TIA Terms & Conditions

1. The Costs and Timescale

At the outset we will provide you with an estimate of the likely costs associated with your project including our fees and VAT. Our fees are quoted excluding the prevailing rate of VAT (currently 20%) and disbursements. All disbursements will be shown separately on your invoice.

The work indicated in each stage is not relative to the fee charged for that Stage. Fees are chargeable for the time TIA devotes to your project. Should you choose to stop work on your project, TIA Ltd reserves the right to calculate the fees due based on the hours logged to your project, up to the stage completed.  All fees are payable on issue of an invoice.  TIA Ltd retains the discretion to charge interest on late payments at 8% above base rate per month or part thereof. We may issue court proceedings against you to recover the outstanding debt, interest and our costs.

If a bill is not paid within 14 days, we may not continue dealing with your project until the bill is paid in full and we may not accept further instructions from you on this or any other matter. We will also exercise a lien over any relevant papers, plans or goods until the bill is paid in full.

Any Fixed Fee estimated by TIA is based on an assumption of hours charged at our standard rate of £65+VAT per hour. TIA reserves the right to charge for any additional hours at our standard rate of £65 + VAT per hour in 1 minute increments. Clients will be notified if the individual Stage looks likely that there will be in excess of 30% more hours required.

In agreeing that a design should be submitted to the Council for approval you are confirming that it is considered ‘fit for purpose’. Within reason, significant changes to the design after this point may result in additional chargeable time at our hourly rate.  It should be noted that changes to the design after approval may invalidate your Local Authority Planning or Building Regulations approval.  We cannot guarantee approval for any submitted application.

TIA reserves the right to receive a payment for the referral of work to other trades whom we believe are able to deliver the required level of service and value to TIA Clients. This fee would not apply to the Building Contractors.
Rates of other professional services are available on request.

1(a). Expenses
In addition to the fees charged TIA will be reimbursed for all expenses and disbursements properly incurred in connection with the Project.  We will maintain records of all such expenses and disbursements and will make these records available to the client on reasonable request.

2. Payments on Account and Interim Billing

Unless otherwise agreed, it is our practice to ask you from time to time for a sum on account of our fees and/or disbursements that we may incur on your behalf.  The amount paid on account is generally for the estimated charges for the initial Stage and invoices will be generated at the end of the Stage.

We expressly reserve the right to render “interim statute bills” where appropriate. An interim statute bill is a final bill for the work done during the period which the bill is state to cover.

What Does this mean – This is simply saying that if a project is put on hold for an extended period – or a client decides not to proceed before finishing any particular stage we will invoice for the hours consumed up to that point.

3. Exclusions

TIA Ltd are not members of The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) or the ARB (Architects Registration Board). Ilse Kerr - Director and founder of TIA ltd is a registered South African Professional, Pr. Arch - South Africa, SACAP No.6640, SAIA, B.Building Arts, B.Architecture, UPE, South Africa. We follow a far simpler and less onerous stage process for residential clients.

TIA Ltd reserves the right to use suitably qualified sub-contractors or any other third parties to fulfill aspects of our work.

TIA Ltd will endeavor to source, vet and appoint suitably qualified and experienced sub-contractors for any element of the contracted works that they are not able to generate ‘in-house’ but can accept no liability for the quality of work produced by subcontractors and consultants we have instructed on your behalf.

Local Authority fees are not included in the fee payable to TIA Ltd. Local Authority fees are payable direct to the Council.  We may on occasion however pay these fees on a client's behalf to expedite the process of submission and validation of an application. A budget figure will be provided with your quotation.

4. Drawings

All drawings & documentation will be kept on record for six months after which they may well be removed from our archive. Where printed copies of drawings are required, or changes required outside of the quoted works TIA Ltd reserves the right to levy a charge for the cost of generating these.

TIA Ltd excludes responsibility for losses due to work based on dimensions, drawings or other materials supplied by the client, or for losses due to work carried out from drawings reproduced by third parties. TIA is not responsible for any building work that is carried out using these drawings. All dimensions on drawings or in documents are to be checked on site before work commences. Any discrepancies found in drawings are to be reported to TIA Ltd immediately. TIA Ltd excludes responsibility for any losses where this procedure is not followed.

All drawings, documents and information remain copyright of TIA Ltd, or remain the property of the supplier of the original material.  CAD (dxf/dwg) files will not be supplied to clients and can only be supplied to external agencies with the express permission of one of the Partners.

