invoicing and payment

1. 30 day payment terms
   The Noise Chap's standard credit terms are that, unless it is stated otherwise in the quote, the invoice will be issued at the time of the report being sent to the client or the training completed, and for payment to be made within 30 days of this invoice date.

   The exception is if a client is taking advantage of the advance payment discount.

   Why so foot-stampingly stringent about this?
   I am a one-man-band so invoices are my income that month. If I agree to ‘60 days from end of month’ or something then that is all well and good, but Mr Tesco won’t accept ‘I’ll pay you in three month’s time’ when I go and do my weekly shop there. We will do a deal though - any company can have ‘60 days from end of month’ terms if they can show me that the Head of Purchasing or the Finance Director is paid three month’s in arrears rather than at the end of the month in which they have just worked. I don’t have a big pool of money sloshing about and the smidgen of profit on the invoices (which is less than you may think) is my salary.

2. Why the advance payment discount?

   As a one man company, frankly I hate the accounts chasing and managing which goes with credit terms. Advance payment is simply easier for me with nothing to manage, no chasing, no ‘the payment is being processed’ gubbins delaying it. I may offer the discounted option as a way to encourage companies to pay quickly and easily, and with no chasing up from me.

3. Quotes with no 30 day terms
   Sometimes a quote may be issued which has advance payment only and no 30 day terms option. For a booking payment must be received.

4. Payment Method
   Payments are only accepted by bank transfer, cheques are not accepted. (We aren’t being stroppy, honest. Sodding Barclays shut all our local branches!). Some invoices, usually those with advance payment terms, will also have a credit card / debit card payment option on them as well.

5. Portals
   Large companies love their computer systems and always trot out that they are 'to help suppliers manage their invoicing better' as the reason for some crazily complex online portal. I am fed up of dealing with these online portals - they may be easy for the client's accounts department but they are not easy when you have to log into portal after portal, none of which ever work properly. Seriously big companies - fire the IT people who sold you this rubbish and just hire another accountant - it will be cheaper and it will work better. And accountants can make coffee and bring biscuits in. On more than one occasion invoices have been lost into those things never to be paid so I would rather lose work than deal with those bloody portal things again - I'm especially looking at you Sainsbury's, you're on my naughty naughty spanky no-supply list until you get rid of that ridiculous portal.

6. Invoices by email
   The Noise Chap invoicing will be either by email to the nominated accounts department or email to the nominated contact.

7. Ownership
   Reports remain the property of The Noise Chap Ltd. until payment is received and no follow-up support service will be provided until payment is received.

C) Noise assessments

1. For a noise assessment, I will assess jobs, equipment or tools which are operating at the time of the assessment. If a key job or equipment only operates at specific times of day please inform me in advance so I can make sure I am there at the correct time(s) for it. Where equipment is not operating I am happy to work with the client to get a quick sample measurement from it if possible for inclusion in the report.

2. I will be on site for as long as is needed to get the measurements. Noise assessment quotes are for the job rather than a ‘full day’. (In the old days you would use a noise meter for eight hours, whereas now I can be using eleven noise meters at once on a noise assessment, so one hour of that is more noise data than was gathered in a full day previously. Time on site is not a correlation to number of measurements made.)

3. My target for reports is for them to be emailed to the client within ten working days of the on-site assessment date.

D) Cancellation and postponement

I appreciate that occasionally a client may need to postpone a booking.

Over 22 calendar days: 
Following provision of booking confirmation, work can be cancelled or postponed by the client up to 22 calendar days before commencement. 

15 to 21 calendar days:
A payment equivalent to 50% of The Noise Chap quoted rate (plus VAT) will be due if the work is cancelled or postponed within 15 to 21 days of agreed date(s) as confirmed by purchase order or written confirmation.

Within 14 calendar days:
Due to the low probability of re-filling the dates at short notice, payment in full (plus VAT) will be due if the work is cancelled or postponed within 14 calendar days of agreed date(s) as confirmed by purchase order or written confirmation.

E) On-Site Rules - PPE, etc.

1. The need to notify us of PPE requirements in advance
   The Noise Chap will comply with all health and safety requirements for the client's site. If PPE is needed such as high-vis clothing, footwear, eyewear, head protection, flame-proof clothing, etc. then please notify me in advance, at time of booking as not all PPE can be carried at all times to every job.

   I sometimes travel to jobs by motorbike as a way of nipping through traffic cheating death, and I can carry all the PPE required for a job but am unable to carry every variation of PPE which may be needed for every site just in case. If a client has not notified me in advance of a PPE requirement and a job cannot go ahead because of it then the invoice will be due in full for that booking.

2. Specific on-site rules
   It sounds stroppy, but if a job cannot go ahead because of a non-regulatory rule made-up by a site with which I cannot comply on the day without advance notification, the job will be invoiced in full. I will try and co-operate as much as I can, honestly, but I need to know in advance if a client has introduced some bonkers rule along the lines of it only being safe to walk into a site backwards while wearing a leather gimp suit and singing the Estonian national anthem. In Cantonese. In cases such as this where there is no regulatory restriction, and indeed no risk, and the job cannot go ahead, I would invoice in full.

3. Copies of risk assessments and insurance documents
   The Noise Chap can happily provide risk assessments and PL insurance certificates for all works undertaken but please ask for these in advance. I carry no paperwork on jobs so will not have paper copies of risk assessments or procedures to hand and probably won't have access to the PL insurance certificate at all. Again, if entry to a site is denied because of this and I have not been asked for them at least 48 hours in advance then the booking will be payable in full.

   Note: As a single person company employer’s liability insurance is not carried - you are not allowed to insure yourself against your own negligence as that would otherwise be a fantastic way of getting an early retirement fund together. EL insurance is not permissible for companies where the only employee is also a director.

F) Bad weather

If I can get to the client's site for the noise assessment then I will consider the roads open and usable and payment for the work will be due in full.

I had to introduce this due to a job in the past where I got from Tewkesbury to Edinburgh, only for the Client to say the job couldn't go ahead as 'the roads are blocked and people can't get in', just as I was arriving at their factory gates. I had to turn round and drive all the way back to Tewkesbury again, along the 'blocked' roads which were impassible according to the client's employees. It seemed the problem wasn't the amount of snow on the roads but was more down to how strongly the client's employees fancied a day off playing in the snow.