What does this mean – This is very standard. We have spent years setting up templates and CAD files that we now use which could be very valuable to a competitor, so we will only issue plans as PDFs and not the raw CAD (DWG etc format files). It can also result in problems if kitchen designers, interior designers, or others take our plans and then start working on them. If later there is a problem with a dimension, it becomes very difficult to then understand where liability lies.

All physical drawings, notes and documentation or electronic documents produced remain property of TIA Ltd until all fees relating to that work are paid.  Copyrights remain with TIA Ltd.

TIA do not accept any responsibility or liability for any work undertaken by Builders, Contractors or other individuals using out of date drawings or drawings not showing Approved by either the Council or notified Authorised Inspector annotations.  It is the responsibility of the Client to ensure, at the point where building work commences, that their builder is provided with Approved Plans. Failure to build to approved plans may lead to Council enforcement action for which TIA will not be held responsible.

Should additional detail be required to be generated to satisfy a Party Wall Surveyor this will be undertaken at our usual hourly rate.

5. Your Responsibilities

You will provide us with clear, timely, comprehensive and accurate instructions.

You will provide us with information regarding the site / building such as boundary lines, easements, covenants and legal description in a timely manner. TIA Ltd excludes all liability for losses that arise from the Client(s) failure to provide such information.

You will let us know promptly of any changes to your name, address or other contact details and if any other information you have given us has changed.

Your Local Authority or Building Control Department may request that structural, wildlife or similar surveys are carried out by hired professionals. Should this happen, TIA Ltd will not cover these costs but will aim to make you aware of these requirements as soon as possible.

TIA Ltd will always work closely with clients and the Council Planning Department to generate designs that will be acceptable to both, however we can make no guarantees that Planning Permission or Building Regulation Approval will be granted for your proposed building work.

The client will employ a contractor under separate agreement to undertake the construction or other works.  The client will hold the contractor, and not the architectural designer, responsible for the contractor's operational methods and for the proper execution of the works.

6. Authority You Give Us

You expressly give us authority to take all steps that we consider reasonable in the conduct of your project and to incur disbursements (i.e. fees to third parties for the conduct of your project)

To keep your documents in electronic format only

To deliver our invoices to you using electronic communication

7. Our Service Levels

We pride ourselves in delivering on our level of service. It is our aim to exceed your expectations at all times.

We will update you with progress on your Project regularly and communicate with you in plain language by phone or email. If you prefer a particular mode of communication, please let us know.

If at any time you want an update, please ask. Usually we will respond to an email or phone call from you within one working day.

If at any time you are not happy with any aspect of our service, please contact Managing Director, Ilse Kerr - ilse@tia-ltd.com

8. Ending Our Relationship

You may end your instruction to us at any time.

We may decide to stop acting for you only for good reason eg if you do not pay an invoice or any monies requested on account within a reasonable time, if we identify a possible conflict of interest or if the professional relationship has broken down. In any event we will give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you.

If we decide we should stop acting for you, you must pay our charges up to that point. If we have agreed an estimate of charges for a Stage our charges will be a proportion of that estimate according to how many hours have been consumed.

If we decide to cease acting for you, we will explain possible options to you.

9. Customer Protection Regulations

If we have met with you away from our office and agreed to undertake your Project or if we have agreed to undertake your project following a telephone conversation or by exchange of emails (or other electronic communication), and if we are acting for you for purposes which are outside your business, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 apply to our agreement with you. That means that you have the right to cancel our agreement without charge at any time within fourteen days of your acceptance of these terms. If you wish to do so you must inform us of your decision to cancel in writing. Your right to cancel our engagement will not apply if you agree to us beginning work in relation to your Project during the relevant 14 day period.

10. Complaints

We hope that you will not have cause for complaint but if you do, please contact managing director -ilse kerr – ilse@tia-ltd.com who will investigate your complaint.

11. Equality and Diversity

TIA ltd is committed to promoting equality and diversity in all aspects of its practice.

12. The Legal Contract Between Us

Delivery of these Terms of Business to you, at any time during the period we are instructed by you, forms part of the contract between us from time to time. Subject to any prior agreement between us these Terms will apply to work undertake by both before and after these Terms have been delivered to you. Any dispute arising from this agreement is to be governed by the law of England and Wales and considered exclusively by the English and Welsh Courts.

TAILORED INTERIORS AND ARCHITECTURE LIMITED, CURRENT OFFICES: Openview Farm, Unit 4a, West Horsley, KT24 6AP
TAILORED INTERIORS AND ARCHITECTURE LIMITED REGISTERED OFFICE:
Ngala Forest Road, East Horsley, KT24 5DT
COMPANY NO. 9922277, REGISTERED 18/12/2015